Poison (38 page)

“Good job, Morgan,” I said, allowing myself to sit on the soft grass of Avalon.

The birds began to sing once again. In the forest I could see the eyes of wild creatures blinking with wonder that the light had returned. It would be a good day, after all, even though I was alone in this place, on this plane, where I would remain alone for the rest of my life.

I shivered. The portal to Whitfield had been closed, and a
good thing too. The last thing those poor people needed after being uprooted from their homes was a dose of walking poison infecting their new home.

Could they see me from the other side? I wondered. Would I be like an animal in a zoo, a pastime for any observers who cared to see how I managed to live from day to day? Maybe taking bets on how long it would take me to go crazy and hang myself from a tree?

“Are you out there?” I asked out loud, leaning toward the portal. “Because if you are, I’m going to ask you to stop.” I paused for a moment, gathering my thoughts. “But first I’ve got something to say. It’s about Morgan. Whatever you’ve heard about her, forget it. She saved you all, even though it cost her her life. No matter what else she did, that should count for something.”

I tried to compose myself. “Gram, I want to tell you how much it’s meant to me to be part of your family,” I said. “I don’t remember my mother, and my dad—well, you know how he is. Busy. Tell him I’m okay. And don’t let him blame you for what happened. This whole thing was my fault, and it has turned out as well as it could, so I’m not complaining.

“All of you—Aunt Agnes, Miss P, Hattie, Bryce, Becca—I’ll never forget you. I love you all.”

I was feeling myself choke up at this point, but I had to finish what I needed to say. “And, Peter . . . ” I cleared my throat and tried to keep my voice from trembling. “I’m so proud of you. You’ve always been my hero.”

I could hear my voice starting to wobble then, so I stopped talking. There was more I could have said, I supposed, about why I didn’t want any further communication with Whitfield
or my family, but I didn’t think they would have understood. They couldn’t. They were
good.

People like Gram and Hattie and Miss P thought of the Darkness as something outside of themselves, something dirty to be brushed away before it touched them. But it had already touched me, and more. The Darkness had crawled inside me like a worm, and I knew that for the rest of my life that worm, that dark thing, would always be a part of me, as much as it had been a part of Morgan.

She had died honorably, and I believed that when she gave up her life, that fragment of the Darkness that had made a monster of her flew away like dust in the wind. She’d gone out clean.

But I was still alive, and as long as I was, I would never be clean again. My innocence was gone. That small, pure space in my soul—that place that still existed intact for the others—was, for me, now filled by the Darkness, and always would be.

No, they wouldn’t understand. And I wouldn’t want them to.

“Katy.” A whisper. I looked up with a gasp. Peter was standing beside me. A soft breeze ruffled through his hair. He held out his arms to me.

“No,” I said, lunging backward. “Please go. You shouldn’t even have come through the portal.”

He shook his head slowly. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said.

My eyes flooded. I wanted so much to run to him, to touch him, but I knew I couldn’t. Not without killing him. “Don’t do this to me,” I begged.

“You said I was your hero, but that was wrong. You’ve
always been the heroic one.” His face was filled with sorrow. “I hated watching you fight alone.”

“I wasn’t alone,” I said. “You were making everything possible.”

He put his hands into his pockets and grinned a small, lopsided smile. “Do you think this was what Eric’s prophecy meant? That we’d destroy this place together?”

I blinked. “I thought it was Whitfield we were going to destroy.”

He shrugged. “I don’t remember.”

“I don’t believe in prophecies, anyway,” I said. “People can change everything.” I looked down at my ring. “Well, almost everything.” I tried to smile. “Go back, Peter,” I said as gently as I could. “We both know it’s the only smart thing to do.”

“Who says I’m smart?”

“Peter—”

“I’m not leaving you, Katy. Not now, not ever.”

“Yes, you are!” I shouted. “You have to. Staying with me will
kill
you! Don’t you understand?”

“No,” he said softly. “I don’t understand. Whatever happens, I don’t care. I don’t want to live without you.”

“Stop it!” I screamed. “I’m not even worth it! I’m not worth . . . anything . . . ” I sobbed into my hands.

“You’re wrong there,” he said, wrapping his arms around me. Panicking for his safety, I tried desperately to push him away, but he held me fast. “You’re worth everything to me,” he whispered in my ear. “Everything I am, everything I ever will be, is because of you. And I will never,
never
let you go.”

I pounded my fists against him. “Go away!” I pleaded. “Please, Peter . . . ”

But he crushed me against his body until I had to stop struggling. Then he kissed me full on my mouth. Even then I tried to pull away, but he caught my face in his big hands and turned it back toward his.

“I love you,” he whispered, pressing so closely against me that I could feel his heart beating in his chest, could feel his thighs move hard against me as he kissed me more deeply. “I love you,” he said. The words were as soft as the breeze that touched us, and as sweet.

I gave in then, kissing him back, feeling the hardness of his tongue against mine. I felt as if I were melting beneath his heat. “Oh, Peter,” I said, filled with regret and confusion. “Do you even know what you’ve done by coming here? By being with me?”

“I’ve told you that I’m going to be with you for the rest of my life.” He looked deep into my eyes. “However long that may be.”

I hung my head. I knew I would not be able to live with another death. Not his death.

“Hey,” he said gently, lifting my chin. “The rest of my life may be longer than you think.” He took my hand and touched the flat, cold stone of the ring. Then, with no effort at all, he pulled it off my finger.

I choked. “How did you . . . ”

“It’s got no more power,” Peter said, tossing it away. “Morgan used it all when she threw herself into the Darkness.”

“But . . . ” I stared at my naked finger. “How did you know that? How did you know I was safe to be around?”

Peter kissed my forehead. “I didn’t,” he said, moving his
lips down to kiss my eyes, my cheeks, my lips. The place where the ring had been had left a white mark on my finger. He kissed that, too.

“I can’t believe it,” I said. “It’s over.”

“For now,” Peter said.

“Right,” I said hollowly. “For now.”

He tousled my hair. “Now’s enough.” I pressed my face against his chest. “Come home, Katy,” he whispered, holding me tight. “You promised.”

“Home,” I repeated. “But I—” I couldn’t stop smiling.

“With me.”

I thought about it for a moment. “With you,” I said, and I knew that would make all the difference. Whatever I might be, whatever I might face, I’d be with him.

“Come on,” he said.

Then he led me by the hand through the portal back to Whitfield.

Back to life.

Also by Molly Cochran

Legacy

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2012 by Molly Cochran

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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Book design by Krista Vossen

The text for this book is set in Bodoni.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cochran, Molly.

Poison / Molly Cochran.—1st ed.

p. cm.

“A Paula Wiseman Book.”

Summary: Katy receives a “gift” of poison that turns her into a killer, while powerful witches stir up trouble, not only at Ainsworth School, but in a world known as Avalon, as well.

ISBN 978-1-4424-5050-9

ISBN 978-1-4424-5052-3 (eBook)

[1. Good and evil—Fiction. 2. Supernatural—Fiction. 3. Witches—Fiction. 4. Poisons—Fiction. 5. Morgan le Fay (Legendary character)—Fiction. 6. Boarding schools—Fiction. 7. Schools—Fiction. 8. Massachusetts—Fiction.]  I. Title.

PZ7.C6394Poi 2012

[Fic]—dc23

2012006736