Covenant by Sabrina Benulis Read Free Book Online Page B

that paper here,” Angela said, suddenly angry all over again. Her suspicion cast itself on every last person who’d been at the table.
    Sophia looked back at Angela, her gaze piercing and her voice firm. Her words seemed to echo from a faraway place—the same one where she’d warned Angela not to enter the terrible door. “I doubt you’ll find out just yet. But if you do, keep this in mind. No matter how harmless they might appear—never trust a snake.”
    Â 
    Thursday arrived with disturbing quickness.
    Angela went through the motions of two days pretending that all was well, but her burning left hand consistently began to say otherwise. Besides the concerned glances of Sophia, Angela oddly had nothing to contend with. The Order had given her breathing space—probably until the holidays were over—and there were no crows following her, or phosphorescent yellow eyes gleaming back at her from the darkness.
    Yet something wasn’t right.
    Angela felt even more claustrophobic than usual, walking down the ice-slicked streets, and the faces that turned to regard her expressed constant fear and distaste, just like Camdon had pointed out. Even worse, the entire city of Luz hummed like a live wire with anxiety. The snow refused to let up, the cold increased ever so imperceptibly by the day, and the announcement had officially been made that citizens had to survive on whatever remained on the island until the spring thaw.
    Angela wanted more than ever for it to be Christmas Day. She longed for cheeriness and a mug of steamed cocoa by the fire. Every normal, typical Christmas thing she’d never had as a child. But that was impossible when she had to find a mysterious door, enter it, and keep her best friend from dying.
    So instead, she found herself standing in front of the Luz Institution where Stephanie Walsh had been sequestered.
    The forbidding structure nestled directly on one of the tallest sea cliffs of Luz. All poorly mortared stone, its many towers jutted out from one another like tree branches. Even with the lights of so many candles in its windows, they resembled cheerless yellow eyes peeking from a black, many-armed monster.
    Angela wasn’t surprised to find the interior just as bleak, with seawater leaking constantly through various chinks in the floor. There were enough fireplaces to warm every patient and volunteer, but the glow the fires gave off seemed false.
    The volunteer nun who’d been assigned to Angela had guided her through a dark brick lobby, where she’d quickly signed in as a visitor. Then they’d traveled up a long set of stairs to a floor where the stone had been whitewashed. Every corridor looked the same and smelled of antiseptic and musty blankets. At last, they’d arrived at a wing where a few volunteer novices chatted outside of a metal door marking a patient’s room. A crucifix had been hung over the entryway.
    Here I am.
    Angela glanced at the sign nailed to the right of the door.
    Â 
    STEPHANIE LAURENTON WALSH
    Â 
    She licked her dry lips. Nervous butterflies tumbled in her stomach.
    A nurse strolled by, staring for a moment at Angela’s scars and blood-red hair. Panic shot through Angela. Any moment they would grab her and lock her up in Stephanie’s place, imprisoning Angela for a past that wasn’t quite her fault—just like they’d imprisoned her a few years ago. She could practically hear the lock clicking, sealing her doom. She could taste the terrible food all over again and hear the voices of the psychiatrists plying her endlessly.
    Until she realized that it was Stephanie’s door being opened, and it was a priest talking to Angela, encouraging her to make this opportunity count for them both. And then she was inside, alone with Luz’s most notorious blood head witch.
    Stephanie rested on a plain corner bench near her gable window, staring out at the snow. She looked simultaneously like the