Cold Spell by Jackson Pearce

Author:Jackson Pearce
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9780316243599
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2013-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I have no idea what this means, and am a little relieved to see no one else does, either.

Flannery, for her part, is grinning through the blood running down her nose. I’m finally able to get a good look at her face. She resembles Brigit, at least in her eyes, though her body is both curvier and shorter, something like a gymnast’s. She runs past the crowd, encouraging them to cheer for her, but the people seemed mixed—the younger members are ecstatic and the older ones are scowling.

Brigit is talking furiously to an ever-growing mob of men, all yelling over one another. People start to take notice, quieting down so they can eavesdrop. Flannery, now on the other side of the fire and high-fiving a group of children, turns and cocks her head, listening.

“You’d better get control of your girl, Brigit. No man is gonna put up with this,” one man growls.

“We’ll handle it—”

“And what about my boy?” a man I recognize from Brigit’s tent shouts. “God help me if his nose doesn’t set right, Brigit. And besides, who gets the buffer now?”

“I get the buffer,” Flannery shouts, storming toward her mother. “I won. I get her.”

“Flannery,” Brigit warns under her breath.

“What’re you gonna do, add her to your damn menagerie?” an old man asks.

“You’ll watch the way you speak to your princess,” Brigit snaps.

“Maybe someone should’ve spoke to you that way, Brigit!” another says.

The crowd gasps, a murmur of threat, of indignation ruffling through them. Brigit purses her lips together and makes herself look taller, more regal than the man who last spoke. He seems to know he’s said the wrong thing, shrinking back a little, casting his eyes downward.

“Flannery?” Brigit says, voice steely. Flannery steps closer, cowed by her mother’s intensity. “Find Ginny a place to sleep. We’ll figure out a way to handle this when Jameson apologizes. Make sure you watch her—she’ll try to run.” Flannery walks over to me, her gait bold, confident. Bracelets pushes me toward her, and Flannery grabs hold of my wrist tightly. She leads me away, out of the crowd; I look over my shoulder to see Brigit walking back to her tent, proud, as if she’s uninterested in whatever squabbles the crowd of men might have.

“Where are we going?” I ask. Flannery doesn’t answer. “Hey,” I say again, more forcefully. “What are we doing?” She doesn’t answer, so I repeat the question again and again as we weave around RVs, generators, and charcoal grills.

“God, you don’t shut up, do you?” Flannery finally says. We reach an RV close to Brigit’s tent, a big, impressive one. Flannery walks up the steps, shoulders the door open, and leads me inside.

“I’m not… look, I’m not, like… yours or… I’m not going to be your…” I stumble across the words, embarrassed and confused.

“My own personal buffer?” Flannery asks, grinning wickedly. She laughs, loud and strong and a little lewd. “You are. I dunno what you’ll do. Maybe you can help me—nah. Never mind. You’d just mess that up.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.