Night World : Daughters of Darkness Chapter 6

whydidnt we scantily kill her? kestrel asked.Rowan and Jade adverted at each other. There were few amours they agreed on, only if maven of them was emphatically Kestrel.. First of all, we agreed not to do that here. Wedont use our powers-And we dont feed on humans. Or kill them, Kestrel finished the chant. scarcely you already used yourpowers this evening you called Jade.I had to let her k standardised a shot what story Id on the dot toldab forbidden Aunt Opal. Actually, I should switch plannedforthis earlier. I should have realized that people atomic number 18 sacking to come and ask where Aunt Opal is.Shes the only oneness whos postulation. If we killed her-We cant respectable go killing people in our new home,Rowan utter tightly. Besides, she express she had familywaiting for her. Are we going to kill all of them?Kestrel shrugged.We arenotgoing to singlet a blood feud, Rowan said even more than tightly. exactly what intimately influencing her? Jade said. Shew as sitting with Tiggy in her arms, kissing the velvet-textured black reach of the kittens crack. Making her forget shes suspicious-or qualification her take she preceptAunt Opal?That would be fine-if it were comely her, Rowansaid patiently. But its not. Are we going to influencee actuallyone who comes to the business firm? What ab come to the forepeople who call on the phone? What aboutteachers?You two are supposed(a) to start school in a couple of weeks.Maybe well just have to miss that, Kestrel said without regret.Rowan was shaking her head. We film a permanent solution. We need to find some reasonable translation for why Aunt Opal is gone.We need to move Aunt Opal, Kestrel said flatly.We need to get rid of her.No, no. We capacity have to urinate the body,Rowan said.Looking homogeneousthat?They began to argue about it. Jade rested her chin up on Tiggys head and stared out the multipaned kitchenwindow. She was thinking about preindication Carter, who had much(preno minal) a gallant heart. It gave her a pleasantlyforbidden thrill just to picture him. Back home in that respect werent any humans world-wide around free. Shecould never have been tempted to break NightWorld law and fall in love with one. But here yes, Jadecould almost imagine move in love with Mark Carter. Just as if she were a human girl.She shivered deliriously. But just as she was tryingto picture what human girls did when they were inlove, Tiggy gave a sudden heave. He twisted out of her arms and hit the kitchen storey running. The fur onhis back was up.Jade beted at the window again.She couldnt take help any topic. But she mat up She turned to her sisters. Something was out there in the garden tonight, she said. And Icouldnt smellit.Rowan and Kestrel were still arguing. They didnt hear her.bloody shame-Lynnette opened her look and sneezed. Shed overslept. Sun was shining around the edges of herdark blue curtains.Get up and get to work, she told herself. But instead sh e lay rubbing sleep out of her eyes and tryingtowake up. She was a night person, not a morningperson.The board was large and painted twilight blue. bloody shame-Lynnette had stuck the glow-in-the-dark starsandplanets to the ceiling herself. Taped onto the dresser reverberate was a bumper sticker saying I BRAKEFORASTEROIDS.On the walls were a giant repose map of the moon, a poster from the Sky-Gazers Almanac,and photographic prints of the Pleiades,theHorsehead Nebula, and the total eclipse of 1995.It was Mary-Lynnettes retreat, the dwelling to go when people didnt understand. She always felt safeinthenight.She yawned and staggered to the bathroom, grabbing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt on the way. She wasbrushing her hair as she walked down the stairs when she perceive voices from the animated room.-252Claudines voice and a male voice. Not Mark weekdays he usually went to his friend Benshouse.A stranger.Mary-Lynnette peeked through the kitchen. Therewas a cuckoo sitting on th e biography room couch. She could jut only the back of his head, which was ash tree blond. Mary-Lynnette shrugged and started to open therefrigerator, when she heard her own name.Mary-Lynnette is very good friends with her, Claudine was saying in her quick, lightly accentedvoice. I look on a few long time ago she helped her fix up a goat shed.Theyre public lecture about Mrs. B.Why does she keep goats? I think she told Mary-Lynnette it would help since she couldnt get out thatmuch anymore.How strange, the guy said. He had a lazy, careless-sounding voice. I wonder what she meantbythat.Mary-Lynnette, who was now peering intently through the kitchen while keeping absolutely still,sawClaudine give one of her slight, charming shrugs.I suppose she meant the milk-every day she has fresh milk now. She doesnt have to go to thestore. But I dont shaft. Youll have to ask her yourself. She laughed.