Entropy (The Countenance Trilogy 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

satisfaction in this.
    “I was with Cooper then Wes came by, and we hung out.” I look to Jen. “That’s the truth.” Sort of.
    “Let me guess”—Kres mock gags—“you convinced Wesley that you needed protection from all the scary monsters running around last night.”
    “There were zombies on the loose, so, yes, and he volunteered.” But it was Cooper who was protecting me. A sad feeling sweeps over my body. I have a gut feeling that if I had asked Cooper to help me get my family out of the tunnels last night, he wouldn’t have hesitated. I’d be having breakfast with them right now instead of staring at Grayson’s wardrobe malfunction. But, according to Wes, my family wouldn’t have gone anywhere better — both Coop and I would be dead, and so would they.
    “Those were idiots from Rycroft .” Jen points over at me with a pen, and it’s only now I realize she’s taking notes. “And, by the way, I heard half the basketball team is on probation for that little stunt. Ten games. Five for doing it—five for denying it.”
    “They didn’t do it.” I shake my head. “There were real zombies here last night. But”—I slap my hands over my thighs—“I doubt you believe me so I’m off to my room.”
    Jen’s eye twitches as if she were considering my words. “Hattie isn’t coming back. I’ll be cleaning her things out later today, just so you know.”
    “Why isn’t she coming back?” Hattie is the only Celestra I know outside of Coop, and she’s the Tobias sisters granddaughter—all of whom I still might need to free my family.
    “Because”—Grayson scowls over at me as if I were too dumb to read the hot pink lipstick scrawled across the proverbial wall—“she hung Kres and me from a tree like we were freaking sides of beef. She’s a killer , stupid. She has to be caught and exterminated.”
    Jen rolls her eyes. “She took off, and we can’t find her. The police want to ask her some questions. It’s true what Grayson says. The school security camera caught it all on tape. She’s already been expelled. It’s a done deal.” Jen flips back her milky-blonde hair as if it were nothing to lose sleep over, but the fact that poor, sweet Hattie is out there somewhere alone and afraid makes me want to scour the landscape until I find her. “There’s an emergency assembly in an hour down in Carlson Hall. It’s mandatory. I’ll see you there.”
    “Then I guess I’d better get ready.” I hit the stairs before Jen can protest.
    A school assembly on a Saturday?
    This is going to be a shit day all around, I can tell.
     

     
    I walk into Carlson Hall a little early, hoping Coop will already be there, and he is. My heart skips a beat at the sight of him then sinks like a lead boulder at the thought of those kisses I shared with Wes. It was as if I had lost my mind. A part of me wanted to believe we were back in Cider Plains — that we were simply making up after some big fight. The irony is, Wes and I never fought. I suppose the reality is that I never once thought I’d get Wes back, and now I have him. We spent all last night getting drunk off the memory of who we were. But at the end of the day, something was still amiss in my heart, and I’m guessing that something was Cooper Flanders. He’s already created a wedge between Wes and me as wide as the Atlantic. I’m pretty sure there isn’t anything that can fill that gap, except for Coop, and I can’t have them both.
    “Hey.” He rises to meet me and pulls me into a deep, strong hug. Coop’s chest warms me for a moment, and I welcome the heat. His cheek bristles against mine, and I let out an involuntary groan. “So”— he pulls back, his hands still digging into my waist — “everything go okay?” There’s a reflection of pain in his eyes, and I glance away pretending not to have seen it. If I acknowledge it in any way, I’ll lose it right here.
    “It depends on what your definition of okay is.” A moment of silence