Free Jade Moon (Celestial War Book 1) by Julia Richards Page B

see that you’re alright. Plus, if you talk to me, maybe I can help.” I rapped my knuckles on the door. Peaking under I saw fuzzy suede boots. The kind that were inexplicably expensive despite looking like they were designed to be worn in the North Pole.
    She let out a few more wracked breaths, exhaling sobs.
    “Look, just let me see you. I just want to make sure you’re okay and I will leave.” I pushed kind of hard.
    “Just leave me….” the door swung inward, “alone!”
    “Olivia?” I was shocked. Streaks of brown mascara ran down her cheeks. Normally perfect hair was mussed. Heavy makeup smudged revealing a dark bruise around her right eye.
    “You,” she practically spat the word at me. “You stupid bitch. I said leave me alone.”
    I threw up my hands and backed away. “Whatever, Olivia. I just wanted to make sure you’re alright. Which clearly you aren’t. But far be it from me to go out of my way to help you.”
    I spun and left the bathroom with a wild mix of feelings. Clearly she was in terrible distress, but why should I care about someone who had gone so far out of their way to be cruel to me. I was just going to let it go.
    But by the time I got to the library, I was worried. No matter how mean Olivia was, she was still a person in pain. “Good day, Miss Dae,” Mr. Silver bowed his head formally. “Glad to see you’ve returned. Let’s go sit in the back so you don’t get caught here.”
    “Thanks Mr. Silver. Uh, I have a lot of questions.”
    “Ah, you read my book?”
    “That and had a long talk with my mom.” Mr. Silver steepled his hands, something I’d never see anyone else do except as a joke. But he was perfectly serious. “Very good.”
    “But first, that girl, Olivia. She’s in the bathroom crying up a storm. I think someone hit her.”
    “Oh dear.” Mr. Silver stood up. “Let me go find Mrs. Louie. She can go in and check on her.”
    “Mrs. Louie?” I couldn’t believe he would trust her with anything.
    He patted me on the shoulder, “Things are not always what they seem, Harper. Surely you have figured that out. Go on back and I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
    ***
    Glancing down at my brand new cell phone, I wandered back toward my old library spot with the orange disco chair thinking about what Mr. Silver said. I tried to imagine Mrs. Louie as anything other than an overzealous jerk. Rather than just being mean, I guess it’s possible she really believed I was skulking around the library up to no good. And it wasn’t crazy to think I was the one who tore things up after seeing me there at school on the security video that night. Maybe she was just a rules-nazi, someone who believes in following orders and hierarchies of power more than anything else. A perfect foot soldier of the Solaris if I had to guess.
    As I passed, I glanced down the dark hall where I’d heard the crying. A bright new bulb lit the entire dead end and I could see evidence of recent construction; drywall dust and a strip of plastic sheeting. I thought about going back for a closer look but, to be honest, I was afraid. My entire body tingled with fear, that sense you get when walking down a dark hall and suddenly feel like there is something behind you. You know it’s irrational but you still run to your lighted room and slam the door behind you.
    I retreated to the security of disco chair and waited for Mr. Silver. No tortured child called out to me, though I sat on high alert, ears straining. As I glanced around, my eyes were caught by a small symbol etched along the back wall. A crescent moon so small I might have mistaken it for a chip out of the brick if it hadn’t looked identical to the moon embossed on Mr. Silver’s book.
    Moving close, my finger danced over the tiny mark.
    I was leaning in for a better look when Mrs. Louie boomed behind me, “Harper Dae, thank you for informing us about Olivia.”
    I let out a squeak of surprise and did the exact same spin around, hands up in