"Smith, L J - Dark Visions 1 - The Strange Power e-txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Lisa J)

"You think he likes me?"
"Of course he does. And you're beautiful-any
normal guy wouldn't have any trouble seeing you're female. With Rob, you're just going to have to do something extra."
"Like take off my shirt?"
"I was thinking of something less extreme."
"I've thought of things," Kaitlyn said. "All afternoon I've been thinking of ways . . . well, like trying to get him into romantic situations. But I don't know if it's right. Isn't that like tricking him?"
Anna smiled-a very wise smile, Kait thought. "See that mask?" she said, nodding to the one on the wall. "That's Skauk, the Raven. He was my great-grandfather's guardian spirit-and when the missionaries came along and gave my family the name 'White,' he was the one who stuck 'Raven' on, so we would always know who we were. Friends of Raven the Trickster."
Kaitlyn stared at the mask, with its long, blunt beak, in fascination.
"Raven was always doing things for his own good- but they turned out to be for everybody's good in the end. Like the time when he stole the sun."
Kaitlyn grinned, sensing a story. "When he what?"
"He stole the sun," Anna said gravely, only her eyes smiling. "Gray Eagle had the sun, but he hated people so much that he kept it hidden in his house, and everybody else lived in darkness. Raven wanted the sun for his own, but he knew Gray Eagle would never let him inside. So he turned himself into a snow white bird and tricked Gray Eagle's daughter into letting him in."
"Teh," Kaitlyn said. Anna's eyes smiled.
"As soon as she did, Raven grabbed the sun and flew away-but Gray Eagle flew after him. Raven got so scared that he dropped the sun ... and it landed in the sky, where it lit up the world for everybody."
"That's nice," Kaitlyn said, pleased.
"There're lots of stories about Raven. But the point is, sometimes a little trickery isn't so bad." Anna flashed Kait a dark-eyed glance. "And especially where boys are concerned, I think."
Kaitlyn stood up, feeling excitement churn inside her. "Then I'll do it! If I can think of something good."
"You can start with cleaning up a little," Anna said, laughing. "Right now he'll only notice you for the dirt on your nose."
Kaitlyn not only washed but changed her clothes and pulled her hair back with a gold barrette-but she didn't see that it made any difference in Rob's attitude at dinner. Dinner was novel mostly because Gabriel put in an appearance.
"He eats," Kaitlyn whispered to Anna under cover of passing the brown rice. "I was beginning to wonder."
After dinner, Gabriel vanished again. Lewis and Rob went into the common room, which they now called the study, although Kaitlyn didn't think there was much chance of anyone studying in it. Not with U2 on the CD player competing with a horror movie on the TV. It didn't seem to bother Anna, who curled up in the alcove with a book, but Kaitlyn wanted to get away.
She needed to be by herself because of Rob-and because school was tomorrow, her new school, her new chance. Her feelings were all mixed up, flying
around in confusion and bumping into each other and ricocheting off even faster.
But most important, she needed to draw.
Not the ESP kind of drawing. Just regular drawing, which always helped smooth out her thoughts. She hadn't really drawn for two days.
That reminded her of something. The drawing she'd done in the lab-she'd just left it there, behind the folding screen. She should go pick it up sometime; she certainly didn't want anyone else to see it.
"I'll be back in a little while," she said to the others in the study, and then she stopped to be grateful a moment because everybody said good-bye as she left. That had always been one of her dreams, to say to a roomful of people, "I'm going" and have them all say good-bye.
The drawing wasn't in the lab. As she let herself out the back door, she hoped someone had thrown it away.
She took only her sketchbook and a couple of sticks of charcoal-it was too dark outside to really see colors. But there was enough moonlight to see trees, and the air was deliciously fresh and cold.
This is more like winter, she thought. Everything was silver and shadows. In back of the house a narrow dirt road sloped down to a stand of redwood trees. Kaitlyn followed it.
At the foot of the hill was a little, almost dry streambed, with a low concrete bridge crossing it. The road looked as if it were never used. Kaitlyn stood in the middle of the redwoods, breathing in the night and the tree smell.
What a wonderful place. The trees cut off the lights
of the house, and not even U2 could penetrate this far. She felt quite alone.
She sat on a concrete curb with her sketch pad on her knees.
Although the moonlight was beautiful, the coolest kind of light imaginable, there wasn't really enough of it to draw properly. Oh, well, Kaitlyn thought, Joyce wants me to learn how to draw blind. With loose, fluid motions, she sketched in the shapes of some redwoods across the streambed. It was interesting to get only the shape and no detail.
What a peaceful place. She added a bush.
She was feeling much better already. She added a dark, sinuous line for the stream.
A night like this made you believe in magic. She started to add a few rocks-and then she heard a sound.
A thump. Like, Kaitlyn thought, freezing, someone falling out of a tree.
Or jumping.
Strange, how she knew right away it was human. Not an animal sound, and certainly nothing natural.
Someone was out here with her.
She looked around, moving only her head, keeping her body still. She had good eyes, artist's eyes, and when she'd walked down here she'd noticed the shape of the trees and bushes. She ought to be able to spot anything different.
But she couldn't. She couldn't see anything new, and she couldn't hear anything, either. Whoever was out there wasn't speaking.
That made it not funny. Not a joke. When somebody hides at night and doesn't let you know who they are-when you can feel eyes on you, but you don't know whose-that wasn't funny. Kaitlyn's hands felt cold and her throat felt very tight.
Just get up. Leave. Now, she thought.
She managed two steps up the hill and saw movement among the trees. It was a person, moving out from the cover of the redwoods.
Kaitlyn's body prepared to fight or flee-but not until she saw who it was. She had to see the face before she could be released from paralysis.
The person came closer, feet crunching on dead leaves. Moonlight shone on his face, on slanting eyes and softly curling brown hair. It was the man who'd grabbed her in the airport.
He was wearing regular clothes now, not the red robe he'd worn before. And he was coming straight at her, very quickly.
Fight, Kait decided. Or rather, her body decided it for her, seeming to feel instinctively that she'd never make it up that hill.