Read Alight The Peril for Free Online

Aunt Dorothy right in the eyes. “Okay, so tell me how I’m going to lure Sophie over here.”
    Aunt Dorothy nodded, and I realized she’d allowed me the last several minutes to get my mini tantrum out of my system. “This would be an appropriate time to use the influences.”
    I perked up at the thought of using the pyxis influences on Sophie. At least I had that over her. I sipped my lemonade.
    This wasn’t exactly how I had seen it going, but I knew with a certainty so deep it scared me that we needed to complete my pyramidal union. Since I’d linked with Mason, I’d been living with a sensation of absence and waiting, a constant nagging, itchy feeling at the back of my mind. I suspected it would dissipate as soon as I linked with my two Guardians. . . . Weird. I couldn’t remember at what point I’d started thinking of the Guardians as mine . But there it was. A distinct sense of possession. I wondered how Sophie would feel if she knew.
    Sophie aside, I understood we needed to get moving.
    “So, I can use any of the influences to get Sophie here?”
    “Yes, at appropriate strengths, of course,” she said.
    “Okay. How about if I try to get Ang and Sophie to come over on Saturday?” I looked at Mason to see if he agreed with the arrangement, and he nodded.
    “Excellent,” she said. “Then the Guardians can perform their rite.”
    My heart sank a few inches in my chest.
    * * *
    When I got home, I called Angeline and told her we’d both be brain-buddies with Sophie.
    “Wait, I so did not sign up for this, Corinne!” Ang said it as though I had some say in the situation.
    I groaned and lay back on my bed, my legs dangling over the side. “I know. Believe me, I couldn’t be less thrilled about this development.”
    “What are we going to do?”
    “I don’t know. Run away to the mountains? Learn to live off the land?”
    Ang sighed. “We could, but there aren’t any Skittles or egg salad sandwiches in the wilderness. And you know how I feel about going more than twenty-four hours without showering. That’s just gross.”
    I groaned again. “We have to suck it up. This is the way things are.”
    “How do you think she’s going to react?”
    “Not well, I’m sure. But I get to use the influences on her.”
    Ang giggled. “Can I be there when you do?”
    “Of course. I definitely want a witness to that moment.”
    “We’re going to be . . . stuck with each other.” The amusement evaporated from Ang’s voice. “I don’t know if I can deal with this. I mean, it’s not even that it’s Sophie. It’s the whole idea, being linked to someone that way forever. I feel way too young to have something this huge happening to me, you know?”
    Anxiety stirred through my chest. “I know. Sometimes I feel like if I think about it too much my brain will start whirling like a Tasmanian devil, and then just . . . explode, or something.” I sat up and scooted over so I could rest my back against the wall. “But it’s not like no one’s ever been through this. Maybe we should ask Aunt Dorothy what it’s like. I mean, what it’s really like to be in this situation.”
    “Yeah,” Ang’s voice brightened. “I’d like to hear her story anyway.”
    I squinted, trying to imagine my grandmother and great-aunt as teenagers, new to their pyramidal union. I shook my head. “So, topic change,” I said. “What’s new in the Angeloby department?”
    “Toby is sooo sweet, Corinne!” Ang’s voice took on a cooing tone that made me want to laugh and make barfing noises. “He came by and surprised me last night and took me for ice cream.”
    “Aw, did you get a banana split and share it with two spoons?” I teased.
    “Actually, yeah, that’s exactly what we did,” she said, and we both laughed.
    Ang described the extreme adorableness of the flop of hair across his forehead, and how they’d made out in Toby’s car for, like, twenty minutes. When she’d run out of Toby anecdotes, we said goodnight