T h he e L yn ynbur bur n L egacy egacy book o ne
Saa r a h R e e s B r e n n a n S Chapter Sampler
he e L ynbu ynbur r n L egacy egacy T h book 1
Sarah Sar ah Ree Rees Bre Bre nnan R an andom dom Ho House use
New York
Keee p read K reading ing for a sneak sne ak pee pe ek. . .
Partt I Par
Lords Lo rds of th thee Man Manoor Somewhere or other there must surely be The ace not seen, the voice not not heard — Christina Christina Rossetti
Chapte Ch apterr One
The T he Firs Firstt Story THE RETURN OF THE LYNBURNS by Kami Glass Every town in England has a story. One day I am going to nd out Sorry-inSorry-in-thethe-Vale’s. Vale’s. The closest this reporter has come to getting our town’s scoop is when I asked Mr. Roger Stearn (age seventy-six seventysix but young at heart) to tell me a secret about our town. He conded that he believed the secret to Sorry-inSorry-in-thethe-Vale’s Vale’s high yield o wool was in the sheep eed. I think I may have betrayed some slight disappointment, because he stared at me or a while, said, “Respect the sheep, young lady,” and ended the interview. Which leaves us with a town in the Cots wolds that has a lot o wool and no secrets. Wh Which ich is plainly ridiculous. Sorry-inSorry-in-thethe-Vale’s Vale’s records date back to the 1400s. Six hundred years do not go by without someon someonee doing something something nearious. The Lynburns are the town’s ounding amily, and we all know what the lords o the manor get up
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to. Ravishing the peasants, burning their humble cottages. cottage s. Fox hunting. hunting. The list goes goe s on and on. The Lynburns have “dark secret” written all over them. There is even a skipping song about them. Skipping songs may not seem dark to you, but consider “Ring Around the Rosy,” a happy children’s rhyme about the plague. In Sorry-inSorry-in-thethe-Vale Vale they sing this song:
Forest deep, silent bells There’s’s a secret no one tells There Valley quiet, quiet , water still Lynburns watching on the hill Apples red, corn gold Almost everyone grows old. old . The song even talks about secrets. During this dauntless reporter’s lietime, however,, the only Lynburn in Aurimere ever Au rimere House was MariMa rigold Lynburn (now deceased). Far be it rom me to speak ill o the dead, but it cannot be denied that Mrs. Lynburn was a erociously private person. To the point o erociously throwing her walker at certain innocently curious children. Today oday,, a ater ter seven se venteen teen years yea rs in America, Mari gold Lynburn’s daughters have returned to Sorry-inSorry-in-thetheVale. I the amily does have any dark secrets, dear readers, you can have aith that I will uncover them.
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K ami ami stopped typing and glared at the screen. She wasn’t sure about the tone o her article. art icle. A serious journalist should probably not make so many jokes, but whenever Kami sat down to the computer it was as i the jokes were already there, hiding behind beh ind the keys, waiting to spring out at her. her. Kami knew there was a story in the Lynburns. They had gone away beore beore she was born, but but all al l her lie she had heard hea rd people wishing that someone sick would recover, or a storm would bypas bypasss the valley, and in the same breath say say,, “but the Lynburns are a re gone.” gone.” She had spent the summer since she heard o their return asking questions all over town, and had people instantly hush her as i the Lynburns might be listening. Kami’s own mother cut her o every time, her voice equal parts severe and scared about her dangerously disrespectul daughter. Kami looked back at the screen. She couldn’t think o a title besides “The Lynburns Return.” She blamed the Lynburns, because their surname rhymed with “return.” She also blamed the kids who were messing around in the woods beyond her garden: tonight they were making a sound that was almost howling. It went on and on, a noise that struck her ears hard and set her temples throbbing. Kami jumped up rom her chair and ran out o her bedroom. She thumped down the narrow creaking stairs and out the back door into the silver-touched silver-touched square that was her garden at night. The dark curve o the woods held the glittering lights o Sorry-inSorry-in-thethe-Vale Vale like a handul o stars in a shadowy palm. On the other end o the woods, high above the town, was Aurimere Auri mere House, House, its bell tower a skeletal nger nger
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pointing at the sky. Aurimere House, which the Lynburns had built when they ounded the town, and where they had lived or generations, the masters o all they surveyed. There was no place in Sorr Sorryy-inin-thethe-V Vale where you could c ould not see the t he mansion, its its windows like watching eyes. Kami K ami always a lways ound hersel watching it in return. For the rst time Kami could remember, every window was lit rom within, shining gold. The Lynburns were home at last. The howling reached a pitch that raked up Kami’s spine and sent her running to the garden gate, where she stood with her eyes ull ul l o dark darkness. ness. Then the sound died abruptly abruptly.. Suddenly there was nothing but the night wind, shushing Kami as i she’d had a bad dream