She Dies at the End (November Snow #1) Read Online Free Page A

you’ll feel much better after I make you forget that this ever happened.  That will give us some time to figure out what to do with you without your running away or telling anyone about our existence.  Zinnia,” he said, turning his head, “would you do the honors?”
      The girl’s voice took on a strangely sonorous quality as she said, “Listen carefully to me, November.  This never happened.  You’ve never met William, Zinnia, or Ben.  There’s no such thing as vampires or fairies or werewolves.”
    November burst out laughing, giddy from the adrenaline and the strangeness of it all, covering her mouth and raising a quizzical eyebrow.  “I’m sorry, does that usually work?”
    William swore.  “Yes, usually.  And now we’ve violated the Precepts.  Terrific.”
    “Precepts?” November asked.
    “We have laws, November, and one of the most important ones is to prevent the human race from learning that supernatural creatures exist,” explained the fairy.  “So we enthrall humans to erase the memories of those on whom we feed and others who discover our existence.  It seems, however, that you are immune.”
    “How old are you?” William demanded.
    “I’ll be eighteen on the first of November,” the girl replied.  “Why?” she asked.  
    “Damn it.  You’re too young to turn for three years yet,” William muttered.  “The Reforms are such a nuisance sometimes.  Sometimes I really wonder why I wrote them.  What am I supposed to do with you?”
    “We could kill her,” said Ben.  “Problem solved.  I’m hungry again.”  He leered at her.  November looked right at him, showing no fear.  She supposed she should be more alarmed.  Honestly, though, he was more irritating than scary.  Maybe that’s why he was acting like such a jerk: overcompensation. 
    “Stop it, youngling,” William growled.  “Magic humans don’t grow on trees.  We’re not wasting her blood on you.  Perhaps we can make a good case for an exception, since she’s so valuable.”  He turned to November to add, “Please excuse him.  He is a toddler who hasn’t yet learned any manners.”  The blond youth glowered.
    “No offense taken,” she carefully replied.  “I’m not going to tell anyone about you,” November tried to assure them.  “And who would believe me if I did?” 
    “You would have been smarter to lie, to pretend you didn’t see what we were, to pretend that you’re a fraud, a con artist.”  William looked at her, almost regretfully.  “Now you’re stuck with us.  You’ll have to become part of our world.  Your fate is sealed.”
    November's smile was a touch wistful.  “Oh, not to worry, Mr. Knox.  My fate was sealed quite some time ago.  I could only have perhaps delayed the inevitable.  Here, I’ll show you.”  She pulled one of the binders out of the battered army surplus trunk that contained her few prized possessions.  She’d never shown these drawings to anyone except her grandmother.  “Now, you must excuse the quality of the early ones.  I was only this many when I started drawing you,” she explained, holding up three fingers.
    The three creatures gathered around her record, flipping through the drawings November had made of her visions.  Her habit was to draw all sightings that disturbed her.  It helped her process her emotions and put them out of her mind.  She kept the ones that seemed important and destroyed the rest.  This binder was labeled “My End.”
    The early drawings were stick figures in crayon, sometimes labeled with misspelled words: "blu ladee, ded body, shovl."  They grew more detailed later.  Some showed the whole scene, others the faces in detail.  On some she’d jotted the spoken words she could make out, or pictures of the flowers.  There was a tenderness in the later drawings, almost like affection.  These specters that once had frightened her into madness had gradually become old friends, like any frequent