Shattered Girls (Broken Dolls Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

that’s strange?”
    Gabby shrugs. “I trust him. He hasn’t steered us wrong, yet.”
    “But he sounded different last night! And we haven’t heard from him in ages.”
    “You know he’s been busy. Besides, we’re picking him up this afternoon. We can ask him what’s been going on then.”
    “He’s changed, Gabby! I can
feel
it.”
    “You can’t feel anything; you’re a doll,” she says flippantly. That hurts… figuratively speaking.
    I wait for Gabby to apologize, but it doesn’t look like she has any intention. Teenagers
suck
. “We’re going to be late for school. You have sauce on your chin, by the way.”
    Gabby gulps down what’s left of the meat pie and wipes her hands on a napkin. She pulls out her phone and sits it on the table to check the time. “Oh wow, we’re already late. Lemme wash up in the bathroom, and we’ll go.”
    She stands to leave, bumping into other customers on the way. When she’s out of sight, I crawl over to the phone, then freeze, contemplating the consequences of my next action. There isn’t much time, so it’s now or never.
    I press three numbers and wait for the answer.
    “Hello, 9-1-1?”
    “What’s your emergency, please?” the woman on the other ends asks.
    “I… this sounds really weird, but I have reason to suspect an attack at the train station this afternoon.”
    “Are you in danger yourself, now? What is your address? We will send a car—”
    “No, no, I’m telling you, it’s this afternoon—”
    “Of course, Miss. Please, calm down. Are you reporting credible information—”
    “Not really, no. It’s just… a feeling, I guess.”
    “Miss, you need to elaborate. Is this a terrorist attack?”
    I pause. “Yes. Yes, it’s a terrorist attack. With bombs and everything. The police
need
to be there.”
    “Miss, we—”
    Panicked, I hang up. I shouldn’t have called from Gabby’s cell. What if they ring back? I bite my fingers and stare at the phone—but not before deleting the call log.
    Gabby returns, wiping her hands on her jeans. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
    “Ghost?” I squeak. “What ghost? Nope. No ghost! Everything is peachy.”
    Lies are just words, right?
    The diner bell rings, and a skinny woman in a plain black hoodie sidles in. Gabby can’t stop staring at her. She swallows hard and slowly clenches her fists.
    The woman turns to look at us, her dark hair covering half her face. She smiles, but more with her eyes, kind of like a cat. She steps closer, refusing to break eye contact. She’s young. Like college age young. “Hi, Gabby. Hi, Ella. Long time no see. How’ve you been?”
    Gabby lifts me and places me in her lap, so I can barely see our visitor over the table.
    “What are you doing here?” Gabby snaps.
    “Ease up. I’m not a doll anymore. It’s not like I’m going to go all psycho and try to break you. It was all a big misunderstanding, right? I’m just here to visit my uncle for the day. He works at the school. Speaking of which, why aren’t you there?”
    “None of your business, Lisa.”
    Lisa? Now why does that name ring a bell?
    The young woman shrugs. “Hey, you can’t blame a girl for trying to strike up a conversation. Hate me all you want, Gabs. I’m not the bad guy anymore.” She pauses, a large grin spreading across her face. “But I know who is.”
    Denny approaches her with a notepad in hand. “Hey. Are you here to order anything?”
    “No thanks,” Lisa says, still intently watching Gabby. “Just thought I’d check out the town. A lot has changed… and at the same time… nothing has changed at all…” She taps her earlobe, then dramatically turns on her heel and leaves.
    “Sheesh. You get some weirdos come in,” Denny mumbles, closing his notepad and ambling back to the counter.
    As Gabby clutches onto me, I desperately try to peer over the table to catch a better glimpse of whoever this was. “Gabby? Who was that?”
    “Just a bad memory,”