The Return: Midnight Chapter 19

decent decided, with seconds precious and projectming to stretch for hours, that what was going to happen was going to happen no matter what she did. And there was a matter of pride here. She knew that there were people who would laugh at that, but it was true. Despite Elenas new Powers, Bonnie was the one most used to confronting stark darkness. She was someway alive after al that. And very soon she would non be. And the way she went was the unaccompanied thing left up to her.She heard a glissando of screams and past she heard them come to a halt. Well, that was al she could do for the moment. Stop screaming. The choice was made. Bonnie would go out, unbroken, defiant and silent.The moment she stopped shrieking Shinichi made a gesture and the ogre who had hold of her stopped carrying her to the window.Shed kn own it. He was a bul y. Bul ies wanted to hear that things hurt or that people were miserable. The ogre lifted her so her face was level with Shinichis. Excited roughly your one-way trip?Thril ed,she said expressionlessly. Hey, she thought, Im not so bad at this brave thing. moreover everything inside her was shake at double time in order to make up for her stony face.Shinichi up to(p)ed the window. Stillthril ed?Now that had done something, opening the window had. She was not going to be smashed against glass until she broke it with her face and went sailing through the jagged bits. There wasnt going to be pain until she hit the landed estate and nobody would know about that, not even her.Just do it and get it over with, Bonnie thought. The warm breeze from the window told her that this tooshie this slave-sel ing place where customers were al owed to sift through the slaves until they found just the right one was too highly air-conditioned.Il be warm, even if its just for a second or so, she thought.When a entrance near them banged, Bonnie nearly jumped out of the ogres arms, and when the door to their own manner banged open, she near ly jumped through her own skin.You see? Something surged wildly through her. Im saved It only took a little of that brave stuff and nowBut it was Shinichis sister, Misao. Misao, go throughing gravely il , her skin ashen, holding on to the door to hold herself up. The only thing about her that wasnt immemorialed-out was her bril iant black hair, tipped with scarlet at the ends, just like Shinichis.Waitshe said to Shinichi. You never even asked about You think a little airhead like her would know? But have it your own way.Shinichi seated Misao on the couch, rubbing her shoulders comfortingly. Il ask.So she was the one inside the two-way mirror room, Bonnie thought. She looks real y bad. Like dying bad.What happened to my sisters star bal ?Shinichi demanded and therefore Bonnie saw how this thing formed a circle, with a spring and an ending, and how, understanding this, she could die with true dignity.It was my fault,she said, with a faint smile as she remembered. Or half of it wa s. Sage opened it up the first time to open the Gate back on Earth. And thenShe told them the story, as if it were one shed never heard before, putting an emphasis on how it was she who had given Damon the clues to find Misaos star bal , and it was Damon who then had used it to enter the top level of the Dark Dimensions.Its al a circle,she explained. What you do comes back to you.Then despite herself, she started to giggle.In two strides, Shinichi was across the room and slapping her. She didnt know how many times he did it. The first was enough to make her gasp and stop her giggling. Afterward her cheeks felt as swol en as if she had a very painful case of the mumps, and her nose was bleeding.She kept trying to wipe it on her shoulder, but it wouldnt stop.At last Misao said, Ugh. Unfasten her hands and give her a towel or something.The ogres moved just as if Shinichi had given the order.Shinichi himself was now posing beside Misao, talking to her softly, as if he were speaking to a baby or a beloved pet. But Misaos eyes, with their tiny flicker of fire in them, were clear and adult as she looked at Bonnie.Where is my star bal now?she asked with dreadful gray intensity.Bonnie, who was wiping her nose, feeling the bliss of not being handcuffed behind her back, wondered why she wasnt even trying to think of a lie. Like, let me free and Il lead you to it. Then she remembered Shinichi and his doodly-squat kitsune telepathy.How could I know?she pointed out logical y. I was just trying to pul Damon away from the Gate when we both fel in.It didnt come with us. As far as I know, it got kicked in the