The Return: Midnight Chapter 19

honest decided, with trices precious and seeming to stretch for hours, that what was dismission to pass was exit 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, exactly it was true. Despite Elenas new Powers, Bonnie was the star most use to confronting terrible darkness. She was somehow alive after al that. And very soon she would non be. And the way she went was the only intimacy left up to her.She heard a glissando of screams and then(prenominal) 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 halt shrieking Shinichi made a gesture and the ogre who had hold of her stop carrying her to the window.Shed kn consume 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 facial gesture was level with Sh inichis. delirious virtually your one-way trip?Thril ed,she said expressionlessly. Hey, she thought, Im non so heavy(a) at this brave thing. however everything inside her was shaking at prototype measure in order to make up for her stony face.Shinichi undefended the window. Stillthril ed?Now that had done something, opening the window had. She was not dismissal to be smashed against glass until she broke it with her face and went sailing by and through the jagged bits. There wasnt going to be pain until she hit the show and nobody would k flat about that, not tied(p) her.Just do it and get it over with, Bonnie thought. The warm breeze from the window told her that this military position this slave-sel ing place where customers were al owed to sift through the slaves until they found average the effective one was too highly air-conditioned.Il be warm, even if its just for a second or so, she thought.When a door near them banged, Bonnie just about jumped out of the ogres arms, and when the door to their feature room banged open, she nearly jumped through her own skin.You see? Something surged wildly through her. Im saved It only took a critical of that brave stuff and nowBut it was Shinichis sister, Misao. Misao, tactual sensationing gravely il , her skin ashen, holding on to the door to hold herself up. The only thing about her that wasnt grayished-out was her bril iant black hair, tipped with scarlet at the ends, just deal 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 sit 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 then Bonnie saw how this thing formed a circle, with a scratch and an ending, and how, understanding this, she could die with true dignity.It w as my fault,she said, with a faint smile as she remembered. Or half of it was. Sage opened it up the first judgment of conviction 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 disclose Misaos star bal , and it was Damon who then had used it to enter the top level of the blueish Dimensions.Its al a circle,she explained. What you do comes back to you. thus 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 mat up as swol en as if she had a very painful expression of the mumps, and her nose was bleeding.She kept trying to wipe it on her shoulder, scarce it wouldnt stop.At last Misao said, Ugh. Unfasten her hands and give her a towel or something.The ogres moved just as if Shinic hi had given the order.Shinichi himself was now sitting beside Misao, talk 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 stimulate 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. hence she remembered Shinichi and his damn 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 farther 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 pause to breathe Stillalive.She turned her ashen, sunken face towa rd Shinichi and said,Youre right. Shes useless now, and ful of information she shouldnt have. Throw her out.An ogre 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 hap that they would al be home at noon. Then she had examined and numbered the individual blow-ups of indi vidually character in the pictures that Alaric had sent.The Saitous had beentense. Meredith hadnt been surprised since Isobel had been a prime, if entirely innocent, carrier of the kitsunes acerb possessing malach. One of the worst casualties was Isobels own steady boyfriend, Jim Bryce, who had gotten the malach from Caroline and spread it to Isobel without lettered what he was doing. He himself had been possessed by Shinichis malach and had demonstrated al the dread(a) 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 forking her tongue with scissors.Isobel was out of the infirmary 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 wi thout a good deal of argument in Japanese over all(prenominal) character. She was just getting into her car when Isobel had come trail out of the house with a bag of Post-it Notes in her hand. Mother 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 bar 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 rape and a plea for understanding, Obaasan is real y almost blind now and its been so long since Mother was in schoolbut I take Japanese classes right now.Meredith was touched. Obviously, Isobel had felt it bad manners to contravene an adult when they were in earshot.But there, sitting in the car, Isob el 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 get wind and I need those to write anythingMeredith had laughed.It had been a nice moment, both of them smile 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 exacting?Because it reminded her of the malach, or of Jim?Because it would take several plastic surgeries before her ears would have grade on t hem again?No answer that Meredith could think of made sense. And she had to drive on to get to her own home late.It was only then that Meredith 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 known how much stranger her visit with her own family would be