Read Crave (Harlequin Teen) for Free Online Page A

worked better this time around. “Hey, Michelle, how’s it going?”
    She turned pink, always a good sign, and giggled. “Fine, and you?”
    “Good.” Switching strategies, I tried not to show any personal interest this time. “Listen, some of the girls at lunch were talking about your friend Savannah Colbert. They said she’s missed a lot of school this week, and they’re pretty worried about her. Sounded like they were thinking about sending her a get-well card or something. I told them I knew you and would ask how she was doing. You wouldn’t happen to have any updates I could pass along, would you?”
    “Oh! That’s nice of them. I heard she’s doing okay. I’m not sure when she’s supposed to be back at school, though.”
    That wasn’t the kind of news I wanted to hear. “Huh. Sounds like she caught something pretty serious, then. Did you get to talk to her?”
    “No, just her grandma. You know, Mrs. Evans didn’t actually say what was wrong with Savannah, now that I think about it.” Her smile turned hesitant. “If you want, I could call them again tonight and find out more details.”
    Her head tilted to the side like a bird’s as she inspected my expression. She was getting too curious. Not good. “Aw, it’s no big deal. I’m sure the girls were just a little worried about her. I’ll tell them she’s okay.” I straightened away from the lockers. “But hey, let me know if you hear any updates?”
    I gave her another smile, waited till she nodded in agreement, then I walked off with what I hoped was a casual wave.
    Why did I feel even more worried now?
    Savannah
    Fire and ice. They were my entire world for days. That and weird conversations I overheard between Mom and Nanna. Or maybe they were dreams.
    “Sav’s never been sick like this. Never,” Mom whispered sometime during the first night. “Should we take her—”
    “Take her where, Joan? If they do blood tests…” Nanna murmured.
    “Oh, Lord, you’re right. No telling what they might find. And we can’t call the Clann’s doctor, either. He’d tell the Clann, and that’s the last kind of trouble we need. So…what do we do?”
    “I don’t know. Everything I try makes her fever shoot up higher. It shouldn’t do that. I’ve gone through all the books, read everything twice. But she’s too special. There just isn’t anything about her. There never has been. We’ve always been so lucky with her. She’s never been sick in a way I couldn’t fix.”
    “Are you giving up? ” Mom’s voice rose to a near shriek on the last word.
    “Shh, no, of course not! But maybe you should call her father. Maybe his kind would know what to do.” His kind? Nanna must really hate Dad.
    A long silence made me wonder if I’d fallen asleep. Then Mom finally replied in an odd tone that made her sound even more worried than before. “Are you sure we should involve them? If we ask for their advice, they may think things are out of control. They might want to get really involved from now on.”
    “We’ll have to take that risk, Joan. It’s ask for their help or nothing else.”
    Nothing else? What did that mean? Why did Nanna make those two simple words sound so scary?
    I thought I heard Mom murmuring to someone, but Nanna didn’t reply. Maybe Mom was talking with Dad on the phone?
    “Okay, we’ll try it.” Mom paused, and the cordless phone beeped as she ended the call. “Mom, he says we should try removing all our influence from her.”
    “All of it? Even the protective…”
    “Yes. He says it sounds like a conflict between the two sides within her.”
    “But—”
    “We have to try it. It was the only solution he could think of. And…he’s coming to have the talk with her.”
    “No. No, you said she never needed to know. He said she could have a normal life!”
    “She’s changing, Mom. And we can’t stop it anymore. She needs to know. But that’s only if…if this works.”
    “You mean…there won’t be any need