really think we can destroy you, old man,â Jefferson said, chest puffed defiantly out, âthen youâre not nearly so powerful as weâve always thought. And if thatâs true, maybe you should be destroyed.â
âAnd us?â Mandalayâs other voice said. âYour own people? Your family, who raised you and loves you? Should we be destroyed, too? Because thatâs what youâre on your way to doing.â
Bo-Kate said, âStop trying to drive us apart. You want us to leave, weâll leave. But someday weâll come back, andââ
âSee, thatâs what weâre all afraid of,â Rockhouse said. The clouds swirled, slow and majestic, above the crowd, and the faces within them grew more defined. âSo we ainât gonna run you out. Weâre gonna sing you out.â
Bo-Kate and Jefferson looked at each other in horror. âYou canât do that,â Jefferson said.
âGive me one reason why not,â Rockhouse said.
âWeâre Tufa! Weâre almost purebloods, even! Youâve heard us sing and play!â
âYes,â Mandalay heard her voice say, âyou are. That makes everything youâve done that much worse. Did you need to kill that entire family? Children, even their dogs?â
âNobody can prove I did that!â she snapped defiantly.
âThis ainât a court of law,â Rockhouse said. âAnd the wind is all the proof we need.â He gestured up, where the half-visible cloud-faces now glared down in obvious anger.
âWe do know what you did to Penny Hadlow,â Mandalayâs voice said. She glanced across the circle, where a teenage girl with a huge disfiguring scar on her face stood with her family.
âPenny started it!â Bo-Kate fired back. âIf sheâd kept her eyes off my prize, sheâd be fine!â
âAnd Michael Finley?â Rockhouse added, looking at Jefferson.
âThat was a fair fight,â Jefferson said.
âExcept that you kept smashing his head into the road even after you knocked him out.â
Jefferson managed a slow little smile. âDidnât want him coming back someday when I wasnât looking.â
Rockhouse looked over at Mandalay, who said, âAnd then there was Adeleâs baby.â
âItâs not mine,â Jefferson said. âI swear, I never touched that girl.â
âHeâs telling the truth,â Bo-Kate insisted.
âThatâs beside the point,â Mandalay said. âYou were plotting to kill a baby because you took offense at a pathetic girlâs desperate cry for attention.â
âShe was spreading lies!â Bo-Kate shouted.
âShe was spreading wishes,â Mandalayâs voice said. âShe just wanted to be noticed and not forgotten. She certainly didnât deserve to have her baby killed.â
âWell, we didnât do it, so you got nothing on us,â Jefferson said.
âWe got all we need,â Rockhouse said. âWhat youâve done is bad enough, what you tried to do was worse, and what you might do is scary enough that we ainât gonna take any chances.â He looked back at Mandalay. âEnough talk. Count us off, Ruby.â
So now she knew. She was looking through the eyes of her immediate predecessor, Ruby Montana.
âNo!â Bo-Kate and Jefferson cried in unison.
âOne, two, one two three fourâ¦â
Mandalay snapped out of the vision.
She looked around her tiny room in the trailer. Her heart pounded, tight and hard in her chest. Sweat made her heavy winter clothes stick to her body. She knew about what sheâd just seen, of course; like everything else to do with the Tufa, the memory was packed into her head, there to call up at will. But remembering it and experiencing it were different things. She remembered the words that were spoken, then sung; but now she recalled anew the fear in everyoneâs eyes, not
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