Perennial Read Online Free PDF Page B

made it go away. His death barely made the papers.”
    “Did you write the Vagabond’s Warrior blog?” I ask.
    “ Vagabond’s Warrior ?” he says, squinting and giving
me a look. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    “Whatever,” I say, standing and distancing myself from him.
“What I’m really wondering is how you know where my bedroom is.”
    That catches him off guard, and I can tell he knows he made
a mistake. Trying to recover, he looks beyond me toward the yard and says,
“Look, it’s not what you think, okay? I’m not that guy.”
    “And what ‘ guy ’ is that, Lewis? You mean the high
school perv who spies on female classmates to a get a look at them in their
most private moments? Jesus, you remember who my dad is, right?”
    “Like I said, I’m not that guy. Trust me.”
    Somehow I know he’s telling the truth, so I shake my head
and say, “I’m guessing you knew William.”
    “Yes,” he says, his stunning eyes locked on mine again. “I
knew William well. That’s why I get pissed whenever somebody says he committed
suicide.” He lowers his gaze. “We called him Willis, by the way. His good
friends did anyway.”
    “You said you just moved here and are living with your
grandparents while your parents are in China,” I say. “If you knew William—or
Willis, that is—you couldn’t have lived too far away.”
    “Our house is over in Eastland,” he says, referring to Beaconsfield’s
eastern border city. Eastland isn’t as wealthy as Beaconsfield, but it’s
definitely an upper-class suburb. “William and I met at the Oakland County
Alternative Academy during freshman year. We’d both been in a lot of trouble at
our middle schools, so our districts made us start high school at the academy.
We clicked right away. Eventually, I stopped using and got my act together.
William didn’t. I spent a year there and went to Eastland High as a sophomore.
William dropped out of the academy and never went back to school.” Lewis
shrugs. “But we always stayed in touch. I tried to help him turn things around,
but it was pretty clear he preferred me as a friend and not a peer drug
counselor. I could have spent my senior year at Eastland High, but I guess you
could say I needed a change of scenery.” He shifts his gaze away from mine and
looks around the stately neighborhood. “When I found out my parents were off to
China for a year, I jumped at the chance to finish high school in Beaconsfield.
I mean, who wouldn’t?”
    “What room did he die in?” I ask, aiming an outstretched arm
toward the house.
    “Your bedroom,” he says. “I already told you that.”
    “And what room is my bedroom?” I stare hard at him. “Indulge
me, okay?”
    There’s a silence during which we gaze at each other and I
feel something important but unspoken pass between us. The cold air seems to
intensify, sending a shiver through my body that reaches my bones. Lewis’s
dazzling lagoon eyes appear brighter than ever. A hint of a smile crosses his face.
    “William died in the bedroom above the living room,” he
says, aiming an index finger directly above us. “The room that is now your
bedroom.”
    I fold my arms across my chest and study him. “Who are you,
Lewis?” I say in almost a whisper.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I’ve never had a day like this in my life,” I say, feeling
heat building behind my eyes. God, don’t cry, Alix. Keep it inside, girl .
“I play by the rules and keep my nose clean,” I add, definitely fighting a
flood of tears. “I’ve never been in trouble for anything.”
    He smiles in a way that scares me.
    “Something’s happening to me, Lewis,” I say. “Good or bad, I
don’t know, but somehow I know you’re connected. And I think Mr. Watkins is
connected. The same goes for William Weed.” I pause. “What can you tell me
about Perennial, Oval City, Face, and Aruna?”
    “Aruna? Nobody’s seen her since before William died.”
Lewis’s troubling smile