and running cold ngers through her hair. Kami reached out past the boundaries o her own mind and called or comort. What’s wrong? the voice in Kami’s head asked at once, his concern wrapping around her. She elt warmer instantly, despite despi te the wind. Nothing’s wrong, Kami answered. She elt Jared’s presence slip away rom her as she stood in the moonlit garden or another moment, listening to the silence o the woods. Then T hen she went went back inside i nside to nish her article. art icle. She She still sti ll hadn’ had n’tt told Angela about ab out the paper. Kami had been hearing a voice in her head all her lie. When she was eight, people had thought it was cute that she had an imaginary riend. It was very dierent now that she was seventeen. Kami was accustomed to people thinking she was crazy. 4
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“You’re crazy,” said her best riend, Angela, as the bell rang to signal ve minutes beore the rst class on the rst day back at school. sc hool. Angela had mov moved ed rom Londo London n to SorrySorry-inin-thethe-Vale Vale when Ka Kami mi was twelve. The timing had been perect because Kami’s Ka mi’s rst best riend, Nicola Prendergast, Prendergast, had just dropped her or being too weird. “They said that about all the great visionaries,” Kami inormed her, hurrying down the hall to match Angela’s long-legged longlegged stride. “You know who else they said it about?” Angela demanded. “All the actual crazy people.” She gave Kami a look that said she wished wi shed Kami Ka mi would stop bothering her. her. Normally this would not have worried Kami. Angela always looked at people with that expression, and Kami could usually usual ly talk her into doing doing what Kami Ka mi wanted anyway any way.. But Kami had never wanted something as much as this. “Last summer, when we volunteered as assistants at cricket crick et camp— ca mp—”” “When you volunteered us without asking me, yes,” said Angela.. Angela Kami ignored this trife. “Remember how I encouraged the kids to keep diaries, which turned into an exposé about the seamy underbelly o cricket camp?” “I have ound it impossible to orget,” Angela told her. “And remember last year when I started the petition to get Miss Mackenzie red, and she chased me around the pitch waving a hockey stick and we had to speak beore the schooll board?” schoo board? ” “Aga Again, in, unorgettable,” unorgettable,” said sa id Angela. Angela . 5
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“My point is, here we have an opportunity to champion truth that doesn’t involve sports,” Kami persisted. “It’s a step toward me becoming the greatest journalist o our time. You You have to help, Angela, because Ms. Dollard has this notion that I’m a troublemaker and she’s only— fnally —letting me set up a school paper because I told her you were on board.” Angela rounded on Ka Kami, mi, her dark eyes blazing. “Y “You ou did what ? ” “I knew that once I explained the situation, you would understand,”” Kami understand, K ami said, holding her ground despite despite Angela’ A ngela’ss looming over her, alarming and overly tall. She continued switly in case Angela was considering beating her to death with her schoolbag. “I was hop hoping ing you would agree out o real enthusiasm or the project and because you are a true riend, but i you insist on being without vision—” vision—” “I do,” Angela said rmly. “Oh, I do.” “There is one other actor,” Kami said. “The oce we’re being given to run the school paper has a soa in it.” She paused or eect. e ect. “And we’re we’re allowed a llowed to go to the oce dur dur-ing ree periods to tirelessly pursue truth and justice. Or, say—”” say— “Nap,” Angela nished, in the reverent tones o a knight who has na nally lly spotted the Hol Holyy Grail. She stood lost in thought, her ngers tapping against the strap o her schoolbag. Then her perect mouth curved cur ved ever so slightly. slightly. “I guess I do have a ew ideas or articles.” They walked into class in ull accord, Kami beaming
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with victory victory.. “I have more tha than n a ew ew.. I’ I’ve ve alrea already dy star started ted an ar article. ticle.”” Angela slipped into a chair one over rom the window window,, and Kami K ami took the t he place beside her. her. “About “About what?” what? ” Kami leaned across the desk, keeping her voice low. “Yesterday I was at the sweetshop talking to Mrs. Thompson about the Lynburns coming back.” She glanced out the window o the classroom. Fiel Fields ds stretched to the south in a green blanket. To the north rose a hill steep enough to look like a cli. On the edge o that rise stood Aurimere House, and below it were the woods, like a regiment o dark soldiers with a bright general. She looked back at her riend in time to see Angela’s raised eyebrows. “So you were basically interrogating poor Mrs. Thompson, who is probably a hundred and twenty years old?” “I was acquiring inormation,” Kami said calmly. “Also licorice.” “You are shameless,” Angela said. “I hope you eel good about your lie choices.” Kami Ka mi looked out out at the valley again. ag ain. There were stories stories to be ound here, and she was going to discover them all. a ll. “You know,” she said, “I really do.” They were interrupted by the entrance o Miss Mackenzie, which orced both o them, Kami smiling and Angela shaking her head, to turn to their books. It wasn’t until the end o the day that Kami and Angela had time to make their way up the stairs to the second foor
