Accidental Evil Read Online Free

recipe. All the recipes that grabbed her parents’ fancy were written in French, and her parents barely understood French.
    “Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad,” Lily said.
    “Oh good, you’re home,” her mom said. Her father turned and pushed his glasses up, like he had forgotten what she looked like and wanted to get a fresh perspective. Her mom wiped her hands on a towel and moved away from the stove. Her father turned down the burner and followed. They cornered her at the kitchen table and motioned for her to sit down.
    Lily tried to guess what they wanted to tell her. Were they getting a divorce? No—they would never do that with Elizabeth abroad. Besides, her parents were fused together. They barely made up one complete person with both of them combined.  
    When they were all sitting, their attention naturally focused on Lily’s mom.
    “What do you think of Barcelona?” her mother asked.
    Lily shrugged. She remembered that wad of gum that had nearly choked her. She wondered what was about to be shoved down her throat in its place.
    “You studied Spanish, correct?” her father asked.
    “Latin,” Lily said. “You said it was the…”
    “It’s the basis of all Romance languages,” her father said with a big smile. “Perfect!”
    “I’ve only had one year,” Lily said.
    “You’ll pick it up like water,” her mother said with a hand wave.
    Lily chewed on her lower lip for a second. “What are you guys talking about?”
    “We’re going to meet up with your sister and stay for the summer,” her mother said. “You’ll love everything about it.”
    “The weather there is perfect,” her father said.
    “It’s very hot,” her mother said, shooting him a look. “We’ll have to find a place with a good sea breeze.”
    “Of course,” her father said.
    “But Elizabeth is in Rome,” Lily said.
    “Not for long,” her mother said. “Her host family is going to Barcelona for the summer and we’ve got some business there too. We’re all going to meet up there.”
    “I thought the point of a year abroad was for her to get away from family.”
    “We won’t interfere,” her father said. “The point is for you to experience a different culture. You’ll still be doing that.”
    Lily shook her head. For the first time, she was supposed to have a summer to do what she wanted. Elizabeth was out of the country, and Lily wouldn’t be forced to go along with whatever summer plans her older sister cooked up. There wouldn’t be gymnastics camp or sailing camp. Lily was going to ride her leased horse every day, go to events, and hang out with her friends. Now she was supposed to drop everything and go to Barcelona? The idea was enraging.
    “My passport!” Lily said. The revelation made her heart soar. “My passport is expired. You remember how long it took to get Elizabeth’s.”
    They had planned on Elizabeth’s departure for months, and procuring the passport renewal had taken every minute of that time. There was some complication with the way they had obtained the passports when they were kids. Some shortcut from before had nearly ruined Elizabeth’s year abroad before it had even started.
    Her parents exchanged a worried glance.
    “I’ll check on it in the morning,” her father said.
    “Call Frank,” her mother said. “He’ll know what to do.”
    They nodded to each other and then turned back to Lily.
    “We’ll figure it out,” her mother said.
    “Or,” Lily said. She dragged out the word like her mother did when she was trying to talk the kids into a more palatable option. The kids would tell their mother that they wanted to go down and jump off the dam with the other kids. Wendy would say, “Or… I’ll get Trina to drive you to the Point and you can swim out to the float and jump off that.” Only Summer People swam down at Foster’s Point. The locals—their friends—swam down at the dam or out behind Dawn’s.  
    Lily had learned the approach well. Now she was using it against her