The 13th: Frozen Destiny Read Online Free Page B

old Ethan would have pulled her into a tight hug and assured her that he loved her and that she was worrying for nothing, while this Ethan made her feel stupid. “Yes, you already told me that.”
     
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    The rain drops fell onto the stone rail of the balcony overlooking the inner yard and speckled the grey surface with dark dots. Hidden behind the pillar Claire observed Ryan and Kate, who stood by the door leading into the girls' side of the dorm. She had been following them since she had, an hour before, noticed them in the common room. She waited until they parted with quick peck on the cheek and Kate disappeared through the door before she stepped out of her hiding place, careful not to expose herself to any bystanders in the yard below. “Hey.”
    He strode to her. “Hey.”
    “We should talk.”
    “Yes.” He looked around. “But not here.”
    “Follow me.” She led him across the balcony, inside and then through the strings of hallways into the library. “Nobody comes here,” she told him as she closed the door. “Have I noticed what?”
    “You don't dilly-dally, do you?” His gaze slid over the shelves then stopped on the dusty table. He leaned on it.
    “But you do?”
    “Sometimes.”
    “Have I noticed what?”
    “This.” With his hand he made a wide circle.
    “You don't mean the library, do you?”
    “This place. It's strange, isn't it?”
    “How?”
    He sighed. “Think about it. This is a boarding school with classes, teachers and homework and extra-curricular activities.”
    “Yes?”
    “How often have you had to do homework or study for exams?”
    “A lot.”
    “In the past week?”
    She thought about it, already prepared to count on her fingers, but she couldn't remember doing homework or studying. “Not at all. Could we be having a slow week? We did have an epidemic.”
    “We are all in the same class, but Ethan and I are one year older.”
    She could have said that was because they had repeated a year, but they were both overachievers, not underachievers.
    “And another thing, do you know any other students?”
    “Of course I do, there's this...” She furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to bring forward the name of the students she had met, but all that she got was a few blurry faces.
    “Well?”
    “Is this even possible? To be here for three years and only know five people?”
    “Now think about teachers.”
    She got the same result. “I don't even know what they look like. Why haven't I noticed this before?” She knew the answers as soon as she pronounced the last syllable. Because she was too preoccupied with Ethan and her relationship. “What does this mean?”
    “I don't know,” Ryan said. “I noticed it when I thought about asking around to see if anybody else is having the same memory problem as I am. My guess is that this is some sort of a lab and they are doing experiments on us.”
    That sounded so far-fetched. “What kind of experiments?”
    He moved to the table and perched up on it. “A drug that influences memories or maybe dreams. Or maybe something that messes with one’s mind.”
    That would explain some things, but it was too unbelievable. “They would be putting it into the food.”
    “Yeah.”
    “And they would have cameras everywhere to monitor our behaviour, wouldn't they?”
    “Yes.”
    “Even in here?” She lifted her eyes and scrutinised the high arch full of spider webs and the tops of the shelves that lined the walls which must have been covered with a thick layer of dust.
    “They could be.”
    “Yes, of course.” She nodded, her eyes widened comically.
    He rolled his eyes.
    “Listen, I'm not saying that it couldn't be true, but... Aren't experiments usually done in a sterile environment, which this is far from, and under close scrutiny?”
    “Yes, they are, but --”
    “And another thing: Why would they only do experiments on us?”
    “Mandy and Tyler could be included, too.”
    “Not likely.” She sighed. “It would only