Horrid Charms by Eva Chase

Author:Eva Chase [Chase, Eva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781989096482
Publisher: Ink Spark Press
Published: 2019-08-28T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Jude

It was a long drive to the main Killbrook home from Blood U, but I jumped at the first chance I got to make the trip. The funny thing about coming to a major decision was that once you’d arrived there, no matter how gradual the process would be, the impatience to get on with it would keep itching at you. I was going to make a clean break, and I wanted it to start now.

I had no classes after my morning seminar until my business course the next afternoon, so I didn’t really need to hurry. The Mercedes’s engine purred as I zipped along the highway past trees and farmland. My familiar, who I hadn’t wanted to leave cooped up in my dorm bedroom for ages, bounced between the floor and the passenger seat with ferret chortles that were a lot more pleased than I felt.

After a while, to distract myself from thoughts of the task ahead, I put on my playlist of my favorite modern piano tracks. Too bad the music industry was even more of a clusterfuck than the fearmancer community, or maybe I’d have considered trying to build a career for myself there.

The complex melody that filled the interior of the car didn’t quite overwhelm my nerves. I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel. Mischief cocked her head at me with a questioning sound, and I reached over to give her a quick scratch under her chin.

“It’ll be fine,” I told her and myself. “In and out. No big deal.”

This early in the afternoon, I could hope no one would be home except the staff, who wouldn’t hassle me. Dad should be off tending to his various business concerns, and Mom often visited with her friends or looked in on the local shops she’d invested in during the day.

Still, my chest tightened when I finally turned down the winding drive that led to the mansion. The tall gate with its dark bars loomed ahead of me. I punched in the code on my dashboard control that would unlock the gate and drove on in toward the sprawling stone building beyond.

One of the grounds staff was trimming the hedges along the driveway. Otherwise there was no sign of activity. I parked the Mercedes in the loop outside the front door, not bothering with the garage. “Wait here,” I told Mischief, who for once in her life decided to be obedient and curled up on the leather seat. Lord only knew how much of my uneasiness she was picking up on.

Ideally this really would be a quick in-and-out. I didn’t have much here I was interested in hanging on to.

“Hello, Mr. Killbrook,” our butler said as I crossed the foyer to the stairs. A look of consternation crossed his face. “We weren’t expecting you home.”

“Don’t worry, Cravers,” I said. “I’m not staying for dinner. I’ll be out of your hair in less than an hour.”

I jogged up the stairs and veered across the expansive hallway to the east wing.

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