Mystics 3-Book Collection by Kim Richardson Page A

realize how hungry
she was.
    “Hello again, Agent Barnes,” said a
voice.
    Zoey looked up. A six-foot tall woman with
shark-gray skin and long silky white hair came towards them. She
was so thin, just skin and bones, that she looked as though she was
drowning in her clothes. While she had odd cat-like yellow eyes,
what made Zoey flinch were the woman’s four arms. Zoey’s skin
tingled with a warm rush, similar to what she had felt in the main
hall when the mystics had first stepped out of the mirrors, but the
sensation was subtle and vanished as fast as it had appeared.
    “Hi, Aria,” said Agent Barnes. “I’d like you
to meet your newest boarder, Zoey St. John. Zoey, this is Aria, the
owner of the Wander Inn.”
    Aria held out one of her right hands.
“Hello, Zoey. Everyone here calls me Aria.”
    Zoey shook one of her hands a little
awkwardly, trying not to stare at the woman’s other arms, which
hung at her sides like rubber hoses.
    “Thanks for having me,” mumbled Zoey, not
knowing what else to say.
    “I’m glad to finally meet you,” said Aria.
“Everyone’s been talking about you tonight. We’re all very excited
to have you here with us, and I’m very happy to have you stay here
with me. The hive being such a small community and all—you’re like
the newest celebrity.”
    She stood with her four hands on her hips
and looked grim. “You haven’t eaten in a while. Let me fetch you
something to eat. I’ll bring it up. Agent Barnes, could you show
Zoey to her room—top of the stairs, it’s the last one on the
left.”
    “Sure thing, Aria. Come along, Little
Red.”
    Zoey watched Aria disappear through the
dining room. She then climbed the stairs behind Agent Barnes who
guided her to her room. A single bed was angled under a large
window with soft white linen curtains, and a large dresser stood
beside a closet on the opposite wall. Another door stood ajar and
revealed a shower, a toilet, and a pedestal sink—her own master
bathroom. She felt like she was staying in a fancy hotel.
    “This is my room?”
    Agent Barnes lost his smile. “What’s wrong
with it? You don’t like it?”
    Zoey’s face lit up. She had never had a room
to herself before. She’d always had to share smelly old mattresses
and stained sheets with the other foster kids. This room smelled
like lavender and lilacs. She had never imagined a bedroom could be
so wonderful. And it was hers. “No, it’s perfect. I love it. I
couldn’t have imagined a more beautiful room. It’s really
amazing.”
    “Good.” Agent Barnes turned towards the
door. “After you eat, you go straight to bed. You can do your
exploring tomorrow. Tonight you’ll need all the rest you can
get.”
    Zoey frowned, tearing her eyes away from her
new room.
    “Why’s that?”
    “You have a big day tomorrow,” he said.
“Tomorrow, you start your training.”

Chapter 5
The Sevenths’ Academy
     
     
     
    Zoey hardly slept a wink. She had kept her exploring to the confines of her bedroom. She tried on all
her new clothes which, for the first time in her life, were
miraculously her size. She jumped on her bed and flushed the
toilet, just because she could. The excitement of the day still
rushed through her. After a quick shower, she had fallen asleep in
her bathrobe. She awoke to a soft tap on her bedroom door the next
morning.
    “Time to get up Zoey, breakfast is ready.”
Zoey recognized Aria’s voice through the door. Her seventh sense
reacted with the subtlest of warm prickles on her skin, as though
she somehow recognized that the mystic was not a threat.
    “Come down when you’re ready.”
    “Okay,” mumbled Zoey, “I’m getting up.”
    She swung her legs off the bed, her eyes
puffy with lack of sleep. She felt a pain in her arm from sleeping
in an awkward position, but she didn’t let it dampen her spirits.
At first when she woke up, she had thought it had all been a dream,
that the hive and the agency weren’t real. But now—sitting on