As promised, a teaser. This is what started the whole book-I don't remember where the hell it came from (and it used to be in first person), but no matter. Here you go.
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It’s
threatening rain. The air is sticky, the clouds low. In the distance, she can
see dull flashes.
The storm
will be bad.
She is
sitting outside the church. Her parents made her stay here-they were acting odd.
She doesn’t know why. They promised they wouldn’t be long, but…
BOOM.
Six-year-old
Cristyn Darke flinches and draws back against the building, eyes fixed on the
horizon. Why won’t they hurry?
There’s
another flash and a bone-shaking BOOM.
No. She can’t stay out here. She’ll just slip inside and wait by the door.
The church
door creaks but nobody looks at her. They’re too busy murmuring amongst
themselves, their voices a low drone in the echoing building. Normally the cool
air is comforting after the humidity, but today it feels different. Like the
chills she gets when Mama tells her a ghost story.
Wrong.
The inside
is different, too. At the front, where the minister usually stands, is a rope.
It’s been thrown over one of the rafters and one end is knotted into a loop
that swings lazily from side to side.
Next to the
rope are three people. The butcher, the baker, and Christopher-everyone calls
him Kit-Bishop. The butcher and the baker are standing on either side of Kit,
whose hands are bound behind his back. He looks sick, scared.
What are
they doing?
The minister
nods and Kit suddenly speaks, his voice high and panicked.
“No, please,
I’m innocent! Please!”
Innocent of
what?
The rope is
placed around his neck and the butcher takes the other end. With one quick
jerk, Kit is pulled off his feet, choking and coughing.
He gets his
hands free and clutches at the rope above his head, struggling to pull himself
up. Somebody-Cristyn can’t see who-picks up a gun and levels it. Kit has time
to shout, “Please!”
There is a
gunshot and he silences. For a minute there’s coughing, choking, but she can’t
see anything because of the smoke.
When the
smoke clears, Kit’s body is swinging limply at the end of the rope.