Mutation Read Online Free PDF Page B

again.
    I looked at my watch. Eight o’clock already. That would be Dad at the door.
    Stupid curfew.
    Ms Hunter stood up. Tonight was really not going well for her.
    Montag waited until she was out of the room. Then he leant across the table, jabbing a finger at Luke and me.
    â€˜You foolish – arrogant – children, ’ he hissed. ‘What could you possibly think you’re achieving here?’
    â€˜So, what,’ I said, ‘you expect us to just lie down and take it?’
    â€˜Do you honestly believe you can stop what’s being done here?’ Montag said. ‘Like it or not, Jordan, the world has changed. This is the way things are now. The only question left to you is how much more blood you want on your hands before you accept that.’
    Things would’ve got ugly very quickly if Dad hadn’t walked into the room at that moment. He glanced at the doc, surprised to see him here, then down at me. I tried to wipe the anger from my face, but he must have caught the edge of it. ‘Jordan? You okay?’
    â€˜Yeah,’ I said, abandoning my half-finished meal. ‘C’mon. Let’s go. Thanks for dinner, Ms Hunter.’
    â€˜Don’t mention it,’ said Luke’s mum tonelessly.
    â€˜Oh, Abraham, before you go …’ The doc got up and crossed to talk to Dad. ‘Would it be possible for you and Samara to drop in to see me tomorrow?’
    A little shiver sparked up my spine.
    â€˜Sure, doc,’ said Dad. ‘Have you figured out what’s –?’
    â€˜I think it would be best if you waited and let me explain in the morning,’ Montag cut in. ‘I believe I’ve ascertained what’s been troubling your wife and the baby …’
    â€˜But?’ said Dad.
    The doc looked uncomfortable. ‘Let’s just say things may be slightly more complicated than we’d first thought.’

Chapter 5

    S UNDAY , J UNE 14
60 DAYS
    â€˜Okay,’ said Georgia, gesturing excitedly with her hands as we walked down the street, ‘this time you can be the princess and I can be the dinosaur.’
    I glanced down at her. ‘Georgia, I don’t think I really understand this game.’
    We reached the end of our block and I turned the corner, into another identical street lined with more identical houses. Prison cells dressed up as homes. Georgia stomped around behind me, arms up above her head like claws.
    â€˜Princess! Princess! I’m going to eat you up!’
    Usually, I would have played along, but I just didn’t have the headspace for it today.
    Mum and Dad were already on their way to see Dr Montag. After a solid hour of pestering last night, they’d finally agreed to let me come with them – but first, I had to drop Georgia off at a friend’s place.
    Back home, there would have been a dozen aunts, uncles and grandparents falling over themselves to take Georgia for the day. Phoenix was a different story. It had taken Mum ages to find someone to mind her on such short notice.
    I stopped at the house.
    A second later, Georgia’s hands clamped down on my hips.
    â€˜CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!’ she shouted, hammering me with her fingertips. ‘EAT! EAT! EAT!’
    â€˜Oi, stop, ’ I said, batting her away with one hand and pulling the front gate open with the other. ‘Settle down, will you? We’re here.’
    â€˜I know we are!’ said Georgia, letting go of me and rolling her eyes. She raced up the path and started banging on the front door. I caught up to her just as the door swung open.
    A freckle-faced girl stood in the doorway. It was Lauren, one of the Year 7s who’d pestered us almost non-stop during our stint as Pryor’s staff-student liaisons.
    For a second, I thought we’d come to the wrong house. But then I heard footsteps thundering up the hall behind her, and Georgia’s friend Max poked his head out.
    â€˜Georgia!’ he said.