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and check out their newspaper oce. The Sorry-inSorry-in-thethe-Vale Vale school building—the building—the town was so small that there was no need to have more than one— was over a hundred years old. It accommodated all Vale Vale kids k ids rom age ve to eighteen, and there were still quite a ew rooms in the school that weren’t used. Kami K ami couldn’ couldn’tt wait to use this one. “So tell me about the articles you have in mind,” Kami said to Angela on the rst step. “I was thinking I could write tips or people who are too busy to exercise but want to stay in shape,” Angela said. “People like me.” Kami nodded. “You’re always busy trying to nd a napping spot.” “Exactly,” Angela told her. “I can’t be distracted rom my search by having to do Pilates or whatever. Here’s one o my tips: always take steps two at a time.” She demonstrated. “I thought you did that just to mock my stumpy legs.” legs.” “That too,” too,” Angela A ngela conceded. “But “But the main ma in thing th ing is that t hat taking steps two at a time is like a StairMaster workout. The result? Buns o steel.” Angela casually slapped the buns she reerred to, proving her point. Angela had a perect body. body. She She had a perect ace too, but at least she put some eort into that, her makeup ma keup always fawf awless and her abilities with eyeliner unnatural. Kami ocused more on clothes than on makeup. She was always orgetting to put on lip gloss as she rushed out the door, but she elt the likelihood o orgetting her clothes was not high.
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Kami slapped her own ass experimentally and made a ace. “Buns o corrugated tin,” she said. “On a good day.” What’s going on with you? Jared asked out o the blue. Kami Ka mi elt his mind turn toward hers, away rom rom his own lie. It was like being in the t he middle o a conversation conversation in a crowded room and having someone in an entirely dierent conversation among an entirely dierent group o people catch your eye. Multiplied by a thousand because, instead o eyes meeting, it was minds. Beginning a Beginning a new new era era o o journalistic history, journalistic history, Ka Kami mi told told him, sending her cheer through their connection. Also, to be per ectly honest, Angela and I were slapping our asses. As one As one does, does, said Jared. And you? you ? There was a eeling like a shadow touching her, letting slip that Jared was unhappy, but he answered: Just Just reading. reading. Beginning a new era o being a useless layabout. He absorbed her cheerulness grateully, and she could tell he was pleased or her. Kami grinned up at Angela, who gave her a orbearing look. Kami realized that she had been standing and staring blankly or a little too long. “Coming?” Angela asked with a small smile. She knew about Jared, though Kami tried not to talk about him too much. That was what had lost her Nicola Prendergast. “Have I mentioned, thanks or doing this?” Kami asked. Angela slung an arm around Ka Kami’s mi’s shoulders as they went up the stairs. sta irs. “Your “Your soul sou l is like the t he souls o a thousand t housand
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monkeys on crack, all smushed together,” she told Kami. “But enough about you. Show me to my napping soa.” They reached the blue door at the top o the stairs. It had a little window o clouded glass and wire mesh. Kami pulled out the chunky silver key that Ms. Dollard Dolla rd had some what reluctantly entrusted her with, turned it it in the lock, lock, and opened the door with a fourish. “Ta-dah!” “Ta-dah!” Kami and Angela peered into their new headquarters. The room was small. It had a wiry gray carpet, whitewashed brick walls, a big cupboard, several desks, and Angela’s much-desired muchdesired soa. It was also lled, foor to ceiling, with empty cardboard boxes. “I hate you so much right now,” said Angela. Kami Ka mi and Angela spent twenty minutes clearing out their new oce together. Then Angela gave up, gave a low moan, and ell onto the soa, which was still covered in boxes. She lay there, her arm thrown over her eyes. Kami kept cleaning up, whistling to hersel as she olded and stacked piles o cardboard and dust ell around her like sot gray rain. Her glittery blue scar scar, , pencil pencil skirt, and a nd vintage Liberty blouse were not, she had to admit, the ideal clothes or manual labor. But she’d wanted to make a statement on her rst day as a s a journalistic journa listic pioneer. pioneer. Kami was wrestling with a box that was determined never to old, when there came a tap on the open door. She looked up rom her giant origami creation, into the eyes o the best-looking best-looking guy she had ever seen. There were two things th ings about him that t hat were more more imporimportant than tha n good looks. One was that he had a serious, substantial camera hanging rom around his neck. The other was 10
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that Kami K ami had never seen him beore in her lie, which meant he must be a Lynb Lynburn. urn.
