Pawn (Nightmares Trilogy #1) Read Online Free Page A

too.
    I glanced at a mirror hanging on the
wall above the phone. My brown-green eyes were bloodshot, dirt
streaked both of my cheeks, and a dime-sized patch blazed red
against the unusually pale skin over my right cheekbone. Tangled
clumps of half-dried auburn hair framed my face. I really did look
awful. And I felt worse than I looked. My entire body ached, my
head throbbed, and the places where I’d imagined the lake creature
touching me burned. The rest of me was numb, still cold from the
water.
    “Hey, guys,” Elizabeth called,
appearing at the top of the staircase. “Hot tub’s on the back deck.
You know the way.”
    “What about your mom?” Cooper
whispered loudly.
    Mandy and I exchanged a knowing
look.
    After Mr. Bowers married Mrs. Bowers
#2, Elizabeth’s mother turned to sleeping pills and copious amounts
of Merlot to console her bruised ego. While the affair and
subsequent divorce were still town gossip, Mrs. Bowers’ coping
mechanisms were not.
    “She’s a heavy sleeper,” I mumbled.
Technically, that was true.
    Elizabeth bounded down the staircase a
moment later. “Let’s take this party outside.”
    Cynthia, Cooper, and the others
followed Elizabeth through the house, towards the sliding glass
doors that led to the back deck, leaving Mandy and me standing in
the foyer. Headlights pierced the windows on either side of the
front door, signaling the arrival of more partiers.
    “I don’t feel like swimming,” I said.
Actually, I didn’t feel like doing anything besides crawling into
bed and pretending like the entire night was nothing more than a
bad dream. “I’m just going to go lie down.”
    “Want me to come with you?” Mandy
offered.
    I shook my head. “Nah. I’m exhausted.
You go have fun with the others.”
    Mandy chewed her thumbnail, hesitating
for a moment before mumbling, “If you’re sure.”
    In response, I made a shooing motion,
indicating that she should go. Mandy opened the front door and
stepped outside. “Hey, Kevin,” I heard her call.
    Glad I have an excuse to
miss spending time with Kevin Mathis , I
thought. He was Rick’s best friend, and I’d been the unwilling
object of his lecherous affections for a while now. He always made
excuses to put his arm around me or touch my hair, and no matter
how many times I shot him down, he never gave up. I headed for the
stairs before he decided to come inside.
    Elizabeth’s bedroom was on the second
floor at the far end of a long hallway. I flipped the light switch
on the wall, and a soft glow illuminated the room. Elizabeth’s
bedroom was comforting to me, and her canopy bed with its burgundy
drapes was as familiar to me as my own. I spent a lot of time at my
friends’ houses. As always, the room smelled like Elizabeth: a
mixture of Pleasures perfume and Dr. Pepper lip gloss.
    Weariness had settled into my bones,
and my foot and head throbbed in perfect unison. I sat on the edge
of Elizabeth’s bed and removed my tennis shoes. The inside of my
left sneaker was stained red. The sight of my own blood caught me
off guard and I gasped.
    A sliver of shiny material,
as long as my pinkie and half as wide as its nail, was lodged in
the arch. The memory of kicking the lake creature came back to
me. Just a hallucination, I reminded myself. She
isn’t real; lack of oxygen plays tricks on the brain.
    Fingers trembling slightly, I tried to
grab the sliver with the nails of my thumb and index
fingers.
    “Hey,” a voice said, startling
me.
    My head shot up, and I saw Devon
standing in the doorway to the bedroom. “Did you find my necklace?”
I asked immediately.
    Devon shook her head, blonde curls
bouncing around her shoulders. “Rick and I looked, but even with a
flashlight it was too dark up there to really see anything. We can
go back tomorrow or Sunday.”
    “It’s not a big deal,” I mumbled,
disappointment clouding my words. The necklace meant a lot to me,
but there was no telling where or when it had fallen from my