Whispers Most Foul by MacDonald Emma

Author:MacDonald, Emma
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2024-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

18: A Rose Without Its Thorns

Evening hung on the tail edge of dusk as Rose left the library, the clouds a pinkish, mottled grey just above the horizon. Her eyes ached and her fingers were nearly raw from all the pages she’d turned, but still she was none the wiser. As she’d known she wouldn’t be, somewhere deep down. If any information existed about the Order of Salix, it certainly wasn’t in the library. As if someone had gone through and meticulously erased any mention of it.

Rose fidgeted with the waistline of her long woolen skirt. The thought didn’t exactly fill her with hope – or put to bed her ideas on the insidious nature of the Order. Still, it had been a long shot, after all. A meagre attempt misguided by desperation to avoid where the true answers lay.

‘Finally ready to admit this was a waste of time?’ Sylvie’s voice crashed through her thoughts, making Rose jump.

She leaned idly against the stone wall beside the library doors, a smirk lingering on her lips. Rose glowered at her. Sylvie had disappeared shortly after braving the Untold Section but, given her smug expression, Rose was quite sure she’d spent the last few hours sharpening her ‘I told you so’s.

‘No thanks to you.’

Sylvie shoved off the wall. ‘I searched through the Untold Section, like you asked, but that was useless. Then, I watched you fall asleep twice, which was glorious. Then I came out here and overheard some lovely gossip about Arden. Turns out being invisible has its perks.’

‘Glad you’re having fun,’ Rose scoffed, pushing past her.

‘Can we go talk to your mother now?’

Rose swallowed hard. For all the good that would do. At best, her mother would simply ignore any inconvenient question, or else shame her for asking in the first place. At worst …

Well, Rose was quite sure she didn’t want to find that out. Besides, she’d already covered up one suspicious death.

‘Not yet.’ Her hand clutched tight around the parchment in her pocket. ‘I’m going to talk to Sylverfir first. But feel free to stay here and listen to more gossip.’

She shoved past Sylvie before she could respond, darting across the colonnade. Rose didn’t wait to see if she followed. Didn’t care to, really. Though the thought rang hollow in her mind. If she truly didn’t care, she wouldn’t be here now. She frowned, clutching tighter to her bag.

The lake lay still alongside her, though colorful mummer fish circled in the shallows, snapping at the glowing nightfire moths that dipped low over the surface. Their song floated above the calm waters, luring in the unlucky with its beauty. It had only taken a few students falling prey to their jagged teeth to ward the rest off, but still they sang nightly, ever hopeful. Like everything else at Dunhollow, their beauty lay only skin deep, ever covering their foul nature.

But Rose hardly paid attention to it now, skipping over the wooden footbridge and skirting past the edge of the Whispering Woods.

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