Camille Read Online Free Page A

air of my
bedroom. Dr. Bennett would already be at work in his lab, and he
would need breakfast as well.
    The water in the ewer stand refreshed my face
and arms. My trousers from the night before were still draped over
the foot of my bed. I reached for them and threw them over the back
of my chair. It had been a long while since I’d pulled a dress over
my head. Some time ago, I’d convinced myself that buttery silk
gowns were meant for girls with a social life, not for girls who
lurked in midnight shadows hunting werewolves. Besides, my boyish
disguise had allowed me to venture out alone. Most days, Dr.
Bennett never strayed from the house, content only in his lab
hovering over his microscope or seated in his favorite chair poring
over his books. He hated the outside world and strangers. Only our
midnight hunts lured him from home. From my wardrobe, I pulled out
a green day dress in hopes that a change of costume would boost my
spirits.
    I stopped in front of the full-length cheval
glass, a possession from my earlier life, and tied my dark hair up
with a ribbon. A thick, white lock of hair framed the left side of
my face, a constant reminder of my past.
    I pinched my cheeks for color, a habit I’d
learned from my mother. I had been named after her, and although
she died when I was six, I remembered a round freckle near her
mouth, the distinctive smell of lavender, and remarkably soft
hands. Often she’d spoken in what I later learned was French. Dr.
Bennett, my father’s closest friend at the time, was the only one
who could speak it with her. My father’s face would scrunch up
small and red whenever they excluded him from the conversation.
Several years after my mother’s death, my father and Dr. Bennett
had had a terrible fight. Their roaring voices boomed from the
study in our house. John stormed out and did not return until the
dreadful night of my father’s death.
    The reflection staring back at me looked
foreign in feminine attire. The feel of the soft cotton floating
around my legs made me smile.
    Dr. Bennett hunched his shoulders over the
lab table as he stared into the eyepiece of his microscope.
Absorbed in his work, he did not hear me walk into the lab. The
long rows of shelves lining the back wall of the room were filled
with jars of oddities I’d always tried my best not to look at.
Other than that, it was a room I enjoyed. There was a primitively
built cot of wood and canvas strategically placed near a window to
take advantage of the natural light. Very often, I would find Dr.
Bennett fast asleep there with a book on his chest and his glasses
still propped on his nose. The stacks of books in the corner had
been my school mates growing up, and like school mates, some were
dull and some were intriguing.
    I peered over Dr. Bennett’s shoulder at the
slides he’d prepared. They were cell smears from his handkerchief.
“I’ll fry some eggs. Would you prefer coffee or tea?”
    He didn’t look up from his work but nodded.
“Fine, fine, Cami,” he answered absently. His work would engross
him so deeply; he often didn’t know I was in the room.
    I smiled. “Coffee it is then.”
    “Cami, run down to the corner to pick up a
paper.” He glanced up for a moment, then refocused on the thin
plates of glass in front of him. “You’re wearing a dress. Very
nice.” His face shot up. “Is everything all right?”
    I held out my arms and looked down at the
green stripes of my skirt. “Everything is fine. I just thought I’d
surprise Emily.” It was a lie. I hadn’t really given my sister a
thought when I put on the dress.
    “I daresay she will be shocked when she sees
you.” He refocused on his work. “You know, I think I would prefer
coffee instead of tea this morning.”
    I smiled and left the lab. My mantle hung on
a hook near the door. I flung it around my shoulders and tromped
down the three front steps to the wet pavement. The newsboy shouted
the headline before I reached him.
    “Mysterious