Freeze Tag Read Online Free PDF Page B

Disease.”
    “Unfreeze her, Lannie!” hissed Meghan.
    “No. Come on, West. We’re eating together.”
    West actually took a step with her. Actually picked up the lunch tray on which his and Meghan’s sandwiches lay.
    “Let’s talk about this,” said Meghan quickly.
    “There’s nothing to talk about. West promised to like me forever, and forever is here.”
    Forever is here .
    The words strapped Meghan down. Lannie would have West for eternity, while Meghan would go to school alone and grow up and move away.
    “Actually I think I promised to like you best,” said West.
    “That, too,” said Lannie happily.
    “Undo Jessica!” shouted Meghan.
    The cafeteria turned to stare in their direction.
    Lannie shook her head gently, disassociating herself and West from Meghan’s crazy behavior.
    “You’re a virus, Lannie,” said Meghan.
    Lannie had had enough of her. “And you’re frozen, Meghan,” said Lannie, reaching out.

Chapter 3
    W EST JERKED LANNIE BACKWARD . Her finger missed Meghan by a molecule’s width. Lannie’s hand trembled, stuck out into the air, touching nothing. The finger pointed evilly on, as if it could freeze by invisible waves. But it could not. Meghan could move and breathe.
    Not easily. Fear tightened her up. Her stomach was cinched in, her ribs were rigid, her ankles were stiff. Meghan managed a single half step away. It was not enough. A river between them would not have been enough.
    She was going to freeze me! thought Meghan. She was tired of me and that was the answer.
    After a long time, she wrenched her eyes off that shivering fingertip — was it shivering because it delivered a freeze? shivering because it was still straining forward? — and looked at West.
    How large West was, how slight Lannie looked against him. She was as insubstantial as a tissue, and yet he had to struggle to hold her. West seemed both stunned and certain. Of what was he certain? Meghan did not know. She was certain of nothing now. She did not see if she could ever be certain again.
    What weapon was this — this threat Lannie could carry out?
    How would any of them behave normally ever again, when that finger could …
    “I like you best, Lannie,” said West. His voice was calm. It was even friendly. It did not sound like a lie. Anybody listening would have thought that West Trevor did, indeed, like Lannie best.
    Meghan was no longer stiff with fear but limp with shock. Was West acting? If so, he was a brilliant actor. Or was he impressed? Memory returned to Meghan Moore. I’m impressed , Lannie , he had said that evening on the grass.
    Power is impressive, she thought. But he has to like me best!
    “We’ll have lunch over by the windows, Lannie,” said West in his firm adult voice. “And on our way over, Lannie,” he said, giving an order, sounding like a parent, “you’ll brush against Jessica. It’ll count. It’ll undo it. The ambulance won’t have to take her. Right?”
    Lannie pulled her lips together in a little girl’s pout.
    How strange she looked. A moment ago Lannie had been as ancient as evil, as timeless as cruelty. Now she was a little girl, lip stuck out because she had to do something she didn’t feel like doing.
    “I mean it, Lannie,” said West. “I can’t hang out with you if you’re going to freeze people.”
    Meghan suppressed an hysterical desire to laugh.
    “Okay, fine,” said Lannie irritably. She snuggled herself up against West and walked so close to him she might have been standing on his shoes to walk, the way Brown used to love to do with his big brother when he was about three.
    It was good that everybody in the cafeteria was so absorbed by Jessica’s condition. Nobody saw the amazing combination of Lannie and West.
    Actually, thought Meghan, a combination of Lannie and anyone at all would be amazing. She’s always alone. Everybody’s afraid of her.
    Meghan’s hair prickled.
    Why? Why were they afraid? What experiences had other people in here had with