There was a light in the dining room. They followed it and found their parents sitting at the table, along with a small, impeccably groomed boy. They stopped in the doorway, both of them looking in bemusement at this small closed circle of a family.
Serena noticed them first. She shrieked, jumping from her chair. “Chester!”
Chester turned, opening his mouth to yell at the intruders. But one of the girls was covered in blood, and they both looked as if they had been crying, and something about them …
“Jacqueline?” he whispered. “Jillian?”
And the two girls clung to each other and wept, as outside the rain came down like a punishment, and nothing would ever be the same.
ALSO BY SEANAN McGUIRE
THE OCTOBER DAYE SERIES
Rosemary and Rue
A Local Habitation
An Artificial Night
Late Eclipses
One Salt Sea
Ashes of Honor
Chimes at Midnight
The Winter Long
A Red-Rose Chain
Once Broken Faith
THE INCRYPTID SERIES
Discount Armageddon
Midnight Blue-Light Special
Half-Off Ragnarok
Pocket Apocalypse
Chaos Choreography
Magic for Nothing
Sparrow Hill Road
Every Heart a Doorway
Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day
AS MIRA GRANT
THE NEWSFLESH SERIES
Feed
Deadline
Blackout
RISE: A Newsflesh Collection
Feedback
THE PARASITOLOGY SERIES
Parasite
Symbiont
Chimera
Rolling in the Deep
Final Girls
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Seanan lives in the Pacific Northwest with her cats, a vast collection of creepy dolls and horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard.
She was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and in 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo ballot. She doesn’t sleep much, but she spends a lot of time in the corn.
O, the corn. You can sign up for email updates here.
Thank you for buying this
Tom Doherty Associates ebook.
To receive special offers, bonus content,
and info on new releases and other great reads,
sign up for our newsletters.
Or visit us online at
us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup
CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
Part I: Jack and Jill Live UP the Hill
1. The Dangerous Allure of Other People’s Children
2. Practically Perfect in Virtually No Ways
3. They Grow UP SO Fast
Part II: Jill and Jack Into the Black
4. To Market, To Market, To Buy a Fat Hen
5. The Roles We Choose Ourselves
6. The First Night of Safety
7. To Fetch a Pail of Water
Part III: Jack and Jill with Time to Kill
8. The Skies to Shake, the Stones to Bleed
9. Someone’s Coming to Dinner
Part IV: Jill and Jack Will Not Come Back
10. And From Her Grave, a Red, Red Rose …
11. … and From His Grave, A Briar
12. Everything You Never Wanted
13. A Thousand Miles of Hardship Between Here and Home
Also by Seanan McGuire
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novella are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
DOWN AMONG THE STICKS AND BONES
Copyright © 2017 by Seanan McGuire
All rights reserved.
Interior illustrations by Rovina Cai
Cover photographs © Getty Images
Cover design by FORT
Edited by Lee Harris
A Tor.com Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
ISBN 978-0-7653-9203-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7653-9610-5 (signed edition)
ISBN 978-0-7653-9204-6 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9780765392046
Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
First Edition: June 2017