Read Online The Trials of Renegade X by Chelsea M. Campbell - Free Book Online

up there? “Dad,” I say through clenched teeth, “that’s great that you’re so concerned about Alex’s safety. But let’s not do anything crazy that we might regret . I’m more than happy to share my very safe ground-floor bedroom with Alex, especially since it was his room first and he was kind enough to share it with me.” Even if that meant I had to sleep on the floor, curled into a cramped little ball. But it would still be better than living in the freaking attic and having to go up and down those stairs every day. I get why he doesn’t want Alex up there, but wasn’t pushing me off a building enough for him?
    My phone starts ringing again, but I press the ignore button, sending it to voicemail.
    “Damien.” Gordon gets this gruff “I’m your father and I mistakenly think I know what’s best for you” look.
    “I would also be perfectly happy to sleep on the couch. But that’s my final offer.”
    “Alex’s room”—he means the ground floor bedroom, the one that up until two seconds ago was mine —“isn’t big enough for you to share permanently. And you’re not living on the couch. Not when we have a perfectly good extra bedroom upstairs.” He puts a hand on my shoulder and leans in, keeping his voice low. “I know how you feel about heights.”
    “Obviously you don’t.” Even after pushing me off a building, he still doesn’t understand, because if he did, he wouldn’t be asking this. “I’ve been telling you those stairs are dangerous for months, and you didn’t listen to me. And now that you know I’m right, because Alex nearly killed himself on them, you want me to move up there? Do you hear how ridiculous that sounds?”
    “But you’re older and more careful. Nothing’s ever happened to Amelia,” he points out, as if that should reassure me. Well, we’ve only had fifty percent casualties. You probably won’t die. “And,” he adds, giving me his gruff look again, “you can fly.”
    Says the man who’s only ever seen me do it once. I have, in fact, flown two times, but both times only because I was in mortal danger. I’m not eager to do it again.
    “If something does happen,” he goes on, “and I’m not saying that it will, but if it does, at least I know you can handle it. I don’t have to worry about you. Unless there is some reason I should be worried? You were awfully quiet in the car. How was your first day?”
    I flash him an overly fake smile. “My first day was great . I made tons of new friends. I’m already at the top of my class. I might even run for class president because I’m so obviously a shoo-in.”
    Disappointment flashes in Gordon’s eyes, though he tries to hide it by not looking at me and staring at his feet, which really only emphasizes it. “Well ... first days are hard.”
    “All the more reason why I should get to actually sleep tonight. In a room that isn’t going to collapse. You do realize I’ve never even been to the attic, right? I’ve lived here for six months and I’ve never even been up there.”
    He sighs, as if my stubbornness about, you know, not wanting to die is really putting him out. “If you’ve never even been up there, then how do you know you won’t like it? Think of this as a way to start getting over your fears. It’ll be good for you.”
    Right. Until the whole floor collapses and I die a horrible, excruciating death, buried under all the rubble. That’s like saying if you’ve never stuck your head inside a lion’s mouth, then how do you know it’s not a great idea? “You’re kidding me, right?”
    He claps me on the shoulder, acting like he didn’t hear me, and says, “I know you can handle it, Damien. And that I can trust you to set a good example for your brother and sisters. So go get your stuff.” Then he walks off to go help Helen in the kitchen with dinner. Or to go find someone else’s life to ruin. It’s really hard to say.

    “I tried to tell you,” Kat says on the phone later that