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Title Page
Copyright
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Contents
Witch and Moan
Ravenridge College, Book Two
Val St. Crowe
WITCH AND MOAN
© copyright 2017 by Val St. Crowe
http://vjchambers.com Punk Rawk Books
CHAPTER ONE
I was lying on a bed in the healing wing at Ravenridge College, recovering from nearly bleeding to death. One of those scribbly creatures had just appeared, solidified into a human shape, called me “sis,” said I was going to fix some mess and then wrapped his squirmy little black threads around my wrists and ankles.
Let’s just say it was not shaping up to be the best day ever.
Especially since I had been in the middle of a conversation with Logan that I really wanted to have, because I had it kind of bad for the very attractive gargoyle.
He—Logan—had shot to his feet at the sight of the scribbly thing, but he wasn’t sure what to do. He usually used a gun with trickedout interdimensional bullets against creatures from the other side of the breaches. But bullets were pointless against the scribbly things. They simply dodged them. Since they were made up of tons of wriggling threads, it was impossible to kill them.
“Let me go!” I screamed at the thing. Why I did that, I don’t know. Asking him to let me go had less than zero percent chances of working, but I couldn’t help it. I struggled against the strings that were tightening around my limbs.
Logan grabbed at the strings above my wrists. He yanked on them, but they didn’t break. Instead they cut painfully into my skin.
I screamed.
The scribbly thing laughed. Logan let go of the strings, flinching. “Sorry, Petra.”
The scribbly thing smiled at me, and suddenly I was levitating off the bed.
Oh, hell, no, this was not happening. I’d watched that other scribbly thing, the one claiming to be Reid’s father, levitate the two of them, and I wasn’t the least bit interested in floating around. I closed my eyes and reached out into the ether and summoned a knife. “Logan!” I said, shaking the hand holding the knife at him.
He seized the weapon and slashed through the strands holding me.
The strings recoiled, hissing, as if electricity was coursing through them or as if they were alive. The cut-off pieces uncoiled from my wrists and dissolved into green sludge, the way anything from beyond the breach did when it was destroyed.
I fell back on the bed.
Logan ran for the man who looked like me and began slashing at him with the knife.
I conjured myself another blade, this one a bit longer, and I scrambled to my feet.
We hacked at the thing together.
Our blades went right through him, cutting his clothes. Ribbons of cloth fluttered to the floor. But beneath the fabric, his exposed skin knitted itself back together smoothly. He laughed. He reached out one hand and dozens of squirming black lines flew from his fingers. The strings wrapped around Logan’s head. They pushed in through his eyelids and nostrils.
Logan cut at the strings.
I cut at the strings.
The man sent more. He cocked his head to one side. “Afraid I’m going to get inside your head like he did?”
Logan paled. He was already gray, the color of stone, but the gray drained out of his face, and he faltered.
“The worst thing about it wasn’t what he forced you to do, was it?” said the man. “It was how much of it that you likeddoing?”
Logan roared. He dropped the knife and grabbed handfuls of the black strings, trying to pull them out of his head.
The man cackled. Suddenly, the strings picked Logan up and slammed him into the ceiling and then let go of him.
Logan dropped to the floor, stunned.
The man turned to me. He put his hands on my face. “You must realize it’s stupid to fight, sis.”
“Stop calling me that.” I stabbed him in the stomach. His fingers crawled down my cheeks like spiders.
I punched my knife up. My whole hand was inside his stomach, but there was no blood.
He wrapped his hands around my neck and his fingers moved expertly against my skin.
The world went white.
CHAPTER TWO
When I woke up, the light was shadowy and orange, the beginning of twilight. I’d been out for a long time. When the scribbly thing had taken me, it had been the middle of the night. I must have slept through an entire day.
I was in some kind of moving vehicle. I didn’t know what vehicle, but I was being jostled back and forth and there was a rhythmic sound clacking away beneath me. It vibrated through the floor into my bones and teeth.
A train.
I was on a train.
Sitting up, I looked around at my surroundings. My face itched. I touched it, and straw fell off to the floor. The whole floor was covered with straw. There was a smell in the air, like a stable or a farm. I was in a small enclosure. The walls didn’t go up entirely to the ceiling.
It was a stall. I was in a place where animals were kept. I turned my head. That was when I saw the elephant.
“Shit,” I muttered, scrambling backwards.
Okay, I’ve seen elephants before, but mostly in pictures. I think once, I was at this zoo, and we went out on this big fake safari ride through this area they had all set up for the animals, and we saw tigers and lions and stuff. And there was an elephant too, but it was pretty far away.
Elephants are really freaking big.
Just saying.
“You’re awake.”
The voice came from in front of me, at the door to my stall. I looked to see the man from before peering it at me. He was smiling.
“Where am I?” I said, pushing my way to my feet.
“You’re in the elephant car,” he said. “On the circus train.”
What? I was with a circus? What the hell was going on here?
“I’m sorry about this,” said the man. “I wouldn’t have done it this way if I could help it, but you’ve been pretty unfriendly thus far towards creatures from back home, and I just can’t quite trust you. I want to trust you, though, I really do, sis.”
“Whyare you calling me that?” I balled my hands into fists.
“You’re my sister,” he said.
“No,” I said. “No, I’m not.”
“Half sister,” he said. “We have the same dad.”
Oh, yuck. I didn’t like thinking about the idea that I was only half human. My mother had been impregnated by weird spores from another dimension, and I was the result. It was kind of okay, because I had nifty magical powers—
Okay, speaking of which, why was I having a conversation with this guy again? I should be fighting him.
I stretched out my hand to conjure something.
Nothing happened.
And there was a tight band around my wrist, except it was under my skin, kind of like the bracelet that Tatum had. Hers gave her power, though, and—
“Sorry about that,” said my so-called half brother. “I can’t have you conjuring things and fighting me all the time. It’s a pain in the ass, and besides, I can’t afford to have all my clothes cut to smithereens. That dampener around your wrist blocks your abilities.”
My nostrils flared. “What do you want?”
“What anyone wants,” he said. “To live a happy life. To have children and watch them grow up and know that they’ll also be able to have children of their own, and that there is a future.”
I furrowed my brow. “What are you talking about?”
“Maybe I should introduce myself.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Call me Malachi,” he said. “You’re Petra, right?” He reached over the stall to shake my hand.
I sauntered forward, pretending that I was going to shake his hand. Instead, I spat in his face.
