By the Pale Moonlight (Book One of the Moonlight Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

eyebrows. "At least it
wasn't anyone we knew."
    I curled my lip. "Jesus, Jenna. She could've
been any one of us."
    More likely, she could've been me. The
presence in the school that night and her death couldn't be a
coincidence. After being frustrated in its attack on me, had
whatever it was gone in search of another victim?
    "Yeah, but luckily it wasn't," Jenna said.
She pulled a hand through her hair and scanned the crowds. "Hey,
maybe we should find Smelly and see if the two of them had a
lover's spat."
    David laughed along with her.
    Smelly was the nickname some witty seniors
had given Melanie Hoffs—Kim's best friend. Smelly Melly—get it?
They all thought it was so original.
    The conversation I'd had with the pair just
two days earlier played out in my mind. Even though I didn't get
along with Melanie, I knew she had to be hurting.
    "You guys are jerks." I stormed over to my
locker and stuffed my biology book inside.
    "Hey, what's your problem? You didn't even
like her." Jenna's voice carried over the crowd at my back. I
ignored her.
    I slammed the locker door shut and let out a
deep sigh. Turning, I bumped into a warm body passing behind
me.
    "I'm sorr...Ty!"
    Ty glanced down at me absently. "Hey,
Mac."
    I fumbled around for something to say now
that I finally had him face-to-face. "How are you?" Brilliant .
    His eyes skimmed over me. "Fine."
    "D-did you hear what happened?"
    His clothes were rumpled, as though he'd
plucked them from one of the piles I'd seen scattered around his
room. They matched his dark hair, which stood on end, the ghosts of
his fingers having left their mark.
    "What?" he said absently. "Oh yeah, I
heard."
    "It's horrible, isn't it? Poor Kim."
    He locked eyes with mine for the briefest
moment, a sadness playing across his features.
    "What's wrong?" I whispered.
    "Ty?" The soft voice came from behind him,
and Carrie Murgittroyd flashed me a tight smile when he stepped
aside. "Hi, Mac."
    "Hey, Carrie," I said, annoyed. As always,
she was walking, talking perfection. From her silky brown hair
without so much as a strand out of place, down to her flawless
figure poured into form-fitting jeans and a sweater that left very
little to the imagination. Her timing couldn't have been any
worse.
    Ty quickly reordered his features; the
vulnerability from just a moment before disappeared behind a cool
facade.
    Carrie's eyes flicked between the two of us.
"Am I interrupting something?"
    "No," Ty said before I could respond.
    "Good." She tugged on his arm and tried to
pull him away.
    To my relief, he didn't budge.
    "I wondered if I could talk to you alone for
a moment," Carrie said, uncertainty creeping into her tone.
    "I think we've said it all, don't you?" Ty
carefully disentangled her hand from around his arm. With a quick,
"See ya, Mac," he took off down the hall.
    She watched him go and then whipped around to
glare at me. Eyes locked, we were like two scorned mutts warring
for dominance. I turned away first and cursed under my breath.
    An arm slid around my shoulders. "Ready to
go?" David asked, barely acknowledging Carrie with a slight
nod.
    "I have to go with my mom," I said, backing
away. I felt Carrie's eyes on me as I headed toward the office, but
when I looked back, she was gone.
     
    o0o
     
    "Makenna!"
    I grimaced at the sound of my mother's voice.
I'd tried asking her about Kim's death on the way home, but her
stony silence soon made it abundantly clear that she didn't want to
talk about it.
    I slammed my calculus book closed and once
again pulled out the tattered photograph tucked in its front cover.
It took me a good twenty minutes to dig the picture out of my
closet, and every now and then I plucked it out to stare at the
image. I'm not sure what I was seeking—perhaps a level of
understanding or forgiveness. Either way, the grinning faces of the
twelve-year-olds staring back at me weren't providing it.
    There were five of us pictured—Kim, Melanie,
Jenna, me, and Carrie—taken at one of our