The Soured Earth by Sophie Weeks

Author:Sophie Weeks [Weeks, Sophie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Booktrope Editions
Published: 2013-12-02T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

THE NEXT DAY, SAM CALLED after school asking permission for Jess to come home with her, which Margaret readily allowed. But when the three girls came in that afternoon, something was obviously wrong. Emilie ran straight upstairs, her face red and swollen, and Margaret said, “What's wrong with her? Did something happen at school?”

“I don't know,” Sam said. “I asked Lisa on the bus, but she just started giggling.”

Jess was looking very uncomfortable and wouldn't lift her eyes from the cup of cocoa Margaret had given her. Margaret noticed and said, “Jess?”

“Not my place to say, ma'am,” Jess murmured, but she looked troubled.

Margaret sat down with the two girls. “Was it a boy? Em doesn't have a boyfriend …” At least not as far as she knew—she wouldn't dismiss the possibility that her rebellious cousin had a secret boyfriend.

“You'd better ask Emilie,” Jess said stubbornly, and Margaret sighed. She didn't want to deal with this right now.

But there wasn't really a choice. “Start your homework,” she said to the girls and went upstairs with a cup of cocoa and a peanut butter sandwich on a plate. She knocked on Emilie's door. “Em, I brought you a snack.”

“Go away,” came a wailing sob from within.

Margaret went inside anyway, and found Em face down on the bed, weeping. She put the food down on a table and sat beside Em. She reached out to try and rub Emilie's back, but the girl flinched away from her. “What's wrong, Emilie?” she asked gently. “Please tell me.” Her anxiety flared. “Is your stomach all right? Do you feel sick?”

Emilie shook her head violently. “He's going to kill me,” she said in a muffled voice.

“Who is?”

“Uncle Jon …”

“Why would Dad kill you?” Margaret shifted to sit closer. “Em, what's wrong? Please tell me, I want to help you.”

“You'll tell …”

Margaret hesitated for a moment, weighing that. “I might tell, but not if I don't have to. Em, whatever it is, whatever you've done, we'll figure it out, okay?”

Emilie sobbed for a few moments more, but finally pulled out her phone, pressed a few buttons, and pulled up a web site. “Hot Barely Legal Girls” flashed at the top, and as Margaret scrolled down hesitantly, she saw with horror a picture of her cousin, entirely naked, posing in front of a mirror as she photographed herself. Margaret was speechless. She didn't want to look, but she tapped on the picture anyway and there found a full gallery of photos of her teenaged cousin and, worse yet, a short video. “Oh my God,” Margaret whispered.

Emilie wouldn't look at her and was shivering violently as she cried, noisy as a child. Her distress actually helped Margaret, who paused in trying to process what she'd seen and pulled a blanket up over Emilie. “Em,” Margaret said, “Shhhh … it's okay.”

“It's not okay!” Emilie screamed.

“All right, it's not okay,” Margaret admitted. Then her face hardened. “I'm going to string Rob up by his balls.”

“Nooo …” Emilie sobbed.

“Don't try and protect him, Emilie.

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