Dragon Blood 1: Pliethin Read Online Free PDF Page A

by midnight or they don’t count.” She was sick of secrets. If only she could figure out a way to learn the one her mother was keeping without letting her know she’d overheard her.
    Maira rose to her feet. Her chair scrapped loudly across the floor. “Look-”
    “Don’t start with me.” Amber pointed a finger at Maira. “Midnight.” She spun away, headed for her locker. If she’d been at her old school, there would’ve been a number of people she could have sat with. Here she had no one willing to spend time with her. She ignored the smile sent her way from one of the guys from her maths class. Okay, maybe she should rephrase that to include no one she wanted to spend time with either. She glared at him and he turned away.
    Not knowing what else to do after she’d eaten, Amber decided to go to the library and see if there was a computer free so she could check her emails and messages. She would have used her phone, but she’d nearly used up all her data allowance for the month. By the time it was her turn the bell rang. Ignoring it, she quickly signed in. There were no messages and she felt like the day had been one disaster after another. Once she’d signed out, she rose, glaring at the computer screen for a moment before she strode to her next class.
    Amber wished she could go home, her real home, not her grandmother’s home. She wanted to confront Crystal. The rest of her classes were spent planning various ways to accomplish that. She wished she was seventeen already and had her license, but that was still two months away. And a bus would take too long. It had to be a trip she could make in the space of a day. There was no way her mother was going to let her go home, even to talk to Crystal. She drew in the margin of her book. First a sports car, a figure vaguely looking like her at the wheel. Then herself in a hang glider. She frowned as she noticed the wings were almost draconic.
    Kade still hadn’t appeared by the time she returned home. The rest of the day dragged. There were no messages, emails, or phone calls. There was nothing for her to do other than homework. She reluctantly sat at her desk and started it, almost relieved when her mother interrupted.
    “I thought you were going to come and see me last night once you were finished in the bathroom.” Donna hovered in the doorway.
    Amber leaned back in her chair. Her relief had lasted for all of two seconds. “You were asleep. Practically snoring.”
    Donna stared at the floor. “It’s not so bad here, is it?”
    “I hate it.”
    “I thought we could stay here so you could see the school year out. You’re right, it probably isn’t fair to shift you again.”
    Amber leapt to her feet. “No!” She wished now she’d thought to lock her bedroom door and not answer her mother’s knock.
    “Now Amber-”
    “No.” Amber’s jaw dropped as the situation suddenly became clear, Jay’s cryptic comments making sense. “You never had any intention of going home again. It was all a trick. You’ve left Dad!”
    “I wouldn’t exactly say that.”
    “Then what would you say? Are you going back to him?”
    “I don’t know.” Donna paused. “It’s complicated. When you’re an adult-”
    “Don’t pull the ‘you wouldn’t understand’ comment on me. You won’t let me use it.”
    “That’s different. I was a teenager. I can understand what you’re going through. You’ve never been an adult.”
    Amber turned away and dropped back into her chair. “I’ve got homework to do.” She stared determinedly at the screen of her laptop. If she had to hear one more piece of bad news, she might start screaming. Very loudly and for a very long time. Like a siren.
    “Amber…”
    Amber refused to acknowledge her mother. She listened as Donna sighed heavily, closed the door and walked away. As soon as she heard the door shut, she hurried to the door and locked it.
    She took one step towards her laptop then changed her mind. Walking to her bed she