Doomed Read Online Free PDF Page A

neither did he, it seems, as he looks as shocked as I feel. “Pandora?” he asks incredulously. “What are
you
doing here?”
    He doesn’t exactly sound happy to see me, a feeling that I assure myself is totally mutual. Still, when I try to tell him why I’m banging on his door like a crazy woman, nothing comes out. It’s like the connection between my brain and my tongue has suddenly stopped working, and all I can do is stutter. “I—I—”
    “Are you here for Eli?” His face changes as he asks the question, settles back into the cold, emotionless lines I’m used to seeing.
    “No. I’m … I … It’s just …” I cough a little, rub my neck as I can’t help remembering what it felt like to have his hands wrapped around my throat. The memory irritates me even as it jump-starts my brain and I blurt out, “Is your phone working?”
    “My phone?” Blankness changes to puzzlement, then concern. “Are you okay? Did you have an accident?” This time, when he looks me over, I can tell he’s checking me fordamage, looking to see if my bizarre behavior is the result of hitting my head too hard.
    “No, no, I’m fine.” I point back toward my house. “I live next door and I’m having some weird problems with my phone and utilities. I was wondering if you were having the same issues over here.”
    “Next door?” he asks.
    “Yeah. Small world, right?”
    “Come on in.” He opens the door a little wider, waves me inside.
    I cross the threshold but do my best to keep out of reach. No use tempting fate or anything. A smirk flits across Theo’s face, as if he can tell what I’m thinking. Then, almost before I can register it, it’s gone.
    “So, what kind of problems are you having?”
    The question jerks me back to attention and I tell him.
    He frowns. “No, I think everything’s good here.” He walks into the kitchen, gesturing for me to follow him. Picks up his landline, listens. “We’ve got a dial tone.”
    “Oh.”
    “You don’t have to sound so disappointed.”
    “I’m not.” I turn all my attention to the phone in his hand, try to ignore how nervous I am around him. “I was just hoping the whole area had been hit by something. Then people would be trying to fix it, and I wouldn’t have to …” Wouldn’t have to what? Worry that my house has been taken over by demons? It sounds so stupid in my head, I can’t imagine saying it out loud.
    “Wait around for a repairman?” He finishes my sentence.And since his interpretation sounds so much better—so much saner—than mine, I go with it.
    “Exactly. A repairman.”
    “You can call from here if you want.” He sits down in front of the computer resting on a small desk in the corner of the kitchen. “Do you need a number?”
    “Um, yeah. AT&T.”
    He nods, types the info into Google. I glance at the bulletin board above the computer and blink a little at the pictures there. Each one shows a small airplane in a different stage of construction, from beginning to end. Theo’s smiling in all of them, his face lit up with so much joy and satisfaction that I almost don’t recognize him. In each he’s standing next to a very tall man who bears a striking resemblance to him. His father?
    I start to ask what it was like to actually build an airplane, but when I glance down at him—and the screen he’s scrolling through looking for the customer service line—the computer blinks off. Then on. Then off again. I freeze, because it’s almost the exact same thing my laptop did when everything in my house went nuts. From upstairs, someone calls, “Hey, is the Internet down?” And that’s when it hits me. If Theo’s home, Eli probably is, too.
    I run a self-conscious hand through my hair, glance down at my shirt and jeans to make sure I’m presentable. When I look up again, I realize Theo is staring at me. He saw my whole little primping routine, subtle as it was. And even worse, he knows who it was for.
    Ugh. I glance at the ceiling,