Hush Hush Remy Wilkins. by Remy Wilkins

Author:Remy Wilkins [Wilkins, Remy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Canon Press
Published: 2021-12-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

The day after Sylas and Tonka disappeared, Espy left Tails at home. She felt silly carrying around a slack doll all day. The girls at school noticed that the fad had ended, and by lunch all but the most out-of-touch girls had put their dolls in their lockers.

Espy’s mind was spinning as she walked the web of lines. It was as if each line she encountered was a question that led to another question. Who was Tonka? Why didn’t he tell her about being her mother’s invisible friend? Is Tonka hiding something? Where had he and Sylas gone?

Her mother’s alarm over hearing Tonka’s name had so surprised Espy that she nearly confessed it all: meeting Tonka, learning the lines, releasing Sylas, and manipulating everyone around her. She quickly decided against it, and during dinner she soothed her mother, turning her red lines blue. Anytime she felt a question rise in her mother’s mind, Espy snagged a line and massaged it numb. Carmona dropped her jaw as if to speak but kept silent. Mémé Lollie was sullen and grumbling to herself. The night passed with nothing said. Espy lulled herself to sleep with quiet lines seeking the lost Faints.

The next day, Espy blunted the lines around her so that she could pass by everyone without being noticed. In class she relaxed and let the lines of teachers and students run free. Mr. Guerrero was talking about the deceptions of Mr. Oliver and the shrewd ploys devised by Moses Heard to keep the locals from knowing about the secret community living freely on the island.

Class ended. Espy slouched at her desk for the next class and the next, unbothered by any student or teacher. She realized that even though she wasn’t manipulating the lines, she was being left alone. All her weeks of popularity had disappeared the moment she stopped using the lines to draw the students to her.

At the end of the day, she reached out again to read the lines of the students around her. She was shocked to realize that many students shied away from her out of fear or disdain. There was a ripple of discomfort from every student she walked past. She didn’t have to catch their eye or the sneer behind her back; she could feel their dislike as clearly as words.

Tears welled up in her eyes. She didn’t hide her face when they began to fall and run down her cheeks. She pushed open the door and followed the sidewalk to the little space between the gym wall and the hedges. She hadn’t been to her private lunch area since she started using the lines. Her popularity allowed her to sit at the center table, her group and their hangers-on around them.

Slumping to the ground, she held her head in her hands. All this time using the lines, and she was blinded to the fact that nobody really liked her. She wondered how good she’d be at basketball without tripping players or tipping the ball away from her opponents.

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