The Demon's Riddle Read Online Free Page A

make sure this didn't happen, knowing she could set him off if she rushed upstairs too quickly. But she looked at him as she counted, and suddenly her father looked old, for the first time in a way that Kerry realized was the beginning of frailty and weakness.
    The realization tempered her victory slowly, but then she thought back to James Cavanaugh and the inspiration he had given her and the seeds of change he had placed deep within her. She thought about those seeds, their implications and the way they might affect her future, and she considered what they might grow into as she began to spend more time with him.  

Chapter 6
Is It That Obvious?
     
    Kerry spent the entire next day hoping that process would start with rehearsal the following evening. She fantasized about it in all sorts of ways, most of them completely emotional and illogical, and she chided herself for thinking like a young girl and rushing her thoughts to places they weren't supposed to go, at least not yet. 
    She had an energy that was almost impossible to contain. Her father noticed it during breakfast, and she had to tamp herself down again, to make herself neutral so she wouldn't feel the childish hostility that often emanated from him when someone was happy for some reason that had little or nothing to do with him.
    Kerry ate quickly, almost bolting her food, and it was all she could do to finish washing the breakfast dishes once she was done, so strong was her urge to be away from him, even at the store, where she normally still felt his presence like a dark cloud. 
    But today was different. Kerry realized it instantly as soon as she got to the store. Something was unusual as soon as she got there, and after a few minutes she realized it was her. There was something about her presence that was lighter, she could feel it affecting the room, even though there weren't any parishioners or customers yet. Still, the room itself felt lighter as well, and she wondered how this was possible without her exerting the least bit of effort at all.  
    The day passed quickly in much the same vein. Kerry fidgeted constantly, trying to keep busy as she willed the clock to go faster. The older woman who came in and did the books for the store, Mrs. Dalrymple, noticed immediately, and at first she seemed annoyed when Kerry kept coming into the back room for no particular reason at all. 
    After a while, though, her reactions visibly changed. A small smile began to show about the third time Kerry stopped by, and Kerry began to notice that she didn't seem to mind the interruptions as much. Finally, after her fifth visit, the bookkeeper slid her bifocals down the bridge of her nose, and she studied Kerry as she went into the fridge to get a soda, which would have been her third of the day had she not stopped with the door in mid-swing and changed her mind.
    "Got something going on, have you?" she said, her grin growing larger.
    "Excuse me?" Kerry replied, mildly surprise at being spoken to by the bookkeeper, whose demeanor normally resembled that of a wooden Indian.  
    "You heard me."
    Kerry turned, wondering from the tone of her voice if she might be serious, and for some reason she panicked, thinking Mrs. Dalrymple might report some slight, real or imagined, to her father. When she saw her face, though, Kerry blushed at the bookkeeper's knowing smile.
    "A young man, perhaps," Mrs. Dalrymple asked, her voice suddenly more youthful than Kerry had ever heard before.
    "No," she replied petulantly, making sure to add a touch of playfulness to her tone. "Why on earth would you think that?"
    "No particular reason," the bookkeeper replied, mirth lighting up her gray eyes. Kerry took a deep breath, thinking she had passed whatever test she had just been subjected to, and she shut the door, heading back out onto the store floor, which she knew was totally empty, just as it had been for most of the day.
    "It is quite obvious, though," she heard her say as she made her way