Read The Weapon Within: A Paranormal Dystopian Adventure (The Unexplainables Book 1) for Free Online Page A

panther stirred behind me. ‘You should go,’ I murmured. ‘It’s probably not a good idea for you to come here too often in case you get seen by someone.’ He purred and nuzzled against my back then sprang lightly to his feet and disappeared into the darkness.
    ‘ You have got to be kidding me. You can’t possibly rate that racket as music. It’s rubbish!’
    The voices broke through my thoughts and I turned back to listen.
    ‘What sort of music do you like, Ava?’ Kenzie asked me.
    ‘ I don’t really know. I’ve never really heard much music.’
    ‘ Really?’ Noah tipped his head and regarded me. ‘How come?’
    ‘ It just wasn’t something that we listened to.’
    ‘ Ever?’ He raised an eyebrow at me. ‘What about TV?’
    ‘ My mother never let me watch it. She said it would give me the wrong impression about people. I was allowed books though.’
    ‘ What type of books do you like?’ Gwen called over from one of the reclining garden chairs.
    ‘ Cookery books,’ I replied. ‘I love seeing how people start out with raw ingredients and end up with a piece of art. But anything factual is fine.’
    ‘ Well, I’ve got lots of cookery books which you’re welcome to borrow. Some are quite old and have regional recipes in.’
    ‘ That would be great, thank you.’
    ‘ Can you actually cook though?’ Noah asked.
    ‘ Yes, my mother taught me when I was younger. Actually, come to think of it, she played the piano at the hotel she worked at so I did hear some music. It was about the same time I found out I could communicate with animals too.’
    ‘ Come on then,’ Noah settled back on the ground, shuffling until he was comfortable, ‘tell us what happened.’
    ‘ Well, one day Mother took me to the city zoo. It was the middle of the week so she thought it would be quiet. The animals were amazing, but it was the other children that interested me the most. Some were well behaved but others were awful. One boy caused trouble wherever he went. We followed a sign to the polar bear enclosure to try and get away from him. The path went underground into a viewing tunnel but the water was so cloudy we couldn’t see a thing. Then the boy came down the tunnel and pushed me out of the way. I remember putting my forehead against the glass, trying to block him out and the next thing I knew, I was staring into a pair of black eyes. The bear floated right up to the glass and the boy jumped up and down beside me, yelling at the top of his voice. I screamed “Stop it!” at him and at the same time, the polar bear bared its teeth and swam at the boy. Even though the glass was protecting him, it was still really scary. The boy screamed and ran away up the tunnel. My mother was furious with me – she was convinced I’d done it on purpose. When we got back out into the open the bear was out of the water and was watching as we walked around the edge of the enclosure. It roared really loudly and we ran all the way home.’
    ‘ So was that the first time you realised you had powers?’ Gwen asked.
    ‘ No, I’ve always known I had them but they’ve grown much stronger recently. When I was younger they kept bursting through when I got really angry or upset. The only time I was ever allowed to play with other children was when we came across an open-air ice skating rink one winter. I begged Mother to let me have a go and she gave in. I copied what the other people were doing and took to it really quickly. But then I noticed a little girl at the side of the rink crying because her sister had left her alone. I helped her learn how to skate and she was so proud of herself. As she skated past her sister, she looked up with this huge smile on her face but her sister said something nasty to her – I can’t remember what now. I was furious though and my powers erupted from me and knocked the sister off her feet. Everyone laughed except for Mother. She said that she saw the powers coming out of me, like a ripple on the