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Chapterr Two Chapte Two
The T he Princ Princee of Aur Auriime mere re K ami’d ami’ d always retold retold her her airy air y tales to make the t he air maidens braver and more sel-sucient, sel-sucient, but she had never had any real objection to the handsome prince. And here one was, wearing a white T-shirt and a nd jeans instead o armor, with with golden hair that curled at the ends and eyes the ridiculous bluee o highblu hig h-summer summer skies, drenched in sunlight and melted clouds. Those blue eyes were, o course, xed on Angela. “Uh, hi,” said the Lynburn, wearing the same expression all boys did when they met Angela, as i they had been smacked in the ace and were enjoying it. “Are you Kami Glass?” Angela lited li ted the arm over her eyes a raction. “Go “Go away, away,” she commanded. “I only date college guys. guys.”” “You don’t know any college guys,” Kami pointed out. Angela’ss gaz Angela’ gazee went to Ka Kami, mi, and she smiled. “W “Which hich leaves me with more time or napping.” She closed her eyes again, leaving Kami and the Lynburn looking at each other. Kami had to hand it to the guy. Most males were in retreat or inuriated when aced with Angela’s inexplicable rudeness. This guy’s expression had not changed, apart rom a slight widening o his eyes. She admired his sel-control. sel- control. 12
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“I saw a fyer on the bulletin board about the school newspaper needing a photographer, and it said to come here ater school.” He had a lovely, drawling American accent: more proo he was a Lynburn. His voice also sounded unrufed. Was he really oering to be a photographer or the paper, despite the act that he’d just been insulted and their oce was awash in cardboard? Angela sat bolt upright upright and glared gla red at Kami. Ka mi. “You “You put up up a fyer? Beore you even talked me into this?” “Angela, Angela,” Kami said. “We can dwell on the past or we can move into the uture!” “I can hide your body in these piles o boxes. Nobody will ever nd it. it.”” Angela made a gesture o dismissa dismissall at the new kid. “Do you mind?” He looked looked at Kami, Kam i, who gave him a winning winn ing smile. This was how it went went ater Angela dismissed d ismissed a guy: then he would take a look at Kami. Which W hich didn’t didn’t always work out or or Kami. Ka mi. Angela was wa s the one with with the exotic beauty, beauty, which was unair u nair considering that Kami was the one with the Japanese grandmother. Kami’s hair was black but shot with brown, not the raven’s- wing wing black o Angela’ Angela’ss hair. Ka Kami’s mi’s eatures were subtly dierent rom her schoolmates’ and her skin was pale gold, but she was betrayed by a nose dusted with reckles. Exotic beauties did not sport reckles. The Lynburn smiled back at her. Kami liked his smile almost as much as she liked his camera. “Seriously,” said Angela. “Go away now.” There was only so much rudeness anyone could be expected to take. Kami seized Angela’s arm and pulled her 13
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rom the soa. “Would you excuse us or just one moment?” she said to the Lynburn. “My colleague and I need to coner in our oce.” With that, she hauled Angela into the empty stationery statione ry cupboard and shut the door behind behi nd them. In the darkness, Angela asked, “Why am I in a cupboard?” “There are only two important things or us to discuss right now,” Kami said. “The rst is that to be a success, our newspaper requires a photographer.” “What’s the other thing?” “He’d be excellent decoration or our headquarters,” Kami Ka mi said. sa id. “You “You have to admit, he’s he’s very goodgood-looking, looking, and I need a photographer, so can I keep him, please, oh, please?” Angela sighed. In the cupboard, c upboard, the sigh was w as like a gust g ust o wind. “Kami, you know I hate guys being around all the time. They won’t stop staring and bothering me and giving me the sad, sad eyes like li ke a puppy puppy dog until I just want to kick them. Like a puppy dog.” “So you have some puppy puppy issues,” issues,” Kami K ami observed. The cupboard door swung suddenly open. The new boy stood ramed by the bright light o the oce. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said. “But I can hear everything th ing you’ you’re re sayin s aying. g.”” “Ah,” said Kami. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I can take a hint. Especially i the hint is along the lines o—” o—” He did a good imitation o Angela’ss dismissive gesture. “Go away now. Angela’ now.” Angela looked ondly reminiscent. “W “We’ e’ve ve had some
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good times ti mes together, together, haven’t haven’t we? we ? I’ll I’ ll always a lways remember them. Ater A ter you go away. away.” The boy’s brow wrinkled slightly. “Also, you might not have noticed, but this is i s a cupboard.” cupboard.” “I admit our private oce is o modest dimensions,” Kami told him. “But that’s the way we like it. Just because we’re we’ re the editors doesn doesn’’t mean we need special privileges. We’ W e’re re not snobs.” snobs.” She climbed c limbed out o the cupboard, and the t he new guy oered his hand. She didn’t need it, but she took it all the same. He smiled again. “My name’s Ash Lynburn.” Kami beamed at him. “I thought so. We don’t get many new people in town. Tell me all about yoursel, and let me get a pen so I can write it down. Did I mention that you’re hired?” “Kami’s always like this,” said Angela. Even though Kami knew Angela was saying it with love, she was saying it in ront o someone Kami wanted to impress. She hesitated, then reached out to Jared in her mind, and uncertainty washed away in the wave o reassurance she got back. “T “ True, rue,”” Kami Ka mi said cheerully cheer ully.. “I am a born reporter. But you know, the old amily moving back into the manor house—everyone house—everyone who comes into my mother’s place is talking about it.” She looked at Ash. “My mum’s place is Claire’s,” she said. “Bakery in the morning, restaurant in the evening. Best ood in Sorry-inSorry-in-thethe-Vale. Vale. We’ll take you there when we have weekend weekend sta sta meetings.” meetings.” “I’ll look orward to it,” Ash said. He still had hold o her hand.
