Unmade (The Lynburn Legacy, #3)

by Sarah Rees Brennan

“We cannot see evil and say nothing. We can’t see people murdered and do nothing,”

I need a hundred ducks, but after that it will all be pretty simple. What do you need the ducks for? I’m going to put a whole bunch of them in a giant catapult and launch them over Aurimere, Kami said. This will create a distraction. My message will be: Look at all the ducks I give.

“Didn’t you love him?” her mother had asked. “Didn’t you kill him?”

“I do feel a little peaky after the live burial,” Jared admitted, and took a big drink of cranberry juice from the glass by his plate.

She was real, though, real somewhere out in the world and the light. If he could have wished for anything in his life, it would have been for her to be real, and she was. He had heard her laugh on the air and not in his head, that marvelous, marveling sound, and seen the tender, sacred curve of her face and her mouth. She would not end when he did. He had been granted his wish; he had been infinitely lucky. He could bear this: this did not compare to the gift he had been given. This did not matter at all.

“Oh, I don’t believe this,” Jared said. “Am I being buried alive in a different location?”

“Uh, are you planning to violate my body?” Jared asked. “I request to be buried alive instead.”

“It’s difficult to know how to put this. You have to break things to ladies gently if you are a proper gentleman.”

“My own brother. A fraternizer. I can hardly bear the shame.”

“Never since the days of King Arthur and Superman have such handsome and manly shoulders existed in the land. How could she resist? Made for weeping on and leaning against. If either of you ladies would like to try? Cambridge?” “Pass.”

“My hopes dashed, I’ll continue with my tale,” said Rusty.

You are both charming ladies, but you are pushy. Charmingly pushy,” he added hastily, when he was fixed with two identical glares.

“She has some sort of moral objection to people not being buried alive?”

“She said that Jared looked awful,” Rusty told her, seeming to choose his words carefully. Kami wanted to snap, “That would probably be a result of the being buried alive,”

You are the best and handsomest man in all the world.” “Stop, you’re embarrassing me,” said Rusty. “Except by ‘stop,’ I mean ‘please go on.’

“I am also going to nap, but please do not demonstrate physical affection toward me,” Angela announced. “I don’t want to get feelings on this shirt.”

It was just the boys who were being wusses.

Torture at night, Kami thought, human sacrifice in the morning, healthy exercise at noon.

Kami nodded approvingly. “Because we are best friends forever.”

“Also the longer we leave Jared there, the crazier he’s going to get,” Angela remarked. “Let’s face it, he was not the mayor of Sanityville to start with.”

“I gave you a choice,” said Kami. “Now I’m taking it away. If all you listen to is force and fear, you can be afraid of me.

“How are you doing with the whole ‘enveloped in fire’ bit?” “Basically how I feel every day when people ask me to do unreasonable things,” said Angela.

“Everyone’s a monster,” Amber said bitterly. “Given the incentive.”

“I don’t want to contradict you,” Holly said. “Obviously Jared being buried alive is stressful for everybody.

“The Lynburns as a family—egomaniacs to a man, am I right?” “Personally, hey!” Ash Lynburn remarked. “But on the whole, your assessment’s pretty fair.”

“This isn’t a choice. I insist on rescuing you!” “Well,” Jared said. “If you insist.”

“Other people name their children after their best friends. I am going to name my ulcer after you! I am going to be forced to drink milk and take antacids and abstain from spicy food, and every time I want Indian takeout I will shake my fist at the sky and shout, ‘Damn you, Kami.’

“I promise not to walk through fire ever again, Angela.” Angela released her and gave her a sour look. “I know you’re just saying that.”

Jared stood for a moment with his arms spread wide as if he was being crucified and was very surprised about it.

“There, there, buddy. I’m alive, but you don’t need to take it so hard.”

“I was buried alive five minutes ago,” Jared muttered. “Already with the mockery?”

“Very gratifying,” Jared remarked. “But where are the posies from all my other callers?”

“Are you saying that I’m, uh, interesting looking?” “Yeah, something like that,” said Jared, and she glanced over and saw the curl of his small smile. “Some synonyms come to mind. Fascinating. Captivating. I want to look at you all the time.”

She could not control how she felt about him, and she did not want to.

“He’s like a hundred years old, I’d kill him with my enthusiasm,” said Kami. “I couldn’t live with myself. He’s a hero who fought for our country. You’ll have to do.”

They were curved together like quotation marks with no words in between, and she was so warm.

“That was not an okay thing to do,” said Kami. “Ladies have needs!”

I think Ash is off to rock back and forth in a corner and seriously wonder how his life got to be this way. He’s a sensitive plant.”

“Might be better than stalking out to a balcony to wrap yourself in a cloak of bitterness and self-hatred like metaphorical Batman, though.”

“Whatever. Emotional health is for losers.”

“I don’t want to make jokes about people dying, since people actually are,” said Rusty. “But doesn’t it sound like a fairly standard evil overlord speech?

Et cetera, et cetera, megalomaniacal cackle optional. Does Rob have a cat to stroke?”

“What do any of us want power for?” Lillian demanded. “To rule and to be feared, so your rule will be long.” “There’s a campaign slogan,” Jon muttered.

“Please never become a motivational speaker, Lettice.”

“You’re so brave, Mr. Glass,” Rusty told him soulfully. “You’re everything I aspire to be when I grow up, in like ten to twenty years.” “You’ll never have my dashing good looks, Russell,”

“Your mom’s not the boss of you.” Ash smiled, rueful and charming. “My mom’s kind of the boss of me.”

“He—we talked about you, once.” “That one time you two made out?” Kami asked with a sinking feeling. “Uh, I don’t remember exactly when.” Holly looked shifty. “It was totally that time you made out, wasn’t it?”

“What’s that thing you say? The past is another country. You make out with different people there.”

“Did he say he wanted us to go steady and he was planning to offer me his pin and/or letter jacket?” Kami crossed the fingers of her free hand, mouthing “Please say yes,”

“He might,” Holly said. “I don’t know. But if he only backed off after Ash interrupted, that could mean something.” “You think he’s in love with Ash?” Kami asked. “I mean, could be. It’d explain why he’s so grouchy all the time.” “That was only two minutes without a joke,” Holly told her sadly. “I believed in you.”