Breaking Glass Read Online Free Page B

in her eyes.
    I knew that look. It was the glazed expression most girls got when they laid eyes on Ryan Morgan.
    Susannah’s lips had fallen open, as if she’d been struck dumb by a holy vision, and I wondered where that tough little Pirate Queen had gone. Gritting my teeth, I imagined Ryan as he looked at her, the saintly corona glowing around his head full of wavy gold hair.
    I wanted to pull her aside and warn her that, though I loved him like a brother, angelic Ryan was already, even in ninth grade, hell on girls. In eighth grade he’d torn through about five relationships, leaving a trail of flaming wreckage behind him, broken-hearted nymphettes who followed me around, hungry for any little crumbs of information about him I could provide.
    But I did no such thing. Despite his flaws, my loyalty was to Ryan. Steadfast and true, I squeezed my sweaty hands into my pockets, clenched them into fists, and clamped my mouth firmly shut.
    Now
    The weight of the package on my lap pulls me back. So does the persistent throb in my leg. Where are the nurses when you need them?
    I tear open the package.
    Inside is another package wrapped like a gift. On it is a label. The word SECRETS is stamped across it.
    I tear it open, terrified, yet desperate to know what’s inside. Terrified to learn what burden she wants to place on me. Terrified that I owe her and that I’m partly to blame for her pain.
    It’s a wine-colored velvet pouch with a flap. Inside are five candles, a pendant on a red cord, a piece of chalk, and a parchment envelope. The pendant is the Kabbalah one Susannah always wears. The one Ryan gave her. I strain to recall if she was wearing it the night she disappeared, but there is no way to know for sure; she’d been wearing a jacket. My hands sweaty, leg grinding with pain, I pull the paper from its envelope.
    There’s a Post-it note stuck to it, written in Susannah’s neat hand.
    I’m entrusting my secrets to you, Jeremy .
    The pain chews its way up my leg. I read the title of the paper under the Post-it.
    To Summon The Dead
    Where the hell are those nurses?
    The pain shoots pointy roots up my spine and into my cranium. I reach for the call button and stuff the package under my pillow, squeezing my eyes against the tears.
    In the time it takes to blink, the pain brings a flash of crystal clarity. And I know.
    I may never run again.
    History is only a crutch that won’t support me any longer.
    But history, because of my love of it and of her , is why Susannah is entrusting her secrets to me.

C H A P T E R
f o u r
    Then
    The look of rapture on Susannah’s face was reflected in Ryan’s. It was a look of curiosity and wonder, a look of such intensity that I knew anything I did to come between them was pointless. Right there in the hall near West Hall 3, I witnessed two people falling in love.
    It felt like horses were trampling over my chest, like my ribs were cracking, the bone shards jammed into the soft tissue of my lungs.
    But I kept the smile pasted on my face and managed to speak between painful breaths. It was a skill I’d come to master over the next three years. “Susannah. This is Ryan Morgan. The bossy kid from the playground. Ryan, meet the Pirate Queen.”
    Ryan’s blue eyes dilated, his mouth falling open like he was about to take a bite of the most luscious ice cream cone ever. “Huh?” he said, eloquent as usual.
    “From the park. It was like five, six years ago? Remember when we used to play pirates, and this girl came along and you said that girls were—”
    “Yeah! I remember. I said girls were stupid.”
    I didn’t mention that I was the one who’d vowed I was going to marry her.
    Susannah smiled and flipped some stray curls out of her face. “You really said that?”
    Ryan chuckled. “What did I know when I was eight? Where’s your class? I’ll take you there.”
    And just like that, he slipped a muscled arm over her slim shoulder and they drifted away as if I wasn’t there. As