A Dance with Darkness: An Angelfire Novella (HarperTeen Impulse) by Courtney Allison Moulton Page A

friends for as long as I could remember. They all stopped talking when Kate and I climbed out of the car.
    “Today’s been so crazy,” Landon said. “How are you guys doing?”
    “Fine, just vegging out,” Kate said, taking my hand and leading me past him.
    We ordered and sat down at the metal tables outside. Landon and the three others joined us. I poked around at my cup of Cookie Doughn’t You Want Some before taking a small bite. In spite of how little I had eaten that day, I wasn’t very hungry. Mr. Meyer’s murder bothered me more than I’d expected it to. I had never known anyone who’d died before, besides my grandfather. He had died peacefully. Something very bad had happened to my teacher.
    The others were rambling away at one another about Mr. Meyer.
    “I heard it was a bear attack,” Evan said through a mouthful. “And Meyer tried to defend himself with a knife.”
    “There aren’t any bears on this side of the state,” Rachel said.
    “Maybe it was someone’s pet cougar,” Landon offered. “I know a guy with an ocelot.”
    “You do not,” Chris scoffed.
    “Yeah I do .”
    Rachel scratched the top of Evan’s head with her fingernails. “What’s an ocelot?”
    “Was it that awful?” Kate asked.
    Chris nodded. “A buddy of mine is doing community service at the morgue for a DUI, and he heard it was messy. Like he was in pieces , man. I don’t think a bar fight would have gotten that far unless the chick it was over was smoking hot. I’d tear a guy up if he got between me and Angelina Jolie.”
    I didn’t like the way they were talking about Mr. Meyer, so I tried to block them and the disturbing mental images out. Cold Stone was busy; since it was past four, the elementary school nearby had let out and now the place was beginning to swarm with screaming, squabbling little kids. I tried my best to ignore them, since fifth-grade boys tended to hit on high school girls. My eyes scanned the area, distantly watching their faces, until I spotted the strange boy from outside school the day before.
    Today he wore a black long-sleeved tee and dark-washed jeans. He was sitting alone at a table about twenty feet away and staring off into space. I knew him. I had to know him from somewhere. When I looked at him, brief images of his face, his eyes, and his smile flashed in my mind. A warm scent struck me that I knew was his, but I wasn’t close enough to catch it. The tenderness overtaking my heart both frightened me and brought me peace. When he noticed that I was staring at him, he looked back and didn’t look away. I tried to block him out, too, but I realized I couldn’t ignore everybody. I turned back to my friends.
    “School should be open tomorrow,” Rachel said.
    Kate licked up a glob of whipped cream. “That sucks.”
    “Do you think we’ll still have to finish this week’s economics paper?” Landon asked.
    Chris shrugged. “Why wouldn’t we? We’re just going to have a sub until they find a full-time replacement.”
    I finished my ice cream quickly, without joining the conversation, and then got up to walk to the trash can on the side of the building to throw my cup away. When I turned around, I nearly bumped into a tall form, and I jumped, startled. Looking up, I found myself standing face-to-face with the boy I’d seen the day before. He was tall, maybe six feet, and broad shouldered—and he was standing much, much too close. His presence wrapped around me—not suffocating, as I would have expected, but peaceful. I didn’t pull away from him. He looked down at me with bright green eyes, saying nothing. Around the collar of his shirt were strange black markings like tattoos. His dark hair was tousled just a little by the September breeze.
    “Um, hi ,” I said, drawling in my uneasiness. “Do you … need the trash can?” I felt like an idiot as soon as I said it.
    “Hi,” he said, and gave me a quiet smile, one that amplified the gentle contours of his face, the