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"What is that daft old crone doing?" I mutter

Catherine slaps my arm "Be nice, Edmund You know she hasn’t been the saet her inside" She looks pointedly atover to the porch, while Catherine waits nearby on the street Mrs Hope looks bewilderedly at round

"You need to get out of the rain," I say loudly to her

Mrs Hope squints at me with milky eyes "You’re Minister Hector’s son, aren’t you?"

I nod, although Hector’s randfather, not my dad

"I didn’t see your sister at church today," the old lady continues "Is Cassie unwell?"

"She’s dead," I say sharply "She’s been dead for alhteen years, and Cassie was my mother, not my sister"

"Ohyes," Mrs Hope ht She hanged herself, after dropping that poor little baby into a tub of scalding water"

I stop dead "What was that?"

She brings her fingers to her lips, like she’s trying to reives me a weak smile "You’re Minister Hector’s boy, aren’t you?"

I rollthe door behind her Crazy old bat

Catherine looks curiously at ht your mother fell down the stairs and broke her neck"

"She did," I say Shortly after I was born, my mom accidentally dropped me into a bath of hot water In her hurry to fetch the doctor, she tripped down the stairs and snapped her neck At least, that’s what lance back at Mrs Hope’s house Her husband used to be the town doctor and would have been the first person on the scene after the incident Does she know so h the dark streets, although we’re both already soaked to the bone At the center of the town is Langdon Square, naeneral store and boutique We pass the chapel, where I live During the day, the spire casts a long shadow across Amber Hills, a reminder that wherever we are, we’re always under the watchful eye of don and Son’s General Store, where her fa

"Well, good night, Edht, Caterpillar" I hold her gaze, wanting to kiss her Just do it! I lean toward her

Her hazel eyes widen "Edet lost in my kiss Her soft lips taste of apples and rain

"What in His Mighty’s na withthe kiss He glowers at us frorily folded across his broad chest I’ on the step, so we’re eye to glaring eye He’s the complete opposite of Catherine Where she’s dark haired and petite, he’s blond, blue eyed and built like a bear He’s the kind of guy ould’ve reat Watchhts

"He wasn’t doing anything," Catherine says

"He was kissing you," Patrick says furiously

"That was just a good-night kiss, between friends," she says, looking uncertainly at ht, Edmund?"

I wince at the word Friends But then realize that of course she’s going to say that in front of her brother; she doesn’t want hiht," I say

Patrick drags her inside and then turns to look atyour post," Patrick says

"And get your sister in trouble for being out after curfew?" I say "I don’t think so"

"Stay away from her, freak," he snarls "Or else"

"Or else, what?"

That was amud all over my woolen pants I catch Catherine’s eye just as Patrick slams the door They’re filled with pity I furiously pick up the rifle and cla the et back at Patrick I trudge through the town to resu rain

So flashes across the path in front of me

What was that? My hand twitches overtrouble Nearby is Mrs Hope’s cottage Her bedrooainst the wall Oh no! I enter the cottage without knocking

"Mrs Hope, it’s Edhts in the cottage are off, apart frole candle that illuminates the hallway Rows of medical books line one side of the wall A clock ticks at the far end

There’s a creak of floorboards froun raised Every instinct screa sensation coossa me farther up the stairs