Read Unnatural Occurrence (An Anna Morgan Novella (Part 1)) for Free Online Page A

mine?” I asked as I leaned up to speak to him again. His eyes widened behind his mask. My lips formed a straight line and I felt heat rush to my cheeks. “I know, I’m sorry. I just have a theory and I think it might help me clear my mind,” I said apologetically. His jaw hardened, but he leaned down to answer me.
    “Put your arms around me,” he said next to my ear, his lips accidently brushing my temple. I shivered slightly before awkwardly placing a hand on his hip. I squeezed his waist and then lifted my other hand to thread it into the hair on the back of his head. A breath of air hissed in through his teeth. He leaned in further until his body was flush against mine. It felt awkward and unnatural until he wrapped a hand around to the small of my back and pressed my body further into him. He buried his face into my neck and as his breath fanned across my flushed skin, his aura enveloped me. I contentedly melted into his embrace with a sigh.
    My mind slowly cleared and the dizziness became bearable. I hadn’t even known that I was able to siphon off of someone else’s aura. Luckily, Christopher’s energy seemed open to me borrowing a little. I’d worry about the connection that was implied later. I opened my eyes as Christopher held me and glanced over his shoulder to take in the room. It looked like what I would imagine any frat party would have looked like, with the exception of the presence of so many different masks. People danced, played stupid games, talked on the edges of the dance floor, and they all did it without anyone noticing the darkness that swirled around the room or that their auras had all but been snuffed out as soon as they’d entered the building.
    An odd movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention. I squinted against the darkness in time to see a girl with platinum blonde hair corner another girl. She didn’t grab her or hurt her, but the way she angled her body screamed dominance and anger. The girl—whose white mask was identical to the one the blonde wore—shrunk back, her eyes going wide as the blonde said something in her ear. My hand tightened in Christopher’s hair. He grunted before I loosened my grip and apologized. Everything about the situation screamed “popular girl drama” to the casual observer. But, I wasn’t a casual observer. I could read a person’s every move, the tiniest hint of body language, from years of living with my extra-sensitive perception. Even with the lack of colorful auras present in the room I could tell something wasn’t quite right.
    I pulled back from Christopher, but kept both my hands resting on his waist. He adjusted his mask before meeting my eyes.
    “Thought we were going to have to make out there for a minute,” he grunted. I hoped my mask hid the majority of the blush I felt working up my neck and across my cheeks.
    “You wish, Professor ,” I mouthed the word Professor at him and he threw his head back and laughed. Several people were staring at us. We were obviously not very good at this “fitting in” thing. I didn’t think it was possible to find the one other person in the world who was more awkward than I was in a social setting. Just my luck, Christopher outranked my awkwardness as a Jedi master would outrank a Jedi padawan. Just great .
    “We should probably mingle. Maybe even dance.” I grimaced. “I saw someon e I want to talk to, so if you’ll pretend like you’re getting me a drink, I could find the bathroom and look around a bit.”
    “ I’ll be glad to get you a drink,” he answered, already scoping out the drink and snack area. I already molested him and made him extremely uncomfortable. No wonder he was ready to run across the room to get away from me. I nodded and searched the room for the girl I was going to try to talk to. I finally spotted her making her way down the hallway, glancing over her shoulder nervously before turning the corner in the back. I needed to move. “Be careful.”
    I