Unspoken: The Lynburn Legacy Read Free Page B

Jared’s mother, but she knew they didn’t have a good relationship. She also knew it was irrational and illogical and insane to worry about his family troubles. It was insane to care so much in the first place. He was a voice in her head, after all: she tried not to think about it too much because it made her think she really might be crazy.
    Jared filled in the silence.
She wants me to stop talking to you
.
    Kami did not let her dread touch him.
And will you stop?
she asked, trying to show him nothing but support.
    I told her I had to think about it
, said Jared wearily.
    Kami curled tighter under the covers, feeling cold. Jared said nothing else. There was silence in her head and silence beneath her window, and still she could not sleep.

Chapter Three
The Secret in the Woods
    T he first issue of
The Nosy Parker
came out two days later. It was a huge success. Kami was unsurprised, as the entire front page was a certain picture of Angela. Since Angela was wandering around looking like she wanted an excuse to kick someone’s kneecaps, Kami was getting all the compliments.
    “I really liked your tell-all article about the cricket camp,” said Holly Prescott, the second-best-looking girl in school. She kept up with Kami as they made their way through the riot that was the hallway at the end of school. “How old were those kids, eleven?”
    “Nine,” said Kami. “But old in sin.”
    Holly laughed. She’d always been nice to Kami, but since she mostly hung around with a succession of guys, or several guys at once, they never really felt like friends. “I’ve got a few ideas for articles,” Holly offered, to Kami’s surprise.
    Kami was struck by the thought of how many copies a picture of Holly’s clear green eyes and clearly dangerous curves would move. “What kind of ideas?” she asked, and smiled.
    Holly grinned back and hugged her books to her chest. Ross Phillips stopped in his tracks, obviously wishing he wasa biology textbook. “Well, you know I have a motorbike,” Holly said. “I was zipping round past Shepherd’s Corner, by the woods, you know? And there was this dead badger.”
    “Animals are always getting knocked down at the Corner,” said Kami, not sure where Holly’s story was going.
    “Yeah,” Holly answered. “But this badger hadn’t been hit by a car. I mean, I was on my bike, I didn’t get a good look at it, but I got a better look at it than someone in a car would’ve. It had been cut up.”
    Kami recoiled. “Oh my God.”
    “I know,” said Holly. “And, I mean, maybe I got it wrong, but it just kept bugging me. I started thinking that if some horrible little kids hurt an animal, it’d be smart to put it at the Corner so it’d get run over by a car and it’d look like that’s why it died.”
    Some subtle signal, perhaps the fact that Kami looked like she wanted to be sick, made Holly stop and backpedal. “I’m probably just being paranoid,” she said hurriedly. “God, you must think I’m so strange. Look, forget about it, okay?”
    “My house is right next to the woods,” Kami said, thinking out loud. “We keep hearing stuff like yelling at all hours, waking my brothers. I’d been wondering about it. I’ll look into this. Thanks, Holly.”
    Holly looked half pleased and half terrified. “No problem,” she murmured. She left Kami at the top of the school steps with a wave, heading for her motorbike.
    From her vantage point on the steps, Kami could see Ash Lynburn’s head bent over the exposed engine of a sleek black car, expensive-looking but about twenty years old. It seemedlike he was having some issues with it. She went down the steps and came up behind him. “Car trouble?”
    Ash banged his head on the car bonnet. “Oh, hey, Kami,” he said, giving her a smile even though she’d practically given him a concussion. “No, no car trouble. The car would have to start for there to be trouble.” He kicked a tire.
    Kami stepped forward to take a look. When