dust and al the liquid spil ed out.Shinichi got up to hurt her again, but she was only tel ing the truth. Misao was already speaking. We know that didnt happen because I am she had to prison-breaking to breathe Stillalive.She turned her ashen, sunken face toward Shinichi and said,Youre right. Shes useless now, and ful of information she shouldnt have. Throw her out.An o gre picked Bonnie up, towel and al . Shinichi came around the other side. Do you see what youve done to my sister? Do you see?No more time now. Just a second to wonder if she real y was going to be brave or not. But what should she say to show she was brave? She opened her mouth, honestly not sure whether what was coming out was a scream or words.Shes going to look even worse when my friends are done with her,she said, and saw in Misaos eyes that shed hit her target.Throw her out,Shinichi shouted, livid with fury.And the ogre threw her out the window.Meredith was sitting with her parents, trying to figure out what was wrong. She had finished her errands in record time getting enlarged versions of the writing on the front of the jars made cal ing the Saitou family to find that they would al be home at noon. Then she had examined and numbered the individual blow-ups of each character in the pictures that Alaric had sent.The Saitous had beentense. Meredith hadnt been surprised since Is obel had been a prime, if entirely innocent, carrier of the kitsunes deadly possessing malach. One of the slash casualties was Isobels own steady boyfriend, Jim Bryce, who had gotten the malach from Caroline and spread it to Isobel without knowing what he was doing. He himself had been possessed by Shinichis malach and had demonstrated al the hideous symptoms of Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome, eating away at his own lips and fingers, while poor Isobel had used dirty needles sometimes the size of a childs knitting needles to pierce herself in more than thirty places, besides branching her tongue with scissors.Isobel was out of the hospital and on the mend now. Still, Meredith was bewildered. She had gotten approval of the cards with enlarged, individual characters off the jars from the older Saitous Obaasan (Isobels grandmother) and Mrs. Saitou (Isobels mother) not without a good deal of blood line in Japanese over each character. She was just getting into her car when Isobel had come r unning out of the house with a bag of Post-it Notes in her hand. catch did them in case you needed,she gasped in her new, soft, slurring voice. And Meredith had taken the notes from her grateful y, murmuring something awkward about repayment.No, but but may I have a look at the blow-ups?Isobel had panted. Why was she panting so hard? Meredith wondered.Even if shed run from the top floor al the way fol owing Meredith that wouldnt account for it. Then Meredith remembered Bonnie had said Isobel had a jumpyheart.You see,Isobel said with what looked like shame and a plea for understanding, Obaasan is real y almost blind now and its been so big since Mother was in schoolbut I take Japanese classes right now.Meredith was touched. Obviously, Isobel had felt it bad manners to contradict an adult when they were in earshot.But there, sitting in the car, Isobel had gone(a) through every card with a blown-up character, writing a similar, but definitely different character on the back. It had taken twenty minutes. Meredith had been awed. But how do you remember them al ? How do you ever write to each other?she had blurted, after seeing the complicated symbols that differed only by a few lines.With dictionaries,Isobel had said, and had for the first time given a little laugh. No, Im serious to write a very proper letter, say, dont you use thesaurus and Spel Check and I need those to write anythingMeredith had laughed.It had been a nice moment, both of them smiling together, relaxed. No problems. Isobels heart had seemed just fine.Then Isobel had hurried away and when she was gone Meredith was left staring at a round circle of moisture on the passenger seat. A tear. But why should Isobel be crying?Because it reminded her of the malach, or of Jim?Because it would take several plastic surgeries before her ears would have flesh on them again?No answer that Meredith could think of made sense. And she had to hurry to get to her own home late.It was only then that Meredi th was stricken by a fact. The Saitou family knew that Meredith, Matt, and Bonnie were friends. But none of them had asked about either Bonnie or Matt.Strange.If she had only cognise how much stranger her visit with her own family would be