Free The Taste of Night by R.L. Stine Page B

Rachel.
    She made a disgusted face. “I couldn’t find anything. So I’m just hanging out this summer. You know. Partying. Getting ready for college. You’re going away, right, Dee?”
    â€œUh…no.” Destiny hesitated. She didn’t want sympathy from her friends. “I decided to stay close to home and go here.” She motioned out the window to the campus. “You know. It’s kinda tough times at home…”
    â€œHave you heard from your sister?” Rachel asked, blushing again. “I mean, she and Ross have been gone so long.”
    Destiny lowered her eyes to the yellow tabletop. “No. Haven’t heard anything yet.”
    Rachel gripped the big, red menu with both hands. “Do the police still think they ran away together?”
    Destiny saw Bonnie motioning for Rachel to shut up.
    â€œThe police…they don’t know what to think,” Destiny said honestly.
    â€œSorry,” Bonnie muttered.
    The two girls stared down at their menus. An awkward silence. The conversation had ended.
    Destiny raised her pad to take their orders. Everyone treats me so differently now, she thought. I used to hangwith Bonnie and Rachel and goof with them all the time. Once, a sales clerk at The Gap made us leave because we were laughing too loud in the dressing room.
    But now, people feel sorry for me. They feel awkward. They don’t know what to say.
    â€œCould we have a check?” a woman called from the counter.
    â€œI’ll be right back,” Destiny told the two girls. She hurried along the counter to take care of the woman’s check.
    As soon as she left, her two friends started chattering away again.
    Â 
    After work, Destiny decided to drive over to Ari’s house. She’d been thinking about him all afternoon.
    I’m going to apologize for last night, she decided. What happened at the club…it really was my fault.
    Ari wanted to celebrate, to have some fun. And I was a total drag. I should have tried harder to forget my problems, to just go with the flow…
    She pictured him dancing with that red-haired girl. Thinking about it gave her a heavy feeling in her stomach.
    Ari is going off to school soon. And I’m going to miss him terribly. I have to be nicer to him.
    Yes, I’m definitely going to apologize.
    Thinking about last night, there was no way to shut out the memory of her meeting with Livvy. Turning onto Ari’s block, sunlight burst over the windshield. And through the blinding white light, Destiny saw two blond girls standingon the front stoop of the corner house.
    â€œOh—!” she let out a cry.
    The car moved under the shadow of trees. The two girls disappeared into the house.
    Destiny frowned. Every time I see a girl with blond hair, I think it’s my sister.
    Livvy was so mean to me last night. Has she completely forgotten that we’re sisters? It’s only been a few weeks, and she has changed so much. She looked so pale and thin and…and worn out.
    Livvy acted so cold and angry. I hardly recognized her.
    Destiny saw the tall hedge in front of Ari’s yard, the white-shingled house rising up behind it. She turned and pulled into the drive—and stopped.
    â€œHey—”
    Two police squad cars blocked her way, red lights spinning on their roofs.
    â€œOh, no.” Destiny’s heart started to pound. She felt her throat tighten.
    Ari’s dad had a heart attack last summer. Has he had another one?
    Hands trembling, she pulled the car to the curb in front of the neighbors’ house. Then she went running up the driveway.
    The front door was open. She burst inside. She heard voices in the front room. Someone crying.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” she shouted breathlessly. “What’s happened?”

chapter eighteen
WHO IS THE NEXT VICTIM?
    DESTINY RAN INTO THE LIVING ROOM. SHE SAW ARI’S mother hunched in the tall, green armchair by the fireplace. Her head