Read Online Unholy Magic by Stacia Kane - Free Book Online Page B

drifted into dishonesty.
— Careers in the Church: A Guide for Teens ,
by Praxis Turpin
    “Arden!” Kym Pyle’s skin reddened beneath the perfect mask of her makeup. “How dare you say such a thing!”
    Roger cast an anxious look in Chess’s general direction—she doubted he would actually be able to focus on anything—and said, “Arden, honey, you know that isn’t true. You’re being very unfair, Mommy and Daddy would never do something like that.”
    Arden’s pretty little face scrunched itself into a glower. “Give me a break.”
    “Miss Putnam, I assure you we’re not doing anything of the kind. Our daughter has a very active imagination.”
    Maybe, maybe not, Chess thought. She’d have to make sure she got a chance to talk to Arden Pyle alone at some point. Not today—they’d be watching her too closely—but at some point. “That’s okay, Roger. Let’s just get back to the question, shall we? When did you first see the entity?”
    “This is bullshit,” Arden said. Chess steeled herself for more delaying on the part of her parents, but neither reacted.
    Instead, Kym spoke up. “I was in my work room. Embroidery. I’m putting our family tree on a tapestry for that wall.” She nodded to indicate the wall behind Chess, who didn’t turn around.
    “I was just finishing my great-grandmother’s name when I realized it was quite cold, despite my sweater. So I got up, planning to call one of the staff members to turn up the heat, and …” Her hands clenched in her lap. “It was a woman. She looked terrified, and I spun around to see if something was behind me, but nothing was. When I turned back around to ask her what she was looking at—I thought maybe she was one of the staff—she was gone.”
    “I saw a man,” Roger said. “In one of the guest rooms. I’d gone in there to check and see if we needed anything—we were having some friends stay that weekend—”
    Arden snorted.
    He ignored her. “—and I thought I’d check the bathroom of the room they’d be staying in, make sure we had shampoo and toothpaste, you know, the things people need. I didn’t see him so much as glimpse him, standing in front of the window—I think it was a man, anyway, taller and broader than a woman—but by the time I realized it wasn’t one of the staff, he’d disappeared.”
    “Did you feel anything? Cold, nerves, fear, anything unusual?” Not everyone did, but then not everyone knew that.
    “No. Like I said, I assumed he was staff, waiting for me, or taking a few minutes for himself. I don’t mind if they do that, as long as everything is done….” He caught Kym’s disapproving eye. “Well, I don’t . I thought it was odd he didn’t respond when I said hello, and then he just … poof, gone.”
    “This happened during the day?”
    “Technically, I guess. It was about five in the afternoon. But it gets dark so early now.” He shuddered. “The nights are so long.”
    “And the sightings have grown more threatening since?”
    Both Pyles nodded. Arden stayed as she was, with her arms folded and a bored look on her face.
    “We were attacked in our sleep two weeks ago,” Roger said. “Kymmi was injured. It’s gotten worse since. We don’t shower alone. We don’t go anywhere alone at night, anywhere in the house.”
    Chess shuffled through the stack of photographs balanced in her lap until she found the one she wanted. She assumed it was Kym; the image was of a woman’s toned back, covered in long shallow scratches. She held it up. “This was your injury, Mrs. Pyle?”
    “Yes. The marks are still there.”
    “Show her, Mom.” Arden turned to Chess. “My mom likes to show people her body, don’t you, Mom?”
    Kym looked as if she wanted to slap the girl, but she kept her composure. “Do you need to see them, Miss Putnam?”
    “If you don’t mind, that would be helpful.”
    Kym rose from her seat and turned around, crossing her arms in front of her to grip the hem of her dress.