He flinched when my wad of spit hit his forehead. Then he reached up and wiped it away. “That wasn’t really necessary, was it?”
“Fuck you,” I said. I launched myself at the door to the stall and reached over to grab at whatever I could. I scratched at his skin, I pulled on his hair.
He let out a hiss of frustration, and then sent out hundreds of wriggling black lines. They wrapped themselves around my face and my nose.
I couldn’t breathe.
I tried to tug them free, tried to grab them and break them, but they held fast.
The world began to seem very small, as if it was a circle of color in a sea of darkness.
And the circle was getting smaller and smaller and further and further away.
I couldn’t breathe.
Eventually, I couldn’t fight either.
And then the circle was so small, it disappeared into the blackness.
* * *
When I woke up again, I had a massive headache and I was tied up. I was in a tiny, tiny space, my hands lashed together and feet tied as well. The rhythmic sound of the train clacking on the tracks was still happening, so I knew that I must still be on board, but I didn’t know where. I couldn’t see anything, but the small room smelled strongly of some kind of laundry detergent. I struggled, throwing myself up against the walls, banging against every available surface.
And then I found the doorknob.
I turned, because my hands were tied behind my back, and managed to turn the knob.
The door opened, and I tumbled out into bright light.
“Geez,” said a voice.
I was on my belly, flopping around on the floor like a fish. I couldn’t get up, because I couldn’t use my arms or legs for leverage. I rolled onto my back.
There was a light overhead. Walls on either side of me. I seemed to be in a narrow hallway. A woman was standing over me. She was wearing a pair of khakis and a polo shirt. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail.
“Help me,” I said to her.
“Malachi said you would stay in the closet,” she said. “I don’t suppose you could climb back in there?”
“Untie me,” I said.
She wrinkled up her nose. “I can’t do that.”
“Sure you can,” I said.
“Stop talking to me,” she said. She turned on her heel and walked away from me, back down the tiny hallway.
I managed to sit up. Then I scooted over so that my back was against the wall and pushed up to my feet. Once standing, however, I realized there was no point in it, because my feet were tied together, and I couldn’t walk. I slid back down to the floor. I started to scoot myself down the hallway after her.
It was slow going.
As I inched my way along, I considered my options. I didn’t have conjuring magic, and my talisman had been taken from me, so I didn’t have dragon magic either. Still, that woman hadn’t looked very tough. If I could get my hands and legs free, I was pretty sure I could take her in a physical fight.
But I was on a moving train. What was I going to do, jump out, and hope I didn’t die?
Maybe I shouldn’t fight this woman, but try to turn her into an ally. She had said that she didn’t want me to talk to her, and that was probably because she felt guilty about keeping me here tied up. I needed to talk more.
“Hey, what’s your name?” I called.
No answer.
“My name’s Petra,” I said. Nothing.
“These ropes are really digging into my wrists,” I said. “It doesn’t feel good.” It wasn’t a lie. “If you could just help me out, I’d really appreciate it.”
Still nothing.
By the time, I’d managed to scoot myself down to the end of the hallway. I emerged into a slightly bigger room which had a table attached to one wall. It looked as if the table could be folded up against the wall to make more space. The room was pretty narrow. There was a tiny stove and sink on the other side of the room. All along the walls were tons of cabinets.
The woman was sitting at the table, staring at her laptop. She glanced at me, and then she went back to her screen.
“Do you work for the circus?” I said.
“Stop it,” she said.
“Do you live on this train? Is this your house?” I looked around. It was a pretty small little place, but it was cozy enough, I guess.
“I’m the production coordinator for the circus,” she said. “And this is my apartment while we’re on the road, yes.”
“I’m a college student,” I said. “I remember thinking about running away and joining the circus, though, when I was a kid. Did you always want to work for the circus?”
“No,” she said. “I used to work in professional theater, but I was having trouble finding a job, and I ended up here instead. But I’m not talking to you. And I’m not untying you, so stop asking.”
“Please?” I said. “It’s really uncomfortable. It hurts. You seem like a nice person. Help me out here.”
“I can’t,” she said.
“Why not?”
“I told Malachi I would keep an eye on you. He moved you out of the other car, because he was afraid you might hurt the elephants.”
“What?” I said. “How could I hurt an elephant?”
“Elephants are gentle, sensitive creatures,” she said.
“Okay, whatever,” I said. “You’re keeping an eye on me, then. But maybe you could keep an eye on me without my hands being tied?”
“No,” she said.
“Or my feet?” I said. “Maybe just my feet.”
“No.” She shook her head. “Shut up, seriously. I don’t want to talk to you.”
I scooted closer to her.
She stood up. “Stay back.” There was fear in her eyes.
Oh, wait. Maybe I’d misinterpreted this. She wasn’t feeling guilty, she was worried for her safety. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Not as long as you’re tied up.” She peered down at me fiercely.
“I have nothing against you,” I said. “Malachi kidnapped me. I just want to go home. I don’t even want to be here. Help me, and you’ll never see me again.”
“Stoptalking to me,” she said.
That was one thing I was pretty sure I couldn’t do. I had to keep trying. I wasn’t sure exactly what my next move should be, though.
While I was considering it, a door opened at the end of the room. It must connect to other cars in the train. Malachi came through the door. He saw me right away. “Oh, she woke up. Shit, I’m sorry, Caitlin.”
The woman, who must have been Caitlin, launched herself at Malachi. “She wouldn’t stop talking to me,” she wailed.
Malachi wrapped an arm around her, pulling her tight against his chest. He rubbed her back reassuringly. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, babe. I’ll take her away now.”
Babe? What?
Malachi kissed Caitlin on the forehead and then let her go.
Caitlin backed away, sitting back down at the table, pulling her laptop close.
Malachi strode over to me, and picked me up. He threw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
I cried out in protest.
Malachi didn’t pay attention. He went back out of the room the way he’d come in, taking me with him.
CHAPTER THREE
“I really don’t want it to be this way between us,” said Malachi. He was sitting across from me in another train car. This one was set up much like Caitlin’s, but it appeared to be used for storage instead of anyone’s living space. There were big cardboard signs stacked up on top of the sink and stove and the cabinets overhead seemed to be overflowing. Malachi was on one side of another table. I was on the other side. “I’d untie you if I thought I could.”
I glared at him. I wasn’t going to say anything.
“I think we’ve gotten off to a bad start,” said Malachi. “It’s not really either of our faults. It’s Dad’s fault.”
