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“There are people in Sorry-in-the-Vale who still talk about what happened at Monkshood!” Kami’s distress was drilling through Jared’s head: he gritted his teeth. “What are you talking about?” “Oh my God,” said Ash, the rain painting tears on his face. “You don’t know anything.”
It would be hard to assume with Angela leaning back on her stool and drawing a scarlet nail with deliberate meaning across her throat at boys who she thought were staring too long.
Angela was watching Holly maneuver through the crowd, tall in her high silver heels, smiling and moving politely past some guy despite his clear wish to detain her. Angela’s look at Holly was fond, but the gaze she swept toward Holly’s suitor and then the rest of the bar was scathing.
“The people in this town are meant to be safe!” Nicola looked right at Jared. Her throat moved as she swallowed. She’d seen something in his eyes she was afraid of, Jared thought. She looked back at Ash. “Isn’t that the bargain? Wasn’t that the promise?”
She went back fifty years, and then a few years more, until she found a tiny note in a list of obituaries. It read, “Adam Fairchild,” listed the dates of his birth and death, and said, “He will be remembered for his sacrifice.” Almost every year before that date, there was a similar obituary. Sacrifice.
“What kind of special relationship?” “Being their servants,” Mum said bitterly. “Well, that’s not happening,” Kami said. Mum did not even seem to hear her. “Doing their bidding, being their—their front guard against the world. Stephen Glass said no, struck out the word ‘Guard’ on our house, and left Sorry-in-the-Vale.
“What did she want from you?” Kami asked. “The only thing she ever wanted,” Mum said. “Rob Lynburn. She knew he came to see me every day. He was marrying her twin sister, and we all knew Lillian was going to have a baby. Rosalind wanted to get as far away from her sister’s victory as she could, and she chose some American tourist to carry her away, but she still wanted Rob. She said she’d do a spell so she could see him through my eyes. She said all debts would be paid off between our family and hers then.”
“Sorry-in-the-Vale was designed for sorcerers to live in and feed off the woods, the animals, all the life surrounding us, in a place that does not change.” Aunt Lillian looked at Jared, her gaze intent but remote, as if she wanted to see right through his skin to the blood in his veins. “You must have noticed that you’re not getting sick this year, when the summer dies. When you always did before. The cities make you sick.”
“Are you scared of me?” Jared whispered. Kami whispered back: “I’ve never been as scared of anyone as I am of you.” She shivered, but the fear felt almost familiar. After all, she had been alone in the dark with him her whole life. Nobody could hurt her like he could.
Holly’s hand clasped Kami’s tight. “Angela tried to kiss me,” she said. It was Kami’s turn to blink. “What?”
lol it was so obvious i was screaming at Kami
