A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess

Author:Jessica Cluess
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2016-09-20T04:00:00+00:00

Two days later, I walked toward Ha’penny Row during my free afternoon. I clutched a bundle of bread and cheese to my chest. I’d have taken wine as well, but the butler counted the bottles and I didn’t want any of the servants to get in trouble.

A thin layer of yellow grime covered the ward. This time, slicing through was slightly harder than cutting a cobweb. Palehook wasn’t doing his job well.

“ ’Scuse me, miss,” a young man with a gruff voice said as he stumbled into me.

“It’s all right,” I replied. He shoved past and strode away.

I continued to Hargrove’s, nearly treading on a black crow that pecked for grain in the road. I marveled at its wingspan as it soared upward to land on a rooftop. The bird joined a small cluster of other crows and ravens. By the time I’d turned off the street, I counted ten, all singing above us.

—

“I TOLD YOU TO BRING ME drink,” Hargrove said as I handed the food to the children. I couldn’t give the bundle to him, as he was slitting open a long spool of bloodied intestine that lay on the table. The smell was hideous. One of the children thrust open a window in a bid for fresh air.

“What are you doing?” I wrinkled my nose.

“These are the innards of a white sow. I bought them off a fellow in Shoreditch, a steal at a tuppence. He says he fed her a penny with the queen’s face on both sides. Numismatomancy is divination through money. That coin will reveal wonders to me.”

“Such as why you spent two pennies to purchase one?”

“Hilarious.” He sliced away, brow furrowed as he inspected the bloody entrails. “This is your magical heritage, my little weasel. Show some respect.” Sure I’d be sick, I removed my hood. Hargrove’s eyebrows shot up. “You look terrible. When’s the last time you slept?”

“I don’t look that awful.”

Hargrove gestured to one of the children. “Get the family mirror.”

The child handed me a cracked looking glass before I could object. Even if my reflection hadn’t been fractured, the damage was plain enough. My eyes were dark and sunken, my complexion pallid. I’d lost weight.

The dreams of R’hlem had kept me up again. That was three nights in a row. I feared it was becoming a pattern. “I don’t sleep.”

“Why not?”

My patience at an end, I made a wincing face. “Guess.”

“I know you didn’t want to come back here.” He kicked a chair toward me, an invitation to sit. “You’re a prideful little creature, eh?”

I doubted a smart remark would make him want to help me. “Teach me to be a magician.”

“But I thought you were a sorcerer. Last time you were here you shouted it through the streets.” He wagged a bloody finger at me.

“I can’t work with their magic. You said you’d help me.” My nerves were frayed enough as it was. My head started to pound.

“Why should I?”

“For my father’s sake.”

“Yes, but now that I’ve thought about it, I’ve realized that is a spectacularly good way to die.

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