Pitch Dark by Aprilynne Pike

Author:Aprilynne Pike
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

Chapter Two

DARKNESS. WE EAT IN IT, TALK IN IT, WE SLEEP in humid darkness, wrapped in blankets. There is never really enough light in this basement, not if you truly want to see.

“It’s your move,” my twin brother, Finn, tells me. His voice is soft, no hint of irritation. I know I’m dreaming, but I don’t care. I’ll stay here as long as I can.

“Sorry.” I stare at the squares of the board. There’s no sense studying the pieces; they don’t speak to me. I have no sense of strategy, but I want badly to keep up with him, to offer some meager entertainment by providing a challenge.

“I’ll move the lantern.”

He’s pretending that my problem is simply a lack of illumination. I touch the ivory knight with my fingertip.

Father comes out of his laboratory and takes off his goggles.

“Is anyone ready for lunch?”

We’re always ready for lunch. It breaks up the monotony of our day. We follow him into the kitchen, where cases of preserved goods are stacked to the ceiling. Father pours something into a bowl and puts it into the steam oven.

“I don’t think it’s—” I try to warn him.

There’s a loud crackling explosion, and the gas bulb dangling above us goes dark.

“No point in fixing it, not when I’m so close to a breakthrough.” Father says this pretty much every day.

“I’m having peaches,” Finn says. “Preserved peaches are good cold.” He isn’t angry at Father for taking us underground. For not keeping his promises and for disappearing for days on end to work on god knows what. Finn isn’t even mad at Mother for not wanting to live here with us.

“I love peaches,” I say, because Finn brings out the best in me. Darkness and light, Father calls us.

“I’m so lucky,” our father says. “Blessed with patient children.” His voice is shaking, and in the murky light I think I see tears in his eyes. He is looking past me, at Finn.

There’s a knock at the door, and then it’s shoved inward and a man stands above us, silhouetted by the light shining through a front door that we haven’t stepped through in ages.

“Dr. Worth,” the man says. “My son, he has the contagion, but he hasn’t died. . . . It’s been over a month.”

He must be wrong. If you get sick you die. Everyone knows this.

“Give me your address,” Father tells the man. “I’ll come later, when their mother is here to mind them.” So Mother is coming for a visit. That will please Finn. The man rattles off his address, his voice low and steady. As if he’s lived through so much horror that nothing can really bother him anymore.

We return to the chessboard with one jar of peaches and two forks.

“It’s still your move,” Finn says. “Araby?”

I glance up at him, to see if he’s irritated yet. Is he really this inhuman, this eternally patient? But I can’t see him. The humidity is so thick, and the lantern is so dim. I strain my eyes.

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.