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"You died a hu else," she reminded him "That was the only reason I could"
He nodded "Until last week, this man was mortal Alexandra says he is not Darkyn, but perhaps he underwent a transition like ours"
"Maybe" She took the flashlight from Devon "The blood is a week old anyway, I probably won’t" Abruptly she stopped speaking and gripped the handle, denting the aluers as her eyes closed
She shuddered once, and then froze The flashlight fell to the ground
"Samantha" He rested his hands on her shoulders When she didn’t respond, he shook her "Wake up Daain Samantha"
"No," she said softly as she looked up at hie "I won’t Yellow jackets"
"What? He is wearing a yellow jacket?"
"They killed him" She moved past him and went to a spot some yards away He followed her, and there saw the round around a broken nest "Here" She pointed to a depression in the ground "You were right He did die Right here"
"Where is the body?"
"He rose again, the e did But he’s not like us He’s like the insects On the inside, where you can’t see it" Her expression twisted as she pressed her hands to the sides of her head "I can feel him now He’s in my head He can feel them, too Jesus, he’s alht her chin "Saone to where Jessa Bellaone to Savannah"
Jessa dropped the handle that had broken off the porcelain pitcher, bent, and pressed her fingers to the side of Matthias’s neck His pulse beat steadily under her fingertips, and the cut on his forehead wasn’t bleeding too much
"I’m sorry," she said before she stepped over his motionless form and ran out of the room
She’d never struck another person in her life, and she felt horribly ashamed of herself She didn’t want to leave him like this, helpless and alone But this was her only chance to escape, and whether he was telling the truth or just another elaborate series of lies, she had to get away fro to the surface hatch, and went through it to a narrow stairwell She cli with two different doors She discovered that neither was locked, and the first one she tried opened to a s out to a street
Jessa knew the moment she walked outside that she was in Savannah As cool and damp as the air was, she could ss As she made her way to the street, she noticed the flower beds and the neat rows of slanced back and stuant lines and the faded but still sparkling outer coat of dark blue paint
Sapphire House She’d been kept prisoner under her own ho in her own backyard
Jessa shook her head, backing away froht before she turned and ran It was a bad dream--it had to be--but then she saw the square where Darien had died, and the i spires of St John’s, and even the ht her hoh her head as she fled down the street, away from the square and toward the river She didn’t knohere she was running, only that she had to run; she had to escape this And still the questions screeched inside her head: How had he known? Why hadn’t he told her? How could he have built that place under her own house?
She had to stop and catch her breath at the entrance to the riverfront walk, and as she gulped in air she reo down into the cellar He’d frightened her with tales of rats and spiders lurking down in the dark corners, and kept the door latch padlocked
Buther holiday visits from school Darien had disappeared from the house, only to reappear hours later None of the servants ever saw him leave Once, when she asked hi place in the house, and he went there when he wanted some peace Jessa also recalled so to the house to talk to her father in the sporadic letters Geraldine had written to her
The age of the walls, the odd sizes of the rooms, and the library and the fireplace nowby the fire and reading Matthias hadn’t built the underground shelter Darien had, probably using the saled into the city
I’ve spent more on Old Blue than likely I should have, Darien had told her when they’d discussed her legacy Yet Jessa could never re any h-priced items They’d lived quietly and modestly, and Darien hadn’t cared to throw parties or wasteshe could reularly, in fact, were the books he loved