The Whole Truth (The Supercharged Files Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

name it.
    “Do you own the whole strip
mall?” They should do something about the parking lot. I could see the whole
thing through my murky window. Our black car. A minivan and several other cars
at the other end, near the strip mall’s half empty billboard. A moped chained
to a post.
    I didn’t remember seeing a window
in the wall beside the chiropractor’s office. Huh.
    John shook his head. “The
children’s consignment store on the corner isn’t ours. Neither is the cell
phone place.”
    Let’s see, with my experienced
shopper’s eye, I’d noticed the chiropractor, the kid place, the pizza place, a
cellular phone store, a gym, an empty spot, a dollar store, a dry cleaner and a
computer repair shop. None of which I had much use for. I couldn’t imagine
anything I’d want in a dollar store. Maybe a five dollar and ninety-nine cent
store. I had my standards.
    “How do you find time to dissect
aliens and chase terrorists if you run all these businesses?” I wandered to the
breakfast bar and opened the baggie on it, hunting for bagels. Several
inflexible buns lurked in the bottom of the sack like poppy-seeded rocks.
    “Not the kind of work we do,”
Samantha said in a singsong voice, “and if you say that one more time I’m going
to push a crying jag on you.”
    “A what?”
    John frowned. “Samantha’s a
pusher.”
    I froze. Were they into drugs? “I
won’t get involved with anything illegal.”
    “I can shift people’s moods if I
get my hands on them.” Samantha wriggled her fingers at me. “I like your
writing. It’s so vivid.”
    “You lied to me?” Nobody had been
able to trick me in person since I’d turned thirteen. She’d used her pushy
power to negate mine. That was so...bad? Good? Terrifying?
    “I do like your blog.” She stood,
no shadow around her. “I pushed a sense of acceptance on you so you’d quit
asking so damn many questions.” Around her, a grey haze winked into and out of
existence.
    What part of that had been
untrue? “I didn’t give you permission to push me.”
    “Do you get people’s permission
to read lies?”
    “That’s different.” I couldn’t
help what I did, and she could. All she had to do was keep her hands to
herself, right?
    She shrugged. I recalled the
sense of warmth and friendship I’d felt and was almost disappointed it had been
manufactured.
    Gal pal material? Not gal pal
material? She was like a pair of Dolce & Gabbana trousers that seemed
stylish on the hanger, but on your butt they widened you like a funhouse
mirror. A good pair of pants to give to, say, your lyingest coworker, so you
could enjoy the way they expanded her butt instead.
    Luckily no one around me could
sense when I was lying, because I did it a lot.
    “Don’t worry, Cleo.” John busied
himself in the kitchenette, retrieving a tub of cream cheese from the fridge, a
couple knives and plates, and a jug of orange juice. “Samantha’s push obviously
didn’t stick.”
    I’d been more at ease, but he was
right. I hadn’t stopped asking questions. “Why didn’t Samantha’s sneak attack
work on me?”
    “John stopped me before I gave
you a full dose.” She pointed at him. “You’re the one who tasted her, John.”
    “What’s your super power?” I
asked him.
    “He’s a licker,” Samantha said.
By John’s expression, I guessed that was a vulgar description of his talent.
    “The correct term is a nose. I
have a keen nose and taste buds. One thing I can do is detect whether or not
people have suprasenses. That’s what we call them.”
    “Supersenses? Shazam!”
    “Supra,” Samantha said
humorlessly. “Suprasenses.”
    “What can Alfonso do?”
    Samantha exchanged a glance with
John, then said, “He’s an ear. He’s also the head of our security department.”
    I didn’t ask what it meant to be
an ear, but one would assume keen hearing. A good thing to know if I needed to
place any surreptitious phone calls to the police to come rescue me from