Thorn Jack by Katherine Harbour

Author:Katherine Harbour [Harbour, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-05-06T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Those who have received their touch waste away from this world, lending their strength to the invisible ones; for the strength of a human body is needed by the shadows.

—VISIONS AND BELIEFS IN THE WEST OF IRELAND, LADY GREGORY

The water folk are the most dangerous. They feed on our blood to keep their shapes. Mermaids, selkies, kelpies, the Afanc . . . their clan is called Uisce, so beware of anyone with that name.

—FROM THE JOURNAL OF LILY ROSE

Finn hadn’t slept, worrying about Christie. Her phone was tucked close to her pillow so she could have instant contact with him. When he finally texted her, it was to let her know that he wouldn’t be going to classes until later on. She’d wanted to hear his voice, just to make sure he was okay.

It was as she was setting down her phone that she remembered Lily Rose’s phone . . . a phone she’d just tossed in with her sister’s stuff, a phone she’d never checked. She scrambled from bed and hurried down the stairs into the dining room, to the boxes holding Lily’s things. She went through two of them before she found the iPhone and its adapter. She’d have to wait before going through any photos on it; Lily’s laptop had died a year ago and she’d never looked at her sister’s files—she regretted that now. The world Lily had seen, the one Finn was only beginning to glimpse, might have been visible in more technological ways than Lily’s journal.

As Finn drifted to the hall table and began thumbing through the mail, her heart jumped when she found the crimson envelope.

SHE TOLD SYLVIE WHAT HAD happened to Christie when they met in Origen’s courtyard between classes.

“Christie was possessed?” Sylvie’s shoulders convulsed in a shudder. “But that’s not—”

“Don’t say it’s not possible, because, really, it is.” Finn didn’t want to talk about it anymore. She wore silver and iron for protection and knew that, last night, Christie hadn’t worn his.

“And Professor Avaline knows—things?” Sylvie said, looking wary now.

“Lots of things.”

“And Absalom the dealer is probably one of these . . . people, according to Annie Weaver? He’s a Fata, too, and all the Fatas are . . . ?”

“Let’s just call them Fatas. Oh, and I got this, this morning.” Finn held up the crimson envelope. “It’s—”

“I know what it is.” Sylvie pulled an identical envelope from her backpack. “It’s an invitation to another Fata party.”

CHRISTIE HAD ALSO RECEIVED AN invitation.

Later, the three of them held a desperate, whispered conversation in HallowHeart’s library. It was a gloomy afternoon, spitting rain, and the library’s fluorescent lighting was giving Finn a headache.

“Did it really happen, Christie? A possession?” Sylvie was studying him with narrowed eyes.

Christie gazed out the window. He looked exhausted. “I don’t know. It felt . . .bad. Like I got shoved into the back of my head while someone else did the steering.”

Sylvie looked down at her wrists braceleted with charms. “How did Caliban do it, do you think?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Finn said.

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