Free Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus Page A

Reagan.
    “Hi, Zach.” My tone was brighter than the yellow dress I was wearing.
    “Hey, Persephone.” Zach rubbed the back of his neck in a show of discomfort.
    “This is Adriana.” I gave her a little push forward, and they awkwardly shook hands. “She’s also new to Devenish this year.”
    “Oh. Well. That’s interesting.” His expression made it obvious that he wasn’t interested in anything except figuring out a way to escape.
    “I hear there’s a school dance coming up,” I commented. “What’s the deal with it? Do the guys ask the girls, or is it a Sadie Hawkins, women’s lib-type thing?”
    “Um.” Zach was gripping the pricing gun so tight that the knuckles on his hand turned white.
    “Or do people arrive solo and then pair off at the end of the night to go hook up?” I continued. “’Cause that would leave Adriana and me at a real disadvantage, being that we’re new and don’t know anyone yet.”
    “I’m sure you two will do fine.” Zach laid the pricing gun down on top of a stack of books and looked to his left, where the front counter was being run by a man in his mid-thirties. “Ifyou’ll excuse me for a moment, I think my dad needs my help.”
    I glanced over. He seemed to be in complete control of the hardly bustling store. I laid a hand on Zach’s forearm to prevent him from leaving, and a jolt of electricity shot through me. My heart flipped over in my chest, and I quickly pulled my hand back.
    Adriana looked from me to Zach and back again.
    “I’m going outside to have a cigarette.” She rolled her eyes at me before leaving.
    “So y-you work here?” I almost stuttered, trying to get the words out.
That was not just a normal static electricity shock
.
    “Yeah. My dad owns the place.” Zach’s gaze lingered on the stack of books next to him, and I noticed a barely visible twitch in one of his eyebrows.
    I almost gasped when I saw what he was staring at. The plastic arm of the pricing gun he had been holding had melted so that every fingerprint, every wrinkle in Zach’s palm was seared into it. Like the handle was made of molding clay instead of hard plastic.
    This was all getting too weird. My iPod miraculously charging when Zach touched it. The electric shock I received from both him and Corinne. The strange effect the two of them had on metal. And now Zach’s hand melting plastic like it had been set down on a hot plate.
    “What the hell?” I stared at the finger indentions in the handle. “How did you do that?”
    “Do what?” Zach stuck his hands in his jeans pockets.
    “What do you mean, do what? You melted this pricing thing-amajig.” I picked it up and shook it at him.
    “They look like that. It’s a handgrip.” He pulled the offending object from my grasp.
    “So it perfectly matches
your
fingerprints? And what about metal? You were attracting it like a magnet at the grocery store the other day.” I took a step closer to him.
    “Um …” Zach tapped his foot nervously, which made him look even more adorable. “I was wearing my belt with the car-seat buckle. It must be magnetized.”
    “Uh-huh.” I raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. “So why do I keep seeing you everywhere?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe you’re stalking me? This
is
my father’s store, you know,” Zach challenged.
    “Yeah, but
you’re
the one who followed me into the graveyard.”
    “How could I not after I saw you back there in your dirty, torn uniform? I thought you might be hurt.” Zach’s eyes widened, and there was a moment of dead silence. “I mean, it was weird when I saw you disappear into the trees.”
    “I wasn’t wearing my uniform then.” I tried to hide my shock. I’d been wearing a torn and dirty uniform in my dream. But Zach couldn’t possibly know that … unless he’d had the same dream.
    “I have to take these to my dad.” Zach grabbed a stack of books and headed over to the front desk. I followed, hot on his heels.
    “Phe?” Adriana was