• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Sarah Rees Brennan

New York Times Bestselling Author of the Demon's Lexicon Trilogy

  • Home
  • Biography
  • Blog
  • Books
    • The Winx Saga
      • Fate: The Winx Saga: The Fairies Path
    • C.S. Pacat’s Fence Series
      • Fence: Disarmed
      • Fence: Striking Distance
    • The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
      • Path of Night: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Novel 3
      • Daughter of Chaos: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Novel 2
      • Season of the Witch: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Novel 1
    • In Other Lands
    • Tell the Wind and Fire
    • Team Human
    • Lynburn Legacy Trilogy
      • Unmade
      • Untold
      • Unspoken
    • Demon’s Lexicon Trilogy
      • The Demon’s Surrender
      • The Demon’s Covenant
      • The Demon’s Lexicon
    • Collaborations & Anthologies
  • Extras
  • Appearances
  • Contact

UNMADE SNIPPET

April 16, 2014 by Sarah 7 Comments

Long have I promised an Unmade snippet, and been bribed with kittens and readers’ tears and all the things I enjoy for one, which is much appreciated!

So here it is.

It is hiiiiighly spoilery for the end of Untold. I’m just warning you. It’s also a little… it’s a little bit… it’s not right is what I’m telling you. I’m not right.

The last two times Rob Lynburn had opened the priest hole, Jared had tried to kill him.

The first time, Jared had tried to strangle Rob with his bare hands, and the second time he had used a weapon. There were not many weapons available when buried alive in a wall. The body of Edmund Prescott, twenty years dead, his fair hair turned white and brittle and hanging like spiderwebs in his gray sunken face, was all that Jared had.

Jared had shoved up Edmund’s sleeve, rotten and disintegrating under his hand. Underneath his clothes, Edmund’s body had shriveled to nothing but papery skin over bones. Jared tore the skin away and ripped a bone free out of the forearm.

He had spent some time—he did not know how long, time was hard to tell in this lightless trap—sharpening the bone against the stone wall of his prison. Hiding the bone in his sleeve, he waited.

Rob had lifted him out, and Jared had pretended to be more drugged than he was, head lolling, mumbling something about help and his mother. Rob had bent over him, almost seeming concerned.

Jared had whipped out his weapon and tried to plunge the bone into Rob’s throat.

He had caught Rob unawares. Some of Rob’s sorcerers had been with him and one had grabbed Jared’s arm, pulling it back, so the wound was shallow instead of the gaping hole Jared had planned. The next minute, Jared had been pinned to the floor by the sorcerers as he struggled and lashed out under their hands, Rob’s rage washing over him as magical pain.

Rob had taken hold of Jared’s hair and banged his head, rhythmically and sickeningly hard, against the stone floor.

“Very resourceful, my boy,” he’d said. “I’m impressed. Don’t try it again.”

They had left Edmund Prescott’s body in the priest hole with him, but Jared had not tried it again. They would be expecting it now.

The food they gave him was drugged with something that made him drowsy and his magic not work. At first he did not eat it, but it became clear the choice was eat drugged food or starve to death, and the food let the days slip by faster, filled them full of dreams.

He was sitting with his head against the wall, dreaming, when the priest hole opened, a pale square of light on the wall above him. He felt himself being dragged up by magic, back against the wall, helpless as a puppet on Rob’s string.

The light of day hurt his eyes: he squinted, dazzled, and in his blurry vision Rob’s face almost looked kind.

“How are you today, Jared?” he asked gently. “Ready to be a dutiful son?”

Jared was lying on the ground. He knew he must look pitiful, dirty from the grave below, not able to see or stand: he tried to raise himself on one elbow and could not quite manage it—the elbow kept slipping away from him.

“Yeah,” he grated out. “I’ll be a good boy. Don’t put me back down there.”

Sight and sound slipped out of his reach: the last thing he saw as his vision darkened was Rob’s proud smile.

Filed Under: General Blog

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. LauraN says

    April 23, 2014 at 4:59 pm

    Sarah, you are cruel to both your characters and your readers. But then, you knew that, didn’t you?

    Reply
    • sarahreesbrennan says

      May 13, 2014 at 9:06 pm

      Yeah, a little bit. 😉

      Reply
  2. R.C. says

    April 30, 2014 at 10:24 am

    oh my god . not Jared . DON’T KILL HIM !!!!!!!!!!!!!! .

    Reply
  3. Thea says

    May 9, 2014 at 12:07 am

    NO. OMG *please don’t turn evil*

    Reply
  4. Annie Iza Samuraii says

    May 13, 2014 at 8:51 pm

    Jared, baby, just hold on!! They’re coming to save you!!!

    Reply
    • sarahreesbrennan says

      May 13, 2014 at 9:06 pm

      Or are they? 😉

      Reply
  5. Tess says

    May 24, 2014 at 12:24 am

    Ugh, Rob is such a sleezy character – reading him makes me feel a little sick actually. Well done on the writing front ^_^

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

sarahreesbrennan

674

The rarely seen baths and puffy coats picture! ...

