The Devil's Intern by Donna Hosie

Author:Donna Hosie [Hosie, Donna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Holiday House
Published: 2014-08-08T00:00:00+00:00

16. 4 September 1666

I have time in my hands, yet I have completely lost track of it. Am I in the past, the future, or the now? I just don’t know anymore. Alfarin and Elinor come back to us after I doze off with Medusa slumped across my chest. They have another key card with them, and they do try to be quiet, but Alfarin has the build of a baby elephant. It’s inevitable that he’ll trip over something while trying to tiptoe across the darkened room. As it turns out, it’s his axe that betrays him; he left the guitar case lying on the carpet. He goes ass over heels and crashes into the table. Elinor thinks he’s being dragged away by some freakish entity of doom and starts shrieking. Medusa flings herself out of the bed but manages to knee me between the legs in the process, and I am now in so much agony I think I must be dying again.

I’m definitely in the present. Pain doesn’t stay with a person this long unless it’s real.

Elinor goes next door for a shower and Medusa follows her. I think they want to gossip, although what they could possibly have to talk about is beyond my understanding. All Medusa has done is eat and sleep.

Alfarin squeezes himself into our shower, and I find some clean clothes for him out of the stuff the girls bought last night. He isn’t self-conscious about showing off his body, and he walks around the room, dripping wet, with a bath towel barely covering him. He has a tattoo of a longboat on his right shoulder. I think it will mean more to him now.

I’ve been thinking about getting inked, but I can’t decide on a design. I like those full-on sleeves. But I’d need to work out a bit more, because they’d look sort of stupid on skinny arms.

Once I’ve stopped my death, I’ll get both arms tattooed.

Medusa comes back to the room, grabs some clothes, and disappears again. Alfarin and I make small talk.

“You all right?”

“Yes, my friend.”

Alfarin and I are such good friends, we only need six words.

Medusa and Elinor come back into the room. They’re playing twins again. Both are dressed in gray skinny jeans and black T-shirts. They also have their hair tied back, although Medusa’s curls are already escaping and falling around her face.

No one mentions the imprints filled with dark gray powder that cover the white sheets where Medusa and I slept.

We are molting death.

The Viciseometer is in my hand. “I need the date, Elinor.”

She’s sweating and looking as green as I’ve ever seen her. Both of her hands are on the nape of her neck now. It’s almost as if she’s checking to be sure her head is still attached to her shoulders. Elinor squeezes Alfarin’s arm.

“Promise me ye will do exactly as I ask,” she says to him.

Alfarin kisses her hand. “I am your slave.”

“Ye know my date of death, Mitchell. It was my birthday: the fourth of September,” she says.

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.