Eternal Read Online Free Page A

wasn’t.”
    She covered her mouth with the palm of one hand. When she let it fall, I saw that her fingers were trembling. “How do you know? I mean, are you sure?”
    “I had a vision last fall. I thought it was a dream, since I wasn’t able to replay it. But on the last day of school, it happened just like I saw it. He went after my friend Whitney in Central Park. Matthew and I got there just in time. I was able to stop him, but”—I shook my head—“but yeah, I’m sure. He left that night to turn himself in to the Tribunal. He’s not coming back,” I choked out, tears welling in my eyes. “Not in this lifetime.”
    Sophie scooted closer, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “And you didn’t call me? You’ve been here all by yourself?”
    I wiped my eyes with the back of one hand. “Matthew’s been around. A lot,” I added.
    Releasing me, she shot me a glare. “I still can’t believe you didn’t call me, even if you did have Dr. Hottie hanging around.”
    “There wasn’t anything you could do. Anyway, I didn’t want to ruin your vacation.”
    “Well, what about Cece? Does she know?”
    I nodded. “She’s been trying to project to Mrs. G. Cece thinks she must have some sort of shield around herself, around Aidan,too. I’ve got to find her, though. I need to tell her about my vision. I think I saw something that might clear Aidan.”
    “Okay, slow down.” She held out a hand. “What vision?”
    “One I had just before break. I saw something in the lab, but I didn’t realize what it meant at the time. I think someone was tampering with Aidan’s serum. Mrs. Girard needs to know that it wasn’t Aidan’s fault, that someone did this to him. Intentionally.”
    “Do you know who it was?”
    “No. I couldn’t see anything but hands. At the time, I thought they were Aidan’s. I wasn’t really paying much attention. It was just boring, everyday science stuff, as far as I could tell.”
    “So you can just replay the vision, right? Look for clues this time.”
    “Matthew’s been trying to talk me through it, but so far, nothing. I don’t know . . .” I shook my head. “What if he ’s the one who tampered with the serum? I think that’s why I’m having such a hard time with the replay.”
    “Do you need him to talk you through it? Or can you do it on your own?”
    “It’s easier with him, but sometimes I can do it on my own.”
    Sophie scooted to the edge of the sofa. “Okay, let’s do this. What do you need?”
    I sat up straight, looking around the apartment. “I wish wehad an old-fashioned clock here. You know, one that ticks really loud.”
    A slow smile spread across Sophie’s face as she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. “There’s an app for that. Hold on a sec.” She started tapping her screen. “It’s got all kinds of sounds that are supposed to be relaxing. Okay, check this out.” She tapped an icon that looked like an antique grandfather clock, and there it was— ticktock, ticktock.
    “That’s perfect!” I cried, closing my eyes and settling myself back against the cushions. Ticktock, ticktock. “Okay, just stay really quiet and let me focus. I can do this.”
    A deep breath, in through my nose, out through my mouth—once, twice. I emptied my mind of extraneous thoughts, hyperfocusing on the sound of the clock. Seconds passed, a minute, maybe two. And then the room fell away.
    I was in the lab back at Winterhaven. Just like before, microscopes lined the far wall, a Bunsen burner on one of the black-topped tables. I saw the hands, holding a dropper, extracting a liquid from a small vial and dropping it into a test tube. One drop. Two. Three. Then the vial was capped and put into a little wooden rack. As the hands reached for a second vial, I forced myself to pull back, to look around the room. The clock on the wall read five forty-five; one long, rectangular fluorescent light was flickering, making a faint buzzing sound. I pulled back