I was still quiet. If he thought he was going to convince me to say something back to him, he had another thing coming.
“Dad didn’t do things well,” said Malachi. “None of the older generation had any real sense of what they were doing. Admittedly, they were desperate. They saw an opportunity, and they took it. They did what they thought they had to. But leaving you and the others like you to grow up in this world with no knowledge of, well, your other side of the family, wasn’t a particularly intelligent thing to do.”
I pressed my lips together in a firm line.
“I bet you’re angry with Dad,” said Malachi. “An absentee father. He was never there for you. I bet you have all these memories over the years of all the times when you wished you had a dad. Seeing other little girls being hoisted on their father’s shoulders or being pushed on the swings, for instance.”
I couldn’t help but glance away for a second before I kept my glare back up. What he was saying wasn’t exactly untrue. It had
sucked growing up without a dad. But I sure didn’t want to be hoisted on the shoulders of some scribbly thing. I couldn’t change my heritage, but whatever had created me was nothing more than a monster. I sure as heck wasn’t going to see him as a dad, no matter what Malachi said.
“I’m not going to do that,” said Malachi. “When I have children, it will be different. They’ll know me, and we’ll have a real relationship.” He smiled at me. “I want to have a relationship with you, Petra.”
I sucked in air through my nose and let it out.
“Won’t you please talk to me?” he said.
I squared my shoulders. I kept my gaze steady. I didn’t say anything.
He sighed. “I understand why you did what you did. Like I said, you must be very angry with our father for abandoning you. So, I can see why you wanted to retaliate. But the extremes you’ve gone to are too much. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime.”
I had no idea what he was talking about. I had to admit that being confused made me want to say something to him, but I managed to keep my mouth shut.
“I think you did it because of that anger,” he said. “And I’m hoping that once I explain things to you, you’ll understand better what happened, and maybe you can forgive Dad a little for the way you were raised. I know that he would want to meet you now, if he could. Unfortunately, at this moment, you’ve made that impossible. However, if you simply cooperate with me, you can meet him. And I know some part of you wants that, deep down.”
“No!” I exploded. This was too much. “Look, you’re way off base. Maybe you’re telling me the truth, and we were technically spawned by the same male being, but that doesn’t make him my dad, and it doesn’t make you my brother. I don’t feel anything toward him except disgust.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Then why did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Why did you cut off every single access point we have between this world and our own and kill every single lesser being that was already here? Why?”
I reeled for a moment, trying to make sense of this. Did that mean…? “So, it worked?” I said. “When I bled out on the breach, I did manage to close them all for good?”
Malachi nodded. “You did.”
I smiled. “Good.”
He shook his head. “Not good. Now, it’s only me and a handful of others who are alive here in this world. And we can’t even communicate with our families. You’ve cut us all off. What’s worse, unless we change things, you’ve sentenced everyone in that world to death. The whole species will die out because of you.”
“Oh,” I said. “Well, I’m real sorry about that.” But I made it sure that my tone told him I meant the complete opposite.
“You would wish that on another group of beings?” he said. “You would wish extinction? What kind of monster are you?”
I sat up straight. “Hey, excuse me, Mr. Squiggle Strings, you are the monster here.”
“Why? Because I look different than you do?”
“Because you’ve killed people,” I said. “You and all the other monstersfrom your world have been attacking us.”
“You’re the attackers,” he said. “We’ve been defending ourselves.”
“You invaded our world,” I said. “You don’t belong here.”
“We need your world,” he said. “We are dying out.”
“Well, that sucks and all, but it’s not really my problem, is it?”
He leaned back in his chair, a look of horror on his face. “You’re the one who’s disgusting, Petra.”
I rolled my eyes.
“There is a disease in our home world, sister, and it only affects the women of our species. It is a very bad death. Very painful. The body bleeds to death from the inside out. My mother suffered for months with it. At the end, she would not speak except to curse me and beg me to kill her.”
I stiffened. I knew what that was like. My mother was always begging to be allowed to commit suicide. But that was the fault of the thing that had spawned me in her body. He wasn’t a father. He’d destroyed my mother’s mind. Giving birth to me had made her go crazy.
“I could not lift a hand against her,” said Malachi, who was no longer looking at me but down at his palms. “I had nothing in me to do so. So, I watched her die screaming in pain.”
I licked my lips. “Look, I’m sorry about your mother. Like I said, that sucks. But that still doesn’t mean you come into this world and kill people.”
“We defend ourselves.”
“In the library? You killed like eight people. They weren’t all attacking you.”
He sighed. “That was… perhaps excessive. I apologize.”
“So, that makes it better? Are you crazy?”
“When I first came to this world, I was confused. Everything seemed like a threat at first. I didn’t know that all the weapons in this world are utterly useless against me. I had no idea what those people were planning. The one with the cape was muttering something at me in some other language. I was terrified. I lashed out. And… well, you humans are so very fragile, you know. I could hardly have known it would take so little to destroy you.”
“You… you fucking bastard,” I said. I could still remember the way it had smelled in that library, all that blood.
He clenched his hands into fists and released them. “We are desperate. There are very few women left. Those who are still alive are closely guarded by their male family members. There have been no children born to my species in a very, very long time.” He looked up at me. “No children, of course, except you and the other half humans.”
I felt sick. “That’s what you want with us? You want to breed with us?”
“Well, I don’t want anything with you personally like that,” he said. “You’re my sister.”
“But that’s what you’re doing here. You want to find human women and force them—”
“No.” He shook his head. “The way my father went about it was wrong. He impregnated your mother against her will, and that’s inexcusable.”
“You bet it is.”
“I would never do such a thing,” he said, giving me an earnest look. “I am here to have a relationship. Anything I have done is with the express consent of Caitlin—”
“You and that Caitlin chick,” I said. “You’re breeding her?”
“She’s my girlfriend,” he said sharply.
“Whatever,” I said.
“You wouldn’t say that a human and a, say… gargoyle should be denied the chance to be together, would you?”
I lifted my chin. “Let’s leave Logan out of this.”
“Would you consider a half human, half gargoyle child an abomination?” he said.
“I never said anything like that,” I said. “Obviously, I’m some kind of hybrid. It would be hypocritical of me to say that I shouldn’t exist.”
Malachi took a deep breath and released it. “Well, good. I’m glad you can be reasonable.”
My head was spinning. If it was consensual, then it wasn’t wrong, was it? I furrowed my brow. “You told her everything? You told her you weren’t human?”
