The Night Itself by Zoe Marriott

Author:Zoe Marriott [Marriott, Zoë]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781406348514
Publisher: Walker Books
Published: 2013-06-15T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

FAIRY TALES

“Mio—” Jack began. The front doorbell rang, cutting her off. She leapt up. “Pizza!”

“Don’t go outside!” Shinobu and I burst out simultaneously.

“Make sure you keep your feet on this side of the threshold,” Shinobu said.

“And don’t … invite him to step inside or anything,” I added nervously. “Just in case.”

“Fine, fine,” Jack said, pulling money out of her jeans pocket as she went out into the hall.

Shinobu waited until Jack was gone before he came to rest his free hand on the back of the sofa next to – but not quite touching – my shoulder.

“You should be proud of yourself,” he said quietly.

“What for? Lying my ass off to someone who trusts me?”

“I know it was not an easy thing you just did. To take the whole burden of this thing, and the truth of it, upon yourself. But if your parents returned they would only become hostages to be used against you. You have saved them from that.”

The tension leaked out of me in a long sigh. It was true. My parents were the last people in the world who could deal with monsters. They were dentists, for crying out loud. I ran my fingers around the complex piercing on the katana’s guard, looking at Shinobu from the corner of my eye. “How do you always know just the right thing to say?”

“Do I?” He looked surprised. Then he smiled his crooked, shy smile.

I blinked a few times. I was a twenty-first-century woman, and I was not going to be conquered by any random facial expression. No matter how adorable it was.

“It might be strange for you to think of it this way,” he said. “But I do know you quite well. I spent … a long time thinking about what I would say to you, if only you could hear me.”

I nibbled on my lip. “Will you tell me something?”

He nodded, the smile fading into a grave expression. “Of course.”

“You were there when my ojiichan promised me the sword, showed it to me for the first time. Do you remember what he said to me?”

“I think so.”

“I’m trying to fit it with what the Harbinger said. He – or it, or whatever he is – said that he’d chosen our family to guard the sword. Didn’t Ojiichan say something about bad people looking for it?”

“Your grandfather spoke in vague terms, suitable for a child, but … yes. Yes, he did say that. He promised that he would explain and tell you the stories of the sword later—” Shinobu broke off.

“Only he died,” I said, a pang of old grief going through me. “He expected to be around to guide me and explain what he knew, and he wasn’t. If the Harbinger did do something to the sword, and then turned it over to us to hide for whatever reason, he had to have told the Yamato family something, otherwise Ojiichan wouldn’t have known to say that bad things could happen if the sword wasn’t hidden. He knew ‘bad people’ might be looking for it.

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