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A moving gleam much closer caught Kami’s attention. She went to the side of the bell tower and peered into the lashing rain to see more clearly. Below, she saw Rob Lynburn abandon his wheelbarrow, Lillian emerge from her alcove, Ash lift his eyes, and Rosalind run out of the house.
The Lynburns came to stand in their wild garden, shuddering between storm-cloud darkness and washes of ghastly pale light. Their faces were turned up, tiny moons mirroring the lightning, their arms spread out, welcoming the storm.
Kami looked at Jared and saw his eyes had gone lightning-pale. His fear shuddered through her, like the ghostly light flooding the room.
What is wrong with them? And if there’s something wrong with them, what does that make me?
“Jared!” she shouted over the storm. When he did not answer, she grabbed his jacket again, with both hands this time, not letting him pull away, and yelled for him out loud and in her head until he turned his rain-slicked face to hers. “Listen to me. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what any of this means. But I know this much. It doesn’t matter. You’re not one of them. You never were. You’re not theirs. You’re mine.”
Jared bowed his head to hers, looked into her face, and calmed, as if he found some certainty there Kami could not find herself. “Yeah,” he said to her, as she’d said to him twice before. “I know.”
It was electrically uncomfortable to hold on, even only to his jacket, but she did. They stood together in the empty bell tower while the storm lasted, with the Lynburns dancing in the garden below.
Chapter Sixteen
Underwater Light
The Surer Guest was out in the countryside, north of Aurimere as the woods were west and the town was south. Kami had never noticed before how much of Sorry-in-the-Vale was constructed with the manor as its center, and now she could not stop noticing. The guesthouse was made of Cotswold stone and looked pale as butter in the dying evening light, at the top of the long, curving gravel driveway.
The Surer Guest had hosted a wedding earlier that day. The parking lot at the bottom of the driveway was crammed. The door was ajar and much bustling was still going on inside: carts of laundry, food, and cleaning products were being wheeled through the hall from the kitchen area to the offices and storerooms. Still, there was not quite so much bustling that five teenagers could troop in undetected.
“Technically, it’s older than the manor. It’s built around a twelfth-century hall,” Kami said, peeping in through the door. “You’ll see that when we get in.”
“If we get in,” said Ash.
Kami gave Ash an uncertain glance. She had gone home yesterday without telling him goodbye, and she still wasn’t sure how to frame a question about his weirdo family running out into rainstorms. She kept turning and looking at him, as if his handsome face might at any moment slide away like a mask.
“Oh, how could we fail to get in?” Angela asked, rolling her eyes. “After all, people love to see teenagers loitering around. Especially when they’re dressed like ninjas.”
As Kami had made the calls earlier today directing wardrobe choice, she was aware Angela’s eye roll was aimed at her. “Don’t worry,” she told them all.
“Why?” Jared asked. “Because everyone loves a ninja?”
“Because I have a plan,” said Kami, and looked brightly around at her team.
Everyone was dressed in black as she’d asked. Angela was even wearing a hat, possibly so she could roll it down like a ski mask over her face. Jared and Ash looked more alike than ever, though Jared’s T-shirt was short-sleeved and worn, straining at the shoulders. Holly was wearing a black cocktail dress.
Kami said, “I want you to go in there and vamp that receptionist.”
“What?” Ash said blankly.
“You know,” Kami said. “Dazzle her with your charms. Rock her world. Go on.”
They turned to gaze at the receptionist, a bored-looking woman with a magazine tucked not-terribly-surreptitiously under her mouse pad. She looked back at them, over the counter and through the open door, with a stare of utter apathy.
“What,” Ash said, “all of us?”
“Do you want to stand around trying to guess if she likes pretty boys or rough trade?” Jared asked, gesturing lazily from Ash to himself.
“Excuse me, what did you just call yourself?” Ash demanded. “No, wait a second, I don’t care. What did you just call me?”
“Why are you doing this to me?” Angela moaned. “I knew getting out of bed today was even more of a mistake than it usually is.”
“Vamping,” Holly said with conviction, “I can do.”
“Thank you, Holly,” Kami said. “All I want is unquestioning obedience, you people, is that so much to ask? I come up with the plans! I buy all the staples! I need you to do this one little thing for me.”
“Oh, well,” said Jared, “if it’s for the staples, should I take off my shirt?”
