Read Online Siphon (Siphon Chronicles, Book One) by Cyndi Goodgame - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Cyndi Goodgame
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“you are kind of the first I’ve ever met of what you call “our kind” and second, I didn’t know this was a norm for many others until you showed up. If there are more out there, I want to meet them.”
A sudden fear rose in the depth of my stomach. What if she was just intrigued by me? What if I lost her? I’d just met this girl and suddenly I wanted to go all Zales jewelry and settle down for the rest of my unnatural life. What was wrong with me?
Coolness set back in. I needed to back off. Standoffish and aloof I told her, “Sure. We can do that. I’m staying near a guy who’s like you. He has a friend that’s the same.”
I had some work to do.
“You don’t live here?” she asked warily.
Here’s where the lies would begin.
“No.” Not a lie.
She sat in wait, crossing her tan arms over like a prowling lioness and narrowing her eyes at me. I snagged a look at her overall picture for later purposes if she ran from me and never wanted to see me again. Were her arms cold? She took off the little jacket she wore.
Freckles covered her shoulders leftover from summer’s heat. She wore little makeup and her lips were always shiny except now. Her neck was pretty with the arched shoulders I liked too much. I wanted to kiss them. I wanted to earlier too, but that would have been too forward.
“I work for the council. I travel around, taking care of...things for them.”
Not a lie.
“So you have no home?”
This would get complicated. She would want to know how an eighteen -year-old guy owns a home and lives alone, but travels endlessly with nowhere to go.
“I do. In Rhode Island.”
She seemed to settle a little. “With your parents?”
Uh, oh! “No. Alone."
“Alone as in by yourself?”
I nodded. This would get sticky. I could lie, say they died, and I inherited the house. I could say it belonged to someone else. Not even my father knew about it. The more I stared at her face, I couldn’t lie to her. It was either she accepted me or not.
“Alone as in I own it.”
Her eyes went wide in an innocent display of being sheltered from the world.
“So we can establish that you are not a typical high school senior, do not live here, and have a real job. Do I assume you are really enrolled at my school?”
She wasn’t naive.
“No, no, and yes. And yes, I am enrolled with you.”
If she were in fact intelligent like I knew her to be, not at all naive like I’d off and on determined, she would piece together more. And soon.
“You are here on business?” she asked.
LARK ✜ All About Me
“Yes,” he said nervously. The inches increased our distance of separation. Two, to be exact.
What was he scared to tell me? I wanted to know, but I was worried suddenly he might have to lie to me and I didn’t want to be lied to. I’d already figured out by the short answers that he was skirting around things to keep himself honest. He had a lot of secrets. I just hoped it did not involve me.
“It is okay if you need to keep your secrets. We all have them.” Why did I feel a little like I was keeping company with the devil? I just told him it was okay to lie to me. Or stretch the truth.
He stiffened at that no doubt wondering what secret I could hold.
It was true, I didn’t know about the headquarters he talked about, but my stepparents knew. The same stepparents who told me my parents died in a vacation accident and now I wonder if it was even true. They mentioned my mom once. Only once.
I was sure this was the same “headquarters” they mentioned. I’d heard them talk behind closed doors for years about a Dr. Phoenix who wanted to meet me and they refused to take me to him. I only know now the connection because Daniel just said the very place the doctor was located. Rhode Island.
My stepparents even called it the headquarters. It all made sense. Sort
A sudden fear rose in the depth of my stomach. What if she was just intrigued by me? What if I lost her? I’d just met this girl and suddenly I wanted to go all Zales jewelry and settle down for the rest of my unnatural life. What was wrong with me?
Coolness set back in. I needed to back off. Standoffish and aloof I told her, “Sure. We can do that. I’m staying near a guy who’s like you. He has a friend that’s the same.”
I had some work to do.
“You don’t live here?” she asked warily.
Here’s where the lies would begin.
“No.” Not a lie.
She sat in wait, crossing her tan arms over like a prowling lioness and narrowing her eyes at me. I snagged a look at her overall picture for later purposes if she ran from me and never wanted to see me again. Were her arms cold? She took off the little jacket she wore.
Freckles covered her shoulders leftover from summer’s heat. She wore little makeup and her lips were always shiny except now. Her neck was pretty with the arched shoulders I liked too much. I wanted to kiss them. I wanted to earlier too, but that would have been too forward.
“I work for the council. I travel around, taking care of...things for them.”
Not a lie.
“So you have no home?”
This would get complicated. She would want to know how an eighteen -year-old guy owns a home and lives alone, but travels endlessly with nowhere to go.
“I do. In Rhode Island.”
She seemed to settle a little. “With your parents?”
Uh, oh! “No. Alone."
“Alone as in by yourself?”
I nodded. This would get sticky. I could lie, say they died, and I inherited the house. I could say it belonged to someone else. Not even my father knew about it. The more I stared at her face, I couldn’t lie to her. It was either she accepted me or not.
“Alone as in I own it.”
Her eyes went wide in an innocent display of being sheltered from the world.
“So we can establish that you are not a typical high school senior, do not live here, and have a real job. Do I assume you are really enrolled at my school?”
She wasn’t naive.
“No, no, and yes. And yes, I am enrolled with you.”
If she were in fact intelligent like I knew her to be, not at all naive like I’d off and on determined, she would piece together more. And soon.
“You are here on business?” she asked.
LARK ✜ All About Me
“Yes,” he said nervously. The inches increased our distance of separation. Two, to be exact.
What was he scared to tell me? I wanted to know, but I was worried suddenly he might have to lie to me and I didn’t want to be lied to. I’d already figured out by the short answers that he was skirting around things to keep himself honest. He had a lot of secrets. I just hoped it did not involve me.
“It is okay if you need to keep your secrets. We all have them.” Why did I feel a little like I was keeping company with the devil? I just told him it was okay to lie to me. Or stretch the truth.
He stiffened at that no doubt wondering what secret I could hold.
It was true, I didn’t know about the headquarters he talked about, but my stepparents knew. The same stepparents who told me my parents died in a vacation accident and now I wonder if it was even true. They mentioned my mom once. Only once.
I was sure this was the same “headquarters” they mentioned. I’d heard them talk behind closed doors for years about a Dr. Phoenix who wanted to meet me and they refused to take me to him. I only know now the connection because Daniel just said the very place the doctor was located. Rhode Island.
My stepparents even called it the headquarters. It all made sense. Sort
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