“I did,” he said. “I told her I was a magical creature from another world, like the dragons came to his world generations ago. She finds that exotic, I believe.” He smiled.
“And, uh, if you two did decide to have a family, what would happen to her?” I said. “Because when Reid’s mother and my mother gave birth, they both went insane.”
Malachi winced. “Yes, well, that is an unfortunate side effect of the entire process, but I love Caitlin, and I would never abandon her. Even if she is… different afterward, I will care for her as long as—”
“So, you didn’t tell her that having your baby would make her insane?”
Malachi leaned across the table. “My entire species is on the brink of extinction. Some sacrifices must be made. Hopefully, it is only the first generation. We are hoping that the hybrid women, like yourself, will be more resilient.”
I shuddered. “I thought you weren’t interested in doing anything like that with me.”
“I’m not,” he said. “But I had hoped that you might meet another male from our world that you would perhaps—”
“Never,” I growled.
He pressed his lips together. “How is the other girl?”
“What?”
“Estelle, I believe is her name?”
“Estelle?” I said. “She’s in a coma. What did you do to her?”
Malachi’s eyes widened in alarm. “That’s not good news.” He dragged a hand over his face. “Not good news at all,” he murmured to himself.
“Look, this has been a nice chat,” I said. “But the sight of you is making me physically ill, so why don’t you just lock me in a closet again or in the stalls with the elephants or something. I don’t want to look at you.”
His shoulders slumped. “I suppose that means you aren’t willingly going to help us.”
“Help you rape women and ruin their minds? I don’t think so.”
“That’s not fair,” he said. “For one thing, our manner of mating is not like yours, and there’s no need for any activity that would make a woman feel assaulted. We can take human form and are capable of human sexual behavior, of course. I think it’s a good idea for the formation of a relationship—”
“Eew,” I said. “I don’t want to know this.”
“Well, it’s not rape,” he said. “That’s such an ugly word.”
“It’s a violation,” I said. “And you’re crazy if you think I’d ever help you.”
His face twitched. “All right.”
“All right,” I mimicked in a nasty voice.
“That’s your choice,” he said. “But all it means is that it will be harder for you now. Because listen to me, little sister, you closed the portals, and your blood is the key to reopening them. That isgoing to happen, no matter what. Your consent in this matter is immaterial.” He gave me a cold look.
Involuntarily, I shuddered. * * *
He left me alone in the cluttered train car after that. There wasn’t much floor that wasn’t covered in stacks of cardboard boxes, but I managed to scoot around enough to get to the door. I couldn’t get it open, though. It must have been locked from the other side. I didn’t know what I would have done if I got through the door, anyway. The train was still moving. I was trapped here.
There was a bathroom in there, which was a good thing. Let me tell you, though, using the bathroom with tied hands and feet is not freaking easy.
Eventually, the train stopped.
I figured that was my chance. I scooted across the room to the door and did my best to try to open it, which I had to do with my back to the door, my tied-together hands manipulating a doorknob that I couldn’t see. The door was locked. I got a whole lot of nowhere.
After a while, my entire body was sore from twisting and turning and trying to get free. I sank down to the floor in exhaustion and defeat.
I had to get out of there.
How was I going to get out of there?
I didn’t have any ideas. Malachi had taken my magic—both forms and my phone. I had no means of communication and no means of protection. I was screwed.
And I didn’t know what he meant about making me reopen portals with my blood, but that didn’t sound pleasant.
I closed my eyes, and I leaned my head back against the door. I thought about Logan.
I didn’t mean to. But the truth was that Logan was at the edge of all my thoughts recently, ever since we’d had to have sex in order to do magic to free ourselves from a spell that was keeping us trapped. The sex had been utterly amazing, and it didn’t have any right to be that way.
It should have been awkward and strange and mechanical. There had been zero foreplay, and we hadn’t even taken off our shirts. I’d had sex with the guy, and I’d never even seen his bare chest.
But there was something about the way we’d fit together, something about the way he’d kissed me, something about… about us that made it more than just a means to an end. There was something between Logan and me, at least I thought there was. If Malachi hadn’t shown up, maybe I would have been able to get Logan to tell me if he thought there was something there too.
Of course, it was stupid to be thinking about Logan right now. For all the hell I knew, I was never going to see Logan again.
I wondered what Logan was doing right now.
Probably trying to find me. As long as he was okay, that was. I couldn’t be sure that he hadn’t been badly hurt by Malachi. After all, he’d been slammed around the room and he looked unconscious when I’d been knocked out myself. But surely Malachi wouldn’t have bothered with Logan once he had me.
I opened my eyes and gazed out at the room I was confined to. Malachi hadn’t left the light on, so it was mostly dark inside. The only light filtered in through the windows, and it must have come from the train itself—outside lights on the cars.
Footsteps.
Outside.
I sat up straight, alert.
Now, I heard voices. They were too far away to make out what they were saying, but they were getting closer.
Could I get to a window? Would these people be able to see me?
“…if he tries that again during a show, I’m going to wring his neck,” came a voice.
A harsh bark of laughter.
There was no time to get to a window. I needed to get their attention.
“I’m not joking,” said the first voice. “I will straight-up end that dick if he doesn’t get his ass in gear.”
I couldn’t bang on the door with my hands, because they were tied, so I used my head. I banged and I yelled, “Help! Help me! I’m trapped in here.”
“Aw, he’s just a kid,” said another voice, and it sounded further away now, as if they’d walked past me.
“Hey!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. I banged my head against the door again. “Hey, I’m in here. Help!”
But the voices were now too far away to make out. Damn it.
Damn it all to hell.
* * *
I ended up sleeping in the train car that night. I awoke in the morning with the first hint of dawn, which wasn’t typical for me. I usually liked to sleep in. But I had probably fallen asleep early last night—I didn’t know for sure, since I didn’t know what time it was. Sheer boredom put me to sleep, not to mention how tired I was from all the struggling I’d done to get myself untied and free.
When I woke up, I was sore as hell. I’d slept sitting up. My hands were numb from being tied at the wrists. My feet were numb too. All the muscles in my back and my legs hurt from the way I’d used them the day before.
I wanted to get up and stretch. Of course, that wasn’t an option, because of being tied up.
I really needed to get out of here.
I didn’t have any other ideas, however. I racked my brain, and the best I could come up with was to work on getting myself untied. If I could find something to try to cut the ropes that held me, that would be a start.
