Shift (The Pandorma Adventures Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

talking all the time? There needs to be five places.”
    Anger lights in my chest as I clomp down the stairs. I grab plates from the cupboard and forks from the drawer, piling them on top of the plates, then begin setting the table.
    Mom’s father had been rich, so work was a pretty foreign concept to her. It always had been. But for me? Never. When I needed money I had to get a job. Mom says she can’t just give me money when I’ve done absolutely nothing. Though I agree that money earned is better spent; why couldn’t she just lend me a few dollars if I really needed it? The plates clatter.
    “Be careful with those,” Mom snaps from her place on the couch, not even looking up from her magazine.
    I suppress a retort and place the rest of the plates down soundlessly.
    I flee back upstairs as soon as I’m finished and kneel down in front of my ten-gallon fish tank and watch my Gourami’s gracefully swim around. I’ve always wanted a cat or golden retriever; something I could hold and play with, but Mom didn’t leave me many options when it came to a pet. Absolutely no animals with hair or feathers; no reptiles or anything with more than four legs. And I had to buy everything myself.
    I wasn’t excited about having fish at first, but when I looked at the ones in the pet store I fell in love with the Dwarf Gourami’s.
    I have four now: two three-spot blues, a yellow one with a spotted body like a cheetah’s, and a red one with dark blue strips zigzagging across its body. They’re ravenous eaters so I’m always sure to keep money set aside for food. I always watch curiously when they use their feelers—long thin ‘arms’ attached just below their fins. I wonder if they are like a cat’s whiskers or more like human arms.
    I’m shaken out of my study by Mom’s voice greeting people. My heart speeds up. Again. I growl at myself to cut it out. If I go down three steps I’ll be able to see them without being seen myself.
    I crawl to the top of the staircase. Anger rises in my throat at who I see. Lexi and her mom. Of all the people it had to be Lexi. Lexi’s mom, Kristen Langley, isn’t even remotely like her daughter. Mrs. Langley is the head of a foundation called Honest Action that helps disadvantaged kids around the world. She travels often, but mostly during winter. I’ve always loved visiting Lexi’s house because I enjoyed being around her mother, who gave me the motherly love and advice my own mom didn’t. Mrs. Langley has light brown hair that is graying and her face is beginning to wrinkle, but still has a youthful beauty—personally I think it’s because she adores the work she does—, she’s four inches below her daughter, and really kind. Since my friendship with Lexi ended I haven’t seen Mrs. Langley much except for on a few occasions.
    I turn, intending to go back up, but my foot slips and I tumble down the stairs, feeling like I hit every carpeted step on the way.
    When I open my eyes everyone is looking down at me, their faces hazy. I’m spread out on the couch, the world above cruelly spinning in dizzying circles with me having no way of stopping it. I groan.
    “Nice entrance Lis.” Lexi smirks. A ringing in my ears hazes out sounds so Lexi’s voice sounds far away and I don’t understand what she said. Mom’s lips twitch, but Dad and Mrs. Langley look concerned. I close and open my eyes, but everything still has a blurry quality.
    “Well, at least I don’t have to call you down,” Mom says.
    Mrs. Langley throws a glare at Mom’s back as she heads to the table, Lexi trailing behind. I sit up slowly my right arm and shoulder shrieking in protest.
    “Are you okay?” Mrs. Langley asks gently. I slowly nod, feeling like rocks are rolling around in my head.
    “Food’s getting cold. Come eat,” Mom commands.
    “I think I’ll take Lissa to bed, if she doesn’t mind,” Mrs. Langley says. I nod gratefully. The last thing I want to do is eat dinner with Lexi. Or Mom for that