Burn Our Bodies Down

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flick and catch of the lighter, fire blooming between my fingers. It s too hot for this. Late June, sun close and watchful. Here I am anyway. Flame guttering in and out, in andout.

The candle I lit this morning is on the coffee table. Scented, cloves and pine--Mom stole it from work last year and we ve been putting off using it, burning every other thing we can find. A bowl of tea lights, clean and bright, or a prayer candle she took from church. But we re running low, and this Christmas shit was the only one left in the box Mom keeps under her bed. Too sweet, too strong. But the rules are more important. They re always more important.

Keep a fire burning; a fire is what saves you. The first, the last, the heart of them all. She taught me that as soon as I was old enough to hold a lighter in my palm. Whispered it to me in the dark. Pressed it against my forehead in place of a kiss. And I used to ask why, because it makes less than any sense at all. But you learn quick when you re Jo Nielsen s daughter. It s answers or her, and you ll only ever get one of them, so you d better be careful deciding which it is.

I picked her. And even so, I don t get much of her most days.

With one hand, I test the breeze coming through the window I m sitting at. It s barely anything, but I want to be sure it won t put the candle flame out. She pretends not to care about that anymore, says the lighting is the important thing--and it is, it is. She watches me do it every morning with this look on her face I ll never understand. But still. I remember the fight we had the first time she came home to a blackened, bare wick. I won t let that happen again if I can help it. Especially not these days, with Mom always in a mood, holding herself open like a trap.

I get up from the windowsill and slide to the floor, tilt my head into the shade. Floorboards sticking to my thighs, salt on my tongue every second. Above me I can see the

Rory Power grew up in Boston, received her undergraduate degree at Middlebury College, and went on to earn an MA in prose fiction from the University of East Anglia. She lives in Massachusetts. She is the New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls and Burn Our Bodies Down. To learn more about Rory, go to itsrorypower.com and follow @itsrorypower on Twitter and Instagram.

Praise for Burn Our Bodies Down:

Wow, this was amazing. Rory Power does it again! Burn Our Bodies Down is a masterpiece: an incredible and unnerving mystery that will creep up on you, twisty and labyrinthine, like the eerie cornfields of its setting. Holly Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of A Good Girl s Guide to Murder  

With this bloodcurdling blend of agriculture, advanced genetics, and interpersonal turmoil, Rory Power reminds us that seemingly disparate things in life can come together in horrifying ways. I will keep a candle lit after this one. Nic Stone, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin

Rory Power s prose hits like a lightning strike in this deliriously creepy tale, the kind of slow-crawling horror that ll keep your nightmares up at night. Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood

  Gritty and strange, this sophomore novel is utterly compelling. Booklist, starred review 

  Creates a vivid world with a gothic horror like setting. . . . A riveting, often frightening read. Publishers Weekly, starred review

 "Strong, suspenseful writing and pitch-perfect touches of horror."  Shelf Awareness, starred review

A creepy mystery recommended for readers who enjoy character-driven stories with elements of horror.   SLJ

Burn Our Bodies Down is a tightly woven tale . . . that will leave readers unsettled in the best way. BookPage

Praise for Wilder Girls:
 
"Take Annihilation, add a dash of Contagion, set it at an all-girls' academy, and you'll arrive at Rory Power's occasionally shocking and always gripping Wilder Girls."  Refinery29 

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