I couldn’t find anything, though, so I settled for pulling the ropes tight and rubbing them against the edge of the table, hoping to fray them enough that I could break them. I did that, and the sun climbed into the sky, and my stomach growled.
The door to the train car opened and Caitlin came in. She had a paper bag. She shook it at me and set it on the floor. Then, she started to leave.
“Wait,” I said. “What’s in the bag?”
“It’s a breakfast sandwich,” she said.
“How am I supposed to eat it?” I said. “I have no hands.”
Caitlin bit down on her lip. Apparently, she hadn’t thought of that. “Let me ask Malachi if it’s okay to untie you,” she said.
“Wait,” I said. There was no need to bring Malachi into this. I needed to get her to listen to me. I thought I’d been making progress with her before, but I’d been interrupted. “Why can’t you untie me? Just to eat breakfast.”
“I just don’t know what Malachi wants me to do.”
“Do you always do whatever Malachi tells you?”
She lifted her chin. “I’m leaving. Figure out how to eat yourself.”
“Wait!” My voice was shrill.
She paused, eyebrows raised.
“Malachi is not what you think he is,” I said. “He’s a murderer. I watched him kill a professor at my school.”
“That’s not true,” she said.
“You seem like a good person,” I said. “I don’t think you’d be doing this to me if you knew the truth about Malachi.”
“You’re making this up.”
I shook my head. “I swear I’m not. Listen, when you and Malachi first started getting together, would you have helped him keep a woman captive in a train car? That’s the kind of thing a not-very-nice guy does, isn’t it?”
She twisted her hands together. “I think I better go.”
“He’s using you,” I said.
Her eyes flashed. “He’s in love with me.”
“No, you’re nothing more than a baby incubator to him,” I said. “Did he tell you that? Did he tell you he came here for the express purpose of taking control of your womb?”
Her lips parted.
“He didn’t, did he?” I said. “What did he say to you?
“You think…” She tugged at her ear nervously. “You think he got me pregnant on purpose?”
CHAPTER FOUR
“You’re already pregnant?” I said. My heart went out to her. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why?” she said.
I swallowed. Should I tell her what was going to happen when she went into labor? Should I tell her that giving birth to this child was going to rob her of her sanity? Maybe, if she knew, she could make a decision not to bring his child into the world.
On the other hand, if my mother had made that decision, I wouldn’t exist.
I was torn.
“Why?” she said again. She was glaring at me.
I drew in a breath. “Untie me.”
She shook her head. “Why should I believe a word you say?”
“Because I’m like your baby,” I said. “I’m half human and half whatever-Malachi-is. I know what will happen to you when you have that baby.”
“What will happen?”
“I…” I shook my head. “I don’t know exactly, but it’s bad. So bad that all the women who went through it, my mother included, have never been the same. Giving birth to me drove my mother literally crazy.”
Caitlin’s eyes widened. Her breath sped up. “Are you kidding me?”
I shook my head. “I wish I was. Now, you have to let me go.”
She turned away from me, and she was shaking all over. “You’re lying to me. You’d say anything to get my help.”
“No, I swear.”
“Malachi would never hurt me,” she said. “He loves me, and I love him.”
“He cares more about his species than he does about you,” I said. “Their women are dying, and they’re using human women instead.”
She turned back to look at me. “No. No, you’re making that up.”
“Just let me go,” I said. “Please, don’t help that man do anything. If you let me go, we can leave together. We can run from him.”
“I’m not running from him,” she said. “You don’t know him the way I do.”
“Okay, then you stay here, but let me leave.”
“If Malachi found out I let you go—”
“We can make it look like I did it myself. Like I found something in one of these boxes that allowed me to cut my ropes and then I got free. You can tell him that when you got here to give me the food, I was gone.”
She put her finger to her lips.
“Please,” I said.
“I was scared when I found out I was pregnant,” she said. “He’s a completely different species, and I was worried. I didn’t want our baby to have a hard life, and I thought he might, if he were different. But Malachi told me that there were other hybrids out in the world. He said that everything went fine with them. And you do seem… normal.”
“I am,” I said. “I mean… I’m different, but I’m okay.”
“I never thought to worry about myself,” she said. “And now, you’re telling me that if I have this baby, I’ll lose my mind?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“No,” she said. “No, that can’t be true.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
She dragged her hands over her face. “He can’t be lying to me,” she said, but she seemed to be talking more to herself than anyone else.
“Men lie to women all the time, and if they’re good liars, women can’t tell. Serial killers have wives and children, normal lives, and no one even knows.”
She shot me a horrified look. “Malachi isn’t like that. I know he’s not.”
“If he wasn’t like that, he wouldn’t be keeping me prisoner,” I said. “Let me go.”
She swallowed.
“Please,” I said.
She sucked in a breath, and then she nodded. “Okay. But you have to go exactly the way I tell you to get out of here. You can’t run into Malachi. Promise me.”
It was cold and brisk outside, and the autumn air chilled my nose. I didn’t have a jacket as I hurried down the side of the train car that Caitlin had told me to stick to. The train was parked on rails that ran parallel to a barbed wire fence. Beyond the fence was a farm field covered in bales of hay.
I didn’t see anyone. It was early morning, and most of the circus folk were asleep. They tended to sleep in.
When I got to the end of the train, Caitlin had told me that there was a gate that went across a dirt road. She said the gate would be locked, and I’d have to climb over it. The road was used by the circus performers to get back and forth from the tent site, where the show was performed each night. They hadn’t had a show last night, since they’d just arrived, but there would be one tonight. Caitlin said that within an hour or so, the crew would be up, assembling the tent for the shows. I needed to be gone by then.
I planned to be, although I had no idea how I was going to get back home. I had no phone and no money and no transportation.
I supposed I could conjure something if I needed to, but I never had much luck conjuring electronics. Too intricate to get right. A car would be too big to conjure. I supposed conjuring money was the best bet.
You’d think I would have conjured money all the time, especially as a teenager when I first got my powers.
But the thing is, I never really did, because conjuring anything always brought the skitters and other creatures, and it wasn’t until I knew about venom bullets that I could kill them. They were these
nightmare things that kept coming and I had to fight them and cut off their legs until they stopped coming and… well, no amount of money is worth that.
Anyway, I was fairly sure I could do it if I tried. With some cash, I could get a bus home, assuming I could get to a bus station.
Man, I was probably going to have to hitchhike. I wrinkled up my nose. That didn’t sound like a great idea, I had to admit.