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Kami shook hands rmly, then pulled her hand away and walked wa lked over to her desk: desk : she needed it to take ta ke notes. “I’m “I’m Kami Ka mi Glass, Glas s,”” she said once she had a pen and a notepad. She waved at Angela Angela.. “Th “This is one- woman woman welcoming committee is Angela Montgomery. Congratulations! You’re part o the team. Your Your rst assignment a ssignment is to go out out to the stairs stair s and take ta ke some pictures pictures o Angela standing on them slapping her ass.” ass.” Angela said, sa id, “I’m “I’m going back to the cupboard.” cupboard.” They all ended up at the stairs, Kami coming in order to drag Angela and staying in order to interview Ash. Ash ran rom the top top to the bottom o o the stairs stair s a ew times, trying tr ying to get the best shot o Angela (though there was no way to get a bad shot o Angela, all swishing hair, snapping eyes, and perennial annoyance), and answered all Kami’s questions pleasantly, i cagily: Where had the Lynburns been? Oh, all around. Where had he liked living most? Oh, here. “So, now that you’re back, do you think you’ll be staying?”” Kami ing? Ka mi looked down down at Ash, A sh, pen poised over over her notepad. notepad. Ash lowe lowered red his camera and looked up at her her.. Light fooded down the corridor, lending his hair a sheen o hazy brightness. “Sorry-in“Sorry-in-thethe-Vale Vale is where we belong,” he answered, and or the rst time he did not sound calm and lighthearted. lighthear ted. He sounded sounded as i he was making ma king a promise, one he intended to keep. “We’re going to stay here orever.” Ka mi woke that night rom a dream o being someone Kami someone else, to the sound o screaming in the woods. She reached or Jared. He answered, awake too, comorting and a nd curious at once. once. Are we Are we going to going to go go see see what’s what’s happening?
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As soon as the silen silentt voi voice ce in her mind asked that, the sound stopped. Kami told hersel to get a grip: she was only allowed to be a certain degree o crazy. There were always kids messing around in the woods. These noises were perectly normal. Through her connection to Jared she could eel again the chill she’d elt earlier today, the knowledge that he was I was was just just unhappy. I’ll be intrepid another time, she told him. I dreaming about dreaming about you. you. How are you doing? doing ? Kami had to reach or him across the boundaries they had built up so they could both have their own lives and not look entirely entirely insane. insa ne. She only got bits and pieces o what Jared was thin thinking king,, especial especially ly since the summer beore last. la st. She thought o it as their decision: Kami had ound it was easier to act like he was real, and they’d both made the rules. She leaned against the boundaries between them now, venturing into his space a little, and tried to make out his eelings. His weariness dragged at her senses, like holding hands with w ith someone someone who was wal walking king slowl slowlyy. Does it Does it matter? matter? he asked. O course it course it matters, matters, Ka Kami mi said, and pushed at him, bullybullying a little. Tell Tell me. me. My mother My mother asked asked me me i i I still I still talked talked to you, said Jared. I said yes. yes. Neither o them really talked about the other: hearing a voice in your head made you act weirdly enough without discussing the t he voices. voices. Back when they were kids, when Kami had been young enough to send an English penny to an address she’d made up somewhere in America, their mothers had both been worried. Kami’s mother had been really 17
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scared, obviously convinced that Kami might actually be going crazy. Kami had been the only child or years beore her brothers arrived. She’d been brought up by young, rantic r antic parents and her grandmother, knowing they all had to work together to make their amily work at all. She was supposed to be sel-sucient. sel-sucient. She was not supposed to be a problem child who terried her mother by inventing inventing an entire antasy antas y lie or her imaginary riend. Her mother’s ear had made Kami scared as well, but not scared enough to give Jared up. She stopped asking Jared questions about his hi s lie, though, and a nd she stopped talkta lking about Jared to other people. He was her secret, and that meant she could keep him. Kami did not eel comortable talking about Jared’s mother, but she knew they didn’t have a good relationship. She also knew it was irrational and illogical and insane to worry about his ami amily ly troubl troubles. es. It was insane to care so much in the rst place. He was a voice in her head, ater all: she tried not to think thin k about it too much much because becau se it made her think she really might be crazy. Jared lled in the silence. She wants me to stop talking to you. to you. And will will you you stop? Kami did not let her dread touch him. And she asked, trying to show him nothing but support. I told I told her her I I had had to to think think about about it, it, said Jared wearily we arily.. Kami curled tighter under the covers, eeling cold. Jared said nothing else. There was silence in her head and silence beneath her window w indow,, and a nd still she could not sleep.
