Fractured Read Online Free PDF Page A

book.
    It flies back again moments later. I glance at Nico. No reaction. Still going on about dinosaurs. I unfold it.
    Yes, we have: you are She Who Jumps on Leaves. I am He Who Hefts Heavy Boxes from Boot. Also known as Cam .
    So it is Cam, not Cameron, as Amy found in community gossip. And he is every bit as mad as he appeared yesterday.
    I chew my pencil for a while. Ignore, or…
    A pen pokes my arm. Mad, and impatient. Yet I know what it is like to be the new one, to know nobody.
    All right. I write on the square: Leaf Lady, also known as Kyla .
    I fold it up, flick it back across.
    ‘Congratulations!’ a voice says to my right. It is Nico: standing next to our bench and looking straight at me. Along with every pair of eyes in the room.
    ‘Ah…’
    ‘You are the lucky winner of a lunchtime detention. Now try to pay attention for the rest of the class.’
    Heat creeps up my face, but not from the embarrassment of a room full of eyes. Nico’s say, gotcha! The cheetah has pounced. And there isn’t a thing I can do about it.
    Cam, to his credit, protests that it was his fault, but Nico ignores him. The class continues, and I stare at the clock as the minutes count down, hoping somebody else will get nabbed for some other misdemeanour, that we won’t be alone. But there’s no chance of that. Not with Nico in charge.
    The bell goes and everyone starts packing up. Cam stands with a stricken look on his face. ‘Sorry,’ he mouths, and follows the last students. The door swings shut behind them.
    Alone.
    Nico stares, face unreadable. Seconds stretch to more seconds, and inside I am…what: scared? But it feels more like something else. Like the fear that comes from something that is both terrifying, and a thrill: ridge walking in a storm, or abseiling down a cliff.
    He flicks his head in a gesture that says follow me. We leave the lab, and go down the hall to a row of offices.
    He looks both ways, takes a key out of his pocket, and unlocks one of the office doors.
    ‘Come,’ he says. No smile, nothing. Cold.
    I follow him in, feet dragging; no choice, but dread is pooling inside. He locks the door, then in a sudden movement grabs my arm and twists it tight behind my back, pushing my face into the wall.
    ‘Who are you?’ he says, voice low. ‘Who are you!’ Again, louder this time, but controlled. No one would hear.
    He pulls my arm tighter. As if the pain in my shoulder is a trigger, I remember . And I’m somewhere else. Some other time, place. Where Nico’s sudden tests like this could bruise the unwary. But I know how to escape this one! With a flash of joy at memory, I jump up to loosen the arm grip, twist and plant a fist into the hard muscles of his stomach.
    He lets go and starts to laugh, rubbing at his stomach. ‘I had to be sure. I’m sorry. Is your arm all right?’
    A smile takes over my face. I shrug my shoulder around in a circle. ‘Fine. But if you’d really wanted to hold me you would have pulled my arm up higher. That was a test.’
    ‘Yes. That manoeuvre was pure Rain.’ And he laughs again, delight shining in his eyes. ‘Rain!’ he says again, holding out his arms, and I move closer until they are around me, warm and tight. And I feel a sense of coming back to a place I am meant to be, where I was always meant to be. Where I know who and what I am, because Nico does.
    Then he holds me out at arm’s length, studies my face, assessing.
    ‘Nico?’ I say, uncertain.
    He smiles. ‘You remember me. Good! I always knew you’d survive, my special Rain.’ He sits me down on a chair, him perched on the desk above. Takes my hand and looks at my Levo. ‘It worked, didn’t it. This thing is just a thing.’ And he spins it on my wrist: no pain, no nothing. Levels in mid-happy.
    I half smile, then it falls away. ‘It worked? Nico, please. Explain to me. I remember pieces of things, but it is all such a mess. I don’t understand what has happened to me.’
    ‘Always serious. We should be