The Mechanics of Being Human Read Online Free PDF Page B

offered Fawn her hand.
    "My name is Remy," Felicity's mom said. "Yours?"
    "Fawn." Fawn accepted Remy's hand and discovered it was warm and soft. It appeared Remy and her daughters' hands were the same. They were both plump with stubby fingers.
    "You must be freezing." Remy frowned at her fingers. "Your hand's like ice."
    Fawn shrugged, then glanced at the apartment. The thought of returning made her stomach plummet. She could feel the air was cold but didn't shiver. But she knew cold. She'd been cold that day she stumbled out of her house and her feet touched ground for the first time. She added her natural frigidness to her list of abnormal things about her life.
    "Are you all right?" Remy asked. "You got a strange expression on your face all of the sudden."
    "Fine." Fawn shrugged.
    "I haven't seen you around here before." Remy looked her up and down. "You live at these apartments too?"
    "My parents just moved here. Apartment 202." Fawn shrugged. "I was getting the feel of the place by walking around."
    "Ah. So you're our neighbor." Remy crossed her arms and glanced at the apartment too. "We're apartment 204. You go to Jefferson High School? You look about the same age as my nephew, Gavin. Boy will he be thrilled when he finds out a cute girl like you moved next-door."
    A sharp sting hit Fawn's heart like a rock. It was the sensation she wanted to hide from Remy. Embarrassment, she realized. She felt embarrassed, but she was glad Remy called her cute. Neither pleasure nor embarrassment overpowered one another, though one was good and one was bad. For some reason, this struck her as odd, though she should have been used to emotions after sixteen years of life.
    "Well, I better get these little rascals off to bed." Remy cocked her head. "You heading back too? Or you going to stay out here and sit on the bench some more? It's not good for a girl like you to sit outside alone in the dark. This isn't a bad neighborhood, but things happen all the time to women. Just a few minutes ago, I saw a man staring up at our apartment wearing all black. He gave me the creeps because his eyes were so dark."
    "I guess I'll go back to the apartment."
    Though she said this, she fought the urge from running in the opposite direction. The apartment didn't feel like home. She wasn't sure what did. The workshop, maybe. Not being able to find where she belonged caused her heart to burn like it was covered in acid. But she didn't have much choice. She must head back to her parents.
    "Come on." Remy nodded toward the building. "Let's walk back together."
    When Fawn stepped forward to head back to the apartment, Felicity grabbed her hand and beamed up at her. As they walked, a dark male figure hovered at the side of the apartment building and seeing him made Fawn do a double take. The moment she focused on him, he disappeared. She strained her eyes, trying to figure out where the man went. It was like he'd dissolved into the cracks on the ground.

Chapter Three

    Fawn and Delanee stood in the middle of a store surrounded by clothes. All of the clothes were different, unlike what she'd seen in other shops. As Fawn picked through bright orange shirts and grabbed a price tag, she saw the tangerine cardigan was two dollars and fifty cents. When she rubbed the material between her fingers, she felt the shirt was silk. The smell of something musty filled her nostrils, but she ignored it.
    As Fawn held the shirt between her fingers, she realized one of the buttons on the top was broken. She fingered the threads with a frown. She was surprised a store would sell a shirt with a broken button.
    "You want that, Fawn?" Her mom smiled and grabbed the price tag.
    "The button is broken." Fawn pointed at the forest of threads sticking out of the shirt, searching for their lost attachment.
    "The old owner probably broke it." Her mom took the cardigan off of the rack, then held it against Fawn. "It would still look okay, though. This color is definitely