Dark Matter Read Online Free PDF Page B

hours
of the morning. I had no idea who I would be obligated to dance
with tonight. Unless a miracle occurred, one thing was certain, it
wouldn’t be Zach or Luke.
     
     
     

Chapter Three
     
     
    Before I could even sit up straight,
six women entered my room. I knew at some point I was going to get
used to the beauty of these people, but it hadn’t happened
yet.
    All six had waist-length
flowing red hair; all six had tawny eyes and flawless skin; and all
six were staring at me as though I was the newest wonder of the universe.
    One of them stepped forward. “I am
Lysanne. Please follow me.”
    For half a second, I considered
refusing her. I could pretend I was sick, but they would only bring
the physician who would no doubt poke and prod until she found
something she could use to get me into her lab. The experience
wouldn’t be any different with these women.
    I slunk off the bed and fell in line.
Lysanne led me to my dressing chamber. It was bigger than Aunt
Grace’s entire house back in Castlerock, Utah. I never, in a
thousand years, would have expected I would miss the place this
much, but there was a certain comfort a small residence could offer
that a sprawling palace would never be able to compete
with.
    I shed my clothes and waited for the
primping to begin in nothing but my underwear. I had already bathed
today, and I refused to take another dip in the Grecian style tub
so I asked Lysanne for the fae equivalent of a shower. I wasn’t
sure I would ever get used to it, but it did save time. One minute,
I was sweaty and my long hair fell limply around my face. The next,
I was squeaky clean with bouncy brown curls tumbling over my
shoulders. I slid a ringlet through my fingers and stared at her.
What was wrong with my hair the way it usually was? She smiled
defiantly at me. I had bigger things to worry about
tonight.
    Lysanne’s assistant strode toward us,
stopped in front of me, bowed formally then she went to work
slathering oil all over my body. My skin tingled before it began to
glow slightly and I’m not talking about a fake glimmer shimmer. My
skin was actually lit up from the inside. “What is that?” I asked
in awe. The woman wouldn’t answer me. That was another thing that
bugged the potatoes out of me. They never talked much.
    Another woman worked on my nails while
Lysanne set off to find just the right gown for the evening. She
hung five dresses on the wall when she came back. The first was
silver silk with simple flowing lines that reminded me of a
cascading waterfall. They got more and more extravagant from there.
One of them looked like something off Star Trek with metallic
shoulder-pads better suited to a linebacker. I shook my head
firmly, and it was hauled off in a hurry. The next was completely
beaded from bodice to hem. I picked it up and studied the fabric.
Heat flooded my face when I realized it was completely see through.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, it weighed about thirty pounds. I
made her take it back right away.
    I moved down the line and looked over
the blood-red gown. Each puffy sleeve was as wide as my head. The
bodice narrowed to a tight fitting V, and the skirt belled out like
something a princess would wear. I wouldn’t be surprised to find
out that Lysanne had stolen the thing from the set of Gone with the
Wind. Even though it was stunning, I didn’t think I could pull it
off. I shook my head slightly and it was hastily
removed.
    The last in the group had a bit of
promise. It was the color of sprouting grass with the same
iridescent quality as the gown I had worn to my bonding ceremony. I
could have stared for hours at the prisms it cast against the
adjacent wall. I walked over to it and stroked the soft fabric. It
slid through my fingers like water. The cut was daring, but not
overly immodest.
    Lysanne was giving orders to some of
the other women, so I took the opportunity to slip it over my head
on my own. I didn’t like feeling as if I were a child that needed
to be