He winces like he’s in pain. “Soul suckers got her. She’s alive. But she’s… she’s down there.”
My knees meet the forest floor as my heart completely halts and my world turns upside down.
29
Sable
“Sable,” Mom’s voice thunders through the house.
Uh-oh.
She’s angry. Mom’s never nice when she sounds like that. What did I do this time?
Did she find out I was playing with my toys last night? She never said I could. I was allowed to play with them four nights ago, so it’s too soon for her to let me again.
Stupid. Stupid.I thought I cleaned it up all nice, but maybe Mr. Twinkles fell over again—he always does because I can’t put him away without bringing the chair over.
And Mom will know if I moved the chair. She always knows.
But I… I couldn’t stand reading those stupid books anymore. I hate math. And I was bored. And I already did all my homework. And Ella was in the garden with Grandma. And I wasn’t allowed to join even though Grandma invited me—Mom and Dad both said no because I’m still in trouble from spilling my drink at dinner last week.
I’m always in trouble. Not likeElla. I hate it.
I slam my pencil on my stupid math workbook and glare out the window. I bet she’s still having fun with Grandma. Mom said I’m not allowed to see her unless I’ve finished the entire chapter because I failed another test. I suck at dividing things. And I hate fractions too.
“Sable, come here right now.”
My tummy clenches. Mom sounds angrier this time.
My hands shake as I walk as quickly as I can without it being called a run. I try to fix my clothes and make my hair pretty and unknotted like Ella’s. A pain starts in my throat when I see the pencil stain on my bright white top.
No, no, no—Mom’s going to be even madder at me now.
“Sable!”
Crap. “Coming!” My breaths are all hot and broken as I break Dad’s rule of no running in the house—and Mom’s rule about raising my voice.
I fist my hands. They have so many stupid rules, and I try so hard not to break them, but they keep making me do things like this so I don’t get into even more trouble. But then when Ella skips around or does something she shouldn’t, they don’t tell her off like they do me. I just don’t get it.
My bottom lip wobbles as I slow down before reaching the smallest living room in our house. I clamp my teeth together and try to stop my entire body from trembling when I see Ella darting into the room ahead of me.
Her long, pretty black hair flows behind her when she moves that quickly. She’s wearing the sparkly pink dress Ah Ma brought her when she visited last month.
Ah Ma never got me a dress or anything nice. She only gave me those stupid math books.
My forehead wrinkles as I stomp in behind Ella—I know it’ll get me in trouble, walking in an “unladylike” way, but my feet can’t help it.
When Mom’s eyes lock on me, I think I might throw up. My heart is beating so fast, I’m scared it’ll come right out of my chest. I know that look—she’s going to be extra mean, and she’s going to do it in front of Ella so I feel worse.
“What do you call this?” Mom points at the TV.
My eyes widen. A kids’ show is on the screen, the sound so low I can barely even hear it. So this isn’t about playing with the toys? I’m confused.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find out that you snuck out of your room to watch TV?”
I… What? My mouth opens and closes as my eyes dart between her and the screen.
Snuck out? The last time I tried doing that, Mom locked me in the maid’s bathroom, which has no light in it. It wasn’t for that long, but it felt likehours. I hated sitting in the dark and quiet like that, and thedrip, drip, dripof the tap made me feel crazy. I don’t want to go through that again.
