Free Skinbound by Anna Kittrell Page A

through the portable CD player. She turned her gaze to the wall clock across the dimly lit room. So this is what eleven-fifteen feels like when you’re thirty , she mused. Exactly as it felt at twenty-nine .
    Cabin hadn’t called to wish her happy birthday. They’d spoken every morning since the ransacking of her home. Sometimes he’d call, other times her. But today…on her birthday…it seemed that he should take the initiative.
    Darcy pulled her phone from the pocket of her skirt. Maybe he’d called during pantomime-time, when she was buzzing around the room like a bumble bee, and she’d missed the vibration. No missed calls. She slid the phone back into her pocket.
    A couple of the children stirred, followed by a few more, their little internal clocks rousing them from slumber. She quietly stood, marveling at the way their sleeping minds could retain a schedule. It was amazing how the brain responded to steadfast behavior such as consistent meals, consistent rest…
    …or in your case, Darcy, consistent rejection .
    She reeled, shocked by the intrusive thought. Was that the catalyst behind this despair she’d plunged into? Not the fear of a milestone birthday, or even the fear of a psychopathic intruder, but the fear of being rejected by Cabin?
    Sick of her own ponderings, she forwarded the CD to an annoyingly upbeat song and danced the children from their mats. She initiated a brief, giggly pillow fight before reading the class a short book, then lining them up for lunch.
    ****
    After lunch and recess, Darcy led her class from the playground, through the green double doors, and into the main hallway. “Go to the restroom, wash your hands, then form a line at the water fountain, please,” she called, her voice lost in the excited babble of sweaty children. She couldn’t help but smile as she watched them interact with one another, connecting in that special childhood guild that she seemed to have missed out on while stumbling in the darkness of her sister’s shadow.
    Almost ten minutes later—following three separate roundup trips into the girls’ restroom, one into the boys’, and a struggle with a clogged drinking fountain that splashed a water-blotch on her new periwinkle top—Darcy marched her students up the hall to her classroom.
    She squinted ahead—it looked as if Liz ducked into Darcy’s doorway instead of her own. Darcy reached into the pocket of her skirt and wrapped her fingers around her classroom key. Her room was locked tight. Liz must’ve been entering her own classroom next door. Darcy just misjudged the distance. She could’ve sworn Liz made eye contact before dodging out of sight, yet hadn’t so much as waved.
    Dread swallowed Darcy like quicksand. First Cabin had forgotten her birthday, and now Liz? Something was definitely off kilter.
    She lined the children against the wall and slid her key into the lock, peering through the small window in the door. The room was dark. She was positive she’d left the SpongeBob SquarePants lamp on…
    She swung the door open and flipped on the lights.
    “Surprise!” A chorus of excited voices shouted. She jumped so hard her knees nearly gave way.
    “Easy, now. Are you okay?” Cabin placed a hand on her waist to steady her. Liz jumped up and down and squealed, along with the twenty students she’d hidden under the desks. Darcy’s class ran in behind her, happy to join in the celebration with their friends from next door.
    “I can’t believe it!” Darcy gasped, grabbing her chest, her heart soaring to the ceiling along with the helium filled birthday balloons. “This is incredible—but my door was locked. How’d you get in?”
    “Secretary Tangelero, and her trusty master-key.” Cabin winked.
    “You thought we’d forgotten, didn’t you?” The corners of Liz’s mouth were practically meeting at the back of her head. “This was Cabin’s idea. It took all I had to keep my mouth shut all week. I knew if I spent more than two