These Vicious Masks: A Swoon Novel (36 page)

“But do your friends know about your extraordinary gift?” she asked, leaning in confidentially.

His eyes widened, and he suddenly sank and vanished into his sheets. A thud and a yelp of pain came from below, and I found him on the floor underneath the bed, wincing and holding his leg. Some
of the boys around us noticed the commotion as Miss Grey and I scrambled to lift him back up to his bed. Fortunately, the nurses were too busy to notice.

“Here, this will help,” I said, relenting and grasping the knee of his injured leg. “Just don’t slip away again.”

“I can’t help it,” he said. “Sometimes I lose my hold and fall through walls or floors.”

“Is that how you got these injuries?” Miss Grey asked.

He nodded. “It was the stairs that time. But no one believes me. When I try and prove it, it don’t work. How did you two know about me?” He lowered his voice and raised his
head closer. “Can you do it, too?”

Miss Grey shook her head. “We have our own gifts. When I sleep, I can dream of anyone else with a special gift—that is how we found you. And Miss Wyndham here can heal others. With
her hand on your leg, in a few minutes, it’ll be as if you never got hurt.”

He looked at my hand in disbelief, then back up to me. “Will you visit me every time I get hurt?”

My lips twitched against my will, and in a room with a healer, a dreamer, and a ghost, this moment of happiness felt like the strangest thing there. I tried to stifle it back, waging a silent
war within myself between the manageable numbness and the overwhelming pain, thinking the choice was obvious. But I watched as Miss Grey told Oliver all about the powers, teaching him with the same
comforting authority I remembered as a girl. I watched as Oliver gasped in wonder and excitement, the world finally making a little more sense. And I watched as Oliver’s broken arm and leg
were restored to full health, a miracle I could never imagine feeling commonplace. There were countless others out there who needed the same help, but strangely, now it didn’t feel quite so
daunting and futile. It felt almost comforting, the fact that there would always be more. For the first time in a while, I had that excited rush of a new idea, a new plan unfurling in my head.

“Instead of a visit every time you are hurt, how would you like to accompany us and rescue some new friends?” I asked.

Oliver’s eyes danced with excitement. “Really?”

I nodded. “Miss Grey, where did you say that asylum was?”

Her head snapped up at that, though I could not tell if it was in excitement, trepidation, or both. “B-Belgium. In the south.”

Well, I had always wanted to see the Continent. I turned to Miss Grey and Oliver. The muscles of my mouth contorted to a smile for the first time in a month.

“All right. I have no other plans. Let’s go save a life.”

F
IRST AND FOREMOST
: to the Swoon Reads team, thank you. This process has been a dream, and we are still pinching ourselves
to make sure it’s . . .
not
a dream, actually. Jean, thank you for believing in us. Lauren, thank you for all your cheerleading, late hours, and answers to our silliest questions.
Emily, you’re such a delight and we know this book wouldn’t be what it is without you. Rich and KB, thank you for our cover. It’s better than we could have ever imagined. And
finally, Holly: What would we do without you? Thank you so much for picking up
These Vicious Masks
and for the handholding and hours of editing since. We are a little in awe of you, and
eternally grateful. To the rest of the stunning Swoon Reads team, thank you so much for all your efforts on our behalf. We appreciate it more than we can say here.

But before our manuscript ever reached the Swoon Reads site, we had many wonderful readers and cheerleaders. First, Laura Gillis who spent hours championing us and helping us rewrite. Thank you,
Laura, for all your time and support. Kyra Nelson, thank you for your notes and advice and for being Mr. Braddock’s earliest fan. Elliot Handler, thank you for answering our endless medical
questions and for being the first person to read that messy first draft, making us believe it really could someday be a book. To our other friends and family who read this book at various stages
and gave us hope, ideas, and enthusiasm when we were lagging: Beth Latz, Peter Richman, Alex Ricciardi, Zelda Knapp, Eric Messinger, Calaine Schafer, Frederika and Isabella Reinhardt, Vanessa
Santos, Erin Keskeny, the Floe family, Dayle Towarnicky, Cayla O’Connell, Katie Owen and, surely more. We love you guys a lot.

To the creative, hungry, funny, and kind people we have met on Swoon Reads, we are so thankful for your feedback and comments and ratings. It’s been an absolute pleasure to be a part of
this community and 100 percent impossible to do this without you. Thank you.

To Lee Jackson, Judith Flanders, and the person at Google Books who scanned all the nineteenth-century texts, thank you for creating amazing and accessible Victorian resources. We don’t
know how we could have dealt with the historical research if you didn’t exist.

To Jude Morgan, Kelly would be an entirely different person if it weren’t for your writing. Thank you for inspiring her with every book you write.

Finally, to our ever-patient, ever-supportive, and number one fans: our parents. Thank you. We love you. Having a writer for a child must be deeply nerve-wracking, but thank you for never giving
up on us—or letting us give up on ourselves.

For anyone we forgot, it’s because we hate you.

No, no—kidding! We’re saving you for book two. Hope you understand.

Lots of love,

Tarun and Kelly

Friday, 2:00 p.m.:

This is it! This is the week my life will change, irrevocably! (Nick taught me that word last month. He was feeling not quite the thing one morning and said he has made some choices the
evening before that would change him, “irrevocably”!)

