And It Arose from the Deepest Black (John Black Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

asked her out — and she had apologized but declined — I could barely speak to her. I wanted to ask her out again, but without the construct of a school dance coming up, I floundered. I couldn’t just ask Carrie McGregor to go to the movies. That’s something I would do with dopes like Bobby or Steve or Tom. I needed an event . And even then, I didn’t think I had the nerve to try a second time.
     
    Sitting in the back, I closed my eyes. Everyone was talking too loud, as always. I was lost in thought. Then I opened my eyes and saw Carrie, turned around to look at me. Just for a second. As soon as we made eye contact, she faced forward once more. But it happened, I swear.
     
    Maybe I could find the nerve to ask her out again, after all.
     

4
    Somehow I didn’t hear the news until, I think, Wednesday or Thursday. Between classes, I was swapping books at my locker when suddenly my shoulder sluiced, all by itself, just a few inches. There was a loud bang as flesh and bone hit metal.
     
    “Ouch, Jesus!” Steve Martucci had apparently felt the need to surprise-punch me in the shoulder when he walked up behind. Obviously, he missed. He pulled back his fist and clutched at it with his other hand. “Nice freaking ninja move, John. I nearly broke my knuckles.”
     
    I had to play it off. “ The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting .” I waggled my eyebrows at him, just to increase the ridiculousness of it all, throw him off the scent. “Besides, I didn’t ask you to try to sucker-punch me.” As careful as I was to avoid having people find out what I could do, random acts like my shoulder sluicing about on its own were mildly terrifying. My body just did its thing. One day someone was actually going to notice. Then I’d really be labeled a freak and a weirdo. I wasn’t looking forward to it.
     
    “Thank you, sensei.” Steve rolled his eyes, still rubbing his hand. “Hey, did you do the homework for seventh period…?” He gave me a cheesy smile that I assumed was supposed to win me over.
     
    “Do your own homework, Steve.” I closed the locker and started off to class. Steve trailed after.
     
    “Come on, man. There’s no time for me to read the assignment and write out the answers. It’s already fifth period, and I’ve got gym. Just let me take a peek.” Again with the smile.
     
    I stopped and sighed, opening my folder to find the assignment. “You have 60 seconds.” Steve snatched up my paper and ducked around the corner to a place of relative seclusion. “Make sure you change the answers enough that it sounds like you,” I said. “You know, make them dumber.”
     
    “Very funny.” He was already furiously scribbling words on his own paper.
     
    “Can’t you do it in the bathroom or something? No one had better see you.”
     
    Steve just waved a hand at me as he continued to write. “Like that thing in the ocean, I’m hidden in plain sight.”
     
    I furrowed my brow. “Oh good. That’s very clear. What thing in the ocean?”
     
    “The thing all over TV. The thing they’re tracking.” He kept writing, not looking at me.
     
    I shook my head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
     
    Steve paused, just for a moment. “There’s a thing. A big thing. In the ocean, somewhere out west. They don’t know what it is. They can see it, well, sort of, but they can’t really see it. Because it’s underwater, you know? And it’s moving toward land.” He went back to writing.
     
    “Oh, well that makes sense,” I said, looking around to be sure no teachers had noticed Steve with my homework. “Are you done yet?”
     
    He scribbled one more line, then handed my paper back. “All set — thanks!” Steve rushed off toward his next class, but a few feet down the hall he turned back. “What do you think it is? The thing in the water.”
     
    “How should I know?” I shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
     
    “I think it’s a