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They are true Gatlin Peaches.
“Ethan Lawson Wate! What in our Sweet Redeemer’s name are you doin’ up there?” Amma had a particular way of shouting that could haul you right back up out of Hades, as my dad would say.
The Outsiders.
Caught any evil spirits in those old bottles yet?” I wish we could catch yours. That’s what I wanted to say. Mrs. Lincoln stuffed in a dusty brown Coke bottle.
The bigger the breakfast, the bigger the day, in Amma’s mind. At this rate, by the time I graduated I’d be one giant biscuit floating in a bathtub full of pancake batter.
The hallway divided in front of them as an ex-Siren and a quarter Incubus conquered Jackson High. I wondered what Amma would have to say about that. Sweet baby in a manger. Heaven help us all.
“I give this whole little experiment three days, max.” “Three days? You’re the optimist.” Lena sighed,
between dear, departed Macon Ravenwood and the possessed townsfolk in the play, and a ceiling tile suddenly came loose and smacked her on the head.
could care less what he does.” But I looked down at her tray, and four of the pudding bowls were already empty.
“I was talking about fish. A group of fish is called a school. If you went to school you’d know that.” I ducked to avoid her spoon.
“Actually trying to make someone like you is totally demeaning. It’s pathetic. It’s…” “Mortal?” “Exactly.” She shuddered, moving on to the Jell-O.
“Whose dreams?” If Link was feeding off my dreams, I was going to kick his ass.
“How about you, Amma?” She was standing at the kitchen counter tossing a salad so hard I thought she was going to shatter our cracked glass bowl.
“Eat. The world will still be on the brink of disaster when you finish your breakfast. Even in your smoking jacket.”
Jackson’s faithful truant officer, wasn’t sitting in his car eating a sticky bun and reading the paper. And there were half a dozen buns left in the bakery section. That had to be the first sign of the apocalypse.
Mr. Eaton killed the engine and walked around to the passenger side to open the door for Amma. She swatted at him as he tried to help her down. He should’ve known better. Amma was barely five feet tall and a hundred pounds, but there was nothing frail about her.
“She went up there.” “You sure?” Link lifted an eyebrow. “Can my mom preach to a preacher?”
Link was unimpressed. “Whatever. When I die, just throw some dirt over me. Save your money.” “Right. Remind me of that in a few hundred years when I’m at your funeral.” “Well, then I guess I’ll be throwin’ some dirt on you—”
MARIE LAVEAU. THIS GREEK REVIVAL TOMB IS REPUTED BURIAL PLACE OF THIS NOTORIOUS “VOODOO QUEEN.” Link took a step back. “A voodoo queen? Like we don’t have enough problems.”
I couldn’t picture Liv spending so much time in the darkness of the Tunnels, when all she reminded me of was sunshine.
“Nobody messes with my boy. Not Abraham Ravenwood, not the Serpent or Old Scratch himself, you hear?”
rolling pin was pushing into Abraham’s jacket. With every inch, the thread of tension between the two of them pulled tighter. Link and I moved closer to Amma on either side.
“Book banners are no better than book burners.”
I never thought there would come a day when I’d actually see books burning.
One minute, I was dreamin’ about a fat piece a George Clooney and a hot date with some brown sugar pound cake, and the next thing I knew, the house was comin’ down around us.”
My Aunt Prudence was the smallest person in the world. As she liked to put it, she bent with every passing year and shrunk with every passing husband—and
true. “Oh, I know plenty. I know you’re about as far from the truth as Wesley’s mamma is from a bottle a whiskey,
Mrs. English looked at him strangely and laughed. I realized I’d never heard her laugh before. The laugh itself wasn’t disturbing. Mrs. English laughing at my father’s jokes was. Disturbing and gross.
There’s also a little thing called Amma’s homemade fried chicken.” I knew where this conversation was heading all along and was halfway to the curb by the time she said it. “Come on. I bet you ten bucks she made biscuits, too.” “You had me at ‘fried.’
Amma gave Liv all the thighs, so I knew she was still feeling sorry for Liv after last summer.
Liv stuffed her face faster than Link in his prime. By the time I was on my third piece, she was on her second plateful.
“And none a that pickled watermelon rind. I’m savin’ that for Wesley’s mamma. It turned out sour this year.”
“Feelings for him? At least you finally admit it!” Lena was screaming. “I don’t admit anything except that you’re a bloody little bitch who thinks the world orbits around your pretty little curls.”
her sister was bringing her down by association. Come to think of it, it was too bad the DAR had the whole bloodline requirement. Reece could have founded her own chapter.
In Macon’s presence, his smart-ass attitude was gone.
She wasn’t going to tell me what was happening. I was going to have to figure it out on my own. Time to grow a pair of kneecaps.
room was staring at me. Start talking, or I’m going to have to fake an asthma attack, like Link did during the biology final.
Amma’s apple pie, and Amma’s pumpkin pie.
Getting answers out of Amma was like pulling teeth, if the teeth belonged to a gator.
It was time to grow those kneecaps.
“If you call a noble death a buckshot in the bee-hind, then I reckon you’re right.” Aunt Mercy
“No. What I’m saying is I trust you.” “Is this one of those tests guys don’t understand and always fail?” She smiled, covering the leftover pecan pie with tinfoil. “Not today.”
“It’ll be awesome. Lena’s gonna fix everything.” “I am?” Lena smiled a little. “Maybe John bit you harder than we thought.”
“Bet you five bucks Savannah doesn’t set foot in Ravenwood.” Link finally cracked a smile. “That’s what I’m hopin’.”
She has no powers, no way to protect herself. You cannot punish a wet child for the rain.”
“Did anyone notice how many Dark Casters were in that room?” “I noticed the one you kicked in the head.”
Link was driving like his mom had just caught him drinking in church.
did sacrifice the Beater.” Link looked over at me. “How bad was it?” “Bad.” He shrugged. “Nothin’ a little duct tape can’t fix.”
“Yeah? Well, I’ve had a bad feelin’ since I got back from Neverland and turned into a Demon.”
But I still wanted the last thing I said to Amma to be as true as the sun rising. So after I helped her into her favorite chair, I hugged her tight and whispered one last thing. “I love you, Amma.” There was nothing truer.
