Rogue Read Online Free PDF Page B

too.’
    ‘He’s not my boyfriend!’ Laura snapped, feeling her cheeks grow hot.
    ‘Yeah, he’s probably rotting in some prison cell somewhere,’ Block said, poking her in the shoulder, ‘or dead. Either way, you’re never gonna see him again.’
    Laura felt a combination of grief and anger as she looked at the smug expressions on the two boys’ faces.
    ‘Shut up!’ she shouted, all the feelings she had bottled up since Otto’s disappearance welling up inside her. ‘Just shut up!’
    ‘Awwww. I think we upset her, Mr Block,’ Tackle said with a broad grin. ‘I think she’s gonna cry.’
    ‘I wouldnae give you the satisfaction,’ Laura said angrily, fighting to control her emotions.
    ‘Hey!’ a voice shouted from behind Laura. ‘Ugly and uglier, leave her alone.’
    Laura turned to see Lucy striding down the corridor towards them with an angry look on her face.
    ‘Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?’ Lucy snapped. ‘Not that you’d be able to find anyone as grotesquely swollen as you two steaming sacks of lard.’
    ‘Lucy, it’s all right,’ Laura said quickly.
    ‘No, it’s not all right,’ Lucy said, walking up to Block and jabbing a finger into his chest. ‘You two think you’re real big men, huh? Picking on a lone girl. You want to know what I think?’
    ‘Yeah,’ Block said with a nasty growl, ‘why don’t you tell me? Might be the last thing you get to say for a while. Hard to talk with your jaw held together by wire.’
    ‘I’ll tell you what I think,’ Lucy said with a sudden nasty smile. ‘You know what they say about bullies like you? All you really need is a hug. ’
    Twisted into Lucy’s voice were what sounded like dozens of sinister whispering echoes, and as she finished speaking Block and Tackle’s faces went blank for just the briefest of moments. Then, without warning, Block turned to Tackle and they hugged each other.
    ‘Come on,’ Lucy said with a broad grin, ‘let’s leave these two to it.’
    ‘I thought you didn’t like doing that,’ Laura said, glancing over her shoulder and looking at the two boys locked in an affectionate embrace. Lucy had inherited ‘the voice’ and its ability to control the minds of others from her grandmother, Contessa Maria Sinistre, but she was usually reluctant to use it. In this case she’d clearly decided to make an exception.
    ‘I don’t normally,’ Lucy said with a grin, ‘but sometimes . . . well . . . let’s just say that it’s hard to resist. Don’t worry, it’ll wear off . . . in an hour or two.’
    By the time they reached Ms Leon’s class they’d almost stopped laughing.

.
    Chapter Three
    The Shroud soared over the Harbour Bridge and past the famous white curving structure of the Sydney Opera House, banking towards the gleaming skyscrapers of the downtown area. There it dropped into a hover and slowly descended through what looked like a solid roof but was in fact an elaborate holographic projection. The Shroud touched down gently on the hidden landing pad and a few seconds later the hatch opened with a hiss, the loading ramp dropping to the tarmac with a mechanical whirr. Diabolus Darkdoom was waiting at the bottom of the ramp to greet Nero and Raven.
    ‘Diabolus,’ Nero said, shaking his friend’s hand.
    ‘Max, Natalya, welcome to Australia,’ Darkdoom said with only a small smile. ‘It is good to see you both again. I only wish we were meeting under happier circumstances.’
    ‘What’s wrong, Diabolus?’ Nero asked, genuinely worried by Darkdoom’s uncharacteristically dark mood.
    ‘It’s probably easiest if I show you,’ Darkdoom said, gesturing at the doors leading out of the concealed hangar. ‘The others are already here. Let’s get started, shall we?’
    Raven exchanged a puzzled look with Nero as they followed Darkdoom across the hangar – it was unlike Diabolus to be so evasive. The three of them walked in silence down a couple of corridors until they arrived at a