Wood Queen by Karen Mahoney

Author:Karen Mahoney [Mahoney, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780552563826
Publisher: Corgi Children's
Published: 2012-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Eleven

Donna stared out of the car window at the little house she shared with her aunt. They’d moved here just over three years ago, and it was living here that had brought her and Navin together. On the one hand, she gave daily thanks for the serendipity that had led Paige Underwood to purchase the house next door to the Sharma family in an effort to blend in with ordinary people. On the other hand, it was hard to be thankful when all she’d managed to do was drag her best friend into a whole world of crazy.

From her spot in the back seat, Donna glanced in the rearview mirror and caught Aunt Paige’s relaxed expression. Navin was in the passenger seat—he’d called shotgun, much to her aunt’s irritation and Donna’s amusement.

They’d escaped from Simon’s lab just in time, meeting Robert in the Blue Room the very moment Donna had clicked the grandfather clock back into place. The afternoon session that followed had been long and tense, and the alchemists still hadn’t been able to reach a verdict—they wanted one more night to “sleep on it.” Navin had been pleased that they would reconvene for a third day, because it meant he could get out of going to school on Monday.

She was glad Navin had been with her, down in the lab, when all her suspicions were confirmed. Yes, the Order of the Dragon had lied to her. Or at the very least, they’d twisted the truth and omitted facts, which led her to make wrong assumptions. Very wrong assumptions.

How could she have been so stupid? Donna wanted to kick her own ass for believing the party line she’d been fed for the past decade, but at the same time, she knew she had to start cutting herself some slack. Why wouldn’t she have believed Aunt Paige all these years? This was her family. Shouldn’t she be able to trust her?

Until very recently, Donna hadn’t ever had a reason not to trust her aunt.

Back in the house, having said her goodbyes to Nav in the darkness that shadowed the sidewalk, Donna demanded that her phone be returned. She’d been without it ever since returning from the Ironwood, and she wanted to call Xan without worrying that Aunt Paige would listen on the extension.

Paige had actually tried to refuse. “How can I trust you with it?”

Trust. There was that word again. Donna resisted the urge to tell her aunt what she really thought, instead fixing her expression into one of calm acceptance. “I’m just processing everything, Aunt Paige. Give me a chance to prove to you that I can change.”

Lying made her feel sick, but at least it got her phone back.

Not that it did much good—Xan wasn’t answering his phone. He wasn’t answering either of them; his cell went straight to voicemail, and his house phone just rang and rang.

Donna lay on her bed for a while, watching the glowing numbers on her digital alarm clock change. Her aunt had gone to bed, but there was no way Donna would be able to do the same.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.