Dead Radiance Read Online Free PDF Page A

so thick it looked like he had frightful cataracts. Nevertheless he managed to imbue within them sufficient venom to pique my curiosity and awareness.
    My heart thumped.
    This didn't bode well for my day.
    "Miss Halbrook, I want to get a few things straight." His grotesquely misshapen eyes stared.
    I waited. Was I supposed to ask him to clarify? Unsure, I decided to go with silence.
    Finally, he snorted and said, "It's enough you've managed to influence our young Joshua . . . and now the poor boy is dead. Such a future he had before him. Such a waste." Warren shook his head, the fluorescent light above him throwing his well-oiled hair into starker light, casting strange shadows on the sagging lines in his face. His fingers traced the slippery strands at his neck, fingers coming away slick with the oily residue.
    He spent too long scanning my face, a self-satisfied, sinister twist to his lips. I squandered precious seconds wondering if Craven had any links to Salem. I waited, vulnerable prey in the face of Warren's vitriol.
    "I hope you will concern yourself with your schoolwork and nothing else, Miss Halbrook." He leaned forward. I ached to back away, but the steel backrest of the chair wouldn't allow it. "I will have none of what you got up to at the funeral with Miss Barnes. The poor girl was upset enough without your insinuating comments."
    "Huh? We barely spoke." But I could tell he wouldn't believe me. I gritted my teeth.
    My ears rang, great clanging sounds so deafening it was a wonder I registered a word he said, but I did. Damn well heard Cherise's pathetic, successful lies. I wasn't the most popular kid in the school, but I swallowed a bitter pill sitting in the principal's office, unable to defend myself. It must have been against my constitutional rights in some way, but in Craven things didn't work well for Bryn Halbrook.
    "Oh, that reminds me. We have a new student starting today. And since he is from Ms. Custer's care, it seems appropriate for you to shepherd him around instead of any of my other students. It's really, really sad to see there isn't enough being done with kids like you." He sneered, the corner of his lip rising to reveal nicotine-yellowed teeth.
    He picked up a sheet of school-issue yellow paper, the ones Craven kept for detention and permission slips. The oil from his fingers seeped into the paper, spreading, bleeding the ink of the printed words.
    "Kids like me?" I tried to keep the bite out of my voice but it didn't matter. Warren listened only to the sound of his own voice.
    "Yes, Miss Halbrook. Troubled kids like you fall through the cracks all the time. The system is not perfect, that's quite clear. But I will not, and shall not, allow you to run riot in my school. My school, my rules, Miss Halbrook. One wrong move and you are out."
    He slapped the yellow paper on the desk in front of me and motioned for me to leave. I picked the sheet up, careful to avoid the greasy blobs and the smudged ink.
    A name ran across the page in bright red ink beside the words Student Name .
    Aidan Lee.
    I read the paper as I walked out of Warren's office, my initial desire to slam the door behind me well and truly forgotten. Now I knew the name of the mysterious biker boy.
    ***
    "Hi, I'm Aidan."
    The subject of my recent conversation and my stupid thoughts now stood up in front of me. He'd been seated at the bank of orange plastic chairs outside Warren's office. I cringed. How long he'd been there and how much he'd heard?
    His smile wavered when I looked at him, my face blank with shock. I stared straight ahead, eyes fastened on the bit of silver at his throat. Three triangles merged in an unusual pattern, gleaming as it hung from a simple black cord.
    He cleared his throat, interrupting my scrutiny of his jewelry. I recovered, remembered my manners.
    "I'm Bryn Halbrook." I shook his hand. Polite society dictated it. My eyes remained on the worn leather cuff of his jacket. Anywhere but his adorably tousled