Scorpion Shards Read Online Free PDF

such a thing as cooties? He turned and ran back to the house, screaming for Mama.
    â€œHe’ll get a rash on his arm,” said the girl. “Probably come down with a bad fever for a week or so, but then it’ll go away . . . he shouldn’t have touched me.”
    â€œWinston?” called his mother from the porch. “What’s going on out there?”
    â€œJust some girl, Mama,” said Winston. “Thaddy fell in some poison ivy—better tend to him.” This was far easier than trying to explain to her the truth.
    When his mother had rolled back into the house, the girl-thing told Winston her name was Tory, short for Victoria.
    â€œWhat’s wrong with you?” Winston asked Tory.
    â€œAcne,” she said. “Ain’t you ever seen acne before?”
    Winston looked closely. If this was acne, it was acne gonemad. There was a human being down there, but it was hidden far beneath an oily layer of zits built on zits. If you spread all those blemishes across ten faces, each face would still be painful to look at.
    â€œYou’re damn ugly,” observed Winston.
    â€œGee, thanks for noticing, Mighty Mouse. It just so happens that I know who you are. I’ve been watching you ever since my aunt and me moved here last month. Are you really a witch midget? A devil-dwarf?”
    â€œGo to hell!” shouted Winston, and he leapt at her. So what if she was a girl? No one called him things like that.
    They rolled and fought, and even though Winston wasn’t really winning, it felt good. It felt wonderful to actually have someone to fight who didn’t fall to the ground the second he touched them.
    â€œYou possum-rot pus-head,” shouted Winston.
    â€œYou pin-headed voodoo troll!” shouted Tory.
    â€œSlime-drippin’ cesspool explosion!”
    â€œBaby-brained diaper butt!”
    â€œFusion-face!”
    â€œShrunken head!’
    â€œElephant girl!”
    Tory delivered a punch to the nose that was right on the mark. It hurt pretty bad, and Winston had to stagger off, collapsing by the fence.
    â€œWhy can’t I paralyze you?” he asked weakly.
    â€œI don’t know,” she said. “Why don’t you get sick when I touch you?”
    They looked at each other like boxers in separate corners.
    â€œSorry I hit you so hard,” said Tory. “It’s just that the elephant girl thing is a sore spot. It’s what they used to call me when I lived in Florida.”
    â€œWhere’d you live, the Everglades?” jabbed Winston. “Are you a swamp thing?”
    Tory didn’t answer. Even in the dim light Winston could see her puffy eyes filling with tears.
    â€œOkay,” said Winston. “Truce?”
    â€œTruce,” echoed Tory, rubbing the tears from her eyes before they had a chance to fall. Tears would probably make her face sting , thought Winston.
    â€œYou always go looking in people’s windows at night, scarin’ ’em half to death?” he asked, wiping his bloody nose.
    â€œSun’s bad for my delicate complexion,” said Tory, “so I do all my exploring at night. People don’t see me that way. Suits me just fine.”
    â€œDoes your face . . . hurt?”
    â€œAll the time.” She leaned a bit closer to him, whispering. “Is it true you’re growing backward?”
    â€œWhat do you care?” snapped Winston.
    â€œI came looking for you because I heard what people said about you. I wanted you to touch my face . . . paralyze it so I couldn’t feel it at all, and maybe it would stop hurting.”
    Winston shook his head. “But you don’t paralyze like the others . . . . Why?”
    Just then their faces were lit by a light in the sky, shining brighter than the crescent moon. The cotton around them glowed green for a moment and then pink. At first Winston took it to be the sheriff’s spotlight,