The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

Author:Bree Despain [Despain, Bree]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-1-60684-057-3
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Published: 2010-01-18T16:00:00+00:00

MORNING

I must have fallen asleep eventually, because I was startled awake by a loud thunk outside my bedroom window. I rolled over and looked at the clock: 6:00 a.m. I heard the thunk again, so I stumbled out of bed and went to investigate. It was mostly dark out, but I could still see that the side yard was empty. The thunking continued. It seemed to be coming from the backyard. My legs were so stiff I practically had to slide down the stairs on my butt.

I was in the kitchen when I saw Daniel out in the backyard. He was driving a wood fence post into the frozen dirt—with his bare hands. I couldn’t tell for sure because his back was to me, but it looked like he was holding the post in one hand and then swinging his arm, presumably whacking the top of the post with the butt of his hand. No mallet, or hammer, or any tool was even nearby from what I could tell. He’d probably gotten such an early start so he could do it his way.

I was about to go out and join him when I ran my hand through my hair, and my fingers lodged in a nest of snarls. I watched Daniel take another swing, sinking the post a good three inches into the ground, and I suddenly felt compelled to be cleaned and dressed in something more flattering than my flannel yellow-ducky pj’s.

By the time I’d done my makeup, flat-ironed my hair, and changed my sweater three times—why was everything I owned so boxy?—Charity was in the kitchen perusing one of her science books and eating sugared cereal from her private stash. Which meant that Mom wasn’t up yet. The thunking noise had stopped, so hopefully Mom and James would sleep in for a while longer.

I peered out the window. “Did you see where Daniel went?”

“Nope,” Charity grumbled. “I was about ready to go strangle him for making all that racket, but he was gone by the time I got down here.”

“Sorry,” I said, like anything Daniel did was my fault.

“Meh.” She shrugged. “I was gonna get up early today anyway. I’ve got to write a whole first draft for my research paper this weekend.”

“Oh.” I stared farther out the window. “I wonder where he went.”

“The Corolla’s gone. Maybe Dad took him to the hardware store or something.”

Or maybe whoever took the car last night never came home. I didn’t hear the garage door last night, and I hadn’t fallen asleep until at least three a.m. Dad’s study was closed and locked, and the light was out. If Daniel wasn’t with Dad, then where had he gone?

I sank into a kitchen chair. Perhaps Daniel’s reason for fixing the fence so early was because he’d changed his mind about wanting to see me again.

“May I?” I reached for Charity’s box of Lucky Charms.

She nodded. “Did you hear about Mr. Day’s granddaughter?”

“Jessica or Kristy?”

“Jess. She’s missing.”

Little frosted three-leafed clovers tumbled into my bowl.

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