Page 9 of Bones

A booming shout echoed through the large house, followed by a slam and the squeaking floor.

Claire.

Why wouldn’t she just listen?

A high-pitched cry mixed with the rumble of insults and fiery damnation.

I wanted to hide my head under the pillow, but it wouldn’t help. It wouldn’t stop my imagination from forming the image I’d had earlier that day.

The one of Pastor Gideon shoving Claire to the ground as he screamed in her face, all while Mrs. Gideon watched on in her numbed stupor.

The house quieted, but it wasn’t peaceful. It never was. The air was always tense like shards of eggshells lined every surface, impossible to avoid.

I braced even before I heard the footsteps.

Before she filled the doorway of the tiny room in the back of the large house that’d been designated as my own.

Her pretty brown hair was tangled in disarray, and tears streamed down her splotchy cheeks. Her voice was rough as sheseethed, “This is all your fault. I only ate that pretzel because you said not to. And then you madethishappen.”

“How? I’ve been asleep.”

“Of course you have. Always early to bed, early to rise. Quiet. Polite.Proper. The shining example of what a good child should be. Always so perfect.” Her face pinched. “If you’re so perfect, why hasn’t your family looked for you? Why don’t they want you? Because you’re a demon, and they know it.”

I rolled over and tried to ignore the hollow emptiness that filled me at her words.

But she wasn’t done.

“And one day,” Claire shouted, “everyonewill know it!”

CHAPTER ONE

HELLISH PURPOSE

AURORA

“Give me more.”

There was a time when that order would’ve been said in a different tone. When it would’ve meant something entirely different.

When Ryan would’ve been sweetly demanding more of my stolen kisses. Or urgently demanding more of my body as he touched me with adoration and desire.

But it’d been years since that’d happened.

Years since he’d touched me in that way.

Years since he’d acted as a lover rather than a pastor and an inconvenienced guardian.

I couldn’t even remember the last time we’d kissed.

“That’s all I have,” I quietly admitted, knowing he wouldn’t be pleased.

“That’s unacceptable. This is the second week in a row that you’ve failed to deliver. Sunday services are tomorrow, and I have next to nothing.”

I can’t force the visions to come.

I’ve tried.

A shudder rocked through me at the memory.

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