Skin Deep Read Online Free PDF Page B

Clutching the phone, I whispered Anjelo's name into the device. The darned thing promptly advised me to speak more clearly, its tone annoyingly authoritative, seeming to laugh at me.
    Damned machine.
    Clearing my throat, I spoke his name again, this time restraining the urge to shout at the piece-of-crap phone.
    Dial tone. Thank Ailuros.
    "Kailin? What time is it?" Anjelo grumbled, his voice thick with sleep, grumpy and perplexed. He loved sleep, even more than his widely known love affair with Italian pasta. Nothing the school cafeteria supplied would ever tempt his taste buds. Anjelo had gourmet taste.
    All he would've heard was my grunt of pain as I slid further to the floor, the phone suddenly too heavy to hold to my ear.
    "Kailin, you okay?" His voice gurgled as if I were underwater—hollow, strange.
    I took a deep breath and gripped the phone, pulling on every last dreg of energy, and said, "Sure. Shot. Bleeding. But okay."
    My voice cracked on each syllable, and I barely heard his urgent request for my location. I scowled at the phone, again so heavy it began to pull my hand to the floor, inch by inch.
    Why was he shouting at me? I could hear him perfectly.
    I spoke with a false calm. "I'm at the Center." Then I let the phone fall, unable to bear its incredible weight.
    Sounds filtered to me through the phone. Scrambling. The low thudding of someone bumping into things in the dark. Muffled oaths, and then a slamming door.
    Good. Anjelo's coming.
    Anjelo Alvarez was my closest Walker friend. When it came to my Wraith-hunting secret, he'd been determined to stay out of it—typical Walker, raised on the old diet of prejudice against Humans. He'd turned sixteen a few months ago, and even though Walkers lived longer lives and aged slower than Humans, I refused to endanger him. Besides, he was no Alpha, didn't have the super-strength that came naturally for me. So I was happy to keep him as far away from the Wraith's as possible.
    But calling Anjelo wasn't going to endanger him in any way. At least I hoped not. And I had nobody else to call. I sighed and the world spun.
    Anjelo was coming. I just had to hold on.
    The bullet deep within the muscle of my back moved slowly, one hairs-breadth at a time. Crushed bone within my shoulder began to knit together. Tiny shattered bone fragments disintegrated, absorbing back into my shoulder blade.
    All Walkers could regenerate when injured. But Alphas, with their genetic advantage, were better at it. Those genes were awful nice despite their mutation. Now I hoped my mutated genes would make themselves useful and heal the wound, which burned through my shoulder with all the fury of a newborn volcano.
    A half-moan, half-sob spilled from my lips as I leaned heavily against the cool comfort of the closet wall, my shoulder healing and expelling the bullet in a slow and excruciating process.
    Darkness took over as I bled profusely onto my beautiful new leather pants.
     
    ***
     

Chapter 6
    A voice called my name, the sound hollow and tinny, as if the speaker yelled at me from the other end of a dank and darkened tunnel.
    I summoned the energy to crack open my eyes.
    Twin images blurred then merged slowly to form Anjelo's face hovering inches above mine. Concern contorted his brow, spoiling the softness of his gentle baby face. His furiously gelled blond spikes gave me comfort.
    Thank Ailuros he'd come. I was as grateful as a girl could be, what with being shot and losing so much blood and all. Anjelo's face blurred again, then cleared up. My relief that he'd come was somewhat tempered by the knowledge that Lily, Anjelo's over-possessive girlfriend, would have a thing or two to say about him helping me in such a nefarious situation. Maybe, just maybe, Lily wouldn't need to know about it.
    I sighed, glancing at Anjelo. The stark worry on his face amplified my own fear before my mind raced off on another tangent. Odd time to register it, but I found his tweed peak cap, now scrunched between