Beneath The Ashes.

ccident. They

roat

pocket and left the libr

fenced off now, overgrown with weeds. The burned foun

d over t

mewhere deep in the earth, the fire s

ed foundation and whispered the one

what happe

e, a twi

sharply a

rr

the fence, watching m

voice low. "You shou

dn't

did you?

dened. "Because it

ncaid property look

nes to be buried. Blackened timbers jutted from the ground like ribs. Ivy crept over stone and ash alike. Ten ye

del looked like he bel

hed walls. When I'd last seen him, I was just a girl with smoke in her lungs

at he was. Or what I

some nerve

nd right away. "I c

lder, harder than I remembered. His gray eyes scanned mine like the

me here for

re you back

g him stew in the silence felt l

reath. "I g

skipped

address. No handwrit

the words befor

you saw. Wat

off-white paper. The same weight o

e only ones who

t be the only on

olding between us. I didn't ask why he'd come back. He didn't ask

time for

ll anyone what y

. "It's fragments. Smoke, fire, someone running.

," I sai

ched. "

n't think

Seraphine. I did

" My voice cracked like g

ntact, its skeletal frame bent but not broken. I stepped inside, motioning for him to follow. T

irst told me about the

"I thought that was just

l I started fin

d buried in Helena's files. My mother, smiling stiffly beside a ma

gnize

o. But that pin... I

he

gns, in graffiti. Like it's alw

nted Ashthorne for years. Discre

" I said. "I think Rowan found out too much.

ened. "And now th

. The air tasted like metal. The weight of the conversati

e doorway, arms folded,

Jerry. "Are either

alled worse,

me. "You bro

I said. "They sent

erry narrowing. Then she turned

ays glance. "She alwa

ince th

intly of lavender and something sour. She set a heavy wooden box

r looked through it. Maybe I was scared. Ma

ed the

lders filled with yellowed newspaper clippings. A small recorder. Even

ver my shoulde

together what happened,"

e Rowan died. The entries were written in careful