You see, my dearest diary, this is the week that Mr. Edwards will finally notice me, at the play on Thursday! I will be everything he could ever want in a wife!

Saturday, 10:00 a.m.

I have it! The red dress! Or—no, that should be for the dinner on Monday.

Mrs. Laura Edwards. Mrs. Laura Edwards. Mrs. Laura Edwards.

Sunday, 4:00 p.m.:

Evelyn Wyndham is here!
This is truly, the most absolutely perfect and wonderful week.

Sunday, 9:00 p.m.:

Dearest Diary, it is my greatest suspicion that Evelyn and Nick are in love! How wonderful would that be! We can have a double wedding! After Evelyn finds her sister, that is.

Mrs. Laura Edwards. Mrs. Laura Edwards. Mrs. Laura Edwards.

Monday, 7:00 p.m.:

Dearest Diary, I accompanied Evelyn and Nick today in their search of her sister, who is missing, and I have not told a soul, no not one! Even though it is a very large secret and I am quite
desperate to speak of it. I feel rather like a spy! I wonder if Mr. Edwards will notice how mature I have become this week.

Thursday, 8:00 a.m.:

’Tis Thursday! ’Tis the most glorious day of the week! I have
nothing to wear!
!

Thursday, 2:00 p.m.:

Have tried on every dress I own. Narrowed down to a favorite fifteen.

Thursday, 4:00 p.m.:

Favorite five, though it was extremely difficult.

Thursday, 6:30 p.m.:

Evelyn will help me woo Mr. Edwards!!

Friday, 2:00 a.m.:

Evelyn did
not help me with him. she is quite dead to me.

Friday 3:00 p.m.:

I am feeling very badly about saying Evelyn is dead to me.

Friday, 9:00 p.m.:

Mother wants to kick Evelyn out of the house! It is dreadfully unfair as she is not really a loose lady! Mother just doesn’t know about her Sensitive and Secret Mission! This is
absolutely and most positively the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I shall burn the house to the ground!

Friday, 11:00 p.m.:

Nick found me out with the matches. He was terribly stern but also seemed somewhat amused. I don’t believe he thinks me serious at all. Little does he realize I can simply use the
fireplace!

Saturday

During teatime today, Mrs. Hobson barely managed to ask me, through her stifled giggles, if I had any muffins. I spent the night preparing my letter of resignation.

Sunday

An unnecessary set of calling cards arrived for Miss Kent this morning. She had ordered them to be printed with the name “Mrs. Laura Edwards.” I do hope Miss
Wyndham proves to be an edifying influence on the young girl.

Monday

Miss Wyndham feigned an illness, sneaked out of the house, and walked the London streets unaccompanied for most of the night. At the very least, I’d say she’s a
better influence on Miss Kent than Lady Kent is.

Tuesday

Between her excursion last night and her “cousin’s” visit this morning, Miss Wyndham has been the subject of a great deal of gossip among the housestaff.
But when I joined in with a rumor about how anyone unable to hold their tongues would be unable to keep hold of their jobs, the conversation died rather quickly.

Wednesday

Miss Wyndham returned very late last night, covered in blood. I still believe she’s a better influence than my mistress.

Thursday

Everyone has gone to the theater tonight, so perhaps I will do something fun myself. I might even polish the silver.

Friday

While overseeing tonight’s dinner party, I finally found myself in the presence of Mr. Edwards’s famed wit when he asked me whether I had visited the zoo to see
the puffins. Somehow Miss Wyndham was the one forced to leave the house.

Saturday

Miss Kent is still quite distraught from last night. She claims to have no desire for the matches since the last incident, but we are being cautious. Perhaps I’ll hold
on to that letter of resignation.

with authors Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas and their editor, Holly West

“About the Authors”

Holly West (HW ): What was the first romance novel you ever read?
Kelly Zekas (KZ): I was thinking about this and I realized it’s kind of crazy. You
know the Berenstain Bears books? There was one about Brother Bear being in a
Romeo and Juliet
play with a girl bear whose family was feuding with his father. And I was
obsessed
with this book. I read it, like, twenty times. I have no idea. I don’t remember anything about it except that they were in
Romeo and Juliet
and they had to kiss and he would blush
every time. So I’m pretty sure that was the first romance novel I ever read.

Tarun Shanker (TS): Is that where you started liking Shakespeare from?

KZ: I think I already liked Shakespeare, so that it was even more amazing.

TS: I don’t have as good a story as that. I can’t even remember. I just read weird-ass books as a kid. So I think the first romance was probably
Jane

Eyre
in high school, and I didn’t even like it, and now it’s one of my favorite books, weirdly.

HW: Do you have an OTP (One True Pairing)? Like your favorite fictional couple?

TS: Yes. I don’t know if this is going to last for a while, but this happened while we were in between edits. Have you ever read Sarah Waters? She wrote
Fingersmith
and
Tipping the Velvet
. She writes lesbian Victorian fiction. I read
Fingersmith
and the two girls in that, Sue and Maud . . . I had to put the book down
because they’re amazing. Hopefully in a year I’ll still like them just as much. I don’t know if it’s because I just read it. The other one is probably Anne Elliot and
Captain Wentworth in
Persuasion
. That stands the test of time.