She’d failed.
How much is it going to hurt, when he kills me? How long will it take?
Oh, God –
Merry struggled frantically, but the braid was coming loose – any moment now she would be defenceless, and then –
– and then not-Jack was no longer pinning her down, because someone had dragged him off of her –
– and somehow, impossibly, Leo was standing there above her.
‘Get the hell away from my sister, you monster!’
The King of Hearts pushed himself up – snarled – grabbed the sword from where it lay on the grass and ran at Leo.
‘Awende on sinnihte, sceadugenga!’ Merry hurled the words at the cursed boy.
He stopped instantly. Without looking at Merry, he ran up the slope and jumped back into the lake.
Merry couldn’t seem to stop shaking. Leo had been shouting for a while now.
‘… and then, after everything I said, to come back and find that he was about to – I mean, really, even by your standards, I can’t believe that you would be so stupid, and irresponsible, and thoughtless, and selfish, and – and—’ he bellowed and kicked the lantern across the grass. The light flicked and went out.
In the silence, Leo slumped down next to his sister and put his arm around her shoulders. ‘He was going to kill you. Seriously, Merry, what the hell were you thinking?’
Merry buried her face in Leo’s shoulder and began to cry.
They were back in the car now, driving home. Merry wanted to talk to Leo, but about normal stuff. Definitely not about Jack.
‘Um, how was the party?’
‘It was great.’ Leo glanced over at her before switching his attention back to the road. ‘I’ve got a new plan for getting down to the bottom of the lake. Dan has this cousin who teaches scuba diving. I thought if I took a course, I could borrow some gear. Go into the lake, have a look around, that kind of thing.’
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.