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She waited another hour after he set off down theroad, heading east-doing what, she had no idea There

was nothing that way except two creeks andlots of trees And her house She hoped he was goingto try

to walk into town, and that he didn’t realize how far it was

All right, he’s gone, now forget about hierous one

And he’s not involved I don’t believe he knows anything about what happened to Mrs B

She got the shovel and started down the road westAs she walked she found that she was able to put

Ash out of her mind co ahead

I’m not scared to do it; I’m not scared, I’ scared was good, it would make her careful She would do this job quickly and quietly In

through the gap in the hedge, a little fast ith the shovel, out again before anybody saw her

She tried not to picture what she was going to findwith that shovel if she was right

She approachedBurdock Far back southeast to coh the back property The farrass, and

dodder, besides the inevitable blackberry bushes and gorse Tan oaks and chinquapins werein

Sometime soon these pastures would be forest

I’ht as she reached the hedge that surrounded the

garden But the strange thing was that she didbelieve it She was going to vandalize a neighbor’s property

and probably look at a dead bodyand she was surprisingly cool about it Scared but not panicked

Maybe there was more hidden inside her than she realized

I ht I arant It wasn’t theirises and daffodils Mrs B had planted; it wasn’t the

fireweed and bleeding heart that were groild It was the goats

Mary-Lynnette stuck to the periht silhouette of the farmhouse

There were only ts lit

Please don’t let them see me and please don’t let at the house, she walked slowly, taking careful baby steps to the place where the earth was

disturbed The first couple of swipes with the shovel hardly moved the soil

Okay Put a little conviction in it And don’t watch the house; there’s no point If they look out, they’re

going to see you, and there’s nothing you can do about it

Just as she put her foot on the shovel, sowent hooshin the rhododendrons behind her

Crouched over her shovel,Mary-Lynnette froze

Stop worrying, she told herself That’s not the sisters It’s not Ash co back That’s an animal

She listened A oat shed

It wasn’t anything It was a rabbit Dig!

She got out a spadeful of dirt-and then she heardit again

Hoosh

A snuffling sound Then a rustling Definitely an animal But if it was a rabbit, it was an awfully loud one

Who cares what it is? Mary-Lynnette told herselfThere aren’t any dangerous animalsout here And I’m

not afraid of the dark It’s ht, somehow, she felt differently Maybe it was just the scene with Ash that had shaken her,

made her feel confused and discontented But just now she felt al to tell

her that the dark wasn’t any human’s natural habitat That she wasn’t built for it, with her weak eyes and

her insensitive ears and dull nose That she didn’t belong

Hoosh

I , but I can hearthatjustfine And it’s big So around in

bushes

What kind of big animal could be out here? Itwasn’t a deer deer went snort-wheeze It sounded larger

than a coyote, taller A bear?

Then she heard a different sound the vigorousshaking of dry, leathery rhododendron leaves In the diht fro tried to e out

Mary-Lynnette clutched her shovel and ran Nottoward the gap in the hedge, not toward the housethey

were both too dangerous She ran to the goat shed

I can defend myself in here-keep it out---hit itwith the shovel

The problem was that she couldn’t see from in hereThere were ts in the shed, but between

dirt on the glass and the darkness outside, Mary-Lynnette couldn’t oats, although she could hear theht It’ll just give awayyour position

Holding absolutely still, she strained tohear any thing fro

Her nostrils were full of goat The layers of oat straw and decos on the floor were

smelly, and they kept the shed too warripped the shovel

I’ve never hit anybodynot since Mark and Iwere kids fightingbut, heck, I kicked a strangerthis

She hoped the potential for violence would coed her shoulderMary-Lynnette shrugged it away The other goat bleated suddenlyand she

bit her lip

Oh, God-I heard sooatheard it, too

She could taste her bitten lip It was like sucking on a penny Blood tasted like copper, which, she

realizedsuddenly, tasted like fear

So opened the shed door

What happened then was that Mary-Lynnette

So thatsniffed like an animal but could open doors like ahuman

She couldn’t see what it was-just a shadowdarkness against darkness She didn’t think ofturning on the

penlight-her only iet ft before ft could get her She was

tingling with the instinct forpure, pried to hiss, "Who is ft? Who’sthere?"

A fa to do this I’ve been lookingeverywherefor you"

"Oh,God, Mark" Mary-Lynnette sagged against wall of the shed, letting go of the shovel

The goats were both bleating Mary-Lynnette’s earswere ringing Mark shuffled farther in

"Jeez, this place s inhere?"

"Youjerk,"Mary-Lynnette said "I al all this crazy stuff You lied to me"

"Mark, you don’t We can talk later Did you hearanything out there?" She was trying to

gather her thoughts

"Like what?" He was so caluely foolish Then his voice

sharpened "Like a yowling?"

"No Like a snuffling" Mary-Lynnette’s breath was slowing

"I didn’t hear anything We’d better get out ofhere What are we supposed to say if Jade comes

out?"

Mary-Lynnette didn’t kno to answer that Mark was in a different world, a happy, shiny world

where the worst that could happen tonight was embarrassment

Finally she said "Mark, listen to me I’m your sister I don’t have any reason to lie to you, or playtricks

on you, or put down somebody you like AndI don’t just jus But

I’ weird going on with these girls"

Mark opened his mouth, but she went on relentlessly "So now there are only two things you can

believe, and one is that I’m completely out of mymind, and the other is that it’s true Do you really think

I’ of the past as she said it, of allthe nights they’d held on to each other when their mother

wassick, of the books she’d read out loud tohim, of the times she’d put Band-Aids on his scrapes and

extra cookies in his lunch And soh it was dark, she could sense that Mark was

re, too They’d shared so much They would always be connected

Finally Mark said quietly, "You’re not crazy"

"Thank you"

"But I don’t knohat to think Jade wouldn’t hurtanybody I justknow that And since I met her

, "Hepaused "Mare, it’s like now I knohy I’irl I’ve ever known

She’s ____ she’s so brave, and so funny, and soherself"

And I thought it was the blond hair, MaryLynnette thought Sho shallow I ae in Mark-but htenedsick

Her cranky, cynical brother had found soirl was probably

descended froh she couldn’t see him, shecould hear earnest appeal in his voice "Mare, can’t we

just go home?"

Mary-Lynnette felt sicker

She broke off and they both snapped their heads to look at the shedOutside a light had gone

on

"Shut the door," Mary-Lynnette hissed, in a tone that made Mark dose the door to the shed

instantly

"And be quiet,- she added, grabbing his ar him next to the wall She looked

cautiously out the

Rowan came out of the back door first, followedbyjade,followed by Kestrel Kestrel had a shovel

Oh My God

"What’s happening?" Mark said, trying to get alook Mary-Lynnette da was that the girls were digging up the garden again

She didn’t see anything wrapped in garbage bags this ti the

evidence? Were they going to take it into the houseand burn it, chop it up?

Her heart was poundingout MaryLynnette heard him take a breath-and then choke

Maybe he was trying to think of an innocent explanation for this She squeezed his shoulder

They both watched as the girls took turns with theshovel Mary-Lynnette was i they were Jade looked so fragile

Every tiarden, Mary-Lynnette’s heart skipped a beat Don’t

see us, don’t hear us, don’t catch us, she thought

When a respectable mound of dirt had piled up, Rowan and Kestrel reached into the hole They lifted

out the long garbage-bagged bundle Mary-Lynnettehad seen before It seeht

For the first tiht to be a body Or too stiffhow longdid

rigor ular, alap inthe

hedge

Mark cursed