Unmasked Read Online Free PDF Page B

girl with spidery long legs strided into the room. Noelle held in a gasp of shock when the girl only needed to take four steps to reach her.
    Noelle craned her neck to spot the face of the girl who looked to be stretched as tall as a skyscraper. She could clearly count every rib on the girl protruding out of her tight, blue blouse.
    “Thought you said that everyone was entitled to their own belief,” the skyscraper continued. “So why are you trying to destroy hers?”
    Noelle tried to remember where she spotted the skyscraper girl. She looked vaguely familiar.
    Erin rolled her eyes, “She can believe what she wants, but it’s stupid to put your faith in something that doesn’t exist.”
    Erin then proceeded to roll over in her bed, her backside facing the girls, indicating that she wanted the last word before ending the conversation.
    The skyscraper shot her a dissolving glare before plopping down on Noelle’s bed. The skyscraper’s head didn’t quite follow as it crashed with siding of the top bunk. She clamped a pair of strikingly white teeth on her lips clearly restraining herself from uttering a few choice words.
    The skyscraper then ducked her head and held out hand to shake Noelle’s when she finally compressed herself enough to fit underneath her bunk.
    “Name’s Lacey, and yours?”
    Noelle didn’t know whether to find it alarming that the girl didn’t refer to her as “Saint”.
    “Noelle.”
    “Pretty name,” Lacey began conversationally. “Sorry about Erin. Usually those who still think that Author is real get a bad rap at campus. They think we’re chasing after wind or something...”
    “You believe in him too?” Noelle asked with a slight candle of hope igniting in her chest.
    Lacey nodded cautiously, “‘Course; there’s more than just the two of us in campus. But people usually aren’t as vocal about it as you. They usually like to hide their belief a little more to make it into the bigger categories –”
    But Noelle didn’t hear what Lacey said next because her fingers anxiously fumbled around to find the note. When she found it, she brandished it for Lacey to see.
    “Does the Author write to you too?”
    Lacey glanced at her feet sheepishly letting her honey-tinted hair shield her thin boned face and brilliant hazel eyes.
    “Yes, he writes to everyone. Some people just think it’s a camper who put it there as a joke, others believe.”
    “So you’re going to the café tomorrow too?” Noelle asked hopefully. “Maybe you could go with me to make sure – so I don’t have to go alone.”
    Noelle couldn’t quite add that she was a little doubtful that she would actually see the Author in the café. What if Erin was right? It could just be some camper trying to pull her leg.
    Lacey shook her head sorrowfully, “That time is for you and him, although once a week a group of people often will have talks with him in the café – which I haven’t really been able to go to in a while,” she added sheepishly, revealing that she had already said too much.
    “You mean – you don’t go visit him?”
    Lacey glanced toward the spider-infested ceiling looking for the right words, but when none came, she nodded softly.
    “I mean, he has these get-togethers every morning, and they help, they really do. But I just don’t have enough time. You know, busy schedules and all being a counselor in Sage Peak cabin.”
    Suddenly, Noelle remembered where she spotted Lacey. She was one of the counselors who helped out with the camper mixer.
    It suddenly dawned on Noelle that Lacey had already gone through orientation and placement. Perhaps she knew how to pass the tests with flying colors and land in a Main Character spot; after all, she was very skinny and pretty. She also seemed pretty smart, which Cynthy insisted were spot-on Main Character qualities.
    “What’s orientation like? What do they make us do on the tests? How do you become a Main Character?” Noelle burst out at once,