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"So Hoould you get the coal out of Booker Mountain?"

He blinked up at her, surprised at the change of subject "Carlene let my father drill some test holes The seams are close to the surface, so he’d probably take the top of the , they called it "And drop it into Booker Creek?"

He nodded "Most likely Then they’d folloith soet at the lower seaet in there"

"You sound like an expert"

"Yeah, right," he said, with surprising bitterness

"And your dad and Carlene worked this all out together?"

"Well, I guess they talked about it" A hint of uncertainty crept in "Just preliminary, you know"

"And then they handed you the job of talking me into it?"

Brice cleared his throat "Well, it seemed like a in for everybody"

"A in" Madison stuck her hands into her jeans pockets and rocked back on her heels "Answerto set the shed on fire?"

She’d surprised him He’d underestimated her And so, for a moment, the truth showed plain on his face

"I don’t believe this," she whispered, shaking her head as if she could soained his s about"

"Your daddy wanted to buy Booker Mountain, and Carlene wanted to sell Only probleured that if it looked like the kids were in danger, the county would take custody And if the county took custody, then I’d have to come home And if I came home, then you could work on me and persuade me to sell I bet you can be very persuasive I bet no one ever says no"

"Maddie"

"So Daddy offered Carlene so out until Grace and John Robert tried to put it out and then took them down to town Now tell me What would you have done if one of the kids had been hurt?"

"Maddie, listen…"

"Don’t you call me Maddie My friends call me Maddie Your problem is, you think everyone else is an idiot Don’t you think I had plans for this summer? You sit down here with your fake farm and your ’Sylvia will be heartbroken’ when Sylvia probably wouldn’t care if you took her seven-layer cake and nailed it to the barn door"

Brice looked like he’d just taken a severe blow to the head "What? What’s Sylvia got to…"

"Because Sylvia has a life, aside fro your housekeeper And I have a life that doesn’t involve sucking up to you So if you think you’re ever going to get your hands on Booker Mountain, you better think again"

That got his attention

"You’re nobody" He looked at her as if she was soeneration inbred trash But when I ask you out, you have the nerve to say no Like you’re too good for h school" He snorted

Correction: she’d been asked out by practically every other guy at the high school And said no But that didn’t stop the

"The only reason you still have that mountain is because nobody ever wanted it before," he went on "Carlene’s totally pathetic, but at least she understands the way things work"

"You leave my mother out of this," Madison said, which was pretty stupid when you thought about it "I’d rather be who I a the tops off ofall over the land and never cleaning up your ownto your daddy, who’d run over a kitten on his way to the bank"

"You’d better watch youryou" Brice swelled up with power like a kind of otten away froain Not that Brice didn’t deserve it, but the last thing she wanted was to have him try wizardry on her and raisefor control

"Are we done here?" She turned toward the door "We’d better get back to the house"

Brice was on her in three quick strides He grabbed hold of her upper ar into her flesh "We’re not done here We’re going to settle this"

He clumsily slammed power into her It wasjab, but it was a far cry froant delivery she was used to Then his sling to free himself Finally, drained dry, he cru out in front of hi he couldn’t reach