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After they tipped him into the backseat and the car started, Ka to look at him Jared lay in the backseat, his hair almost black with sweat, his face pale But she saw his chest rising and falling, so she could breathe again

When Kami turned back, she saw her mother’s face She dropped her eyes to the crimson T-shirt that said CLAIRE’S and was smeared with dust and flour Kami did not knohat to say

They drove until they crested the west hills and Sorry-in-the-Vale lay spread out before thereen hand Then her mother pulled over by the side of the road

"Muet Jared to a hospital," Kami said

"A hospital won’t help him," Mum said distantly "I don’t think he’s sick, not the way noret sick"

Kaue with her This wasn’t nor, going off with hiainst the onslaught of iround rose up in the darkness toward her

"I know that I’ainst the wheel of her car "I don’t want you sorry I want you safe!" she said "Do you want to get yourself killed? Haven’t I told you enough?"

"No!" Kami shouted back at her "No, you haven’t! You haven’t told ! All you’ve done is keep secrets"

Her mother was still very pale "Surely," she said, her voice low and shaking, "surely I’ve told you enough that you know to stay away from the Lynburns"

"I can’t!" Kaulped and tried to fight theh anyway "I can’t It doesn’thurts hi on! You haven’t toldthat is i else! What is it that I’m not supposed to tell Dad? What did you do?" Ka at Kaht she would si with desperate eyes

Very quietly, her mother said, "Rosalind Lynburn and I did a spell"

It was such a shock it aped instead "You did what?"

"We did a spell," her mother repeated, her voice clearer, ale

"So, people can do spells," said Kami

"No," said her s were back then The whole toas terrified of the Lynburns We don’t talk about what they are We all knew that they weren’t supposed to hurt us But we also knew that they could We knehat they could do to you Nobody ever crossed a Lynburn" Mued on "The last person who tried was your grandfather, Stephen Glass The fae of the woods, they’re meant to have a special relationship with the Lynburns"

"The fae of the woods," Kami repeated "Us" She slid a look back at Jared but could only see the faint outline of his face in the shadowy backseat, turned away fro their servants," Mu," Ka 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 He ca it was all ridiculous and that he was a man of the world who didn’t believe in fairy tales He came back to his childhood ho could possibly happen to hi Nobody crosses the Lynburns"

"But you weren’t even born then," Kami stammered out "How do you know he didn’t just die? How could they kill him? Sobo would’ve told me if he was murdered!"

"She never believed in any of it They can kill you without touching you," Mum whispered "They can make rain fall from an empty sky They can make the woods come alive That’s what people whisper about theht Rosalind Lynburn left Sorry-in-the-Vale"

The whisper came involuntarily fro across Sorry-in-the-Vale, evening drawing over the town like a veil Her ht reflected in her eyes

"I was ondown our High Street And--I have never told anybody this, I know it sounds crazy--all along our High Street the shadows came alive"

"What?" Kami whispered Her mother did not even sees and weather vanes like they had wings They curled around gates like cats and they slithered toward ht and came alive and ca out of the darkness, pale as a ghost She meant it as a display, you see? She h "She succeeded"