Comes the Night Read Online Free PDF

“No! You can’t do that. Connie... Connie wouldn’t have wanted that.”
    Brooke lifted an eyebrow. “You seem to know Connie pretty well. Have you read it all the way through yet?”
    Alex’s lips thinned. Brooke took that as a yes.
    “Hey, maybe we could read it together,” Maryanne suggested. “From the beginning.”
    From the horrified expression on Alex’s face, you’d think Maryanne had suggested they slide a particularly nasty porno movie into the DVD player and pop some popcorn.
    Losing patience, Brooke snapped, “Face it, Alex, you gotta share. You can’t keep it to yourself any longer. ‘Finders, keepers’ doesn’t apply here.”
    Alex gripped the book tight to her chest. “Are you kidding? You’ll just be all sarcastic like you always are. Connie Harvell had a tough life and a tougher death.”
    Tougher death? What the hell was in those pages?
    “I won’t have you mocking her. You hear me, Brooke?” Alex continued. “I swear to God, I’d rather give the diary to that judgmental old bat, Mrs. Betts.”
    Brooke felt her face slacken with shock and hurt. “You think I’d really do that? I mean, I know I can be a bitch, but dude. Poke fun at a dead girl?” She shook her head. “Screw this.” Scooping up her shoes, she stalked toward the door.
    “Wait!”
    Brooke stopped at Alex’s command, but didn’t turn. If she turned around now, they’d see the emotion she was blinking back.
    “Don’t tell Mrs. Betts.”
    Brooke paused long enough to suppress any hint of tears, then turned, arching a brow at Alex. “I guess that’s your decision, isn’t it?”
    Alex’s face darkened. “Dammit, Brooke, this is blackmail!”
    “Blackmail?” She lifted the other eyebrow and pretended to consider the accusation. “Lemme see... I threaten to reveal the existence of the diary—no, the historical artifact you found and force you to turn it over to Mrs. Betts unless you agree to let us read it, too.” Brooke tilted her head. “Gosh, I guess you’re right. That’s definitely blackmail.”
    “Bitch!”
    Brooke smiled. “Well, I guess that’s my cue.” Turning, she headed for the door again.
    Alex’s hand on her arm stopped her. “Wait.”
    Brooke turned expectantly.
    “Okay, dammit!” Alex exhaled and drew a deep breath. “Okay, we can read it together. But if we’re going to do this, we’re going to read it where it was meant to be read.”
    “Where’s that?” Maryanne asked.
    “The attic.”
    Brooke and Maryanne looked toward the ceiling.
    “Trust me, there is an attic. I’ve been there. But we can’t go until after lights out, after everyone’s asleep. No one’s supposed to go up there.”
    “There’s always been a lock on that door,” Brooke said.
    “It’s broken. Probably been broken for ages and nobody’s bothered to try it.”
    Brooke felt her pulse quicken. Finally. A little excitement. Granted, it was more in keeping with a tweener sleepover involving a Ouija board than she’d like, but at this point, she’d take her thrills wherever she could get them.
    “Deal,” she said. “Now I’m gonna go get high before I have to read that stupid book they gave us in English class.” She didn’t actually have any on her, but she knew where to get some in a hurry. “Anyone care to join me?”
    “Oh! Um... uh... no thanks,” Maryanne said.
    But it wasn’t Maryanne’s face Brooke was watching when she’d thrown that offer out. It was Alex’s. And the desire to say yes—or hell yeah , or I’m in! —might as well have been written on her forehead with a fat black marker. But she fought it down. The evidence of her turmoil was there in her tensed muscles, her tightly fisted hands. Then her fingers unclenched.
    “No, thanks,” she muttered, looking away. “Gotta hit the books.”
    Brooke smiled. “Another time, maybe.”
    And as she turned to leave, she had the satisfaction of seeing Alex bite her snake-bitten lip.

Chapter 5
Ascending in the Night
    Alex
    A