Diabolical Read Online Free Page B

it looks like his dewclaws are about to skewer them. His expression is mischievous, as if he’s barely keeping a secret. The eyes suggest an ancient evil, some thing that’s having fun. The effect is disconcerting, goblinlike . . . creepy in a way that crawls beneath your toenails and digs.
    As Lucy and Seth chat about the weather (“How’s the skiing?”), I zoom in to view the third floor and take note of the seminar-style room, the library, and the restrooms. The same devilish print is the artistic focal point in each of those spaces, too. I move the monitor-com focus up and get no reception for the fourth floor. It’s all gray.
    When did Lucy decide to transfer to a new school? I should’ve been paying more attention to her. However radiant Zachary may be, I was wrong to neglect my best friend.
    The doorbell sounds again, and I zoom in to locate Lucy and Seth in the foyer. He opens the massive door.
    The new arrival’s salty blond hair looks salon styled, her clothes designer label, and her cosmetics professionally applied.
    “You must be Seth!” she exclaims, rising on her toes to kiss him full on the lips. “I can’t believe I made it.” She glances at Lucy. “Don’t you hate the weather?”
    As a chauffeur begins unloading her fifteen-piece luggage set, Seth introduces the girl as Vesper Simon. I change screen functions to do an online search.
    We ascended souls are unable to post messages or other content on the Web, but we’re welcome to read what’s out there.
    Here it is. Vesper is the daughter of some financial guru worth $139.8 billion. Last year, Vesper herself was named Massachusetts It Girl by a local society magazine, and she’s been romantically linked to a minor Kennedy.
    The chauffeur wheels another of Vesper’s trunks inside, and Seth admits, “I’m afraid I have to hit the road in a few minutes. The caretakers will arrive any moment, and they’ll finish getting you settled.”
    Vesper yanks off her mink-lined black leather gloves. “I thought —”
    “It’s the nature of the job.” Seth helps Vesper out of her fur jacket. “Tables to man, brochures to distribute, students to recruit. A glamorous life. I travel a lot, but I do have an office on the fourth floor, and you’ll see me again before you know it.”
    Zooming out, I observe that the academy is a Mies van der Rohe–looking, four-story, rectangular building made of uniform thin steel columns supporting massive panes of tinted glass. What appears to be the basement is aboveground, and both the circular drive and the black-stone staircase leading to the entrance have been shoveled and sprinkled with sand.
    The structure sits nestled among taller snow-blanked hills (mountains?) on wooded land alongside a fair-size lake, which is oddly not frozen. The closest waterline is about a hundred feet from the front of the structure. It tightly wraps around the east side, though, and laps against glass and metal. I zoom in on the chiseled gray stone sign above the front door, an archaic contrast to the otherwise modern architecture.
    It reads: SCHOLOMANCE PREPARATORY ACADEMY .

I’M YOUNG FOR A GA . I’ve had only three formal assignments, but I’ve still managed to blow each of them to varying degrees.
    Dan “the Man” Bianchi graduated from altar boy to small-time crooked politician. Alcohol led to drugs, prostitutes, and an early, ugly end in an upscale hotel suite. Only Nonna Bianchi and Dan’s cousin, Vaggio, showed up at the funeral to pray for the boy Dan had once been. (The same Vaggio Bianchi who served as Sanguini’s original chef. The Big Boss works in mysterious ways.)
    Then my girl, my Miranda. A one-time North Dallas teen. She obsessed over Tolkien, dreamed of stage acting, mourned her parents’ failed marriage, and played the loyal sidekick to her adventurous best friend.
    One winter night I broke heaven’s rules and revealed myself in full glory — corporeal, shining, wings and all — to warn her of an