Demon Girl (Keeley Thomson Book One) Read Online Free PDF Page B

wealthy person had decided to go slumming, but couldn't quite leave their old life all the way behind. Hard wood floors and white carpets, a kitchen that Keeley wouldn't have even known what to do in, all in stainless steel and, she noticed as Darla showed her which room she'd be in, of the four possible that were empty. Several guest rooms.
   Seriously. Who just kept that many rooms waiting empty like that?
   Keeley just shook her head.
   She was supposed to believe that the girl was just a regular person and lived like this? Alone while attending high school? The weird thing was that everyone else just went with the idea. Her dad was rich and her mom had died a long time ago. So Darla attended public school in Arizona while he worked off in Japan?
   They really thought it made sense even. Mind powers for sure. Keeley shook her head gently again, making her ponytail bob. The cool air of the house kissed her skin gently. The air smelled like flowers, lavender and jasmine. It would have been relaxing if not for all the weirdness. Both of those were soothing scents. Powerfully so even. She'd read an article about jasmine being used to replace Valium even.
   Wouldn't a rich girl like her be in a boarding school? And why were there no pictures around of people? Her dad or even her friends, or her mom. It was... really a very lovely place, but it looked like a decorator had done it all up without consideration for who would be living there and hardly personalized it at all. Even the paintings on the walls were that same generic style that she had hanging on the walls of her own house. Barns and country fields, an ocean scape, a few mountain scenes. Nice, but not special. They could have even been done by the same artists.
   In fact, in at least two cases, they pretty clearly were.
   The picture in the guest room, the one Darla had given her, was of a barn. The same barn she had near her bedroom door in the hallway. But the angle was different. Closing her eyes she brought the picture up for comparison. Both unsigned, both very well done, but the same structure clearly, even the same tone and colors of paint. The frames were different and this one was under glass, but yeah, that was a bit odd.
   Really strange.
   “Keeley, come and join us in the living room when you're ready? I'm going to start dinner soon. Do you want anything in particular?” Darla stood outside her door, not entering at all, just waiting for her new friend to come out.
   Or her potential victim.
   At least it wouldn't be some freaky identity stealing thing, Keeley decided. Darla had no reason to leave the life she had. Not a sane one at least. Plus they looked nothing alike. Of everyone in the group of cheerleaders Keeley thought she probably looked most like Eve and that only because of the dark hair.
   “Just a minute. I can help a little. Cooking I mean. Not in deciding what to have. On the good side I'll eat almost anything.” She made her voice happy and a little wry.
   “On the bad side, I'll eat almost anything...” Keeley looked down at her waistline, something she didn't normally worry over, but being around all the cheerleaders had left her feeling a little self-conscious. She wasn't fat, only a size six, having filled out a little early in the hips, but that suddenly seemed like a cow by comparison and her jeans felt a little too restricting, like she'd have been better off in a mu-mu.
   Darla laughed and held her hand out, as if to draw her into the hallway.
   “Don't worry. We'll burn everything off before the weekend's done. Do you like Mexican? Italian? I could make pizza or we could have Chinese if you like? I make a really credible General Tso's chicken. Decent fried rice too.”
   That all sounded pretty good to her really. Better than the canned chili she would have probably made herself.
   “We can vote on it. I don't want to alienate everyone the first time I meet them. After all,