The Culling (Book 1): Splinter Skill by Bell A.C

Author:Bell, A.C. [Bell, A.C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Urban Fantasy
Published: 2018-10-29T04:00:00+00:00

***

The door of the bathroom stood as a barrier, both keeping the outside world out and keeping me inside. I stood in front of the bathroom mirror staring at my reflection as if it were a stranger. I’d been contemplated everything about myself. What would be different if my veins weren’t coursing with…inhuman blood? Would I have suffered from acne in high school as almost every other teenager did? Would my features be as even? Would my height have led to clumsiness? Certainly, I wouldn’t have the same coordination that had helped in my defeats of Peter in various sports and just last night played a role in saving my life as I fled from the raging man-beast. Not without the help of inhuman blood. Would I? It felt like I'd spent my entire life cheating on a test or something. Inhuman. I wasn't sure how I was going to adjust to the idea of being inhuman.

This prompted another thought. Peter, a guy I'd known for years, was also ‘inhuman’. I suddenly felt guilty for thinking of it that way. Just because he was different—okay, “different” was an understatement—didn't mean that it was necessarily a bad thing, right? He was still Peter, one of my closest friends, someone I trusted my life with. So why should my own situation be any different?

Now I just had to actually convince myself of that last part and I'd be fine. Another thought took over occupation of my mind. Aside from Peter, what other supernatural occurrences had I brushed off with “logical” explanations? Back in the alley before Peter and I ended up in that lake, I’d assumed hitting my head had played tricks on me. Clearly, the man couldn’t have pushed me with telekinesis. But before that my name tag had gone farther than made sense and just when my back was turned, the door had shut itself. What if it hadn’t? Had that man been something supernatural? Had he been cornering me?

I wasn’t sure how long I’d been standing there when the door to the dorm opened and drew my attention back to reality. Quickly, I rinsed my face and pulled the bathroom door open.

“Hey.” I smiled at Nikki. I glanced at the clock across the room and furrowed my brows in confusion.

“Teacher canceled.” Nikki kicked off her shoes and flopped comfortably onto her bed. Watching her so relaxed eased my spirits. I was so happy to see her acting like herself again. “Why are you up so early? Isn't waking up before noon toxic to you or something?”

I rolled my eyes. “Not noon. More like somewhere between nine and ten-thirty. Anyway, my shoulder woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep. Thought I'd go for a run before class.”

“Alright, have fun Lola Jones.”

“Lola Jones? She does hurdles.”

Nikki chuckled. “Fine, then. How's…uh…Arin Donovan?”

“'Donohue'. Much better.” I shot her a thumbs-up and then headed out for my run.

I considered stopping by Peter's room before I left, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop at his door.

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.