Read Online Unspoken: The Lynburn Legacy by Sarah Rees Brennan - Free Book Online
Authors: Sarah Rees Brennan
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woman’s head with weeds in her hair. She brought it down hard four times.
The door to Aurimere House creaked open.
Framed in the doorway stood a woman who was tall while giving the impression she was small, beautiful while giving the impression she was plain. She had long pale hair rippling from her pale face. She looked like the ghost of Aurimere.
“Um, hello,” said Kami.
The woman’s eyes went wide, as if she really was a ghost and she was startled that Kami could see her. “How may I help you?”
“My name’s Kami Glass,” Kami said. She saw the shudder that went right through the woman’s thin frame.
“I’m Rosalind Lynburn, Jared’s mother.” Rosalind Lynburn bowed her fair head, as if admitting to a crime. “I heard something happened on Friday night,” she almost whispered. “If he hurt you—if he scared you, I am truly sorry. I don’t know what I can say.”
Kami glared. “He
saved
me. I came to
thank
him. Is he here?”
Rosalind hesitated, wavering like a reflection in water,then turned with a shimmer of her pale skirts. Kami could barely hear her feet on the stairs.
Rosalind had not invited Kami in, so Kami just poked her head inside and saw the wide gray flagstones and the vaulted ceiling, its arches dark with age and shadow. There were a couple of narrow windows with diamond panes that alternated crimson and clouded glass.
The sound of footsteps was clearer now, above Kami’s head, retreating to the back of the mansion. Kami counted the steps and tried to measure where Jared’s room might be.
The manor was all stone and arches, turning echoes into ghosts. Jared heard his mother coming long before she knocked. She didn’t wait for him to tell her to come in. He’d always wondered why she bothered knocking, until he met Aunt Lillian, Uncle Rob, and Ash and saw that they all did it. Being polite and imperious at the same time was the Lynburn way.
The curtains were closed. He had actual velvet curtains like you might have at a theater. Jared thought it was ridiculous. He hadn’t opened the curtains; the show wasn’t going on, not today.
Jared leaned against the wall and watched his mother walk over to the window, the point of the room farthest from where he was. Rays of sunlight stabbed like golden knives through the chinks in the curtains, toward her bowed head.
“That girl is here,” she said. “The one who took that tumble down the well.”
It was not exactly a surprise to Jared. Awareness of herkept tugging at the edges of his mind, as if her voice was always just on the cusp of his hearing. He had to choose not to listen, or he would be able to make out the words.
“I didn’t push her,” he told his mother. Not for the first time.
“Oh no,” she said. “She fell down the well. Your father fell down the stairs. Funny how people fall down all around you.” Her lip curled.
Jared thought of Kami, suddenly and terribly real. He’d had his arms around her in the well, knew the precise dimensions of her. She was so small he could crush her.
“I knew we should not have brought you,” Mom said. “The Lynburns built this town on their blood and bones.”
“That was their first mistake,” Jared said. “They should’ve built a city on rock and roll.”
Uncle Rob would have laughed, and Aunt Lillian would have smiled her chilly smile. His mother looked at him, and he saw her lips tremble with the effort of doing so, with how afraid she was.
“This town will only make you worse,” she whispered. “Being a Lynburn means we hurt each other. Being a Lynburn means we hurt everyone.”
Jared turned his face from the sight of his mother. He stared at the curtains, the velvet drapes that seemed black in the gloom, shutting all the brightness out. “Send her away.”
Chapter Eight
Yet She Says Nothing
K ami heard the sound of Rosalind’s steps returning and leaned away from the threshold, hands behind her back, trying to look as if she was admiring the
The door to Aurimere House creaked open.
Framed in the doorway stood a woman who was tall while giving the impression she was small, beautiful while giving the impression she was plain. She had long pale hair rippling from her pale face. She looked like the ghost of Aurimere.
“Um, hello,” said Kami.
The woman’s eyes went wide, as if she really was a ghost and she was startled that Kami could see her. “How may I help you?”
“My name’s Kami Glass,” Kami said. She saw the shudder that went right through the woman’s thin frame.
“I’m Rosalind Lynburn, Jared’s mother.” Rosalind Lynburn bowed her fair head, as if admitting to a crime. “I heard something happened on Friday night,” she almost whispered. “If he hurt you—if he scared you, I am truly sorry. I don’t know what I can say.”
Kami glared. “He
saved
me. I came to
thank
him. Is he here?”
Rosalind hesitated, wavering like a reflection in water,then turned with a shimmer of her pale skirts. Kami could barely hear her feet on the stairs.
Rosalind had not invited Kami in, so Kami just poked her head inside and saw the wide gray flagstones and the vaulted ceiling, its arches dark with age and shadow. There were a couple of narrow windows with diamond panes that alternated crimson and clouded glass.
The sound of footsteps was clearer now, above Kami’s head, retreating to the back of the mansion. Kami counted the steps and tried to measure where Jared’s room might be.
The manor was all stone and arches, turning echoes into ghosts. Jared heard his mother coming long before she knocked. She didn’t wait for him to tell her to come in. He’d always wondered why she bothered knocking, until he met Aunt Lillian, Uncle Rob, and Ash and saw that they all did it. Being polite and imperious at the same time was the Lynburn way.
The curtains were closed. He had actual velvet curtains like you might have at a theater. Jared thought it was ridiculous. He hadn’t opened the curtains; the show wasn’t going on, not today.
Jared leaned against the wall and watched his mother walk over to the window, the point of the room farthest from where he was. Rays of sunlight stabbed like golden knives through the chinks in the curtains, toward her bowed head.
“That girl is here,” she said. “The one who took that tumble down the well.”
It was not exactly a surprise to Jared. Awareness of herkept tugging at the edges of his mind, as if her voice was always just on the cusp of his hearing. He had to choose not to listen, or he would be able to make out the words.
“I didn’t push her,” he told his mother. Not for the first time.
“Oh no,” she said. “She fell down the well. Your father fell down the stairs. Funny how people fall down all around you.” Her lip curled.
Jared thought of Kami, suddenly and terribly real. He’d had his arms around her in the well, knew the precise dimensions of her. She was so small he could crush her.
“I knew we should not have brought you,” Mom said. “The Lynburns built this town on their blood and bones.”
“That was their first mistake,” Jared said. “They should’ve built a city on rock and roll.”
Uncle Rob would have laughed, and Aunt Lillian would have smiled her chilly smile. His mother looked at him, and he saw her lips tremble with the effort of doing so, with how afraid she was.
“This town will only make you worse,” she whispered. “Being a Lynburn means we hurt each other. Being a Lynburn means we hurt everyone.”
Jared turned his face from the sight of his mother. He stared at the curtains, the velvet drapes that seemed black in the gloom, shutting all the brightness out. “Send her away.”
Chapter Eight
Yet She Says Nothing
K ami heard the sound of Rosalind’s steps returning and leaned away from the threshold, hands behind her back, trying to look as if she was admiring the
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