Will Power: A Djinn Short Read Online Free PDF Page A

yourself in the mirror and focus on driving,” Mia said from the backseat.
    I had been staring out the window and turned to see Pyke giving himself eyes in the rear-view mirror.
    “I’m multitasking,” he said. “Relax. At least I know how to drive.”
    Mia kicked the back of his seat.
    Pyke had a point. Mia had done the least amount of driving on the trip because she wasn’t very good. The first time we’d let her take the wheel she’d floored it so hard that we’d skidded toward the gas pump. If Pyke hadn’t grabbed the wheel and steered us away, we’d be dead.
    “My driving is fine,” Mia replied. “I make one mistake and suddenly I’m dangerous.”
    “You were always dangerous,” I said, and Pyke laughed.
    As much as we were getting on each other’s nerves it was great to be on the road with my best friends.
    “Take the next exit,” I said to Pyke. “The town is coming up.”
    “Finally.” Mia slumped back in her seat.

    ***

    Pyke pulled up outside the high school, a modern building, mostly steel and glass. It was the end of the day and students filled the car park.
    “This is where the Blooder was last spotted,” I said, going through the files.
    “That sighting was months ago. They won’t still be here,” Mia said, glancing out the window.
    “No. The report says they vanished after the sighting.”
    “If they saw him at all,” Pyke said. He leaned his arms and chin on the steering.
    “You think they were wrong?” Mia asked.
    “Or lying,” Pyke said. “Maybe they couldn’t find them but didn’t want to go back to Ivan empty handed. I’ve met the guy. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who handles no results well.”
    “In any case,” I said, bringing us back on topic, “we need to check this out. If he was spotted at the school then Kyra must have been going there. We’ll talk to some of the students and see if they know anything. Remember, they use fake names.”
    “Yeah, that’ll make it easy,” Pyke said. “Excuse me have you seen a girl called Kyra, but she won’t have been called Kyra and I’m not entirely sure what she looks like because I only have a picture of her from when she was a kid.”
    Mia rolled her eyes and exited the car. I followed. Pyke had been acting this way for the last few days. Mia and I were trying to be sensitive because we knew it had to do with Malcolm. We weren’t tracking him as fast as Pyke would have liked and he was getting frustrated and annoying us.
    “Kyra’s seventeen so talk to people from her year level,” I said to Mia.
    She nodded and disappeared into a crowd of students. I scanned the yard for kids that looked as if they were in their final year at school.
    They were all wearing uniforms with blazers that made it hard to distinguish between them. I suppose that was the point.
    “Umm … excuse me.”
    A short girl with curly blonde hair stood behind me. Her hands were behind her back and she was bouncing on the balls of her feet. She smiled at me, blushing.
    “Hello,” I said.
    “Umm … hi,” she said. “I haven’t seen you around before.”
    “Just passing through,” I replied. “I’m Will.”
    “Tam.” She shook my hand.  
    “Can I help you with something?” I asked.
    “Oh no, nothing,” Tam replied.
    “Then why did you come over to me?” I asked.
    Tam blushed and ran her fingers through her hair rhythmically.“Oh, right. I guess I just was wondering why you were hanging out in front of the school?”
    “I’m actually looking for someone.”
    “Your girlfriend?” she asked.
    “No. I don’t have a girlfriend,” I replied, and Tam’s face lit up.
    “Who are you looking for? Maybe I can help. I know pretty much everyone.”
    “A girl. She’s seventeen, dark brown hair, golden eyes …”
    “Oh, you mean, Stella. She was in my class a few months ago and lived just down that road over there in the house with the funny green roof, but I’m afraid she and her dad left a while back.”
    “Do