Thorn Abbey Read Online Free PDF Page B

while we strolled around the pier, checking out the fancy yachts. She would talk about the big boats with a mixture of pleasure and envy that I didn’t understand back then.
    But these woods, this path, and the beach beyond bear little resemblance to Cape Cod. Everything about this place is cold and uninviting. Of course, it’s probably the early hour of the day and my foul mood. Or the fact that a girl I didn’t even know, a girl who’s been on my mind way too much since yesterday, drowned in these waters.
    I stop in my tracks. There’s no good reason for me to be here. I have zero business chasing ghosts or chasing Max De Villiers, which is basically what I’m doing. I’m tired and freezing, and I’d be better off back in Kerrith Hall with a cup of vending-machine hot chocolate and my comforter.
    That’s when I see him. He is standing on a rocky cliff, holding a bottle in his hand, his feet precariously close to the edge.
    Oh my God, he’s going to jump.
    “Max! No! ” I scream.

8.
    M AX DOESN’T TURN . I BREAK INTO A RUN, SHOUTING HIS NAME.
    “Max! Don’t! ”
    He flings the bottle toward the sea, yelling something. It sounds like die , but it’s hard to hear over the wind and the waves crashing below. Plus my heart is pounding, practically bursting out of my chest. I won’t get to him in time.
    He wants to be with Becca.
    I force myself to run faster, faster—and somehow, by some miracle, I manage to reach him before he goes over. I’m so freaked out I can barely think. I grab fistfuls of his navy school sweater and try to yank him back from the ledge. But he’s way bigger than I am, and he barely budges. He doesn’t even seem to notice I’m there.
    I catch sight of the precipice below: a sheer cliff wall ending in a churning black abyss. My stomach twists. I’m afraid of heights. And here I am, teetering on the edge of the world with a suicidal boy, and we’re both going to die.
    I burst into tears, still clutching Max’s sweater. I’ve never been so terrified. He finally regards me with a blank look. His eyes are red, as if he’s been crying too. He doesn’t seem to know who I am.
    “Max, it’s me !” I sob.
    Still nothing. It’s like he’s in a trance.
    “Please, please! You don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. You need to step away from there, okay? Here, take my hand.”
    He blinks and slips his hand into mine, and I coax him back from the ledge. He’s obviously wasted; he reeks of whiskey. Alcohol and grief, great combination.
    Once we’re on safer ground, away from the cliff, I lead him toward the woods with quicker steps. Just then, a gray seagull swoops by, so close that I flinch. It circles us once and flies away, its screech falling on us like broken glass.
    For a split second, the seagull glows bright white against the predawn sky. But the sun isn’t up yet. I must be hallucinating. Max frowns at the bird but says nothing.
    We reach the trail leading back to campus. I let go of Max’s hand and lean against a tree to catch my breath. Off to the sideof the path is a sign that I didn’t notice before: DANGER: NO HIKING BEYOND THIS POINT . Somewhere in the woods, I must have taken a wrong turn. And yet it led me to Max.
    I swipe at my tears with my sleeve. “What the fuck?” I say finally.
    Max’s gaze flicks toward me.
    “Seriously, what the fuck?” I repeat, raising my voice. I’ve never spoken to anyone like that before, but now that I’ve started, I can’t stop. “I know we don’t know each other very well, but honestly, what were you thinking ?”
    Max closes his eyes and rubs his temples. Maybe I’m getting through to him.
    “Are you completely selfish?” I continue. “Do you want to destroy the lives of everyone who’s ever cared about you? Is that what she would have wanted? Becca?”
    Her name escapes my lips before I can stop myself. I didn’t mean to say it. Devon warned me not to upset him.
    Now he is completely alert. He glares at me,