I emerged from around the train, and I saw the gate. It was painted red, and across from a dirt road that led up to the train. There was barbed wire on either side of the gate.
“Hey!” I whirled.
A woman in a black t-shirt and black jeans with a headset resting around her neck was waving at me. “Who are you?”
“Uh, I’m no one,” I said.
She hurried over to me. “Did the lion tamer bring you home from the bar last night? He’s always sleeping his way through every town we stop at.”
“Uh…” I shrugged. “Yeah, okay, but I’m just leaving now.”
“Good,” she said. “You need to leave. Get out of here.”
“Okay,” I said, heading for the fence. I reached it and started to climb over it.
“Jesus,” said the woman, stalking over to me. She had a key to the padlock that secured a chain wrapped around the fence and the post it was next to. She unlocked the padlock and let me through.
“Thanks,” I said.
She waved at me, but it was more of a shoo-ing gesture. “Get out of here.”
I hurried through the gate as quickly as I could. I wanted to run, just pick up my heels and sprint right out of there.
But I was pretty sure she was watching me, and I didn’t want to raise any suspicions. Who knew what kind of influence Malachi had here? I didn’t even know why he was traveling with this circus. I had no idea about any of it. I just wanted to fly under the radar as much as possible.
Of course, I couldn’t be sure she was watching me. I didn’t want to look over my shoulder too much either, though.
So, I walked.
It was interminable. Ahead of me, the sun was rising higher and higher into the sky, and the warmth felt good on my skin.
On one side of me was more farmland, rolling hills and bales of hay. On the other side were trees, mostly straggly-looking pines. There were enough of them that they provided some cover, though, and there was a bend ahead. When I rounded that bend, I’d be out of sight of that chick.
I glanced over my shoulder.
She was still out there. She was hunched over her phone, probably not paying any attention to me, but I still wasn’t going to run.
I kept the pace.
Finally, I rounded the bend.
I let out a relieved breath, and I prepared to run.
But a car appeared out of nowhere, barreling up the road way, way too fast.
I tried to duck into the trees to hide.
But the car screeched to a stop right next to me. The window rolled down. A woman in full clown makeup peered down at me. “Holy hell, Petra. There you are.”
CHAPTER FIVE
How did this damned clown know my name? Had Malachi sent her? And why was she in costume? There was no show for the circus until the evening. Clowns didn’t just run around in full costume and makeup all the time, did they?
The door to the car opened and the clown hopped out.
She wrapped her arms around me. “We were so worried.”
“Tatum?” I said, pulling away.
She grinned at me. “Hey. We’re totally rescuing you.”
“We?”
“Hi.” Reid waved at me from the driver’s seat of the car. Actually, now that I thought about it, this was Reid’s car. I would have recognized it if it hadn’t been a completely different color than it usually was.
“Did you get your car painted?”
“I conjured the color,” said Tatum. “You know, it’s completely crazy, but now that you closed all the breaches, no more skitters. How cool is that?”
Now that she mentioned it, when I’d been fighting off Malachi in the healing room, I’d conjured knives and no skitters had appeared. Of course, he had said something about all the lower creatures from the other dimension being killed off.
“Get in the car,” said Reid.
“Oh,” said Tatum. “You’re going to need a costume to blend in with us.”
“Actually, the thing is—”
But Tatum had already put her hand on my shoulder and now I was wearing a clown costume.
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rencontré dans les bois ; presque tous les soirs il braconne.
Bute avait dit ces derniers mots plus bas. Il me regarda bien et je compris qu’il était urgent de sourire. Alors Bute, satisfait, continua : — Monsieur sait parbleu bien qu’on le braconne Bah ! les bois sont si grands que ça n’y fait pas bien du tort.
Je m’en montrai si peu mécontent que, bien vite Bute, enhardi, et, je pense aujourd’hui, heureux de desservir un peu Bocage, me montra, dans tel creux, des collets tendus par Alcide, puis m’enseigna tel endroit de la haie où je pouvais être à peu près sûr de le surprendre. C’était, sur le haut d’un talus, un étroit pertuis dans la haie qui formait lisière, et par lequel Alcide avait accoutumé de se glisser vers six heures. Là, Bute et moi, fort amusés, nous tendîmes un fil de cuivre, très joliment dissimulé. Puis, m’ayant fait jurer que je ne le dénoncerais pas, Bute partit, ne voulant pas se compromettre. Je me couchai contre le revers du talus ; j’attendis.
Et trois soirs j’attendis en vain. Je commençai à croire que Bute m’avait joué. Le quatrième soir enfin, j’entends un très léger pas approcher Mon cœur bat et j’apprends soudain l’affreuse volupté de celui qui braconne. Le collet est si bien posé qu’Alcide y vient donner tout droit. Je le vois brusquement s’étaler, la cheville prise. Il veut se sauver ; retombe, et se débat comme un gibier. Mais déjà je le tiens. C’est un méchant galopin, à l’œil vert, aux cheveux filasse, à l’expression chafouine. Il me lance des coups de pied ; puis, immobilisé, tâche de mordre, et comme il n’y peut parvenir commence à me jeter au nez les plus extraordinaires injures que j’aie jusqu’alors entendues. A la fin, je n’y puis plus tenir ; j’éclate de rire. Alors lui s’arrête soudain, me regarde, et, d’un ton plus bas :
— Espèce de brutal, vous m’avez estropié.
— Fais voir.
Il fait glisser son bas sur ses galoches et montre sa cheville où l’on distingue à peine une légère trace un peu rose. — Ce n’est rien.
— Il sourit un peu, puis, sournoisement :
— J’m’en vas le dire à mon père, que c’est vous qui tendez les collets.
— Parbleu ! c’est un des tiens.
— Ben sûr que c’est pas vous qui l’avez posé, celui-là.
— Pourquoi donc pas ?
— Vous n’sauriez pas si bien. Montrez-moi voir comment que vous faites.
— Apprends-moi.
Ce soir, je ne rentrai que bien tard pour le dîner, et comme on ne savait où j’étais, Marceline était inquiète. Je ne lui racontai pourtant pas que j’avais posé six collets et que, loin de gronder Alcide, je lui avais donné dix sous.
Le lendemain, allant relever ces collets avec lui, j’eus l’amusement de trouver deux lapins pris aux pièges ; naturellement je les lui laissai. La chasse n’était pas encore ouverte. Que devenait donc ce gibier, qu’on ne pouvait montrer sans se commettre ? C’est ce qu’Alcide se refusait à m’avouer. Enfin j’appris, par Bute encore, que Heurtevent était un maître recéleur, et qu’entre Alcide et lui le plus jeune des fils commissionnait. Allais-je donc ainsi pénétrer plus avant dans cette famille farouche ? Avec quelle passion je braconnai !
