Flicker and Mist by Mary G. Thompson

Author:Mary G. Thompson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Seventeen

I WOKE LATE. THE SUN WAS STREAMING THROUGH THE room’s single large window, illuminating the clock on the far wall. My head was groggy at first, as if I had taken liquor, a thing I had done only once and had regretted too much to try ever again. I blinked at the light, trying to recall where I was.

The back of my father’s head as he walked away with the guardsmen filled my mind. My mother’s hand gripping mine between the bars. Caster’s face pressed into my shoulder.

My eyes burned with the aftermath of the day’s tears.

The hate reflecting back from Brach’s deep brown eyes bored through me, and I pulled my knees into my chest. I was solid now, heavy. Everything was heavy and at the same time, too bright.

Someone knocked on the door.

I didn’t answer.

“Myra?” Caster called. “Are you awake?”

I didn’t answer.

“Myra, I know you’re awake. My father has sent me to retrieve you. Better to get the lecture over with.”

I sat up. “All right. I’ll come down.” I stumbled out of bed, tripped over my feet, and fell back down. I flickered out, then in again. No, I couldn’t flicker. I couldn’t let this happen. I had triggered it, just as my mother had always warned. I had purposely learned to flicker, and now I might expose myself.

I took a deep breath and stood up again. Pinpricks spread from my heart. I pushed them back. I couldn’t risk going downstairs, but I couldn’t stay where I was. I had to get control over myself. I waited five minutes, then ten, then fifteen, until the pinpricks were completely gone. I put on a simple dress, wrinkled from being in the trunk, and walked down the stairs with as much grace as I could muster.

I had just reached the dining table, where Caster sat in front of a grand spread, when the Deputy walked into the room. He glared at me, making no move to sit.

“So she still lives,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was lonely for my beast. She is all I have left.” I sat at the table, unable to look the Deputy in the eye but not wanting to seem too demure, too broken.

The Deputy pulled a sweet bread from the pile. “We have one funeral to attend today. Thank the Waters, the garbage man has survived, so there will not be two.”

“I must see my parents,” I said.

He took a bite of his bread and looked down at me with cold eyes. I thought perhaps he would spit his food back or explode in nasty laughter. But he didn’t. “After the funeral, my son will escort you,” he said.

I was about to thank him, but the words wouldn’t come from my mouth. What would I be thanking him for? Whenever he seemed to show the slightest charity, he could be hoping I would betray my people. Never mind that these supposed hidden Flickerkin were no more my people than were the Flicker Men themselves.

“You will come straight back,” he said, not to me but to Caster.

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