Read Unchosen for Free Online Page A

hated lying to them.
    “You still up for tonight?” asked Autumn.
    “My room is your room,” I said. “Movie night is on.”
    “My dad brought home snake jerky from Cambodia,” said Daniel. As usual, he wore his special sunglasses. As an ib heka , he could see a person’s true worth. It was a rare necro power and one that had to be used carefully. He was the only dude in our friend zone—sorta the Eeyore of our group.
    “Uh, no,” said Trina. Trina was dark as cocoa with long silky black hair that fell past her shoulders. She wore her favorite color: pink. Today, it was a shimmery white tank with pink polka dots tucked into skinny pink jeans. “If you bring that crap to movie night, I will cut you.”
    We all laughed.
    Daniel shrugged. “It’s good,” he said. “You’re missing out.”
    Autumn threw a balled-up napkin at him, which bounced off Daniel’s head and landed in Barbie’s messy fries. She sighed and flicked the napkin off her food. “Gee. Thanks.”
    “I gotta go.” I looked down at my supreme nachos, and mourned the loss of cheesy calories. “Anybody want my—”
    “Girl, you know I want those.” Trina lifted her hands in a “gimme” gesture. I handed Trina my tray, and she wasted no time digging in to my lunch.
    “See you tonight,” I said.
    Everyone said bye, and I trudged out of the cafeteria, pissed at Clarissa for the umpteenth time since I’d been at Nekyia. Not only was she ruining my social life (what little I had these days), but I just knew she’d been the one to plant the soul box in my dorm room. She had the number-one motive: get rid of her competition.
    The temple was near the school, but it was underground and could only be accessed if you knew the way to the entrance and if you knew the magic passwords to open the carved stone door.
    The secret headquarters of the Nekros Society had been built at the same time as the school, except the temple was created inside a natural cavern. The temple was covered in wall reliefs that told the stories of Anubis and his reapers.
    Getting to the temple meant going outside, entering the woods, and walking downhill on a path most people used to go down to the lake. About halfway down this path, I veered off and continued to a small hillside. Hidden by illusionary magic, I walked through what appeared to be a pile of brush and fallen trees. Then I pushed on the hidden door and uttered the magical password.
    The rock-carved staircase was lit by blue-flamed torches. As I descended, I heard conversations rumbling and shoes scuffing as restless teens awaited the great Mac Jacobs’ “announcement” in the main area of the temple.
    T he flames suddenly went wild—dancing as though tormented by wind. I felt a swish of cold and in front of me, a flash of inky darkness that quickly disappeared.
    Had a reaper entered the temple?
    I was reminded about the first time I met Rath. At my Sweet Sixteen party, I’d felt that same kind of chill and saw the same kind of black flash—right before I noticed Rath leaning against the wall, with a smile that cut like broken glass.
    “Rath,” I whispered.
    Molly, you i diot. Rath wouldn’t have to sneak in to the temple. And I don’t think he’d show himself to me as a freaky shadow, even if he did.
    The flames returned to their normal flickering, and I shook off the experience. I don’t know if the shadow meant for me to se e it at all. Now, I needed to worry about whether or not an unknown reaper, or maybe even Anput, or worse, something Set sent, had infiltrated the temple. I mean what—
    Aunt Lelia.
    The only moving inkblot I’d seen before this one was the sheut of my long dead Aunt Lelia. She’d left the earthly plane when I was six months old, and for reasons I had yet to discover, she had been enslaved by Set as a sheut . A sheut was the shadow of a person’s soul—stripped from its other parts and controlled by the type of heka magic that usually caused trouble.
    I didn’t know if