Je retrouvais Alcide chaque soir ; nous prîmes des lapins en grand nombre, et même une fois un chevreuil : il vivait faiblement encore. Je ne me souviens pas sans horreur de la joie qu’eut Alcide à le tuer. Nous mîmes le chevreuil en lieu sûr, où le fils Heurtevent put venir le chercher dans la nuit.
Dès lors je ne sortis plus si volontiers le jour, où les bois vidés m’offraient moins d’attraits. Je tâchai même de travailler ; triste travail sans but — car j’avais dès la fin de mon cours refusé de continuer ma suppléance — travail ingrat, et dont me distrayait soudain le moindre chant, le moindre bruit dans la campagne ; tout cri me devenait appel. Que de fois ai-je ainsi bondi de ma lecture à ma fenêtre, pour ne voir rien du tout passer ! Que de fois, sortant brusquement… La seule attention dont je fusse capable, c’était celle de tous mes sens.
Mais quand la nuit tombait, — et la nuit, à présent déjà, tombait vite — c’était notre heure, dont je ne soupçonnais pas jusqu’alors la beauté ; et je sortais comme entrent les voleurs. Je m’étais fait des yeux d’oiseau de nuit. J’admirais l’herbe plus mouvante et plus haute, les arbres épaissis. La nuit creusait tout, éloignait, faisait le sol distant et toute surface profonde. Le plus uni sentier paraissait dangereux. On sentait s’éveiller partout ce qui vivait d’une existence ténébreuse.
— Où ton père te croit-il à présent ?
— A garder les bêtes, à l’étable.
Alcide couchait là, je le savais, tout près des pigeons et des poules ; comme on l’y enfermait le soir, il sortait par un trou du toit ; il gardait dans ses vêtements une chaude odeur de poulaille.
Puis brusquement, et sitôt le gibier récolté, il fonçait dans la nuit comme dans une trappe, sans un geste d’adieu, sans même me dire à demain. Je savais qu’avant de rentrer dans la ferme où les chiens, pour lui, se taisaient, il retrouvait le petit Heurtevent et lui remettait sa provende. Mais où ? C’est ce que mon désir ne pouvait arriver à surprendre : menaces, ruses échouèrent ; les Heurtevent ne se laissaient pas approcher. Et je ne sais où triomphait le plus ma folie : poursuivre un médiocre mystère qui reculait toujours devant moi ? peut-être même inventer le mystère, à force de curiosité ? — Mais que faisait Alcide en me quittant ? Couchait-il vraiment à la ferme ? ou seulement le faisait-il croire au fermier ? Ah ! j’avais beau me compromettre, je n’arrivais à rien qu’à diminuer encore son respect, sans augmenter sa confiance ; et cela m’enrageait et me désolait à la fois.
Lui disparu, soudain, je restais affreusement seul ; et je rentrais à travers champs, dans l’herbe lourde de rosée, ivre de nuit, de vie sauvage et d’anarchie, trempé, boueux, couvert de feuilles. De loin, dans la Morinière endormie, semblait me guider, comme un paisible phare, la lampe de ma chambre d’étude où me croyait enfermé Marceline, ou de la chambre de Marceline à qui j’avais persuadé
que, sans sortir ainsi la nuit, je n’aurais pas pu m’endormir. C’était vrai : je prenais en horreur mon lit, et j’eusse préféré la grange.
Le gibier abondait cette année. Lapins, lièvres, faisans, se succédèrent. Voyant tout marcher à souhait, Bute, au bout de trois jours, prit le goût de se joindre à nous.
Le sixième soir de braconnage, nous ne retrouvâmes plus que deux collets sur douze ; une rafle avait été faite pendant le jour. Bute me demanda cent sous pour racheter du fil de cuivre, le fil de fer ne valant rien.
Le lendemain, j’eus le plaisir de voir mes dix collets chez Bocage, et je dus approuver son zèle. Le plus fort, c’est que, l’an passé, j’avais inconsidérément promis dix sous pour chaque collet saisi ; j’en dus donner cent à Bocage. Cependant, avec ses cent sous, Bute rachète du fil de cuivre. Quatre jours après, même histoire ; dix nouveaux collets sont saisis. C’est de nouveau cent sous à Bute ; de nouveau cent sous à Bocage. Et comme je le félicite :
— Ce n’est pas moi, dit-il, qu’il faut féliciter. C’est Alcide.
— Bah ! — Trop d’étonnement peut nous perdre ; je me contiens.
— Oui, continue Bocage ; que voulez-vous, Monsieur, je me fais vieux, et suis trop requis par la ferme. Le petit court les bois pour moi ; il les connaît ; il est malin, et il sait mieux que moi où chercher et trouver les pièges.
— Je le crois sans effort, Bocage.
— Alors, sur les dix sous que Monsieur donne, je lui laisse cinq sous par piège.
— Certainement il les mérite. Parbleu ! Vingt collets en cinq jours ! Il a bien travaillé. Les braconniers n’ont qu’à bien se tenir Ils vont se reposer, je parie.
— Oh ! Monsieur, tant plus qu’on en prend, tant plus qu’on en trouve. Le gibier se vend cher cette année, et pour quelques sous que ça leur coûte…
Je suis si bien joué que pour un peu je croirais Bocage de mèche. Et ce qui me dépite en cette affaire, ce n’est pas le triple commerce d’Alcide, c’est de le voir ainsi me tromper. Et puis que font-ils de l’argent, Bute et lui ? Je ne sais rien ; je ne saurai jamais rien de tels êtres. Ils mentiront toujours, me tromperont pour me tromper. Ce soir ce n’est pas cent sous, c’est dix francs que je donne à Bute : je l’avertis que c’est pour la dernière fois et que si les collets sont repris, c’est tant pis.
Le lendemain, je vois venir Bocage ; il semble très gêné ; je le deviens aussitôt plus que lui. Que s’est-il donc passé ? Et Bocage m’apprend que Bute n’est rentré qu’au petit matin sur la ferme ; Bute est soûl comme un Polonais ; aux premiers mots que lui a dits Bocage, Bute l’a salement insulté, puis s’est jeté sur lui, l’a frappé.
