Two girls. Two secrets.
Only one can survive.
Years before Nelle Wychthorn plans her escape, Tabitha Catt may unearth something in a Horned God's lair that is the key to freedom.
Desperate to save her beloved aunt from a dark curse, Tabitha is out t...
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14 Years Later - Present Time 1990
I had no idea whether I'd been born a thief.
All the memories of my earlier years had been stolen from me, yet, with the way I'd taken to thieving at such a young age, I often wondered if I had.
Either way, I considered this more like borrowing than actual theft.
The office chair wobbled beneath me as I stretched up on my tippy-toes and reached with the end of my wooden spoon for a hook protruding from the wall.
I kept a long-handled stirring spoon, tucked under the belt of my uniform, on me at all times. Sometimes I twirled the spoon like a baton. Letting it spin between my fingers—faster, faster, faster. Often I wielded it like a weapon, and it felt glorious to hold and imagine it was a blade. It was good for pointing at someone to punctuate an order, or used as a cattle prod—poking someone to move faster—or to rap across knuckles if someone thought they could steal a butter cookie from the tin in the pantry.
Right now I was using it to put back the master set of keys to all the guest bedrooms at the mansion before the Head Housekeeper discovered they were gone from his office. I'd borrowed the keys last night and secretly had a copy made to aid me in tomorrow night's heist.
It was a risk coming in here during the day to attempt this, but with my colleagues busy at work, I'd hoped I could slink in and out without anyone catching me.
I had to be quick and silent, but their home on the wall was positioned in a high, awkward spot. The heavy set of keys kept swaying and jingling, chink, chink, chink, threatening to slip off the end of my spoon as I tried to maneuver the metal ring over the hook.
Behind the closed office door came a sound of low masculine voices engaged in conversation, drawing nearer down the corridor. Beads of clammy sweat broke out along my flushed temple, and my heart began to patter faster, erupting into a racing tempo when a shrill sound exploded in the office.
Ring-ring...
Ring-ring...
Whipping my head sideways, my ponytail slashed through the air. Strands of hair brushed across my shoulder and caught around my neck. My wide-eye gaze landed on the phone screaming for attention.
Ring-ring...
Ring-ring...
The Head Housekeeper was going to come in here and catch me out! As the phone droned on, ringing and ringing and ringing, I heard hurried footsteps moving toward the office.
My efforts became frantic as I tried to put the keys back in their spot. The tip of my tongue poked out as I concentrated hard. The cluster of keys rocked precariously back and forth, and the metal ring wouldn't quite catch the hook in the wall.
