13 Secrets by Michelle Harrison Read Free Book Online Page B

trouble.”
    “You mean Suki in Tickey End?” Tino asked.
    “Of course I mean her. She stuck out like a sore thumb.”
    “Red’s telling the truth,” Fabian said quietly. “I was there. It rattled her. We knew something wasn’t right, so we followed her tonight. She never told us a thing.”
    “So what
do
they know about you, Red?” Tino asked. “Because one thing’s obvious.” He tilted his head in Tanya’s direction.
    Rowan nodded. “She has the second sight.”
    “But the boy…?”
    “No. But he knows. He’s used something before, a tonic to allow him to see fairies temporarily.”
    “Do they know about your brother?”
    A look of pain crossed Rowan’s face but she kept her voice neutral.
    “They know everything except my link to you. I kept my word.”
    Tino nodded slowly. “And what of your brother?” he asked. “Have you given up on finding him? Or are you so cozy in your nice new home that you’ve forgotten about him?”
    The scruffy blond boy shook his head. “Give her a break.” He spoke with a strong Northern accent.
    Rowan shot him a grateful look. “It’s not like that. I… I found him.”
    There was a shift in the barn at this information, and a few low murmurs from everyone except Tino. He hadn’t moved, hadn’t reacted.
    “I got into the fairy realm,” Rowan continued, and Tanya could see her struggling to keep her composure. “I went to the courts and bargained for his return. They set me a task.”
    “What kind of task?” Tino asked.
    “There was a bracelet. A charm bracelet, based on the thirteen treasures. They split the charms up and hid them in our world. I had to find them all.” She gestured to Tanya and Fabian. “With their help, I did. But the whole thing was a setup. I found out that James isn’t really my brother… he’s my cousin. The woman I grew up believing to be my aunt isreally my mother. And James didn’t even recognize me. He was happy where he was, with a fey family who had lost their own son, who loved him. James was a replacement. So… I left him there.” She paused as Tino’s lips pressed into a disapproving line, yet he remained silent. “Afterward, I was given a chance… a chance of a new life off the streets, with a family that understood me. A family that had already helped. So I grabbed it. That’s why I didn’t answer your messages, and why I’ve avoided you.”
    “So what’s changed?” Tino asked. “Why did you suddenly decide to come tonight?”
    “Because I owe it to you—and to myself—to tell the truth. I don’t want to be part of this anymore. I want… I want
out
.”
    Whispers and gasps rippled around the stone building. Again, Tino did not react.
    “I heard something about a girl who’d humiliated the Unseelie leader a few months back,” he murmured. “Not a widely known story, but one that was doing the rounds nonetheless, and gathering momentum. Only ever spoken about in trusted company, of course. And when I heard it, well, I wondered…” He smiled. “It was you, wasn’t it? You stirred up quite a storm, so to speak. The worst winter on record, according to the mortal news reports, for six decades. Snow, hail, and floods all the way up until the Seelie Court resumed power in May.”
    “I heard that story,” said Victor. “That was
her
?”
    “She obviously drew attention to herself,” said anew voice from the other side of the building. The boy with untidy black hair rose to his feet. So far, he’d sat silently in the corner and not said a word. He wore trousers of burgundy and black, patterned with horizontal stripes. They were too short for him, giving the impression that he’d had a growth spurt and shot up unexpectedly. He looked older than the scruffy boy and Rowan; probably about sixteen or seventeen. He had a sly manner that Tanya immediately disliked.
    “You think the winter king will have forgotten her?” the boy continued. “If she wants to leave, then let her. It’s more dangerous