Perfect Lies (Mind Games) by White Kiersten

Author:White, Kiersten [White, Kiersten]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

ANNIE

Six Weeks Before

A GIRL, TWIRLING IN A DRESS, THE LIGHT SPINNING around her as she laughs. She stops, staggers to the side, dazed.

Then she’s older, and Fia is walking with her down a hall, talking and smiling and nodding.

The hall they’re in is at the school.

Another girl, hair in hundreds of intricate braids, sitting next to a crashed bike, crying. But she isn’t hurt, her friend is, skinned knees raw and bleeding. The girl with the braids keeps crying.

Then she’s older, and Fia is sitting in a small room on a couch across from her and an older man, nodding and smiling and drinking tea. Fia’s wearing a dress jacket and a skirt, and she looks false, she looks so false I want to scream, want to tell them that it’s a lie. This Fia is a lie.

Another girl, dressed all in black, hands pulled into her sleeves, sitting curled in a ball in the corner of the couch. An older woman who looks tired and drawn signs a paper, her eyes devoid of hope. James and Eden, older than she was when I saw her in a vision years ago, watch. Fia leans against the wall, staring out the window, then turns and smiles at the girl. She taps on her leg, tap tap taps, but no one notices. “You’re going to love the school,” Fia says. There is something wary and terrified in Fia’s eyes.

Another girl, tiny, barely to Fia’s shoulder, looking at her with hope and desperation. Fia smiles, but there’s no life in her face. “It’ll get better now, Amanda,” she says. James pats the girl on the head. “She’s going to love it there, Ms. Lafayette,” he says. A woman hugs the girl, crying, and the girl starts crying, too, looking at Fia like Fia can make it stop. Fia nods.

And then another girl.

Another girl.

Another girl.

Another girl.

So many girls.

Girl after girl after girl, following Fia, because Fia instantly understands what to say, what to feel, how to act to get them to want to come. She’s leading them to the school, and they want it, and she knows. She knows what she’s doing.

I want to scream but I can’t. I can do nothing but watch. I watch and watch until the colors and lights bleed into one constant swirl I can no longer understand, and I miss the darkness but the light won’t stop.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.