A Murder of Magpies Read Online Free

checking on you, kid.”
    A hiss escaped between my teeth. I’d heard this line before and lied, “I have homework.”
    “I might get out soon.”
    “And? What home will you go to? You fucked up. Again.”
    Drake staggered to keep me on the line. “I suppose you’re living with your sister.”
    “Obviously, since you called her number and I answered.”
    My cough reared up. I couldn’t talk to that bastard. Without hanging up, I set the
     phone on the table and tromped up the steep and shadowed stairs to my room on the
     second floor. Bernadette tailed a few steps behind, and as I flopped on my bed, I
     scooped her into my arms. Her fur was coarse and her breath reeked, but she was what
     she was. No bullshit. Only something warm for my lap.
    I didn’t miss Drake. I never missed him. So why did I have a bag in my closet with
     enough cash and clothes to get me back to Minnesota if the whim struck? Minnesota
     meant sickness and solitude, but as awful as they were, those things were familiar.
    Black Orchard was a mystery. I didn’t trust the unknown, didn’t like it, didn’t want
     any part of it, and it’d be so easy for me bail. Except whatever kept me in Black
     Orchard had strong hands and didn’t dare let go.

Chapter Four
     
    Vayda
     
    The pine forest crowded in closer. Steam rose from my breath against the chill. I
     squinted past the evergreens, through the blue hour of dusk. Every rustle in the underbrush,
     every shift in the wind prickled my skin. Maybe I wasn’t just over-alert. Maybe I
     wasn’t alone.
    “Who’s out there?” I called.
    A squirrel chattered while it pawed the frost. The stoic, black trees kept their watch,
     but my body refused to let go of the certainty someone was out there. The fabric of
     my nightgown was stiff as I slid my hands to my legs, shivering. I wasn’t like my
     brother—I didn’t push myself out there to find other peoples’ energy, it was drawn
     toward me, and my feelers vibrated in my fingers and ached to dispatch into the woods
     in search of a second beating heart. Do something. I know you’re there.
    Without warning, hands with scars twisting across the skin hovered over my waist behind
     me. I reached for them.
    Light.
    Hesitant.
    A smell—mineral with a metallic edge—grounded me as he held me. I liked being close
     to him, whoever he was.
    “Why are you here?” I asked and tried to see him, but he stopped me with his cheek.
     “Who are you?”
    “I’m around.” His mouth brushed the side of mine. “And I know what you can do.”
     
    ***
     
    I lurched upright. My shoulders trembled from ghostly fingers following me out of
     my dream, and I clutched my blanket to my chest. The sun streaked outside my window,
     breaking the sky. The boy’s words, so softly whispered, made me uneasy. It was only
     a dream, and yet the newspaper sent to my house proved it wasn’t my imagination running
     amok.
    Someone knew.
    After everything Dad had done to wipe away any traces of our former lives, someone
     knew the truth. I didn’t want to run again.
    In the attic, something thumped . We didn’t use the attic, but on occasion, birds became trapped, pinned inside with
     no room to fly. I lay still, waiting for more flapping, yet the silence thickened
     and left me with the unsettling sense of something else inside the house.
    “Just birds, Vayda,” I muttered and climbed out of bed. “Some damn birds.”
    After dressing, I found Jonah with his feet propped on the kitchen table. A new book
     rested on the placemat, a biography of Edgar Allan Poe. Mom wasn’t well-read, my bapo said his daughter hadn’t needed to read to be a good wife, but Dad wasn’t like him
     and insisted we read as much as we could on whatever caught our interest. Biographies
     were my brother’s quirk. As he reached for his morning coffee, he grinned. “Good dreams,
     sleepyhead?”
    I cringed. Why must he know everything ? I picked up his book and tossed it at his forehead,