Read Wolfsbane: 3 (Rebel Angels) for Free Online Page B

love. I’m the only pal you’ve got right now.’
    ‘Except for him.’ I nodded at the nearest lamppost, and when he twitched his head up anxiously I wrenched myself out from under his arm.
    He snatched my sleeve, yanking me back. I slapped at him, then kicked wildly, missing his groin by a mile; but he had to swerve. Once again I tore away, and this time I ran.
    ‘Sleep in the gutter for all I fecking care!’ His echo of Sheena was all I made out as I skidded and almost fell, pelting round the corner and out of his sight.

    I couldn’t go back there or I’d kill him. Sheena too. I’d kill them all, and that would be bad when the police showed up for our chat. I didn’t know
what I should do, so I kept walking.
    I say I didn’t know what I
should
do, but I knew fine what I
wanted
to do. The Screaming Urge was back, and it wasn’t all to do with extended-family homicide. I
came to a halt at the bus stop and stared up at the timetable. Last bus. Nothing coming back at this hour.
    D
o it. What’s to lose?
    I had to practically step in front of the bus to make it stop – you’d think my criminal record was common knowledge, the way drivers ignore me – but at the last moment he
braked and let me on. He did give me a very funny look as I got off at the Cantray stop. I couldn’t blame him; this was ridiculous. I had no idea what I was thinking. I couldn’t get
into the main castle, couldn’t even get a comforting glimpse of my painted psycho. The sky was that heavy pewter colour that isn’t far off night, and though the loch shone silver it
only made the clouds seem darker. The light would go off it any minute now. Any minute. It had already slid from the castle walls, leaving them bleaker than winter.
    It still seemed like a better option than The Paddocks.
    Yes. Even the empty coldness, and the mournful quietness when the bus disappeared: even that was better than The Paddocks, and its locks, and its sterile comforts, and its central heating. And
Marty. Yes.
    It was better here, despite the whispering summer trees, and the lonely cry of a curlew, and the slow lap of the steely water at the loch fringes. And the rustle of grasses. And the long looming
shadow of the castle.
    And the crunch of a footstep RIGHT AT MY BACK.
    I shrieked and stumbled as I turned.
    ‘Oh, there you are. Finally.’
    I glared at the blond boy, who stood there smiling inanely, until my thumping heart calmed down. ‘“Finally”?’
    ‘I had a feeling you’d be back.’ He blew a lock of pale hair out of his eye.
    I shook my head in disgust and strode away towards the castle fence.
    ‘Where you going, Red?’ He jogged to keep up.
    ‘Strawberry blonde.’ I gave him a weary look. ‘Aren’t you in trouble? Shouldn’t you be getting home?’
    ‘I’ll put that off as long as I can, thanks. Where are you going?’
    ‘I suggest you just go and get it over with.’
    ‘Ha. You haven’t met my dad.’
    ‘Indeed, and I’d rather I didn’t. Your dad sounds like he ought to be locked up.’
    He gave a snarky giggle. ‘I’d like to see anybody try.’
    ‘Get your mother to do it.’
    ‘She’s dead. Ages ago and I don’t remember her, so don’t start apologising.’
    ‘Okay.’ I turned with an air of finality towards the castle fence. ‘Mine’s dead to me and all.’
    ‘Really?’ Sympathy started to dawn on his face.
    ‘No. Not
really
. She ran off with a session musician. Apparently she owed it to herself to find herself, but I expect she’s still looking. She wasn’t that
bright.’
    ‘I see.’ He caught up and walked peaceably at my side. I looked at him askance.
    ‘Can I, uh.
Help
you with something?’
    He stopped, nonplussed. ‘Well. No. Not really.’ Awkwardly he slewed his eyes aside, then he brightened. ‘I’m bored.’
    ‘And I’m not your frigging Xbox. Stop following me.’
    He didn’t go away. The sky was duller, its layer of cloud sheened with dying sunlight, and I wanted to break into