The Athena Effect Read Online Free Page A

she passed. Last I heard he went missing from college. Some professor even came around looking for him… Way back when I was in high school. To tell you the truth, when I didn’t hear from him, I just assumed he was already dead or something.”
    Cal looked down, wincing. The car came to a stop at the light and Angie frowned, turning to face her passenger.
    “Didn’t he ever mention that he had a sister?”
    Cal shook her head no, blinking back tears, “Sorry.”
    Angie’s voice softened, “I’m sorry too.” She patted Cal’s knee, “I know how it is to lose your parents when you’re still young.”
    They drove through a bigger city than Cal had ever seen, passing through vast suburban neighborhoods with row upon row of matching houses. Angie pointed out the low buildings and sports fields of the area’s high school, and they looked mammoth to Cal’s inexperienced eyes.
    “This is where you’ll be going to school. There’s a couple months left, and you might as well get into the routine. You might even need to go to summer school if you’re not up to speed. You’re a junior this year? Right?”
    “I guess so,” Cal replied nervously.
    Her aunt started chattering about the restaurant she waited tables at, explaining that she’d been called in unexpectedly to cater a luncheon. “That’s why I was late,” she explained, “I’ve been picking up extra shifts and it seems like I’m working all the time these days.”
    They pulled up in front of a modern looking condominium complex.
    “This is the place,” Angie said, climbing out and leading Cal down a cement walkway. They stopped at a door decorated with a wreath of plastic eggs, and Angie fumbled for a key to open it.
    When they stepped inside Cal looked around, surprised by the house and its furnishings. The Sherriff’s place had impressed her with the sheer amount of things in it, but her aunt’s home was even more shocking to her. Everything looked so new and store-bought, and in such abundance. It stood in sharp contrast to the homespun furniture and random items that her parents had haphazardly accumulated in the past seventeen years.
    Cal peered up the carpeted stairs that led to the second floor to see a man standing at the top, looking down at her. He was tall and wide, with a balding head and a neatly trimmed beard.
    “Phil!” Angie called up to him, “Come down and meet my niece.”
    The man didn’t even try to hide the celery-green annoyance he was radiating as he descended. He was clearly not happy to see her.
    Angie took his arm proudly, “Cal, this is my partner Phil.”
    Cal nodded politely, “It’s nice to meet you…What kind of business are you two in?”
    They looked at each other and laughed, confusing her.
    “He’s my boyfriend,” Angie said, “He just moved in with me too.”
    Cal’s cheeks flushed pink, “Oh… Pardon me.”
    “Come on,” Angie laughed again, climbing the stairs, “I’ll show you your room.”
    She was taken to a room stuffed with boxes, with an inflatable mattress tucked in the corner. She’d never been in an upstairs room before, and she looked out the window to see the identical buildings of the complex repeated in a row, like an M.C. Escher drawing she’d seen in one of her art books.
    “Sorry about the mess. Phil says he’ll get his stuff moved out of here as soon as he can.”
    Cal set her duffel bag down, flipping the switch that turned the overhead light on and off with a smile. Now she could read anytime she wanted to. “It’s fine.”
    That night she stayed awake a long time, re-reading a childhood favorite until she could barely keep her eyes open. She got up silently to get a drink of water from the bathroom down the hall. It shared a wall with her aunt’s bedroom, and she could hear Phil and Angie’s voices echoing through the heater vent as clearly as if she was in the room with them.
    Phil was complaining, “I still can’t believe I have to give up my office space. I