The Nightworld Read Online Free Page B

something.
    “I have seen the sky,” booms Charlie, doing his best James Earl Jones. “A storm is coming.”
    Ben makes a face. “Ha. Ha. Not. Greg thinks it’s just storm clouds too, but I’m telling you, those are no ordinary clouds.”
    Greg swirls a finger next to his ear and nods toward Ben. “He’s crazy.” He shrugs. “It’s just one of those summer thunderstorms. Hey, are you guys . . .”
    He trails off, because Lisa Cassity is walking by us. She’s dressed in even tighter jeans than she wears at school. Her lipstick is flaming red, and she’s giggling into Jason Ono’s ear while he drapes his arm around her like she’s the smooth leather back of the passenger seat in the slickest Mustang convertible ever and he’s in the driver’s seat, ready to hit the road.
    Not my type, so much, but the sight of her butt in those jeans deserves a moment of silence from us all. Once she’s passed, Greg swallows and continues. “Are you guys going to try out for any teams next year?”
    Charlie and I shake our heads while Ben nods his. We all jump when we hear a crash in the kitchen.
    I hop up and head in the direction of the noise. When I round the corner of the huge kitchen island, I see a girl sprawled on the floor, one leg folded back behind her at a weird angle. She obviously had too much of something. Her friends are standing around laughing, as though she’s the funniest sight they’ve ever seen. Not a single person has offered to help her.
    “You okay?” I squat down and take a closer look at her leg. I don’t like the looks of it. I hope it’s not broken.
    “Fine.” She’s got a pretty good slur going. “Pull me up.”
    I take hold of the hand she’s reaching out and tug, hoping the leg will hold her. It does, so she must just be drunk enough that she’s extra flexible and hasn’t done any real damage. I don’t quite know what to do with her now that she’s up, so I’m relieved when Lara’s brother rides in on his nonexistent white horse.
    “Somebody drank one too many beers,” Brian says, laughing, but he takes the girl’s arm and leads her toward one of the couches. Her group of friends slowly disperses now that there’s nothing to gawk at.
    “My brother can be a pain when he’s being overprotective, but he’s a good guy. She’s in good hands. Looks like you are too, Nick. A good guy, I mean.”
    It’s Lara, standing close to me. I didn’t see her show up. She smells like some sort of citrus fruit, tinged with vanilla.
    “She’s a little wasted.” I shrug off the compliment, if that’s what it was.
    “She’s one of Brian’s friends. He’ll watch her, make sure she’s okay.” She looks behind her. “I think I managed to throw Donny off, at least momentarily. He had to use the bathroom.” She winks. “Want to go back out on the balcony before he gets here?”
    I feel something flip in my stomach, like there’s an acrobatic mackerel swimming around in it, but I try to look cool. “Sure, if you want.”
    Before we get to the balcony, the TV suddenly switches from writhing dancers covered with gold body paint to a blank screen. Lara reaches out and touches my arm as she pauses and hesitates, waiting to see what’s wrong. We hear a high-pitched hum, and then the emergency broadcast system message starts. Everybody in the room stops talking and turns toward the noise. A news anchor flashes onto the screen, rustling some papers and looking grim. He keeps glancing off camera, as though he’s waiting for a signal. Then he straightens up in his chair and speaks.
    “We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming tonight to bring you a news update on the unusual weather pattern occurring in our area. Some of you may have noticed the strange cloud formation developing today. The National Weather Service has upgraded its earlier thunderstorm warning risk from slight to severe. Additional information indicates that the anomaly is not confined to the local area but seems