Free My Little Phony - 13 by Lisi Harrison Page A

asked why she’d wanted to know. “No reason,” she’d squeaked. “Just making conversation.”
    Now, Claire stood in the hard-packed snow directly below her former alpha’s bedroom. For a second, she literally froze—from guilt, not the cold. The temperature was in the teens, and her breath puffed from her lips in a steady stream. An owl hooted accusingly overhead, and the bare, snow-covered brambles in the flower beds seemed to shake their branches at her in disapproval. Even Massie’s darkened windows one story upseemed to reflect the darkness in Claire’s soul. But then Claire reminded herself who had bugged whom first, and she handed the habitat up to Layne with more bravado then she felt.
    Layne reached out one big-yellow-gloved hand from her perch and took a step up the ladder that was leaned against the outer wall of Massie’s house. Then she checked to make sure her harnesses and clamps were secure.
    Claire and Layne had dressed themselves in black from head to spray-painted Keds. Layne had even painted black zebra stripes under her eyes, like a football player. She had tons of trapeze equipment at home from circus camp, so she had insisted on being the active agent in this mission. She wore a miner’s helmet with a headlamp, safety goggles, a pair of climbing gloves, and an intricate system of harnesses and carabiner clips. She looked like Lady Gaga on tour. It seemed like kind of a lot, considering she was just going to be climbing up one story on a very secure-looking ladder. And the harnesses and carabiners were attached only to themselves. But Layne had insisted it was much safer and more official this way.
    “Let’s practice the bird sound again,” Layne said.
    Claire’s role was more avian than active. She was to stand watch and make a bird sound if anyone came near.
    “Well?”
    “Cer-ooooo!” Claire whispered, feeling silly. “Cer-ooooo!”
    “Well done,” said Layne. “Don’t forget. One
cer-ooooo
for Massie. Two
cer-ooooo
s for anyone else.”
    “Why can’t we use the same
cer-ooooo
? It’s kind of a lot to remember.” Claire glanced anxiously at her blue BabyG-Shock watch. It was the exact same color as Cam’s left eye, the one that she knew would look at her in disappointment when he found out what she had done. After hearing about their revenge plot, he’d told her not to go through with it. “Don’t stoop to her level,” he’d said. But this was
war
. And Massie had launched the first offensive.
    Layne was saying, “Because, Kuh-lu-less, if it’s Massie I will have one story prepared, and for anyone else I will have another, equally moving story prepared.”
    “A story prepared for what you’re doing in Massie’s room with a box full of bugs?” A gummy foot–shaped lump formed in the back of Claire’s throat, but she did her best to swallow it.
    Layne fiddled with a metallic purple safety clip. “You’ve obviously never broken into anyone’s house before. Besides, no one will be home for hours, re-
mem
-ber?”
    Claire’s teeth chattered. “I know, I know.”
    With that Layne began to climb the ladder slowly, holding the habitat with one hand. “Look at me!” she whisper-shouted from the third rung. “I can see for miles. Look, there’s OCD! There’s the firehouse! There’s Ma and Pa.”
    Claire giggled in spite of herself. She held the ladder steady, bracing against the reverberations of Layne’s Keds as they slammed against each step. But Layne had barely reached the fifth rung when, in what seemed like slow motion, she started to sway like a piece of overcooked pasta. She moved to grasp the sides of the ladder with both hands… and she let. Go. Of. The. Habitat.
    “Ahhh!” Claire screamed as the plastic box bounced offher head. “Cer-ooooo! Cer-ooooo!” She squeezed her eyes shut, scared to open them and see what she knew to be true: Multiplying pincer bugs were burrowing into her black BDG sweatshirt, feasting on her pale skin, while the