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Back Violet Save as PDF
Chapters (50)
  1. Cover
  2. VIOLET
  3. VIOLET
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Contents
  7. Prologue
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. 35
  43. 36
  44. 37
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. Epilogue
  48. Acknowledgements
  49. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  50. Copyright

‘I was scared, Violet. I don’t know what of … but I remember the feeling. The panic. My heart racing.’ She puts a hand to her chest. ‘I can feel it now … something happened in the reading, didn’t it? He said something bad was going to happen…’

A small burst of laughter comes out of me, but it’s forced. I am trying to quell my own panic. The memory has come back now. Not a pinprick anymore. More like a long, thin blade, right to my heart.

Carrie is shaking now. She is looking at me in sheer horror. ‘He said you had a bad soul, V. We laughed, but then his face changed, and it wasn’t funny anymore. He said something was wrong with you … he said—’

I lean over and lay a hand on top of hers. Her skin is hot and clammy. Her hand is shaking, and I press down on it to make it stop.

‘It’s all a load of rubbish. A bloody witch doctor – that’s all. I bet they do it to all the tourists, after plying them with their weird herbal highs.’

She picks up her drink with her free hand and drains it. ‘You’re probably right,’ she says. ‘I’m just mixing things up in my head.’

She bites her lip, and looks away.

19

We’ve had too many drinks. There is a small part of me that is trying hard to keep control of the situation, but a larger part wants to give in to it, just to see what’s going to happen next. Carrie is free and fun when she’s drinking. When she’s hungover or coming down, she’s moody and paranoid. More than that, she’s too inquisitive – and I’m scared that sooner or later she’s going to get to the truth about me.

I’m not ready for that.

I manage to keep it together enough to get us back to the cabin. The first-class carriage had started to fill up – a bunch of older people on a tour, just like on the China-to-Mongolia train – but this time, Carrie hadn’t been so ready to talk to them. She’d been probing me for information about the festival, one minute saying she was scared, the next laughing it off. Plus, her endless questions about Sam. I had to shut her up, and the alcohol wasn’t hitting her fast enough, so I slipped something into her drink when she went to the toilet. Just a tiny bit. Just enough to loosen her up and stop her asking so many questions.

She started to slur after that, and I realised I needed to get her out of there.