Spell Check Read Online Free Page A

walk.”
    Upon hearing the W-word, Baby bounded across the room, stopped at the threshold, and glanced back at us with an excited expression. Now I had to go. “All right. But it will be dark soon, so we’d better hurry.”
    Wild-eyed, Parvani grabbed her umbrella and gray sweatshirt. “Where is your leash, Baby?” The L-word sent Baby racing toward the front door. Parvani sprinted after her.
    “If we don’t see Salem on the street, we turn back,” I insisted.
    Parvani already stood outside, her umbrella up, the amazing patchwork scarf she had designed herself wrapped around her neck. She did a grand jeté over the primroses while Baby, a quick shadow behind her, zigzagged after a scent.
    Mom met me at the door. “Where are you going?”
    “Parvani said the W-word in front of Baby. So we’re going to walk around the block, maybe go as far as Lucas.” You know, pay the neighborhood goth a little visit.
    The wind stirred Mom’s auburn hair. “Okay. Just be back before dark.”
    “No problem.”
    Baby barked at me from the end of the drive. I lifted her leash from the wooden peg. Then, before my better sense could stop me, I walked out the door, cold rain stinging my face.
    I could almost feel the hex hives erupting.
     

Chapter Four
     
    Baby, happy and stinking of wet dog, pulled me eastward toward Lucas Drive. Parvani bumped alongside me in a valiant effort to hold the wind-battered umbrella over our heads.
    “No way will Salem be out in this.”
    “She’s a goth,” Parvani replied. “She probably thrives in miserable weather. You know, the sky is filled with angst…”
    Yeah, right. A rain-heavy willow grabbed at the umbrella as we rounded the corner. Plaid nylon dipped in front of my face, blocking my view of the street. A foot in front of me, Baby stopped and tensed. Please don’t let it be Salem.
    An unholy yapping broke the silence, followed by a somewhat familiar voice yelling, “Einstein, shut up!”
    Parvani tilted back the umbrella, affording me a clear view of a tiny, black-clad, windswept figure. Salem. I’d know those scary kohl-lined eyes and short black-and-purple hair anywhere. My heart sank to my Perfectly Plum toenails.
    “Hey!” Parvani waved and shouted up the street.
    Salem’s cockapoo yapped louder, a feat I would have thought impossible, and strained to break free of its leash. Salem squinted at us like a bounty hunter in a futuristic movie. The question “Friend or foe?” was etched on her pale face, which, I noticed for the first time, looked kind of delicate and pretty beneath all the goth makeup and the I-can-kill-you-with-a-curse attitude.
    “I see you got dog duty, too,” I called.
    “Yeah.” Salem sounded resigned. “It’s my sister’s dog. She left him behind when she went off to college.” The rain matted Salem’s razor-cut hair to her skull. “Einstein, be quiet!” The repulsive beast sat at Salem’s feet and growled.
    Parvani nudged me in the ribs.
    “This is Parvani Hyde-Smith,” I told Salem. “I don’t think you two have any classes together.”
    Salem shook her head. “Sarah Miller.”
    “I’ve seen you around.” Parvani stepped forward, forcing me to follow or get soaked. “I noticed you wear a lot of unusual jewelry,” she gushed in the tone she uses when she’s trying to talk her dad out of money, or get a sales clerk to call another store for her. “Where do you shop?”
    Salem squinted again, sizing up Parvani, probably searching for a hidden insult. Or worse, maybe she was concocting a hex. It didn’t take a shrink to see she had major trust issues.
    Parvani’s tact was failing, big time, so I tried. “Parvani is interested in crystals, and…” I searched my mind. What else had the book mentioned? Wands? Brooms?
    “My cousin is into New Age stuff, and I want to send her a birthday present,” Parvani added.
    Einstein jumped up and barked, the little lie detector. Salem stared at Parvani so long, Parvani’s hand on the