AllFreeNovel
Share Us
PART ONE
TWO YEARS AGO
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
—Harper Lee,To Kill a Mockingbird
PROLOGUE
Tim. My brother. My confidant, my best friend, and my protector.
Zayde. My lover. My secret, my shelter, and my soulmate.
On Halloween, I lost them both, because ofhim.
He started the fire, and I burned with it. In one night, he destroyed my entire world, and ashes were all that remained.
ONE
My eyes blinked open, and it took me a minute to get my bearings. Oh, yes. I was in my friend Hailey’s car. She’d come to pick me up from the train station for a surprise visit to Alstone. I was normally at boarding school during term time, but since it was half-term, I was making the most of no lessons and a chance to see my two favourite people. Even though it meant that I’d seehim. “Where are we?” I asked, then took in the scenery outside. “Oh. Nearly home.” I couldn’t disguise the tremor in my voice, but I hoped that Hailey didn’t notice it.
She smiled as she brought the car to a stop at the side of the road. “Happy to be back?”
That was a question with a complicated answer. “I’m looking forward to seeing Tim and Joe,” I said, unclipping my seat belt. As I reached for the door handle, I forced a smile. “Thanks, Hails. I’ll see you on Sunday?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Take care of yourself, Fallon.”
Waving her off, I began to make my way up the long driveway that led to the Hyde mansion. My steps slowed as I neared the door and saw my dad’s car was parked there.
What was he doing here at this time of day? I really hoped that one of my brothers was at home. Tim or Joseph, it didn’t matter which. I loved both of my brothers, and they would protect me.
I made it all the way to the stairs without incident and ducked my head into Tim’s room to see if he was around. The room was empty, but I heard noises coming from farther down the hallway, so I headed in the direction of Joseph’s bedroom.
As soon as I pushed the door open, vivid memories assaulted me. Every time I came home, I remembered. Good and bad, all tangled up together, springing into my mind when least expected.
Nine years old, and I’d been standing here in Joseph’s doorway when I’d tripped over…
“Tim!” I whisper-shouted from my bedroom door as soon as I heard my brother’s footsteps on the landing. The footsteps sped up, and I moved back to let him into the room. A shock of red hair appeared, and then Tim’s grinning face was focused on me. He flopped down on the fluffy purple rug next to my bed, propping himself up on his elbows, and I slid down to the carpeted floor to sit next to him.
“What’s up?”
I bit my lip. “I heard you and Joe talking about me. I don’t wanna go away, Timmy.”
His face fell, and he moved to sit next to me. “I don’t want you to go, either. I’ll miss you. But it’ll be safer for us all.”
He was right. I was kind of clumsy, and if that wasn’t bad enough, sometimes I found it hard to concentrate at school. When I dropped things or my teacher told Daddy that I wasn’t paying attention again, he got angry. Daddy was different to other dads. He never punished me when I did bad things. He punished my brothers instead. Daddy said I was his princess, and it wasn’t right to mark my skin. So he beat Tim or Joe instead and made me watch.
Watching my brothers cry in pain made my chest hurt, and it made me cry, too.
It was punishment for us all.
When I turned eleven, I would be sent away to boarding school. I didn’t want to go. I would miss Tim the most—he was my best friend as well as my brother. He was only a year older than me, and we did everything together. Our older brother, Joseph, had nicknamed us “strawberries and cream” because of Tim’s red hair and my pale blonde hair. Tim hated the nickname, but I didn’t mind. It was better than our father calling me “Princess” because I knew that whenever he called me that, I’d done something wrong, and my brothers would be punished. Mummy never stopped him. She never did anything.
“It’s a good school, Fal. Joe showed me on his computer.” Tim put his arm around me. “Do you want to see?”
I nodded. “Okay.” At least I didn’t have to go away until I was eleven. I could still see my brothers every day until then.
As I followed Tim into Joseph’s bedroom, where Joseph was sitting at his computer, I stubbed my toe on the door frame. With a cry, I tripped, falling forwards. I windmilled my arms, trying to stay upright, but I hit the side of Joseph’s desk, and the globe lamp that was sitting on the edge of the desk fell to the floor with a crash.
