Page 25 (1/2)

"What do you want?" he snapped He had drawn back from her in hisshe could catch ariness, like having a wild bird in her hands, all beating heart and wings

Kami said, "I want to know the truth"

"Do you also want to be a little bityou’re hiding from me," Kami said "About your father, or yourI know there is Once I knohat’s going on, I can handle it"

"You always think you can handle everything" He said it slowly, but with no doubt

She felt his fear for her and his faith in her coursing between them "You think I can, too," Ka at hiht He turned his head away, toward the triangle of the church spire against the rain-bright sky

"It ," he said at last "She’shi tio," he went on "I was a little kid I don’t even remember which apartment it was, or how old I was I only re in my parents’ bedroom She had left her wardrobe door open She didn’t wear nice things, but she had theainst her fancy fur coats and think about her being happy I was just a dumb kid"

Kami reached out for him He avoided her touch but accepted her reach in his mind, the comfort between them like clasped hands, but not quite

"Behind her coats and her nice shoes, there was a box It was a long box, made of pale yelloood, like a coffin for a child I knew I shouldn’t do it I kneasn’t allowed But I opened the box"

The rain was so light Kah Her coat and dress eighted with rain, cold seeping through to her bones "What was inside?" she asked in a whisper

Jared said, "Knives There were two long golden knives with grooves cut along the blades There were handles with carvings, of ivy, I think, and one was big enough that it looked like a sci like that, I should have been scared But I wasn’t I reached out I wanted to touch them Only Mom came in and pulled me away"

When Jared said I wanted to touch theh Kami, down to her cold bones She could feel he meant it, as if he still wanted to

"When I was older, I asked her about those knives," Jared said "She told me they were family heirlooms She told me she threw them away"

Kami did not ask if Jared had believed his mother She did not say that someone had come at Holly with a knife, or speculate on a fa out, his shoulders braced and his body taut, as if he wanted to bolt like he had from the lift when they had first met There alls up in histhat had happened to hi She had been wrong: she was scared to be hurt, and scared to hurt hi

"Thank you for tellingto banish fear for both of them "Look, youskills I’ve detected that it’s raining Can a lady get a walk home, or what?"

One corner of Jared’s e to escort you ho "Or soher hair a dark cloud Kaht of knives and could not suppress a shiver

"Here," said Jared

Instead of slinging a casual arht of his jacket settling on her shoulders The lining of the jacket arh so his breath stirred her hair when he spoke, he did not touch her She reached for him in her lad she hadn’t asked hiotten Sacrifices

The next ate "I don’t require an escort to school," she told hiht," said Jared

"So why aren’t you at Holly’s house?" Ka that Holly has a motorbike, and she can run over anyone who tries to attack her Of course, if you’d take a spin on erous Your bike isn’t equipped to drive on the ice," Ka there will be plenty of, since hell will have frozen over the day I get on that thing I fancy a stroll through the woods to school"

The air was cool and fresh, a leaf-filtered breeze blowing They walked under the trees, so curved appeals to the sky and so to school, before thinking about what had alating Nicola, it could just bea loop that fed on each other Kauessed that Sorry-in-the-Vale would suit Jared so well

Eventually Kaenerally"