Mercy Read Online Free PDF Page B

before she went in. Sunny let out a long yodeling yelp as Haley closed the door.
    â€œWhy did you bring that creature to my house?”
    Haley’s eyes were still adjusting to the change in light, and Aunt Brown’s low, sharp voice seemed to come out of nowhere. “I didn’t—” Haley blinked. She was standing in the hallway, theliving room to one side, the dining room to the other. All the blinds were down, the air dim and gray.
Like living underwater
, she thought. The house was chilly. No wonder Aunt Brown always wore that cardigan. Haley kept her jacket on.
    And there was that smell, one she recognized from her father’s studio. Clay. It must come up from the basement. But it seemed to soak into the whole house, walls and ceilings, carpets and curtains.
    â€œI didn’t think you’d mind. She’s Jake’s dog.” And that wasn’t true, not anymore, but Haley knew she wouldn’t stop saying it. “I’m just—keeping her.”
    â€œDon’t bring her out here again. I don’t like animals in the house.” Now Haley could make Aunt Brown out, standing in the doorway to the dining room.
    Sunny’s not
in
the house
, Haley thought rebelliously. But she said meekly, “I won’t. I’m sorry.”
    Aunt Brown still looked displeased, as if an apology weren’t enough. “Did you say you wanted something?”
    To be gone was what Haley wanted now. Why didn’t Aunt Brown ask Haley to come into the living room, or to sit down, or anything? Would it kill her to be friendly?
    â€œI’ve just got this school project,” she said awkwardly. “History. We’re supposed to research an ancestor, you know? And I wanted to—you know, Mercy? Mercy Brown?”
    It was strange how Aunt Brown just stood there, with those small, cool gray eyes fixed on Haley. Her eyelashes were so pale that she didn’t seem to have any, and Haley couldn’t see her blink. It was like being stared at by a snake.
    â€œSo I thought, Dad said, you might have some stuff about her?” Haley hated the way her voice was making everything she said into a question. “Family history stuff? That I could borrow?”
    â€œWait here.”
    Aunt Brown really didn’t believe in wasting words. She just turned and left, her feet in their soft shoes silent on the old wooden floor.
    Haley shivered a little. Didn’t Aunt Brown notice how cold it was? She wandered into the dining room and twitched the curtains aside to look out the window. The sunlight that spilled into the room seemed faint and dishwater gray.
    Restlessly, Haley moved around the room, brushing her hand over faded wallpaper, fingering carved wooden grapes and apples on a long sideboard. It was all slightly cold to the touch. Haley always had the feeling that everything in Aunt Brown’s house should be covered with a light film of dust. She could almost see it, softening the carvings on the sideboard, dulling the shine of the pewter candlesticks on the table, clinging to the crystal of the chandelier. But there was no dust. Everything her fingers touched was perfectly clean. Haley imagined dust particles drifting in the air, too afraid of Aunt Brown to settle.
    â€œDid you pull those curtains?”
    For the second time in ten minutes, Haley jumped. Aunt Brown was just behind her.
    Haley smiled nervously. She felt like an idiot. And it didn’t help that Aunt Brown gave no answering smile, only stood looking sternly at her, as if Haley was expected to do something. In her hands was a bulky envelope, the brown paper soft with age and two of the corners split.
    â€œThe light will fade the furniture,” Aunt Brown said.
    Haley was baffled for a moment, then remembered the curtains. She hurried across the room to close them again.
    Aunt Brown had set the envelope on the table and was carefully taking something out of it. A sheaf of papers, clipped together. An