Ageless Read Online Free Page B

pulled into a tight
grimace. Violet remembered the man who caught her in the hallway.
Then there was all the blood. Violet started to shake her
head.
    Margo took a deep breath as if
collecting herself. “I am your friend, Vi. I want you to know that
everything I’ve ever said to you is true; at least, the intent was
true. But I admit there are some important things that I left out
because it wasn’t time yet. You weren’t ready.”
    “And it’s time now?” Violet asked.
“I have to say, Margo, I don’t think I’d ever be ready to see what
I saw because I’m not a crazy person or an ax murderer.”
    Margo groaned and started to pace
the room, but Violet noticed that she carefully avoided the patches
of floor that were exposed to the full strength of the sunlight.
Violet didn’t even want to try to make sense of what that meant.
Margo told her once that she didn’t like exposing herself to too
much sun because it was bad for her complexion. Violet had never
really questioned it that Margo never took her up on her invites to
study at the picnic tables in the quad. She had always chalked it
up to Margo not being an outdoorsy type. But she was starting to
look at everything now with new eyes.
    “No, it wasn’t supposed to be time
now either,” Margo said. “But I’m not the one that gets to make
those decisions and a few people got a bit overzealous. I was going
to tell you everything right after the term ended.”
    “Why then?” Violet asked, afraid of
the answer.
    Margo stopped and stared at her.
Violet could see pity in her eyes. “I wanted you to have that last
little bit of a normal life before everything went crazy for you.
Because you are my friend, and it’s what I wish someone would have
done for me.”
    Violet didn’t understand what Margo
was telling her; it was like she was talking in code. What she did
understand was that everything Margo had done was in an effort to
manipulate Violet to some end that she didn’t know yet. If what she
saw in that room at Mike’s house was any indication, Violet knew
that she wasn’t going to like it. Somehow her best friend was
involved what whatever had played out there. Violet felt sick
thinking that Margo may have even participated.
    Violet was scared. She was in a room in a place that
she had never seen before and she had no idea who may be lurking
outside. She needed time to think. She saw that Margo was watching
her face intently. She took a slow breath. As much as she wanted to
scream and try to find help, she needed to find out where she was
first.
    “If you truly are my friend, Margo,
then I’d like you to take me home now,” Violet said carefully. “You
are scaring me.”
    Margo shook her head. Violet could
see that she was struggling with what she was saying. “I can’t do
that, Vi. Even if I could, it isn’t safe for you at Bayersfield
right now. Not after what happened at Mike’s. There are too many
people who are sniffing around that are trouble.”
    “What are you talking about?”
Violet was scared but she could feel something else bubbling inside
of her. Anger. “I don’t know what you are mixed up in, Margo, but
it has absolutely nothing to do with me and it is unfair that you
dragged me into it. I didn’t ask for any of this. I want to go
home. NOW.”
    The pity had returned to Margo’s
eyes. “Oh, Vi. What’s happened has got everything to do with you;
you just don’t know it yet. Let me explain.”
    “No!” Violet yelled. “Leave me
alone. Get out of here! You aren’t my friend, you never were my
friend, and I’m not going to believe a damn word that comes out of
your mouth from this point forward. Get out!” Violet swung around
and went to stand next to the window sill. She looked out and saw a
wide expansive lawn below her that led to a wooded area about a
hundred feet away. There was nothing familiar about it.
    “Vi—” Margo started.
    “Shut up and leave me alone,
Margo.” Violet refused to listen to