Eden's Creatures Read Online Free PDF Page B

stick.
    “I’m so tired of that excuse, Mom. There’s support services for people like us. They can help out until I can get a job after I graduate. You just have to want to do it. My miserable childhood is almost over, but at least think about Lan.”
    He glanced over at Landon, busily reading the back of the cereal box as he poured the milk. He’d heard these arguments so many times that he didn’t even pay attention any more.
    “I do think of Lan,” she insisted. And then, as an afterthought, “And you.”
    “Nice try.” He pushed away from the countertop and walked toward the doorway.
    “I’m scared, Cal, can’t you understand that?”
    “I’m scared too, Mom,” he said without turning around. “I have been for a very long time.”
    He strode out of the kitchen and into the living room. His stepfather had nodded off and was now slumped in the chair.
    Cal paused beside him and looked down. At the thinning hair, the dirty shirt and protruding belly. How easy it would be in this moment to wipe this cruel man out of existence. To end his reign of terror. It would take very little effort, really, with him asleep.
    Cal glanced around the room to look for a possible weapon. An extension cord, a pillow, his fist. All would work. He imagined the brief struggle beneath his hands as he tightened or pressed or pummeled.
    Of their own accord, his hands reached forward slowly toward his stepfather’s neck, shaking with the need to commit violence. To demand retribution for a lifetime of pain. Closer and closer they stretched. Inches now from flesh.
    Fortunately, rational thought seeped back into Cal’s brain and he dropped his arms down. After one last lingering look, he walked away.
    In the privacy of his bedroom, he fell back on his bed and laced his fingers behind his head. Did any part of tonight really happen? If the pains in his body were any indication, then yes, it did. His bones ached and his skin felt too tight. He could still taste the rancid meat in his mouth.
    He desperately needed to talk to someone about this whole business. But who? Landon was far too young and his mother far too disinterested. Should he go to the authorities? Talk to a teacher? People in this community had a right to know that winged creatures straight out of a Grimm fairytale lived among them, didn’t they?
    He exhaled noisily and rolled over onto his side. Wherever the answer hovered, he fell asleep long before he could reach for it.
    At the sound of his alarm, Cal flopped an arm over to the nightstand and gave it a good whack. When the beeping stopped, he burrowed deeper into his covers for a few more minutes of sleep. It went by sooner than he liked and the alarm went off once again.
    Finally, he swung his feet to the floor and stretched his arms overhead. A ray of winter sunshine flooded into the room, illuminating the tiny motes dancing within the beam. Outside, a dog barked. The roar of a truck sped by. And, in that very brief moment, the world was normal.
    Then the evening before flashed back into Cal’s mind.
    Nothing will ever be normal again.
    He glanced over to the dresser and the large white feather lying on top. No, Stassi was very real. The Faedin were real. So what am I going to do about it?
    Go to school.
    As ridiculous as it sounded, at least getting back to his routine would buy him time to clear his head enough to think this through.
    “Come on, Cal!” Landon whined from the bed on the other side of the room. “Shut off the alarm!”
    Cal did as his brother asked, pulled his jeans on and went into the kitchen. His parents had already left for work, so he set about getting breakfast ready.
    After a quick meal and an even quicker shower, he ushered Landon out of the house and they walked together down the dirt road from their house to the bus stop. Cal looked around warily for the Pervall brothers, but they were nowhere in sight.
    When the bus pulled up, Cal followed Landon on board. While his brother ran to the