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Chapte Ch apterr Three
The T he Se Secr creet in th thee Woo oods ds T hehe rst issue o The The Nosy Nosy Parker Parker came out two days later. It was a huge success. Kami was unsurprised, as the entire ront page was a certain picture o Angela. Since Angela was wandering around looking like she wanted an excuse to kick k ick someone’s kneecaps, Kami was getting all the compliments. “I really liked your tell-all tell-all ar article ticle about the cricket camp,” camp,” said Holly Prescott, the second-bestsecond-best-looking looking girl in school. She kept up with Kami as they made their way through the riot that was wa s the hal h allway lway at the end o school. “How “How old were those kids, eleven? eleven?”” “Nine,” said Kami. “But old in sin.” Holly laughed. She’d She’d always a lways been nice to Kami, Ka mi, but since since she mostly hung around with a succession o guys, or several guys at once, they never really elt like riends. riends. “I’ve “I’ve got a ew ideas or articles,” Holly oered, to Kami’s surprise. Kami was struck by the thought o how many copies a picture o Holly’s clear green eyes and clearly dangerous curves would move. “What kind o ideas?” she asked, and smiled. Holly grinned back and hugged her books to her chest. Ross Phillips stopped in his tracks, obviously wishing he was 19
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a biology textbook. “Well, you know I have a motorbike,” Holly said. “I was zipping round past Shepherd’s Corner, by the woods, you know? k now? And there t here was this th is dead badger.” badger.” “Animals are always getting knocked down at the Corner,” said Kami, not sure where Holly’s story was going. “Yeah,” Holly answered. “But this badger hadn’t been hit by a car. ca r. I mean, I was on my bike, I didn’t didn’t get a good goo d look at it, but but I got a better look at it than tha n someone someone in a car would’v would’ve. e. It had been cut up.” Kami Ka mi recoiled. “Oh my God.” “I know,” know,” said sa id Holly. Holly. “And, “And, I mean, mea n, maybe I got it wrong, wrong , but it just kept bugging me. I started thinking that i some horrible little kids hurt an animal, it’d be smart to put it at the Corner so it’d get run over by a car and it’d look like that’s why it died.” Some subtle signal, perhaps the act Kami looked like she wanted to be sick, made Holly stop and backpedal. “I’m probably just being paranoid,” she said hurriedly. “God, you must think I’m so strange. Look, orget about it, okay?” “Myy house is right next to the woods, “M wood s,”” Kami Ka mi said, sa id, thinking out loud. loud. “We “We keep hearing stu st u like l ike yelling at all a ll hours, waking wak ing my brothers. I’d been wond wondering ering about it. I’ll look into this. Tha Thanks, nks, Holly Holly..” Holly looked hal pleased and hal terried. “No problem,” she murmured. She let Kami at the top o the school steps with a wave, heading or her motorbike. motorbike. From Fr om her vantage point point on the steps, Kami Ka mi could see Ash A sh Lynburn’s head bent over the exposed engine o a sleek black car, expensive-looking expensive-looking but about twenty years old. It seemed 20
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like he was having some issues with it. She went down the steps and came up behind him. “Car trouble?” Ash banged his head head on the car bonnet. “Oh “Oh,, hey hey,, Ka Kami, mi,”” he said, giving her a smile even though she’d practically practica lly given him a concussion. “No, no car trouble. The car would have to start star t or there to be troubl trouble. e.”” He kicked k icked a tire. Kami stepped orward to take a look. When she was a kid, her grandmother had decided their mechanic was dishonest and had taught hersel and Kami the basics o car repair, and since Sobo had died Kami was the only one who knew how to x anything at home. “Not a problem,” she said. “A “A wire’s wire’s loose, that’ t hat’ss it. Easy Ea sy x. x.”” Kami K ami leaned orward orwa rd and tugged tug ged on the oending wire wi re to demonstrate. demonstrate. Ash pued pu ed out out a sharp, rustrated ru strated breath. “Right. I’m I’m an idiot.” Kami leaned away and he looked rom the car engine to her. “I’m sorry, let me try again,” he said. “Thank you. I’m in a rotten mood, but I really appreciate it.” “It’s okay,” Kami said. “Though I will take a avor in exchange. Since you did not not spill all the incriminating incriminati ng details I desire in your interview, I want you to help me write an article ar ticle about moving moving back to England. Engla nd.”” “Moving “M oving back?” back? ” Ash A sh asked. “I wasn wa sn’’t even born when my parents let.” “I’m “I’ m still sti ll ca calling lling the article a rticle ‘Return ‘Retu rn o the Lynburns,’ Lynburns,’ ” Kami inormed him. “And we’re taking a picture o you being all a ll lord o the manor, manor, outside on the hill. Do you own, like, an old-ashioned old-ashioned white shirt? Because you should wear it, and maybe it should be all wet, as i you were swimming in the lake. lake.”” Ash laughed. laug hed. “What “Wh at lake would that be? be ? ” 21
