Under Their Skin Read Online Free Page A

about it with you.”
    â€œI said, wait until Sunday!” Dad thundered.
    Nick and Eryn sat in stunned silence. Dad never yelled at them like that. Dad never yelled at them; Mom never yelled at them; their teachers never yelled at them. . . .
    Is this what it feels like? Nick wondered. To be yelled at for something that isn’t even your fault?
    Maybe he was like Mom: He could examine a feeling and label it and think that could make it easier to deal with.
    Beside Nick, Dad clapped his hand over his mouth. Color drained from his face—in an instant it went from tomato red to ghostly pale. Dad put his other hand on the steering wheel, then down on the gearshift, then back on the steering wheel.
    He dropped his hand from his mouth.
    â€œI’m sorry, kids,” he said, as meek as a mouse. “I guess I’m a little weirded out by all the changes too.”
    He put the car back in gear, and they drove the rest of the way home in silence.
    â€œWant help carrying your things in?” Dad said as he pulled into the garage. His voice sounded like he was trying way too hard to make it come out normal.
    â€œNo thanks,” Nick mumbled.
    â€œWe’re fine,” Eryn echoed.
    It was strange that Dad was even asking. The only things they ever carried back and forth between their parents’ houses were their backpacks for school. They didn’t bother with suitcases. They just wore one set of clothes when they were at Dad’s, and a different set of clothes when they were at Mom’s. Nick’s T-shirts andsweatshirts and jeans were all pretty interchangeable anyway, so it wasn’t like he cared.
    â€œWe’ll be upstairs in our rooms doing homework,” Eryn said.
    â€œOkay,” Dad said, and this was weird too. Normally he would have asked what the homework was.
    They went into the house, and Dad began dusting bookshelves that already looked completely dust-free. Nick followed Eryn upstairs. As soon as they got to the landing, Eryn grabbed Nick’s arm and tugged him into her room with her.
    She shoved the door shut behind them and whirled around to face Nick directly.
    â€œWant to know what I heard Mom and Dad say?” she asked. “They were talking about risks! They said we’re in danger, and so are those mystery kids of Michael’s!”
    Nick’s heart pounded, and for a moment he wondered what it would feel like to faint, right there on Eryn’s fluffy purple rug.
    Then maybe the extra blood to his brain helped a little, and his mind cleared.
    He sank down to sit on the edge of Eryn’s bed.
    â€œYou know how Mom talks,” he said. “I bet she meant emotional danger and emotional risks. That’s all.Remember when she had you thinking fourth grade was going to be a war zone, because she kept talking about landmines and ‘battles unique to the female young of the human species’?” When really, all she meant was that some girls might make fun of other girls’ clothes and hair?”
    â€œThis is different,” Eryn said stubbornly. “Dad yelled at us.”
    Nick couldn’t argue with that.
    A knock sounded at Eryn’s door.
    â€œCan I come in?”
    It was Dad. Eryn went over and yanked the door open.
    Dad stood there panting a little, as if he’d raced up the stairs.
    â€œI just wanted to tell you,” he said. “At times like this, when there are a lot of changes going on, weird is normal. It’s to be expected. So . . . don’t think it’s weird that we all feel weird. Everything that’s going on right now is totally normal.”
    Eryn put her hands on her hips.
    â€œMom told you to say that,” she accused.
    Dad looked back and forth between Eryn and Nick.
    â€œThat doesn’t mean it isn’t true,” he said.
    But even he didn’t sound like he believed it.

FIVE
    Mom and Michael’s new house had five bedrooms: one on the first