Free The Blue Woods by Nicole Maggi Page B

kind of sucks, being on the fringe like that.”
    â€œOh, I don’t know. There’s a lot to be said for the fringe.” I should know. I’d been living on the fringe ever since we started moving around. “You can watch everything that’s happening without risking your own neck. And sometimes you can see things more clearly than everyone on the inside.”
    â€œWell, that’s true.” She dropped her hand and looked at me. “For instance, I see that even though you like to keep yourself separate, you really want to be part of the big picture.”
    I pressed my lips together. “Wow, Jenny. Psychoanalyze much?”
    â€œWhy else would you get involved with the Benandanti?”
    â€œUm, to save my brother ?”
    She squinted at me in the dark. “What does your brother have to do with this?”
    Holy crap, she didn’t know. I had to hand it to Alessia for not spilling that secret. With a grunt, I hoisted myself up on my elbow. “Jonah is a Malandante. I figured Alessia told you.”
    â€œShit.” Jenny whistled long and low. “So that’s why they broke up.”
    â€œYep. Nothing like finding out your boyfriend is actually your archenemy.”
    â€œI warned her,” Jenny said in a disgustingly smug voice. “I warned her that he was a bad boy.”
    â€œYeah, yeah, you’re smarter than the rest of us,” I said, then added, “He’s not evil. He wants out of the Malandanti. Alessia and I are trying to figure out a way to do that.”
    Jenny brushed her hair away from her face. “You can’t just resign your post from the Malandanti. Or the Benandanti. My dad tried when I was born, but they wouldn’t let him.”
    â€œIn it for life, baby.” I slid back down under my blanket. In some ways, there was not much separating the Malandanti from the Benandanti. Both sides required absolute dedication from their members. Both sides made you sign a contract for life. No exceptions.
    Except . . .
    There was an exception. I squirmed a little, trying to get comfortable. That thing I’d found, buried deep in the Angel Falls book, that thing that no one wanted to talk about. A Benandante could die and willingly gift his or her essence to a Malandante, turning one side into the other.
    The bedroom door creaked open and Alessia’s shadow stretched across the floor and the wall opposite. She shucked off her boots and tiptoed past me, obviously under the mistaken impression that I could possibly sleep.
    â€œHow’s the new guy?” I asked when she’d put her foot on the bottom rung of the ladder up to her bunk.
    â€œJesus!” She stumbled off the ladder, her hand pressed to her chest. “You scared the crap out of me.” Taking a deep breath, she looked from me to Jenny and back again. “How’d you know it was a guy?”
    I shrugged. “Just assumed, since Mr. Foster was.” Actually, that wasn’t true. I’d sensed his maleness, just like I’d sensed his Calling. But I wanted to keep my sharpened senses to myself for a little longer.
    â€œYeah well, I’d be a lot happier if he was a girl.” Alessia pulled her sweatshirt off, padded out of the room, and returned a moment later with a glass of water. “This guy, Cal —he’s been obsessed with the Benandanti since he was like a toddler. His mother had a vision that he’d be Called. A vision. ” She gulped down the water so hard that some splashed onto the front of her tank top. “He’s all like, ‘I’ve been to Friuli! I’m going to defer my acceptance to Yale because nothing’s more important than the Benandanti! Don’t you think nothing’s more important than the Benandanti, Alessia?’ God! ”
    Jenny started laughing. I leveled my gaze at Alessia and asked, “Does my brother need to be worried?”
    Alessia stared at me. “What? No.