Chapter 4

"Dad... Mom..." I struggled to lift my head.

Rick pressed me back down, hard.

"Sir, ma'am, so many people are watching."

Rick made a show of glancing around.

"I'm doing all this for Moira's own good, and you two are people who understand what's right."

"No need to say anything more!" my father cut in sternly.

"Moira, when you've done wrong, you should make amends!"

"If you want to keep your job, cooperate with the masters and finish the ritual!"

My mind went blank with a roar.

"You've disgraced the whole Lawrence family!" My mother stamped her foot in fury beside me.

"Today I invited all your aunts and their whole families here."

"Where am I supposed to hide this old face of mine now?"

"Your future in-laws are here too. If you carry on like this and let people look down on you, do you think they'll still want you?"

I had never realized my mother's voice could be so sharp, every word driving into my heart.

"Moira, you always seemed like such a good, sensible girl. I never imagined you'd have a violent streak in you," Rick's mother said, heartbroken.

Eight years together, and I'd gotten along so well with Rick's mother.

She once held my hand and told me the story of Rick's first love.

"I never met that girl, but she was no innocent, believe me."

"Rick got together with her his first year of college."

"Then who'd have thought she'd meet some rich playboy and dump Rick just like that?"

"During that time, Rick lost twenty pounds."

"Thank goodness he met you afterward. You're the most thoughtful girl. His father and I both adore you."

Rick's father's cold snort pulled me back from the memory.

"This engagement is off. Our family has no wish to bring a vicious woman into the house."

My aunts and uncles were all muttering among themselves.

"What a disgrace to the family!"

"We never should have come today. Now we're dragged into this mess for nothing."

"Utterly shameful."

Every trace of the old family affection was gone.

Things had come to this, and I had no strength left to resist.

Rick kept my neck pinned so I stayed kneeling on the ground, and yanked off my coat.

"Masters, please hurry!" Job's mother urged anxiously.

The leader, a shaman in a long yellow robe, drew out a stack of yellow talisman paper.

It was covered in runes I couldn't read.

Several con-artist shamans wet the talismans with their spit and pressed them onto my eyes, my cheeks, my neck, all over my body.

"Now hear my command!"

"Gag her, and make her crawl a full circle around the preschool!"

At that, Rick took the black rag the shaman handed him and shoved it into my mouth.

The foul, fishy stink made me gag.

I didn't want to crawl on the ground like a dog.

So they tied my hands with rope.

Like walking a dog, they dragged me to my knees under the sun.

Every ten yards I had to knock my head to the ground.

They dragged and pulled and forced me to crawl the entire circle around the preschool.

The blood running down my forehead had already gummed my eyes shut.

"Ms. Chavez, this last demon-warding talisman is for you to stick on her forehead."

"Then make her shout three times: Job, come back!"

"And the soul-calling ritual will be complete!"

Job's mother took the talisman and slapped it hard onto the wound on my forehead.

A sweet, cloying scent slid into my nose.

I couldn't help frowning.

The yellow-robed shaman tore the black cloth out of my mouth.

"Shout it, now!"

I clenched my teeth and refused to open my mouth.

Slap! Slap! Two blows landed across my face.

It was Rick who had raised his hand against me.

He forced my mouth open.

"Say it!"

"If you miss the auspicious hour, there's nothing I can do for you!"

"You've always got so much to say. Why play mute now?"

The onlookers chimed in one after another.

"Well done! Evil gets what it deserves!"

"A real lawyer, all right—putting justice over family!"

Looking at my cold, heartless family, the man I no longer recognized, and Job's mother beside herself with triumph.

I suddenly understood.

I wrenched myself free of the ropes, shoved through the crowd, and rushed for the roof of the classroom building.