Ember Read Online Free Page A

around her face.
    “You shouldn’t be here,” Lofi warned her. “She’s ours.”
    Lofi’s back was to Candra, and the first thing Candra noticed about her was the pink tinge was gone from Lofi’s hair. Ananchel looked around her to Candra, who was trying to straighten herself.
    “Oh, I think we both know that can’t be true. Still Sebastian’s little guard dog, I see.” Ananchel’s saccharine smile verged on innocuous, making her appear even more dangerous. A sheep in wolf’s clothing.
    Candra stumbled back another step, taking a deep painful breath and keeping Ivy locked beside her. Her lungs felt as if somebody had tried to pull them out through her nose. Sebastian was nowhere in sight, most of the students had gone inside, and Father Patrick was beginning to stare.
    “Please, Ananchel,” Lofi started condescendingly. “Don’t insult me. You know your parlor tricks don’t work on me.”
    Ananchel sighed. “Oh, well, never mind.” Her eyes flickered to Candra again, black as coal now.
    Candra couldn’t swear that it wasn’t just a trick of her imagination. She gulped.
    “We shall have to finish our chat another time, Candra. I detest lapdogs snapping at my ankles.”
    “Woof,” Lofi responded sarcastically.
    Ivy chuckled, and for a fraction of a second, Ananchel’s cool exterior dropped—she was positively enraged.
    “Later, pup,” she snapped.
    “Hmm, if I’m a pup, I guess that would make you a bitch, wouldn’t it?” Lofi bit back with a smirk.
    “I shall enjoy getting to know you,” Ananchel purred toward Candra and ran her tongue lazily across her top lip. “Make sure to send my love to Sebastian,” she added to Lofi before she sashayed away, her hips gracefully snaking side to side.
    They watched her retreat and disappear around the corner. The sea of blue uniforms had shrunk to a slow trickle, and Father Patrick looked like he was debating making his way over. Lofi blew out a gust of air from her pursed lips before turning around.
    “Are you both okay?”
    Candra glanced over her shoulder to see Ivy nod, her mouth slack, clearly confounded about what had just transpired.
    “Okay? Now you have to tell me what’s going on,” Candra demanded strongly.
    Lofi’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing.
    Candra’s stomach twisted into what was beginning to feel like yet another tight knot. “I’m serious. I want to…what are you wearing?”
    Lofi spun as gracefully as a ballerina, modeling the Saint Francis uniform she was proudly sporting. “Do you like it? I wasn’t sure about the color on me, but I think it works.”
    Father Patrick was almost within speaking distance.
    “No, I don’t like it,” Candra replied curtly. “And what’s it doing on you?”
    Candra was still body blocking Ivy, who stood on her toes to look over Candra’s shoulder. “I’m Ivy, by the way.”
    Lofi smiled widely and curtsied, holding the edges of her skirt. “Lofi. It’s my first day.”
    Candra suspected Lofi exaggerated the movement just because she knew it would rile her.
    “I guess you like the uniform then,” Ivy commented with a teasing smirk.
    “For what? School? You can’t be serious.” Candra was aghast, thinking this whole thing was slowing turning into a nightmare and she was being stalked from all angles.
    “Are you planning to join us today, ladies?” Father Patrick asked sternly. As soon as Lofi turned her attention to him, his light blue eyes sparkled. Father Patrick’s eyes never sparkled. He was the hardest of all the priests and nuns teaching at Saint Francis. After working in foreign mission during his early life, he had no time for what he blatantly referred to as cosseted students attending private college. “Ah, you must be Lofial Duarte,” he stated rather than asked.
    Lofi’s lips spread to a shy grin as she swayed side to side, still holding onto her skirt. Candra compared it to a six-year-old putting on a display of politeness for an elder, or a newly