Everville Read Online Free PDF Page B

right@ocked a little. And still the blood came, the drops no longer missing her mouth but falling directly upon her tongue. This was no accident, she knew. The beast was feeding her; squeezing its wounded flesh above her face like a honey-soaked sponge.
    It was a moan from her father that stiffed her from the strange reverie that had overtaken her. She looked away from her nourisher, and back through the trees. Whitney was crouching beside Harmon's body, his rifle at her father's head.
    She started towards them, lighter and fleeter than she'd been in weeks. Her belly no longer ached. Her head no longerspun.
    Whitney did not see her until she was six or seven yards away, Pottruck's bloodied rifle pointing directly at him. She had never used a weapon like this before, but at such a distance, it would be difficult to discharge it without doing some harm. Plainly the tormentor made the same calculation, because his face grew fretful at the sight of her.
    "You should be careful with that, child," he said.
    "You leave Papa alone." "I wasn't touching him."
    "Liar."
    "I wasn't. I swear."
    "Maeve, my sweet-" Harmon murmured, raising his head with no little difficulty, "go back to the wagon. Please. There's something-something terrible here."
    "No, there isn't," Maeve replied, the blood of the beast still sweet on her tongue. "It's not going to hurt us." She looked back at Whitney.
    "We've got to get my Papa fixed up, before he dies. You put down your rifle." Whitney did so, and Maeve approached, keeping her own weapon pointed in his direction while she looked upon her father. He was a pitiful sight, his jacket and shirt dark with blood from collar to belt.
    "Help him up," she told Whitney. "Which way is it back to the wagons?"
    "You go, child," Harmon said softly. "I got no life left in me."
    "That's not true. We'll get you to the wagons and Mrs. Winthrop can bandage you up-"
    "No," Harmon said. "It's too late."
    Maeve came to her father's side, and looked directly down into his eyes.
    "You've got to get well," she said, "or what'll happen to Everville?"
    "it was a fine dream I dreamed," he murmured, raising his trembling hand towards her. She took it. "But you're finer, child," he said. "You're the finest dream I ever had. And it's not so hard to die, knowing you're in the world."
    Then his eyes flickered closed.
    "Papa?" she said. "Papa?"
    "He's gone to Hell-" Whitney murmured.
    She looked up at him. He was smiling. The tears she'd held back now came in a bitter flood of sorrow, and of rage-and she went down on her knees beside her father, pressing her face against his cold cheek.
    "Listen to me@' she said to him. Did she feel a tremor in his body, as though he were still holding on to a tiny piece of life, listening to his child's voice in the darkness?
    "I'm going to build it, Papa," she whispered. "I am. I promise. It won't be just a dream-"
    As she finished speaking she felt a feather breath against her cheek, and she knew he had heard her. And having heard, had let go.
    The joy of that knowledge was short-lived.
    "You're not going to build anything," Whitney said.
    She looked up at him. He had reclaimed his weapon, and was pointing it at her heart.
    "Stand up," he said. As she did so he knocked Pottruck's rifle from her hand. "Your tears don't impress me none," he went on. "You're going'
    the way of your Daddy."
    She raised her arms in front of her as though her palms might deflect his bullets. "Please@' she murmured, stumbling backwards.
    "Stand still," he yelled, and as he yelled he fired, the bullet striking the ground inches from her feet. "You're coming with me, in case that devil your Daddy raised comes calling again."
    He had no sooner spoken that there was a disturbance in the branches a few yards behind him.
    "Oh Lord in Heaven-" Whitney breathed, and rushed at Maeve, spinning her around and pulling her back against his body. She sobbed for him not to hurt her, but he grabbed a fistful of her hair and hauled her on to