The Athena Effect Read Online Free PDF Page A

stove, so having hot water at the turn of a knob was an almost unimaginable luxury. Standing under the warming rain was pure heavenly bliss, and it helped Cal miss her quiet life in the wilderness a little bit less.
    She got out of the shower and dried off, brushing her long hair and wrapping a towel around herself. When she stepped out into the hall she nearly collided with Phil.
    “Oh! Excuse me,” she said, looking down.
    He didn’t move, and his massive bulk blocked the path to her room. She glanced up to see him studying her with intense interest. The wrong kind of interest. Uncomfortable, she looked back down immediately.
    “Excuse me,” she said meekly, trying to go around him.
    He stepped to the side, barring her path.
    “Do I make you nervous?” he asked, his voice seductive and threatening at the same time. She stepped back, afraid to look up again, finally spinning on her heel and slipping back into the bathroom. She locked the door, her heart pounding in her throat.
    For an instant, she felt like she was back in the woods, being stalked by a hungry predator. She listened carefully for the sound of his footsteps receding, goosebumps rising on her flesh.
    She looked in the mirror at her frightened eyes, and for the first time since she’d come to her aunt’s house, she wished she was carrying her knife.

~

    Chapter Three – HARRASSED

    ~

    A black cloud of dread hung over Cal’s head as she walked to school that morning. Phil had always seemed irritated by her presence in the house, but now there was something else; something much worse than mere annoyance. She had absolutely no idea what she should do about it.
    She walked past the condominium complex, coming to a place where the sidewalk ended and chain link fencing replaced the tidy wood pickets of suburbia. The houses started to look older, with peeling paint and weed overgrown yards. Old washing machines rusted alongside broken-down cars up on blocks.
    A sudden barrage of vicious barking startled her, and she looked over her shoulder to see a muscular brindle-colored dog come tearing up a driveway straight towards her. She stood her ground, turning to face it, reaching to her hip reflexively for the knife that was not there. The dog jerked to a halt with a strangled yelp when it reached the end of a nylon rope.
    “Aww,” she approached it, feeling sorry for the poor creature. She sent it a soothing blast of lavender, and the dog sat down, panting from its exertion. By the time she reached it, the beast had rolled onto its back with a whimper.
    “There’s a good boy,” she crooned, giving it a belly rub.
    “Hey!” someone called from the house. Cal looked up, surprised to see the motorcyclist from the bus station appear on the porch. When he started walking towards her she bolted up and raced away down the street as fast as her ill-fitting shoes could take her.
    By the time she reached the high school she realized just how completely out of place she was. All of the other teens seemed to be wearing a uniform that consisted of brand new blue jeans worn with snug t-shirts or hooded sweatshirts; everything was printed with designer logos. The girls that did wear dresses, wore them short, with chunky wedged heels that looked ridiculously hard to walk in.
    Everyone carried phones, and went about the campus with their heads down, reading whatever was on the tiny screens. It’s a wonder they don’t run into each other constantly, Cal thought. She kept her head down too, avoiding eye contact as much as possible.
    She didn’t want them to see.
    Oh, and the colors they gave off! So many teenagers in close proximity created a witch’s brew of emotions; she tasted intense hatred, fear, envy and anxiety in the time it took her to find her first class. The riot of vivid colors blended together into a sensory overload that made it difficult for her to focus.
    There was plenty of love in the air– sickeningly sweet blood-red infatuation so powerful that