-252Not going to be easy, Mary-Lynnette thought. Now, why would some strange guy be here askingq uestions about Mrs. B.?Of course. He had to be police or something. FBI.But his voice sham her wonder. He sounded tooyoung to be either, unless he was planning to filter Dewitt High as a narc. Mary-Lynnette edgedfartherinto the kitchen, getting a better view.There-she could keep in line him in the mirror.Disappointment coursed through her.Definitely not old plenty to be FBI. And much asMary-Lynnette wanted him to be a keen-eyed, quickwitted, hard-driving detective, he wasnt. He was only the handsomest boy shed ever seen in her life.He was lanky and elegant, with long legs stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed under the cocoatable. He looked same(p) a big amiable cat. He had deancut features, passably tilted wicked eyes, and adisarming lazy grin.Not just lazy, Mary-Lynnette checkd. Fatuous. Bland. Maybe even stupid. She wasnt impressed bygood looks unless they were the thin, brown, and interesting kind, like-well, like Jeremy Lovett forinstance. Gorgeous guys-guys wh o looked like bigash-blond cats-didnt have any reason to develop theirminds. They were self-absorbed and vain. With IQs barely high enough to keep a seat warm.And this guy looked as if he couldnt get awake orserious to save his life.I dont care what hes here for. Ithink Ill go upstairs.it was so that the guy on the couch get up onehand, wiggling the fingers in the air. He half-turned. Notfar enough actually to look at Mary-Lynnette, still far enough to make it dear he was dress downing tosomebody behind him. She could now see his profilein the mirror. Hi, there.Mary-Lynnette, is that you? Claudine called.Yes. Mary-Lynnette opened the refrigerator doorand do banging noises. Just getting some juice. thence Im going out.Her heard was beating hard-with embarrassmentand annoyance. Okay, so he must have seen her in themirror. He probably thought she was staring at him because of the way he looked. He probably hadpeople staring at him everywhere he went. So what, big deal, go away.Don t go yet, Claudine called. Come out here and peach for a few minutes.No. Mary-Lynnette knew it was a childish and stupid reaction, but she couldnt help it. She banged a bottle of apricot juice against a bottle of Calistoga sparkling water.Come meet Mrs. Burdocks nephew, Claudine called.Mary-Lynnette went still.She stood in the rimed air of the refrigerator, lookingsightlessly at the temperature dial in the back. Thenshe put the bottle of apricot juice down. She twisted a Coke out of a six-pack without comprehend it.What nephew? I dont remember hearing about any nephew.But then, shed never heard much about Mrs. B.s nieces either, not until they were coming out. Mrs. B.just didnt talk about her familymuch.So hes her nephew. . . thats why hes askingabout her. But does he know? Ishe in on it with those girls?Or is he after them? Or .. .Thoroughly confused, she walked into the living room.Mary-Lynnette, this is ash. Hes here to visit withhis auntie and his sisters, Claudine said. a sh,this isMary-Lynnette. The one whos such good friends with your aunt.Ash gotup, all in one lovely, lazy motion. Just like a cat, including the stretch in the middle. Hi.He offered a hand. Mary-Lynnette touched it withfingers damp and cold from the Coke can, glanced upat his pillowcase, and said Hi.Except that it didnt happen that way.If happened like this Mary-Lynnette had her eyeson the carpet as she came in, which gave her a goodview of his Nike tennis dress and the ripped kneesof his jeans. When he stood up she looked at hisT-shirt, which had an obscure design-a black floweron a sportsmanlike background. Probably the emblem ofsome rock group. And then when his hand entered her welkin of vision, she reached for it automatically,muttering a greeting and looking up at his face justas she touched it. And This was the part that was hardto describe.Contact.Somethinghappened.Hey, dont I know you?She didnt. That was the thing. She didnt know him-but she felt that she should. She al so felt as ifsomebody had reached inwardly her and touched herspine with a live electric wire. It was highly notenjoyable. The room turned vaguely pink. Her throat swelled and she could feel her heart beating there.Also not-enjoyable. But somehow when you put it alltogether, it made a kind of trembly dizziness like Like what she felt when she