— Enfin, me dit Bocage, je venais savoir si Monsieur m’autorise (il reste un instant sur le mot), m’autorise à le renvoyer.
— Je vais y réfléchir, Bocage. Je suis très désolé qu’il vous ait manqué de respect. Je vois. Laissez-moi seul y réfléchir ; et revenez ici dans deux heures. — Bocage sort.
Garder Bute, c’est manquer péniblement à Bocage ; chasser Bute, c’est le pousser à se venger. Tant pis ; advienne que pourra ; aussi bien suis-je le seul coupable. Et dès que Bocage revient :
— Vous pouvez dire à Bute qu’on ne veut plus le voir ici.
Puis j’attends. Que fait Bocage ? Que dit Bute ? — Et le soir seulement j’ai quelques échos du scandale. Bute a parlé. Je le comprends d’abord par les cris que j’entends chez Bocage ; c’est le petit Alcide qu’on bat. Bocage va venir ; il vient ; j’entends son vieux pas approcher et mon cœur bat plus fort encore qu’il ne battait pour le gibier. L’insupportable instant ! Tous les grands sentiments seront de mise ; je vais être forcé de le prendre au sérieux. Quelles explications inventer ? Comme je vais jouer mal ! Ah ! je voudrais rendre mon rôle… Bocage entre. Je ne comprends strictement rien à ce qu’il dit. C’est absurde : je dois le faire recommencer. A la fin je distingue ceci : Il croit que Bute est seul coupable ; l’incroyable vérité lui échappe ; que j’aie donné dix francs à Bute, et pour quoi faire ? Il
est trop Normand pour l’admettre. Les dix francs, Bute les a volés, c’est sûr ; en prétendant que je les ai donnés, il ajoute au vol le mensonge ; histoire d’abriter son vol ; ce n’est pas à Bocage qu’on en fait accroire. Du braconnage il n’en est plus question. Si Bocage battait Alcide, c’est parce que le petit découchait.
Allons ! je suis sauvé ; devant Bocage au moins tout va bien. Quel imbécile que ce Bute ! Certes, ce soir je n’ai pas grand désir de braconner.
Je croyais déjà tout fini, mais, une heure après, voici Charles. Il n’a pas l’air de plaisanter ; de loin déjà il paraît plus rasant encore que son père. Dire que l’an passé…
— Eh bien ! Charles, voilà longtemps qu’on ne t’a vu.
— Si Monsieur tenait à me voir, il n’avait qu’à venir sur la ferme. Ce n’est parbleu ni des bois ni de la nuit que j’ai affaire.
— Ah ! ton père t’a raconté…
— Mon père ne m’a rien raconté parce que mon père ne sait rien. Qu’a-t-il besoin d’apprendre, à son âge, que son maître se fiche de lui ?
— Attention, Charles ! tu vas trop loin…
— Oh ! parbleu, vous êtes le maître ! et vous faites ce qui vous plaît.
— Charles, tu sais parfaitement que je ne me suis moqué de personne, et si je fais ce qui me plaît c’est que cela ne nuit qu’à moi.
Il eut un léger haussement d’épaules.
— Comment voulez-vous qu’on défende vos intérêts, quand vous les attaquez vous-même ? Vous ne pouvez protéger à la fois le garde et le braconnier.
— Pourquoi ?
— Parce qu’alors… ah ! tenez, Monsieur, tout cela, c’est trop malin pour moi, et simplement cela ne me plaît pas de voir mon maître faire bande avec ceux qu’on arrête, et défaire avec eux le travail qu’on a fait pour lui.
Et Charles dit cela d’une voix de plus en plus assurée. Il se tient presque noblement. Je remarque qu’il a fait couper ses favoris. Ce qu’il dit est d’ailleurs assez juste. Et comme je me tais (que lui diraisje ?), il continue :
— Qu’on ait des devoirs envers ce qu’on possède, Monsieur me l’enseignait l’an dernier, mais semble l’avoir oublié. Il faut prendre ces devoirs au sérieux et renoncer à jouer avec… ou alors c’est qu’on ne méritait pas de posséder.
Un silence.
— C’est tout ce que tu avais à dire ?
— Pour ce soir, oui, Monsieur ; mais un autre soir, si Monsieur m’y pousse, peut-être viendrai-je dire à Monsieur que mon père et moi quittons la Morinière.
Et il sort en me saluant très bas. A peine si je prends le temps de réfléchir :
— Charles ! Il a parbleu raison… Oh ! Oh ! Mais si c’est là ce qu’on appelle posséder !… Charles. Et je cours après lui ; je le rattrape dans la nuit, et, très vite, comme pour assurer ma décision subite :
— Tu peux annoncer à ton père que je mets la Morinière en vente.
Charles salue gravement et s’éloigne sans dire un mot.
Tout cela est absurde ! absurde !
Marceline ce soir ne peut descendre pour dîner et me fait dire qu’elle est souffrante. Je monte en hâte et plein d’anxiété dans sa chambre. Elle me rassure aussitôt. « Ce n’est qu’un rhume », espère-t-elle. Elle a pris froid.
— Tu ne pouvais donc pas te couvrir ?
— Pourtant, dès le premier frisson, j’ai mis mon châle.
— Ce n’est pas après le frisson qu’il fallait le mettre, c’est avant.
Elle me regarde, essaye de sourire. Ah ! peut-être une journée si mal commencée me dispose-t-elle à l’angoisse ; elle m’aurait dit à haute voix : « Tiens-tu donc tant à ce que je vive ? » je ne l’aurais pas mieux entendue. Décidément tout se défait autour de moi ; de tout ce que ma main saisit, ma main ne sait rien retenir. Je m’élance vers Marceline et couvre de baisers ses tempes pâles. Alors elle ne se retient plus et sanglote sur mon épaule.
— Oh ! Marceline ! Marceline ! partons d’ici. Ailleurs je t’aimerai comme je t’aimais à Sorrente. Tu m’as cru changé, n’est-ce pas ? Mais ailleurs, tu sentiras bien que rien n’a changé notre amour.
Et je ne guéris pas encore sa tristesse, mais déjà, comme elle se raccroche à l’espoir !
La saison n’était pas avancée, mais il faisait humide et froid, et déjà les derniers boutons des rosiers pourrissaient sans pouvoir éclore. Nos invités nous avaient quittés depuis longtemps. Marceline n’était pas si souffrante qu’elle ne pût s’occuper de fermer la maison, et cinq jours après nous partîmes.