Open
The rarely seen baths and puffy coats picture! Gellért thermal baths and its Art Nouveau decor, only one of the aquatic delights offered by Budapest. We also saw the Parlament from a trip down the Danube river. My brother & sister put up with me mentioning Jonathan and Mina Harker of #Dracula got married in Budapest, and my insisting on eating chicken paprika like Jonathan. That and soup in a bread bowl comforted me when I was made to walk 300 steps at the Basilika and even more around Buda Castle while protesting I am a potato who sits on the sofa and writes the novels. Budapest was beautiful and so was seeing it with my sibs: I will remember this trip a long time. #draculadaily #budacastle #gellertbaths #danuberiver #ststephensbasilica #hungary🇭🇺

Writing to you live from Budapest! My gorgeous ...

Open
Writing to you live from Budapest! My gorgeous little sister surprised me with the amazing birthday present of a city break - and our baby bro came too. This is us at Szimpla Kert, the original of Budapest’s ruin bars: repurposed dilapidated buildings, filling old places with plants and art and music. More from Budapest soon… #szimplakert #budapest #ruinbar #bettyandbiddy

With changes over on twitter, I see many people ...

Open
With changes over on twitter, I see many people stressing over where and how they can talk up their writing and art. It reminded me of the difficulty I’ve had talking about a project dear to me. I’d see other writers talking about their word count or their plans, and be lime green jelly that I couldn’t, because it was so dear that talking about it felt weighted, because I didn’t have any confidence after being sick, because hope and fear pin down the tongue and keys. There are always challenges when talking about art, whether they come from within or without. But I do believe one of the hardest and most necessary things is to make art with faith it will speak to people when the time comes. So I wanted to put this up here as a way to say: be hopeful, fearful and courageous with your voice. When you can. The time will come. #authorsofinstagram #writing #sarahreesbrennan #srbrennan

Well beloved fairy folk and fans, I know you got ...

Open
Well beloved fairy folk and fans, I know you got sad news last week and I am so sorry! I also know @straffiiginio and Rainbow do have glorious plans for much in the Winx franchise. For now, I offer signed books as a little comfort! @Soraseilyn, @dutchwinxer and @blindchannxl on Insta, and ladygeeke & subtle-skipping on tumblr, please email me sarahreesbrennan at gmail to collect your winnings. My other cat (about whom more soon!) has been guarding them for you. For myself, I feel lucky to have been part of the journey to Alfea, to write fun books with great characters and to get to know you all: you’ve been so welcoming and kind to me. Thank you and I hope we stay friends. Who knows what is to come? 💕🧚#winxclubforever #fatethewinxsaga #abigailcowen #bloompeters #winxstella

For the end of spooky season! Cancer is about ...

Open
For the end of spooky season! Cancer is about loss: of hair, teeth, friends… and words. For a couple years before I was diagnosed with late stage lymphoma, I watched my writing go off a cliff in terms of quality and speed - sentences turned to nonsense, and I couldn’t finish anything. It was terrifying. So was trying to come back to writing and publishing after having a traumatic time with chemo. ‘Where was she last year?’ ‘Who’s that again?’ ‘Oh, I thought you were…’ My confidence was shattered, and being approached for Sabrina was a life raft to cling to: being remembered, having fun with writing again, falling for a wild strange fantasy world. It opened the door to other worlds I was honored to be invited into, their lovely fandoms, and to courage that I could perhaps write my own books again. Here’s #chillingadventuresofsabrina and #fatethewinxsaga in Feltrinelli in Rome, and me, because fantasy opens all the escape doors. Happy All Hallows’ Day, and hope you had a great #Hallowinx and you find the doors you’re hoping for 👻🖤. #feltrinelli #romeitaly #cancersurvivor #writersofinstagram #writing #fencecomic

I see many photos where the ‘after’ shows ...

Open
I see many photos where the ‘after’ shows someone thinner than the ‘before.’ Here’s a different version. When I’m feeling vulnerable, I cover it with jokes. ‘Hey, at least I was skinny!’ ‘Dr: Any unexplained weight loss? Me: I wish!’ It’s safer than saying: When people were telling me I looked great, I felt lousy, scared, and sad they thought I looked better when I felt worse. Once I was in recovery people kept telling me how bad I’d looked. That doesn’t help either. We all have uncomfortable relationships with our bodies, because of society, ideas about what health is, and the fact our outside self is all most people can perceive of us! I was diagnosed late: I kept being told it was bronchitis, pneumonia, a kiwi allergy (that one was weird…), I’d be fine, I was clearly healthy. I often think about what my life, relationships and health would be like if I was diagnosed earlier, if people hadn’t assumed I was lying and secretly dieting or exercising a lot. But I get why they did: I get why I didn’t want it to be a warning sign. Weight is a weighted topic. I wish it wasn’t, for all of us. I love and find beautiful (not that my opinion matters) people of a hundred shapes and sizes, but we always have the most tangled relationship to our own bodies. The body is a vessel that carries us through our lives. If we’re happy with however that vessel looks, I think that’s awesome—but sometimes positivity is difficult. Here are 2 full-length pictures of me, during chemo and a couple years after. Honestly, I’m not happy with how I look in either. But in one, I’m trapped at home with medicines around me. In the other, I’m outside with my sister, on her wedding day. In the end, it’s about where the vessel takes you. #twweightloss #cancersurvivor #wedding #twweighttalk #milestonecountdown

On Tumblr

  • Untitled January 31, 2023
  • Untitled January 31, 2023
  • Untitled January 31, 2023
  • biography
  • blog
  • contact
  • home
  • appearances
  • © Copyright 2007-2023 Sarah Rees Brennan. All Rights Reserved.
  • Site by Moxie Design Studios