Wicked Walking by Claudia Cain

Author:Claudia Cain [Cain, Claudia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Sheep Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

12

It doesn’t take much effort to put my admittedly lacklustre plan into action. When we arrive home Pen is in bed, the house dark and quiet. It’s easy to bid Theo and Louisa goodnight, heading upstairs to pretend to sleep.

It’s Will who distracts me.

He grabs my elbow as I prepare to enter my bedroom, waiting until the others close their doors before he speaks. “Cass. What the Necromancer said…”

“Which bit?” I ask wearily.

“All of it! Aren’t you afraid? The Child is coming after you. It’s going to kill you. And you’re just going to let it try?”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” His grip tightens. “Cass, leave.”

It’s what he suggested earlier. Even now the thought causes my stomach to jolt with something like terror mixed with excitement. Yet the feeling seems duller. More distant.

“I can’t,” I say. “Will, we can’t leave the Child running around. It wants to bring down the boundaries—”

“By killing you.” He stares at me, his blue eyes appearing almost black in the gloom. “If you can’t fight it, and you don’t know how to stop it, what are you going to do? You can’t leave town and have your own life if you die. Theo and Louisa and Pen will be here. Let them deal with it.”

“Pen is a teenager,” I point out. “And Louisa isn’t strong enough to deal with…”

I remember the clearing turning white as she called down the heavens. The tightness in her face as the Necromancer wondered why the boundaries were still standing.

The excuse comes out of habit.

The excuse is a lie.

Even Will knows it. He holds my gaze, saying quietly, “I think your aunt is perfectly capable of dealing with it.”

I swallow. “She says—”

“What she says isn’t always true. She wants you to stay here. Is that what you’re going to do? Are you going to do the rite and become the Witch?”

No. The horror of the idea closes my throat, and Will’s expression gentles. “Consider it,” he says. “Please. Nobody asked you to take on this burden. You never signed up for this. There’s no shame in leaving if it means saving your own life.”

And with that he leaves me in the dark, going to bed.

I follow his lead, closing myself in my bedroom. I go through the motions, even putting on pyjamas and climbing into bed, in case Louisa decides this is the night to start checking on us again, but my determination is wavering.

What if I don’t go through with my plan? I could just let myself sleep, and then tomorrow I can take Will’s advice and get out of here. I can leave the secrets and danger behind me, all the things I never asked for, and I can become someone else. It would be a shitty move. I’d be making this nightmare someone else’s problem. But is that such a bad thing? Why should this have to fall on me?

And yet… the Child.

Louisa.

And Pen. Theo. Merich—

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to quiet my thoughts.

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