Free Unbreakable by Blayne Cooper Page B

those girls spending all those nights in their raggedy sleeping bags."
    Nina's jaw set as she quickly turned away from her mother, busying herself by turning on the faucet, then hunting below the sink for the dish soap. "You can't go home again, Mom. I haven't seen any of those women in 20 years. If we'd wanted to get in touch before now, we would have." Not quite true. She'd searched for Jacie for several years before giving up completely. "What could we possibly have in common now?"
    Agnes made a clucking noise. "What more could you have in common? A shared past is a powerful thing, Nina. Those girls were like sisters to you. Not that Janet wasn't a good sister, but there was such an age gap between you... you never really played together as children."
    Nina stood and leaned against the sink, her mind easily skipping past the sounds of running water and Robbie's footsteps upstairs to the soft-spoken sister she'd lost so many years ago… and the friend who had held her so tenderly when she cried.

   
    Halloween 1973
Hazelwood, Missouri
       
    Nina pressed her face against the glass of Jacie's kitchen window and peered inside the modest split-level home. She had to stand on Audrey and Gwen's shoulders in order to see inside the high window and even then she had to stretch up on her tippy toes.
    With her arms crossed petulantly over her chest, Katy leaned against the house in a cave woman costume, complete with a bone in her hair and a large brown club made from papier-mâché. The day had been sunny and warm enough for shorts, but as the sun disappeared the air took on a typical autumn chill. Katy's mother, in a move so evil that Katy could barely contemplate it, had ruined her outfit by forcing her to wear a zip-up-the-front sweatshirt over her fake fur clothing. She'd tried to take the sweatshirt off as soon as she went outside, but Mrs. Schaub had been peeking through the window in anticipation of her daughter's deception. Ten minutes of threats later, a thoroughly chastised and partially grounded Katy was still allowed to go trick-or-treating, but to the girl's disgust, the sweatshirt was zipped clear up to her chin and safety-pinned closed.
    Nina took the rare chance to just look at Jacie unobserved. The group of girls was together so often that it was easy to almost envision them as a pack and forget the strong, individual personalities that populated the club. Jacie was, Nina decided, different looking…pretty even, with thick wine-red hair so dark that it almost appeared black except in the direct sunlight and large brown eyes whose corners curled upward mischievously when she smiled. She was tall, but not as tall as Gwen and she always fiddled with her long ponytail when she was nervous.
    "Well?" Audrey said impatiently, trying to straighten the enormous purple clown wig that was falling onto her face. "What do you see?"
    "Ja-ja-jacie eatin' d-dinner. Alone. She won't eat them a-again, I think."
    Jacie sat at the kitchen table, dressed in her pirate costume. The slightly grungy plaster cast on her left arm, gotten when she'd failed at her most recent world record attempt, detracted from her tattered leggings, sword, and black eye patch. She glared evilly at the large serving of vegetables that was still on her otherwise empty plate, taking the time to occasionally poke at it with her fork.
    This was a common battle at the Priest house. Jacie couldn't leave the table until she'd cleaned her plate. If she didn't like what was for dinner she would steadfastly refuse to eat it.
    Sometimes Mrs. Priest would give in and sometimes Jacie, but tonight her mother had held strong, knowing that Jacie wanted to be turned loose to go trick-or-treating with her friends.
    Nina tapped on the window. Jacie's scowling face softened into a smile as she got up and with a grunt opened the window. She shivered a little when a blast of cool air poured into the room. "Hi."
    Nina grinned. "Hi!"
    "Hurry up, Jacie!" Katy called from the