looked at the Lagoon Nebula. Or imagined galaxies gathered into dustersand superclusters, bigger and bigger, until size lost any meaning and she felt herself falling.She was falling now. She couldnt see anything except his eyes. And those eyes were strange, prismlike,changing color like a star seen throughheavy atmosphere. Now blue, now gold, now violet.Oh, take this away. Please, I dont want it.Its so good to see a new face around here, isntit? Were very boring out here by ourselves,Claudine said, in completely prescript and slightly flustered tones. Mary-Lynnette was snapped out of hertrance, and she reacted as if Ash had just offered her a mongoose instead of his hand. She jumpedbackward,looking anywhere but at him. She had the feeling of being salvage from falling down a mineshaft.O-kay, Claudine _ said in her crafty accent.Hmm. She was twisting a strand of curly dark hair,something she only did when she was extremely ner vous. Maybe you guys know each other already?There was a silence.I should say something, Mary-Lynnette thoughtdazedly, staring at the fieldstone fireplace. Im actingcrazy and mortify Claudine.But what just happened here?Doesnt matter. Worry later. She swallowed, plastered a grin on her face, and said, So, how long areyou here for?Her mistake was that then she looked at him. Andit all happened again. Not sort of as vividly as before, maybe because she wasnt touching him. But the electric shock feeling was the same.Andhelooked like a cat whos had a shock. Bristling. Unhappy. Astonished. Well, at least he wasawake,Mary-Lynnette thought. He and Mary-Lynnettestared at each other while the room spu n andturned pink.Whoare you? Mary-Lynnette said, abandoning any vestige of politeness.Who areyou? he said, in just about exactly the same tone.They both glared.Claudine was making little clicking noises with her tongue and clearing away the tomato juice. MaryLynnette felt distantly sorry for her, but couldntspare her any attention. Mary-Lynnettes wholeconsciousness was focussed on the guy in front of her on fighting him, on blocking him out. On getting ridof this bizarre feeling that she was one of two puzzle pieces that had just been snapped together.Now, look, she said tensely, at the precise turn that he began brusquely, Look-They both stopped and glared again. Then Mary-Lynnette managed to tear her eyes away. Somethingwas tugging at her mind .Ash, she said, getting hold of it.Ash. Mrs. Burdockdid say something about you about alittleboy named Ash. I didnt know she was talking abouther nephew.Great-nephew, Ash said, his voice not quite steady. What did she say?She said that you were a bad little boy, and that you were probably going to grow up evenworse.Well, she had thatright, Ash said, and his ex pression softened a bit-as if he were on morefamiliar ground.Mary-Lynnettes heart was slowing. She found thatif she concentrated, she could make the strange feelings recede. It helped if she looked away from Ash.Deep breath, she told herself. And another(prenominal). Okay,now lets get things straight. Let go of what just happened forget all that think about it later. Whats primal now?What was important nowwas that 1) This guy was the brother of those girls 2) He might be in onwhatever had happened to Mrs. B. and, 3) If he wasntin on it, he might be able to help with someinforma tion. Such as whether his aunt had left a will, and if so, who got the family jewels.She glanced at Ash from the side of her eye. He decidedly looked calmer. Hackles going down. Chestlifting more slowly. They were both switching gear.So Rowan and Kestrel and Jade are your sisters, she said, with all the polite unconcern shecould muster. They seem nice.I didnt know you knew them, Claudine said,and Mary-Lynnette realized her stepmother washovering in the doorway, petite articulatio humeri against thedoorjamb, arms crossed, dishtowel in hand. I toldhim you hadnt met them.Mark and I went over there yesterday, MaryLynnette said. And when she said it, somethingflashed in Ashs facesomething there and gone before she could genuinely analyze it. But it made her feelasifshe were standing on the edge of a cliff in a cold wind.Why? What could be vituperate with mentioning shed met the girls?You and Mark . . .and Mark would be-yourbrother?Thats right, Claudine said from the doorway.Any other brothers or sisters?Mary-Lynnette blinked. What, youre winning a census?Ash did a bad imitation of his actor lazy smile. I just like to keep track of my sisters friends.Why?To see if you approve or something?Actually, yes. He did the smile again, with moresuccess. Were an old-fashion ed family. reallyold-fashioned.Mary-Lynnettes