Fractured Jewel by Brenda Hiatt

Author:Brenda Hiatt [Hiatt, Brenda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BluA
Publisher: Dolphin Star Press
Published: 2016-07-25T23:00:00+00:00

7

Fractures

RIGEL greeted me with a quick kiss when I got off the bus the next morning—an excellent start to a day that promised to be both interesting and challenging.

“Have you met any of them yet?” I asked as we headed into the school, hand in hand. “None were on my bus this morning.”

“Two on mine, the same ones we’re supposed to interview. There they are, just ahead of us—Liam and Lucas. Twins, I think.” He nodded toward two dark-haired boys, both maybe a hair taller than Rigel though nowhere near as tall as Sean.

“Do they seem nice?”

Rigel shrugged. “We didn’t say much more than hi and exchange names, since everyone else on the bus wanted to meet them, too. None of us could exactly let on we had any special reason to talk, you know?”

“Right, of course. I wonder—?”

I broke off, sensing someone else’s brath behind us. Turning discreetly, I saw two girls heading toward us—one around our age, with dark auburn hair, the other one blonde and noticeably younger. Both definitely Martian.

As they drew level with us, I took a half-step forward and smiled. “Hey, welcome to Jewel. I’m Marsha Truitt, but most people call me M. And this is Rigel Stuart.”

The younger girl’s eyes went wide and she started to stammer something, but the older one—her big sister?—nudged her sharply with an elbow.

“Nice to meet you.” She spoke without stammering at all. “And thanks. I’m Kira Morain and this is my sister, Adina.”

Unlike her little sister, Kira displayed no nervousness whatsoever, nor did I sense much from her. I was glad. I’d been worried the new kids might act all intimidated and weird around me. This one definitely didn’t. In fact, I had the distinct impression she didn’t like Rigel or me very much. I could make a pretty good guess why.

“I hope you’ll both like it here,” he said. “Let us know if we can help with anything while you’re still, y’know, getting used to the place.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Kira replied with only a hint of an answering smile. “But thanks anyway.”

They continued on down the hallway while Rigel and I both stared after them.

“Not very friendly, are they?” Rigel said. Then, silently, What did you sense off them? Did you remember to try?

I nodded. “Nothing I’d quite call hostile. Adina was mostly just nervous, but Kira… I’m guessing she bought into the gossip in that stupid article. Definitely no warm fuzzies there.”

“You’ll win her over. All she has to do is get to know you.”

His confidence was heartening, but I was more concerned about slurs—or worse—aimed Rigel’s way.

“Guess we’ll find out, huh? Oops, here comes another one,” I added, detecting another distinctly Martian vibe nearby.

This one was a boy, an inch or two shorter than Rigel, with brownish-blond hair. We again made a point of introducing ourselves—casually, for the benefit of any Duchas students within earshot.

The boy stopped in his tracks, exuding nearly as much nervousness as little Adina had. “Oh, um, hi. G-Grady. Quinlan.

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