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“Any lake. There are two lakes in the woods. Doesn’t matter.” “Fixing the car wasn’t that big a avor,” Ash said. “I you want me in a wet white shirt, you you’’re going to have to do something else or me.” Kami raised her eyebrows. eyebrows. “Really? “Really?”” “Show me around?” Ash suggested. “I hear this place called Claire’s is good. Uh, how watchul is your mum?” Kami let hersel be swayed by his easy charm. “She neglects me horribly. It’s kind o tragic.” Ash’’s eyes lit up. “Great. Ash “Great.”” Kami’d had exactly one boyriend in her entire lie, and Claud had been a college riend o Angela’s brother and a terrible mistake with a goatee. Sometimes guys thought she was cute. But sometimes they measured her up and visibly ound her chubby or dressed weirdly or—always or—always a risk—looking risk— looking like she was listening to the voice in her head. She certainly wasn’t used to attention rom guys this attractive. attract ive. She looked looked away rom Ash and a nd down at the gravel o the parking lot. “So,” she said, keeping her tone casual, “why are you in a rotten mood? Someone bullying you at school? You can talk to me, I know how it is. Everyone’s always so cruel to the glamorous guy who lives in the big mansion.” “My aunt and my cousin just moved in with us,” Ash said, his h is voice back to its usual u sual light tone. “We’ “We’re re still stil l getting getti ng things sorted out so he can go to school, so you haven’t had the doubtul pleasure o meeting him yet. We don’t exactly get on.”
22
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Kami glanced up and saw Ash was studying her. His habitual pleasant pleasa nt expression expression had returned. retu rned. “Let me reerence the mansion again,” Kami said. “Put the jerk in the south wing, you won won’’t see him or weeks at a time. Or lock him in the attic. The law will not be on your side, but literary precedent will.” Ash looked mildly puzzled, but smiled at the joke any way.. “I’ll take that into consideration. way consideration. Can C an I oer you a lit home?” “Nah. I don’t really trust your car, buddy,” Kami said. “Heard you’ve been having trouble with it.” She always talked to Jared on her walks home. She reached or the connection to him as she let the school gates, letting him know that the next time there were screams in the woods, they were investigating. Neither o them mentioned their last conversation. That night Kami was so jumpy waiting or a scream and trying not to think about Jared that she couldn’t sleep. As a result, she spent the ollowing day staggering rom one class to the next. Angela gave up asking her what was wrong and just steered her in the right direction through the halls. Kami was weari wearily ly relieved when the last bell rang and she could stumble home. Kami’s day wasn’t over yet. Her ather greeted her at the door and asked i i she could watch her younger brothers while he nished up a big project. Kami was used to this. Luckily, Ten and Tomo Tomo were absorbed absorb ed in ront ront o the television, telev ision, so she
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was able to drit dri t in and a nd out o a doze while wh ile curled up in the window seat. Kami’s mind was turned toward Jared, without her normal barriers ba rriers up between them. She could not not help thinking think ing o how soon she might lose him, and she kept reaching or him without meaning to. I he was gone, she would stop being distracted at odd times, would be a little more normal. Her mother would would be so pleased. Everyone would would think thi nk it was the best thing or her. Except that Kami couldn’t think o it as the best thing or her. Not when every time she thought o losing Jared, her heart beat out an insistent rhythm o sheer desolate misery and all she could think about was how she would miss him. I she thought about about him as a s i he was real, rea l, insane though that was, it was dierent. I cutting ties would make his lie better,, she could bear better bea r it. I was I was thinking thinking maybe maybe . . . , Kami said, and thought about him, what was best or him, steadily so he knew she was Maybe things things would would be be better better or or you you i you do what your your sure. Maybe mother wants. mother wants. I don’t don’t care. Jared said, I Too many o their walls were coming down with their shared distress, blazing a channel open between them. She should pull back. back . She would in a moment. moment. I don’t want to be sane. I don’t want to be normal, said just want you. you. Jared. I just want Kami rested her cheek against the cool glass o the window.. It was as dow a s i he was wa s real or a moment, moment, as i he was wa s close, with just a windowpane between them. Hardly any barrier at all. 24
