The Curse of Crow Hollow Read Online Free PDF Page B

grasp. Dirt. Rocks. Twigs. Launching them into the dimness and gloom. Aiming, I suppose, for the picture she had carried in her mind of that party just after John David had returned, his strong arms and slender bones, the memory of him drunk and leaning on her, the way his lips had moved as he’d whispered in her ear.
    But that’s not near all I expect Scarlett railed at, covered in all that dirt and dust so far from her friends. I been in this world long enough to know how folk are and what they think, friend. That’s how I can say that girl raged against what she was as well, against her very name . She was Mayor Wilson Bickford’s Daughter and she was Her Daddy’s Child and Her Dead Momma’s Little Girl but she had never been merely Scarlett, and she had lived behind those high walls for so long that she believed her true self no longer existed and maybe never had. It is a pitiful thing, ain’t it? Wanting so much to love and be loved for who you are instead of what. Wanting that so bad you will reach for even the slimmest of hopes, only to draw back a fist of hurt and wrath that you shake at the world.
    Her last throw hit upon something hollow. Scarlett swiped at her face and rose to her knees, sobbing as she peered over the faint outline of a wide clump of shrubs to what lay behind it. A tiny yelp, barely heard, fell from her lips as she took in the mouth of Number Four’s boarded entrance. I don’t think it was the sight of the mountain’s maw that frightened that poor girl so. I think what scared little Scarlett most was the knowing of just how far off she’d run, and the peculiar sense that she was no longer alone.
    Now sure, Scarlett had no evidence of this. But you ain’t ever been to Campbell’s Mountain at nighttime, so you’ll trust me when I say it’s no place to be even in the day. I’m telling you, it’s a presence there. And Scarlett didn’t need to see it. She could feel it.
    Behind her came the soft scrape of wood over stone. Quick, like something had stumbled.
    Scarlett crept to her feet, never minding the dirt on her bare knees and the stains on her skirt. She backed away from the stand of pines that hid whatever had made the sound, easing closer to the mine.
    â€œHello?” she managed.
    A rustle.
    â€œJohn David?”
    And then the trees came alive. Branches flew and limbs cracked, a body shooting out from the moonlight. The words “Don’t you wish?” piercing the air. Scarlett jumped, nearly falling into the scrub, as Cordelia shot forward and grabbed Scarlett’s hands. “Where’s it?” Cordy said.
    Scarlett tried shrinking back. Cordelia wouldn’t let her.
    â€œI’m not kidding, Scarlett. Where is it?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œHays’s knife. Give it to me.”
    â€œI don’t have it.”
    â€œGive it to me now .”
    â€œI don’t have it.”
    Cordy let go long enough to shove the sleeves of Scarlett’s sweater up. Scarlett yanked herself away and shook her head no.
    â€œI’m not kidding, Scarlett. You show me your arms, or I swear to God I’m gonna tell your daddy.”
    Scarlett had backed so close to the mine that she could feel the cold wind whistling through the gaps between the boards, as though the mountain itself was breathing.
    â€œ Show me ,” Cordelia said.
    There was nowhere she could go, nothing Scarlett could do. She hung her head and, sobbing once more, raised her sleeves an inch at a time. The right first, then the left, revealing the jagged cuts that ran from just below her wrists to her bony elbows. All scarred and scabbed, but bloodless.
    Cordelia’s glower melted to revulsion and then to a pity only love could bear. She stepped forward, ignoring Scarlett’s flinches, and wrapped her friend in her arms.
    â€œI’m sorry. You ran off. Hays couldn’t find his knife. I