Book of Life Read Free Page B

She gave it to the priory for safe keeping. Safe keeping? The whole idea gave me chills. Jake had promised me it would be fine. Apparently they replaced the blood in her veins with infected vampire blood in order to keep her preserved. But, doesn’t that make her a vampire? A chill ran down my spine. Just the thought of her body frozen in time like that made my stomach churn.
    Oh, and did I mention that they’ve never done this before?
    Never had they successfully brought a soul back from the Ever After. It’s just not possible—yet. At least that was the rumor around Winter Wood. But knowing Max’s stubborn demands, I guess they had to try. After all, they owed it to her. She’d been the only hope left against the Black Angels, perhaps even still, I’m not sure. I’m not really sure what happened in the first place.
    In some ways I think keeping Jane suspended as she was gave the people of Winter Wood hope, even if Jane’s future had nothing to do with saving it anymore. Everyone was nervous right now, and without a better plan in place, this was it. We’d all heard the stories about the European priories. They’d been taken over by the Black Angels already. Just two weeks since Jane’s death and you’d think it was like opening a floodgate. Perhaps the thought of simply having Jane’s body made people think they’d never come here, but I wasn’t so naïve. It was only a matter of time before more Greg-like characters showed up in town. I wasn’t looking forward to it.
    And what was it with this prophecy, anyway? I hadn’t even heard about it until after Jane died. If it were so important, why didn’t I know about it before and why hadn’t it worked? In my short familiarity with the history of prophecies, it seems that they’d always come to fruition. Why didn’t they better protect her? It was careless of the priory to let Jane wander on her own—with that Avery girl, nonetheless. I’m sure they knew what was happening—I figure they know everything. Perhaps they thought Max would do a better job. I almost couldn’t help but feel bitterness toward him for failing, but seeing him now, I knew he was punishing himself enough without me adding to it.
    Lacy was leaning against the wall, staring at a picture across the hall. I wondered what she was thinking and if it were as complex as her look would suggest. I mimicked her, arms folded across my chest. I was just about to strike up a conversation when I heard Emily’s door open at last. A small sniffle escaped. I stood up straight, turning to peer in through the small opening.
    “Are you okay?”
    I saw Lacy shake her head out of the corner of my eye, annoyed with my obvious question. I ignored her.
    Emily nodded.
    I felt so hopeless. Her eyes were stained red as they’d been almost every morning for the past two weeks. “Are you ready?” I urged. I didn’t want to push her into this assuredly awkward situation but everyone was looking for her. Quite frankly, I had run out of excuses as to why she was hiding. At some point, though, she was going to have to face this—tomorrow was going to be her first day back at school.
    Emily nodded again.
    For the last two weeks she had been taking this the only way I figured she knew how, by shutting herself away from the world. She was hiding now as she had hid her abilities to hear thoughts all her life. I couldn’t imagine how excruciatingly truthful it was hearing all those same thoughts now, especially with the speculating I assumed was happening amongst the crowd downstairs. I knew if I were her, it would be really hard to stay sane, and that’s what scared me. The last thing I wanted was for Emily to dive into another tail spin of drugs just to forget it all. I’d attached myself to her side every moment for the last two weeks. Not hard to do when her mother was encouraging me. I guess she didn’t see the harm in it, and she was right. Emily was going to need constant support.
    Emily slipped out of