jaw dropped. Then, all at once,she felt happy. Now she didnt need to think aboutmurders or pink rooms or what this guy knew. all she needed to think about was what she was goingtodo to him.So youre an old-fashioned family, she said, pathetic a step forward.Ash nodded.And youre in charge, Mary-Lynnette said.Well, out here. Back home, my pose is.And youre just going to range your sisters which friends they can have. Maybe you get to decideyour aunts friends, too?Actually, I was just discussing that.He waved a hand toward Claudine.Yes, you were, Mary-Lynnette realized. She took another step toward Ash, who was still smiling.Oh, no, Claudine said. She flapped her dishtowelonce. Dont smile.I like a girl with spirit, Ash offered, as if hedworked hard on finding the most obnoxious thingpossible to say. Then, with a sort of determined bravado, he winked, reached out, and chuckedMary-Lynnette under the chin.Fzzz Sparks. Mary-Lynnette sprang back. So didAsh, looking at his own hand as if it had betrayedhim.Mary-Lynnette had an inexplicable desire to knock Ash flat and fall down on top of him. Shed neverfelt that for any boy before.She ignored the impulse and kicked him in the shin.He yelped and hopped backward. Once again the sleepy smugness was gone from his face. He lookedalarmed.I think youd better go away now, Mary-Lynnette said pleasantly. She was amazed at herself.Shed never been the violent type. Maybe there werethings hidden deep inside her that shed neversuspected.Claudine was gasping and shaking her head. Ashwas still hopping, but not going anywhere. MaryLynnette groundbreaking on him again. Even though he was half a head taller, he backed up. He stared at herin something like wonder.Hey. Hey, look, you know, you really dont knowwhat youre doing, he said. If you knewAndMary-Lynnette saw it again-something in his face that made him suddenly look not fatuous oramiable at all. Like the reflect of a knife blade in the light. Something that saiddanger .Oh, go bother individual else, Mary-Lynnette said. She drew back her foot for another kick.He opened his mouth, then shut it. Still holding his shin, he looked at Claudine and managed a lessened andmiserable flirtatious smile.Thanks so much for all your-GoHe lost the smile. Thats what Im doingl He limped to the front door. She followed him.What do they call you, leastways? he asked from the front yard, as if hed finally found thecomebackhed been looking for. Mary? Marylin? Mlin?M.L.?They call me Mary-Lynnette, Mary-Lynnette said flatly, and added under her breath, That dospeak of me. Shed read The Taming of the shrewmouse in honors English last year.Oh, yeah? How about Mlin the cursed? He was still backing away.Mary-Lynnette was startled. So maybe his class hadread it, too. But he didnt look smart enough toquote Shakespeare.Have fun with your sisters, she said, and shutthe door. Then she leaned against it, trying to getherbreath. Her fi ngers and face were prickly-numb, as if she were going to faint.If those girls had only murderedhim, Id understand, she thought. But theyre all sostrange-theressomething seriously weird about that whole family.Weird in a way that scared her. If shed believed in premonitions, shed have been even more scared.She had a bad feeling-a feeling that things weregoing to happen.Claudine was staring at her from the living room.Very fabulous, she said. Youve just kicked a guest. Now, what was that all about?Hewouldnt leave.You know what I mean. Do you two know eachother?Mary-Lynnette just shrugged vaguely. The dizziness was passing, but her mind was swimming withquestions.Claudine looked at her intently, then shook herhead. I remember my little brother-when he wasfouryears old he used to moil a girl flat on her face in the sandbox. He did it to show he liked her.Mary-Lynnette ignored this. Claude-what wasAshherefor? What did you talk about? nearly nothing, Claudine said, exasperated Justordin ary conversation. Since you hate him somuch,what difference does it make? Then, as Mary Lynnette kept looking at her, she sighed. He wasvery interested in weird facts about life in the country. All the local stories.Mary-Lynnette snorted. Did you tell him about Sasquatch?I told him about Vic and Todd.Mary-Lynnette froze. Youre jolting Why?Because thats the kind of thing he asked aboutPeople lost in time-?Losing time.,?Whatever. We were just having a nice conversation. He was a nice boy. Finis. Mary-Lynnettes heart was beating fast.She was right. She was accepted of it now. Todd andVicwereconnected to whatever had happened with the sisters and Mrs. B. But what was theconnection? Im going to go and find out, she thought.