Breakdown Read Online Free PDF Page A

cemetery tonight. Tyler, what happened when you were in the middle of that circle with Arielle?”
    Tyler stared at me blankly. “Nothing.”
    “You said you hated them and their stupid club and you didn’t care what they said about you. What—they’ll put it out on Facebook that you’re a coward? Is that what worries you?”
    “Maybe.” Tyler began picking at her cuticles again.
    “You said this initiation into Carmilla isn’t part of your book group,” I said to my cousin. “Do you know what it could be, or what reprisals the girls wield against people who squeal?”
    Petra’s mobile face displayed a pantomime of ignorance. “There are clubs, I know that much, you write in and get a charter or something. When my friends and I got hooked on the books, only the first two or three had been published. The clubs and things came later.”
    “So is Carmilla a vampire?” I was thinking of the cry—Tyler’s cry?—that she’d seen a vampire.
    “Good grief, no. She’s a shape-shifter—the Raven! Vic, I’m embarrassed that my own cousin is so illiterate!”
    “They were initiating Tyler,” I persisted. “Everyone warned her it would hurt, but she wanted to go through with it anyway. Were they imitating a raven? Did Arielle peck your eyeballs?”
    Tyler giggled nervously, but Kira said, “No. Arielle and Nia, they stick—”
    “You can’t say, we swore an oath not to tell!” Tyler exclaimed.
    “That was just Arielle and Nia, and they didn’t even come back here tonight. You Vina Fields girls, you make me sick, acting like you want to be friends with Beata and me, but really, you only come here because you know my mom works nights, so you can sneak out and not have any grown-ups listen in. You’re not even in our book group. I never even saw you before tonight, so don’t go telling me what to say or not say in my own home!”
    “Don’t blame me!” Tyler replied. “They told me you liked to hold the meetings here on account of you have to babysit your little sister.”
    “No one’s going to be meeting here again, so it doesn’t matter,” I said, “but, just out of curiosity, Kira, why did you take part in this group?”
    “In case it’s true,” Kira whispered. “We thought, at least Arielle had this idea, maybe we could become shape-shifters, you know, like Giralda in the book. She learns to be a raven, and, well, I know it’s a sin, calling up magic spirits, but I thought if I could turn into a raven, I could fly to Tarnow, that’s where my tata —my dad, he left us, I thought—”
    She turned a muddy pink and stopped talking.
    “I think it would be good if you told me about how Arielle and Nia stick you,” I said. “I won’t be angry, but I need to understand.”
    “Arielle and Nia, they stuck each other in the palm with these big sewing needles,” she whispered, speaking so fast I could barely understand her. “Then they licked each other’s blood, and then they stuck me and the others and we all kissed each other’s hands.”
    “Oh, gross! Why didn’t you guys talk to me?” Petra’s mouth twisted in disgust. “I could have told you there’s nothing like that in any of the books. Vic, you have to believe I never talked about trying to turn into a vampire or a shape-shifter. I mean, everyone knows about Dracula and vampires, but we never talked about licking each other’s blood.”
    I smiled faintly. “The power of the imagination. You should be proud you could unleash it.” I turned back to Kira. “Is that what happened the time Lucy saw you? Is that why you went out to the cemetery this time?”
    Kira nodded. “Arielle and Nia, they couldn’t come last month, but the full moon before that, back in May, Lucy heard us. Jessie kind of screamed when she got stuck, so Lucy came out just when they were sticking me, and she screeched her head off. Arielle and Jessie and them took off. And then Lucy told my mom next morning at breakfast. I said some of my friends came