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I never told Mrs McG about the shadow-figure I’d seen earlier that day Sos worse

Later that day, as I waited in the kitchen for in the day’s lessons, I heard voices froratulations," Root said

My father’s voice said, "Indeed And for what?"

"For showing your true nature," she said, her voice crooning satisfaction Then she added, "I buried the cat"

I ran into the living roo to hear more

Chapter Two

The year I was thirteen, I learned that al I’d been told about etarian And he’d never wanted to have radually, not in onerevelation -- which I would have preferred, dra about your life: so bits

Thankfully, e so uneventful that, looking back, I see Noant to move more into the wakeful moments, the real time of my thirteenth year and what followed

It was the first year I had a birthday party In other years, ive me a present at dinner, and Mrs McG wouldThose events happened this year as well, but in addition Mrs McG took me home with her on July 16, the day after ht: another first for me I’d never slept anywhere but ho room I’d overheard my father discuss the plans with Mrs McG He’d had to be convinced that I’d be all right in a strange house

"The child needs friends," Mrs McG had said firhbor’s cat, I think She needs to be distracted"

My father said, "Ari is fragile, Mrs McGarritt She’s not like other children"

"She’s overprotected," Mrs McG said, with a strength I hadn’t thought she possessed

"She’s vulnerable" My father’s voice was quiet, but authoritative "I can only hope that she won’t share my affliction, since we lack the ht about that," Mrs McG said, her voice contrite "I’m sorry"

After a pause, ht, so long as you pro happens"

Mrs McG pro what my father was so worried about In his excessive concern he reminded me of the princess’s father in The Princess and the Goblins, terrified that his daughter would be kidnapped by beastly things that stole into her roo loud rock music e arrived, and Mrs McG’s first words were "Turn it down!" Kathleen careet reen plaid jumper over a short-sleeved white blouse, white knee socks, and penny loafers She had to attend summer school because she’d failed World History

"Look at you!" she said

For my birthday I had requested, and received, a new outfit, which I earing: a pale blue t-shirt and htly thanout th bob

"What do you think?"

"Sexy," she said, and her mother said, "Kathleen!"

But I knew she wasn’t lying when Michael calance at me and fell backward onto a sofa, in a nore hie"

Upstairs, I lay on Kathleen’s bed while she put on jeans and a T-shirt She rolled her uniform into a ball and kicked it into a corner "It was my sister Maureen’s," she told me Maureen was the oldest, and I rarely saw her because she attended business college in Albany

"Who knoore it before her? I wash it every other day, and it still smells funny" Kathleen made a face

"I’ her to it, because she told me that two or three ti on the phone each night for an hour, more if no one coular topic So was a game we played called "Gross out," in which we tried to outdo each other in is in the name of love; the winner so far: "Would you eat your lover’s used dental floss?" Kathleen had come up with that one She was also very interested in my father’s lupus, which her ht I had it, too

"I don’t know," I said "Apparently they can’t test for lupus" Then I’d told her I didn’t want to talk any more about it, and she’d said she understood

"So what did you get for your birthday?" She sat on the floor, unplaiting her hair

"These new clothes," I re and extended my ankle

"Converse All-Stars!" Kathleen picked up one of her penny loafers and threw it in my direction "You’re cooler than me now" She pretended to sob into her arms, then looked up and said, "Not really"

I tossed a bed pillow at her