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Then Tomo laughed at something on the television. Kami turned back to the real world, to share Tomo’s laugh and catch Ten’s usually solemn eyes glinting with appreciation behind his glasses, to home. That night Kami woke to the sound o screaming again. She failed hersel awake, knocking her alarm clock and her latThe Nearious Nearious Mezzanine, Mezzanine, o her bedside est mystery novel, The table in the process. Then she cast away her bedclothes and seized her fashlight. fash light. It was exactly exact ly where where she’d let it, wedged between books and her nightlight. Kami grabbed her coat, shoved her eet into shoes, and launched hersel down the stairs, terried that the screaming would stop stop beore she could get there. there. The door o their house tend tended ed to stick, but now the latch lited easily e asily,, the door swung sw ung open smoothly, smoothly, and the night nig ht air blew cool through her hair. Jared, Kami said, reaching out or him. Want Want to to go go on an adventure? You even have have to to ask? Kami Ka mi was ercely glad he was still st ill there. She stepped out out onto on to the garden ga rden path, shutting shutting the door careul ca reully ly behind her. Where the garden ended, the woods bega began. n. It was almost autumn, and the trees were still thick with leaves but more subdued, closed o as i they were keeping secrets. In the darkness Kami couldn’t see the trees or the orest. She switched on her fashlight fashlig ht and the circle o light nally ound a path into the woods. Kami set o. The night had a dierent quality here, as i the trees curving over her head gave weight to the air. The 25
Sarah Rees Brennan
sound o screaming was ainter. It was a ar-o ar- o sound, but now that Kami was really listening she thought she heard a whine to it. She didn’t know how she had mistaken it or kids’ voices. Kami hurried, eet fying over logs and leaves almost beore her fashlight beam ound them. Because God God orbid orbid we miss the screaming, said Jared, growing more guarded as they drew dre w closer, closer, the eeling like an arm held out protectively in ront her. The sound was terrible, this thi s near. Kami mi told him. She She slid I don I don’t’t want to miss the screaming, Ka her hand into her coat pocket and ound her phone in there beside her keys as she ran. I I want want to to catch them in the the act. act. Kami ducked and just missed banging her head on a low-hanging lowhanging branch. She almost dropped her fashlight and the beam went wide. The scream stopped abruptly. The yellow circle o light caught on a wall. It was rough wood, unpolished, the wall sagging a little. But it was a wall. As Kami drew closer, she was able to make out the shape o something like a sagging hut or maybe a shed, something that had been built. A thought crept into her head, cold and sly as a dra drat t beneath a door: What i this place had been built just or this? Kami, run, Jared ordered. Kami wanted to run, but she wouldn’t. Not until she ound out out the truth. tr uth. She crept orwa orward. rd. Kami, break a branch o a tree so you can fght at least!
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I can fght I can fght barebare-handed handed i I have to, said Kami. K ami. She put her hand on the sot, weathered wood o the t he hut door. door. It swung open at her touch. There were candles, some burning and some blown out, their wax still running liquid and hot. There was a table covered in a white cloth. On the cloth there lay a ox. It was dead. There was blood all over the cloth. Kami knew that i she touched the blood it would still be warm, only just spilled, like the candle wax. Jared’s ear scy scythed thed through her her,, sharp as a blade. That, more mo re than anything, a nything, almost made Kami panic. pa nic. Kami, run! But she couldn’t run yet. She held the fashlight in one hand and with the other took out her phone. She kept both hands steady as she took picture ater picture with her camera phone. Then she ran, stumbling aster than she had come, back through the t he night to the saety saet y o home. home. She called the police as she wen went. t.
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This is a work o iction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product o the author’s imagination or are used ictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Text copyright copyr ight © 2012 2012 by Sarah Rees Ree s Brennan Jackett art Jacke ar t and interior inte rior illust i llustrati rations ons copyri cop yright ght © 2012 by Beth White W hite Alll rights Al rig hts reser re served. ved. Publis P ublished hed in the t he United States St ates by R andom House Hou se Childr Ch ildren’s en’s Books, Books , a division o Random Ra ndom House, Inc., New York. York. Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks o Random House, Inc. Visit us on the Web! randomhouse.com/teens Educators and librarians, or a variety o teaching tools, visit us at randomhouse.com/teachers Library o Congress Cataloging-inCataloging- in-Publication Publication Data TK ISBN 978-0978- 0-375375-8704187041-5 5 (trade) — ISBN 978-0978- 0-375375-9704197041-2 2 (lib. bdg.) — ISBN 978-0978- 0-375375-9891898918-6 6 (ebook) Printed in the United States o America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First Edition Random House Children’s Books supports the First A mendment and celebrates the right to read.
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