Read Online The Last Changeling by Chelsea Pitcher - Free Book Online

the riddle, if I ever asked her out.
    â€œI’ve seen her in action,” I said.
    Kylie looked relieved, and I thought she and I should spend more time together. Meanwhile, Lora was studying her pizza.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” Kylie asked.
    Lora poked her finger into a gob of cheese, which was gooey and pockmarked with spots of brown. “How do you acquire dairy in the city?”
    â€œTrust me,” Kylie said, opening a container of applesauce. “You don’t want to know.”
    â€œI can’t eat this.” Lora shook her head, wrapping the pizza in her paper plate. “This is bad for me.”
    â€œBillions of dollars spent on food pyramid commercials and this girl figures it out on her own.” Keegan watched his sister pass her applesauce to Lora. “Next she’ll realize that smoking pot turns you into a serial killer.”
    I chuckled, glancing at Kylie’s brother. Most of the people at school ignored him, or openly mocked his lack of interest in the opposite sex, but he didn’t try to befriend them like Kylie did. He walked through the halls as if no one else existed, besides his sister.
    I couldn’t even imagine what that felt like.
    Lora reached into her backpack and pulled out a pink flier, a shade brighter than her referral had been.
    â€œHey, how was the principal’s office?” I asked.
    â€œOh, wonderful.” She was practically beaming. “She’s the most interesting adult I’ve met so far.”
    â€œReally.”
    â€œDefinitely. I will have to make it a point to visit often.”
    â€œNot too often,” I muttered, wondering when her first detention would be. I pointed to the flier in her hand. “What’s that?”
    â€œNothing.” Kylie reached for it.
    Lora was too quick for her. She held the flier out for me. “Kylie’s the president of the Merry-Straight Alliance.”
    â€œGay,” Keegan supplied. “And it’s not an alliance. It’s a bunch of gay kids pretending the straight kids don’t hate them.”
    I wanted to argue, but it’s not like I’d ever gone to any of the meetings. I plucked the flier from Lora’s hand.
    â€œI’m going to join,” she told me. “Are you a member?”
    â€œUh, no,” I said distractedly, searching for an explanation.
    What’s the problem?
    â€œDo you want to be?” she asked. “I think we have the opportunity to effect real change here. Maybe even shift the power structure completely.” She smiled, but there was a fierceness in her eyes. I wondered why this was so important to her.
    â€œWell, I have soccer practice a lot of the time, and, uh … ” I trailed off, unable to finish my thought. Across the lawn, I could just make out the picnic table where Brad sat, surrounded by his usual band of drones. His taunt from Saturday’s game circled my head, whispering “fairy,” just because I hadn’t felt like putting a guy in the hospital.
    I turned the flier over in my hands, my eyes blurring over the list of meeting times. “Sure.” I folded the paper in half. “Why not?”

9
    E l o r A
    A scream rent the air, high and sharp like the battle cry of a hawk. I lurched from my place of rest, pupils dilating until they had taken over the whites of my eyes. The darkness gave way to strange silhouettes scattered around a small enclosure, and though I scanned my surroundings with nocturnal expertise, it took me nearly a minute to understand where I was.
    Yet with this understanding came greater confusion.
    Crouching on the floor of Taylor’s bedchamber, the edge of the blanket still wrapped around my leg, I knew without glancing toward the window that it was the middle of the night. But I couldn’t explain the scent of fear hanging in the air, heavy enough to taste, nor could I identify the cause of the scream. I crawled toward the sleeping mortal on