Shadow Breakers Read Online Free

his hand. I’ve found out his name now. It’s Oliver “Ollie” Hanwell.
    They are all looking at me.
    I want to confront them. I want to say,
What’s your problem?
Bit of Jade-attitude, perhaps. But I’m still a newbie here. I’m just getting to know the ropes. I’ve made it this far without getting any trouble, and I don’t intend to start now.
    Casting one last, nervous look over my shoulder, I join Jade at the gate.
    â€œAll right?” she says.
    â€œYeah, not bad.”
    I tap her left earring. “Studs only, it says in the rules.”
    She grins. “When you’re me, babe, you can get away with anything.” She senses my gaze drifting to the group on the bench. “Weirdos,” she says. “Don’t worry about them.”
    â€œWhy are they all hanging out together?”
    Jade shrugs. “I dunno. Do you really give a toss? Just what weirdos do, innit? Come on, let’s go down to the Esplanade.”
    I follow her, out of the gate and along the school fence.
    My mind isn’t on our conversation, though. Sunlight flickers in and out of the metal fence posts, strobing in my eyes. I’m sure I can still feel four pairs of eyes drilling into me all the way down the hill, past the tiled roofs, and toward the misty seafront. Eyes inside my head.
    â€¢ • •
    So I start to watch them back.
    Lyssa Myers is one top genius. They weren’t joking. Take Chemistry, where she sits right at the front, and knows the answer to
everything
.
    Like this: “Hydrogen chloride, miss!”
    Or this: “Sublimation, miss!”
    See what I mean?
    Her arm goes up and down like a yo-yo. She seems to know the answers to the questions before Miss Bellini has even finished asking them.
    Today Miss Bellini starts class like a conjuror, producing four Ping-Pong balls from nowhere — two red ones in her left hand, and two blue ones in her right.
    Everyone gasps. Except Jade, who says,
“Ta-dah!”
sarcastically, and makes everyone laugh, including Miss Bellini.
    â€œJust like that!” says Miss Bellini with a grin, then she slams the four balls into one another. They stick together in one blue and red mass. “Now then . . . Miranda May.”
    I sit bolt upright. “Miss?”
    Jade kicks me under the table. “Watch out,” she mutters.
    â€œCatch!” she says, and throws the model to me.
    I catch it. Smart. Netball practice coming in useful.
    â€œGood!” says Miss Bellini, nodding. “Now . . . can you name me something whose nucleus looks like that? Hmm?” She peers over her glasses at me. “Which element?”
    â€œUm . . .”
    I’m thinking hard. I know this. We did it only the other day.
    â€œGive you a clue,” says Miss Bellini. “It makes you
talk like this
!” And she does a squeaky, high-pitched voice, which makes everyone fall about laughing. “Okay, okay!” she says, holding out her hands, and the hubbub subsides as if by magic. She nods at me again. “Miranda?”
    I’ve got it, of course. “Helium, miss.”
    â€œHelium. Yes.”
    And Miss Bellini smiles at me.
    And that’s how I get by, in general. I’m tired because of the dream, because of not sleeping, but in school I’m pretty normal. I’m okay at Science, good at Math and English, keep my trap shut in History, and get by in French.
Jean-Paul est dans le jardin
, etc., etc. Yeah, yeah. Wake me up when Jean-flipping-Paul does something exciting.
THURSDAY 14:15
    Okay, I’ve decided I don’t like being watched. And they’re still watching me. I know they are. I need to work out what is going on, before it drives me crazy. So I’ve made a plan.
    At afternoon break, I spot Ollie Hanwell disappearing down the corridor in his duffle coat. You can see his bright blond hair a mile off. Just as I’m about to go after him, Jade’s beside me. “All right,