1503951200 by Camille Griep

Author:Camille Griep [Griep, Camille]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503951204
Published: 2016-04-11T16:00:00+00:00

“I’ve given you everything. What more must a father do for your cooperation?”

I eased myself into an armchair across from him. So unnerved from the waking nightmare of the vision, I started to laugh. The night had gone from unlikely to ludicrous to surreal.

The Governor set a glass of bourbon down in front of me. “Get a grip, young lady.”

I took a big slug, prepared and relishing the burn. I sucked some air between my teeth. If I’d had an extra ceremony match I could’ve lit the air on fire. Either because of exhaustion or hunger, the liquor hit me hard and fast. “You think you’ve given me everything?”

“As I said, tell me what else you need.”

“How about my childhood back? Or my future? I’m not sure I want this, this gift, anymore. The only person this Foresight has been a gift to is you, and only so you can show off. I want to be my own person, not just a Willis.” It sounded strange coming from my mouth, when what I’d wanted for so long was for Len to stop wanting to be his own person. But I’d finally caught up. I wanted to be more than I was. More than an Acolyte. I wanted to be a leader, not a symbol, to make change, instead of forecasting the future. The kind of community we’d had at the party, I wanted it back. For good.

“You and your brother are beacons,” he said. “For the Sanctuary. For the whole community. The people need a light in all this darkness.”

I stood, the bourbon rushing to my stomach where dinner should have been. “I don’t want to be a goddamned beacon. I want to be normal. I want to fall in love and screw up and be loud and not worry if I’m being seen with the right people at the right time. I don’t want to be trotted out for events like a prize pig.”

“It’s true I’ve asked this family to make some sacrifices,” he said. “But they’ve been for the greater good. New Charity is safe. You have a life people outside of this house envy and people outside our gates can only dream of. Alongside the Bishop, we’ve made New Charity more than just a town in the middle of nowhere.”

“New Charity is still nowhere,” I said. “Or are you that deranged?”

“Things have changed,” he said, sneering. “I know Cressyda Turner fills your head with all sorts of nonsense about her beloved City, but that place is dead now. And almost everyone in it. The rest are congregating outside our gates as we speak.”

“And, what, does that fill you with some kind of perverse joy?” I sat down again to study his face. To try and see some part of myself in it.

“This has always been my empire,” he said, folding his hands on his lap. “Someday it will be your brother’s.”

“Which brother, exactly? Perry, who seems to have leapt off the deep end? Or Troy, who you treat like a dog? Or Len .

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