Siren (36 page)

Read Siren Online

Authors: Tricia Rayburn

Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Juvenile Fiction, #Fantasy & Magic, #Horror & Ghost Stories, #Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12), #Children's Books - Young Adult Fiction, #United States, #Family, #People & Places, #Supernatural, #Social Issues, #Siblings, #Horror, #Ghost Stories (Young Adult), #Family - Siblings, #Sisters, #Interpersonal Relations, #Visionary & Metaphysical, #Maine, #Sirens (Mythology)

344

was pretending our family would be okay, even though we'd lost Justine. I was pretending that sitting on this bench with Simon was a perfectly acceptable thing to do, and eventually, when we were
really
alone together and not just alone together on a public bench with my parents a few yards away, I would pretend that that was acceptable, too. I was pretending I was still me. I was pretending I was still boring, ordinary Vanessa Sands instead of accepting who--and what--I really was.

Because after jumping off Chione Cliffs and facing my greatest fear, I was still scared. My body hasn't been the same since that night, and I was scared of what it now needed to function. I was scared of what Simon and I had done three weeks before, and what that might mean now.

Most of all, I was scared I'd lose him if he knew the truth.

I placed the cup of hot chocolate on the bench between us, reached into my coat pocket, and pulled out a small packet of white powder.

"Vitamin supplement," I said, pretending for a few minutes more as I watched the salt fall into the hot chocolate like rain on an iceless harbor. "It helps me breathe."

EGMONT

We bring stories to life

First published by Egmont USA, 2010

443 Park Avenue South, Suite 806

New York, NY 10016

Copyright © Tricia Rayburn, 2010

All rights reserved

www.triciarayburn.blogspot.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rayburn, Tricia.

Siren / Tricia Rayburn.

p. cm.

Summary: After her sister's sudden death, seventeen-year-old Vanessa investigates a series of inexplicable drownings off the coast of Winter Harbor, Maine, and uncovers an unimaginable secret that changes everything.

eISBN: 978-1-60684-182-2 [1. Supernatural--Fiction. 2. Sirens (Mythology)--Fiction. 3. Interpersonal relations--Fiction. 4. Sisters--Fiction. 5. Maine--Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.R2103Si 2010

[Fic]--dc22

2009041155

CPSIA tracking label information:

Random House Production * 1745 Broadway * New York, NY 10019

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher and copyright owner.

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