The Dark Glamour by Gabriella Pierce

Author:Gabriella Pierce
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2011-08-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

The stairs to the attic weren’t carpeted, and Jane carefully set each toe and heel down together to avoid unnecessary noise. The scent of pine and dust filled her lungs, and she was sure her hair would smell musty by the time she returned to the party.

The first door at the top of the stairs led to what looked like a child’s playroom, but Jane knew better than to get excited just yet. It may look like it’s for a child, but I know it’s for Charles, she thought ruefully. She blinked her spell-covered eyelids a few extra times, just in case. She knew she had guessed right when nothing stood out to her enhanced vision, but she still felt a pang of disappointment.

The next room was set up like a classroom, with just one lonely student desk under the sloping roof. I wonder if they brought in teachers, Jane thought idly, trailing her fingers across the dusty chalkboard. Charles had spent his entire life in this attic. The household staff knew about him, of course, but would Lynne have allowed in outsiders? Jane imagined Sofia, the Dorans’ tiny, bulge-eyed maid, standing at the front of the room lecturing a drooling Charles on geography.

Of course, he probably would have needed a doctor sometimes, too, Jane realized pragmatically, and, as if the attic were attempting to answer her questions, she opened the next door to find what looked like a hospital room transported into an Upper East Side attic. Man, she thought, shuddering and hurrying along, when Lynne decides to keep a secret, she doesn’t screw around.

The next room, opening to the right rather than straight ahead, contained a massive flat-screen television, a squishy-looking couch, a floor-to-ceiling shelf stacked with approximately every board game ever invented, and Charles. His stringy brown hair hung over his eyes, which Jane remembered as flatter, duller copies of Malcolm’s. His intimidating bulk was crammed into a corner of the couch as if the other three-quarters of it were off-limits, and his meaty hands were full of Stratego pieces. At the soft creak of the door opening, he looked up, and another piece fell out of his slack mouth.

“Jane,” he announced happily. “My friend Jane.”

Jane flinched at the sound of her name, and held her hands up to her face. The long, sturdy fingers were still the same walnut-brown, and her hair was still in its longish, smooth bob. Her fingers fluttered over her cheekbones, nose, and lips, but they all seemed to still be firmly Ella’s. Her disguise hadn’t suddenly disappeared . . . Charles just didn’t see it.

“Charles,” she said levelly. “You remember me?”

He jumped heavily off of the couch, and she reached behind her to make sure the door was still open in case she needed an escape route. But he shuffled away in the opposite direction instead, and after a moment of counting all the things that could go wrong, Jane clenched her hands into fists and followed him. Charles was

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