Eternal Dawn Read Online Free Page A

kept walking.
    Tony led me to my dorm across the quad, past students and teachers organizing for the first day of school that would begin tomorrow. I wanted to ask him to go to the union again, to walk the
beach, to get my books, as we once had, but I had to keep my excitement under control. He wouldn’t remember that life; to Tony, it never happened.
    ‘And I’m living in . . .’ I checked the orientation sheet again. ‘I’m living in Turner?’ I said. Oh right, he wouldn’t remember that I had never lived
in Turner as most of the senior girls did. ‘I’m not in Seeker dorm?’
    ‘You want to live in Seeker? Teachers live there. And the debate team. You don’t want to live with the debate team.’
    ‘I don’t?’
    ‘Turner connects to Quartz, the guys’ dorm, through a hallway. So we can come back and forth.’
    ‘But you just met me,’ I said, cocking my head. I had to squint because of the sun. ‘You want to visit my room already?’
    ‘Well, you basically cried when you met me. That means I’m awesome, so obviously we’re gonna go up and down the hallway.’
    Awesome. Gonna go. Clipped syllables. Yes, I was back in the modern world.
    ‘True . . .’ I said. ‘That sounds great.’
    Tony led me into Turner and down the hallway. My nose was overwhelmed: perfumes, detergent and cleaning products. The list went on and on. The many smells and the sounds of music made my head
buzz. I was not fascinated by it as I had been years before when I first came to Wickham. It was like coming home, just a bit louder than I was used to.
    Turner dorm was almost all windows on the right side. I had a perfect view of the woods and Wickham beach beyond. The sun’s beams fell at long golden angles through the trees. The slant of
the light meant it was ten in the morning. My mother and father were already halfway through their workday. I wondered if Fire had constructed it so they would not miss me or worry over my
disappearance. I touched my pocket where my mother’s lavender remained tucked away.
    ‘So this is room 102. Classes start tomorrow. But your roommate will be able to explain everything. You know, it’s lucky I was walking back from town. Maybe we wouldn’t have
seen one another.’
    ‘I have to do this one more time,’ I said and hugged Tony again. This time he didn’t just pat me; he squeezed me back.
    He dragged my trunk into my room, next to the empty remaining bed.
    ‘OK,
now
I am going back to my room,’ he said.
    I handed him his artwork, but I couldn’t resist watching him as he walked away. I had a dozen reasons to call him back. We could get coffee, gossip about the school or he could show me his
art space in the tower.
    No. I had to enter this world again on my own and earn his friendship.
    I also had to find Rhode as soon as I could.
    My dorm room was fairly large with a twin bed on each side. There was also a massive bookcase, a bay window with a seat and, through another door, a bathroom. A blonde girl walked out of it
holding a toothbrush.
    Well, I’ll be damned.
    Tracy Sutton.
    ‘Hi,’ she said, smiling at me. She wiped a wet hand on her pink pyjama bottoms. ‘You’re Lenah? Am I saying it right? I’m Tracy.’
    We shook hands and this time I fought the impulse to throw myself around her. Tracy had once tried to fight Odette, a vicious vampire; she was willing to go to bat against a whole
room
of vampires for Rhode, Vicken and me.
    ‘I took the left side; I hope that’s OK?’ Tracy asked.
    I nodded. Tracy could have anything.
    ‘Yes, that’s great,’ I said aloud. I couldn’t be the weird and mute roommate.
    A dark blue comforter with seashells decorated her bed. She had tacked up black-and-white posters of kissing couples and many pictures of her friends – my breath caught in my chest. Justin
was in some of those pictures.
    I approached the mirror above her bureau. Tracy and Justin posed for a picture at a winter dance. Fake silver snowflakes dangled over a