Read Natural Selection for Free Online Page B

that though they
explained what I was, I still had no clue what that
meant.

 
     

    I DIDN’T WANT to be alone in a car
with either of my siblings the next morning, so I decided to take
the bus. By the time I got to school, Evelyn was waiting for me at
my locker. Since today’s theme was Hawaii, I wore a horrible
Hawaiian shirt, a lei, and a hibiscus flower in my hair. Erica wore
a swimsuit-like tank top and oversized lei with a matching flower
in her hair.
    “ So what the hell happened
yesterday?” she asked, stepping aside so I could get into my
locker.
    I didn’t even know where to begin. My
talk with my parents left me with more questions than answers, and
I had no idea what was safe to share and what wasn’t. Evelyn was my
best friend, and I felt guilty keeping secrets from her, but I
wasn’t ready to share anything until I got a handle on it. Instead,
I told her about Mariah—not all of it, but enough that her brown
eyes grew wide.
    We walked to English together. I
couldn’t tell you what we talked about, just the kind of stuff we
always did: school gossip, television shows, teen fashion, whatever
happened to wander through our brains. But for this one brief
moment it was nice to be reminded that normal was still possible. I
mindlessly listened to Evelyn chatter about some singer’s dress at
some award show I could care less about, and I thanked my lucky
stars to have her. It was the most surreal day of my life—boring,
mundane, and absolutely wonderful. It was a blissfully normal
day.
    Nathanial ignored me, except when he
flashed me one of his million-watt smiles at a witty comment I
made. Immediately forgot what was happening around me as I
struggled to hold back an embarrassingly girly giggle. Xander
showed up in a coconut bra and grass skirt. I told Evelyn he had to
have been adopted because I couldn’t be related to that. It wasn’t
until the words were out of my mouth that I realized it was the
truth and I hoped she didn't catch my reaction. Sariah broke up
with her current meal ticket on the quad, smacking him in the back
of the head with a book when she caught him with his hand on
Chelsea Drake’s thigh. Right on, Sariah!
    After school, I rode home with Xander
and the normal stopped. I hadn’t been alone with him since my talk
with Mom and Dad. I barely left my room all night, so I had no idea
what Mom told him. He didn’t say anything. After a couple of blocks
of awkward silence while I chomped on one of my nails, I couldn’t
take it anymore. “Ok, it’s killing me. What did Mom tell you guys
about me last night?”
    He gave me a funny look, swerving into
the other lane briefly before pulling it back over the line.
Fortunately, the road was empty, but I grabbed onto the "Oh shit"
handle just in case. I’ve always wondered how holding onto that
handle was supposed to save me in a car accident, but still I
reached for it during a close call.
    “ Sorry about that,” he
muttered, looking a little chagrinned. “Mom didn’t say
anything—just you were in your room. Why?”
    “ A friend of mine was
murdered.” I was shocked with how deadpan my voice was. I went for
a walk. I weeded the garden. My friend was killed.
    “ Who?”
    “ Mariah Carter. A police
detective came to school, and I was in the office. They showed me a
picture of her room—it was awful, Xander. It was some sort of
creepy witchcraft ritual.”
    Xander was silent as we drove down
Kickapoo, past the town square and the courthouse with its familiar
dome. “I’m sorry, Lia. Were you two close?”
    “ No. Yes. I don’t
know…That’s not why it upset me so much. The symbol they found
painted in her room—I can’t breathe just thinking about it. It was
powerful, Xander.”
    “ Did you and Mom talk about
that?”
    “ No. Actually, we got
sidetracked. We spent most of our time talking about gaia, djinn,
and succubuses… succubi… whatever!” What was the proper plural of
succubus, really?
    Xander didn’t say