Page 76 of The Howl
“The last thing I want is another human in this house. I’ll go get it.”
I moved for my door.
“I’ll take care of the brownie for you,” Mom said behind me. “He’ll be safe. I promise.”
Was I a horrible person for no longer caring? Maybe. I walked out without another word.
The house was quiet, as usual. But given it was close to ten in the morning, I wasn’t too surprised. I was surprised, though, that I’d slept so late. And, by Mrs. Quill’s presence in the dining room.
I stopped short when she saw me and stood.
“Eliana, I know things aren’t easy on you right now, but I promise they’ll get better.”
“Like you promised to care for me always right before telling me you don’t want to feed me anymore?”
“We’re only trying to help you.”
“It’s funny how the people who are trying to help me are the ones who are hurting me the most. If you really wanted to help me, you’d stop bringing people here for my mom to eat and tell the Council to set her free. She’s pregnant and hungry, she doesn’t belong here.”
Something like guilt flashed in Mrs. Quill’s eyes, and in that moment, the conversation in the library came back to me. The Quills and Adira hadn’t been talking about Megan. They’d been talking about my mom and me. Adira had purposefully brought her here to manipulate me into feeding. They’d known my mom hadn’t killed anyone and that she would never kill anyone; but they’d used her pregnancy and voracious feeding as an excuse to bring her here. For me.
“Unbelievable,” I said softly.
“I know you think you’re fine, but you’re not seeing what we’re seeing. You’re slowly dying, starving yourself. And, we love you too much to allow that to happen.”
Mom’s words about how often a girl my age should feed wormed its way into my mind. I focused on my hunger but could barely feel it. A rare thing. Was I dying? I didn’t feel like it. Mostly I felt hurt and angry.
“Please stop loving me. If anything kills me, it’ll be that.”
She looked like I’d slapped her. I didn’t care. I couldn’t endure any more attempts to help me.
“Wait,” she said when I started for the kitchen. “Take what you need.”
She held out a hand, and I knew she was offering to feed me. Instead, I thought of the tree in my dream last night and all the cake I ate.
“I’m really not hungry. Besides, you don’t want to break the rules. Adira wouldn’t like you ruining her games.”
Chapter Thirteen
The ten-minute driveto Ashlyn’s was just long enough for me to cool off a little so I could knock on her door with my usual smile. She answered almost right away.
“Hey, Eliana. I told your mom I was fine bringing the jacket to you. Come in.” She waved me inside as she stepped back.
“I don’t mind. I needed to get out of the house.”
Ashlyn offered me a sheepish smile and closed the door behind me.
“Same,” she admitted. “I thought going to school would help the boredom, but I feel just as confined.”
I wanted to smack myself.
“I’m so sorry, Ashlyn. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s okay. I’m guessing there’s a pretty good reason for me to not want to visit the Quills if you needed to get out of the house.”
She gestured to the living room.
“Want to sit and talk for a bit?”
