“Yes, Mal, for the one millionth time I am totally okay. Now can we ride the Balloon Bounce?”
“Yes, Beth, yes! Anything! Anything you want!”
But then Teddy is back, he’s pulling on my arm, he’s gently shaking me awake. I open my eyes and I’m lying on the sofa in the den and Teddy is holding out the iPad.
“It went dead again.”
I’m certain he’s mistaken. I just charged the iPad over lunch and the battery went to 100 percent. But as I sit up, I realize the light in the den is significantly darker; the sun has stopped streaming through the north-facing windows. The clock over the mantel says it’s 5:17 but that can’t be right, that’s impossible.
I reach for my phone and confirm it’s actually 5:23.
I’ve been asleep four hours.
And the Maxwells will be home any minute.
“Teddy, what happened? Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“I got to level thirty,” he says proudly. “I unlocked eight new feather cards!”
My hands are filthy. My fingers and palms are smeared with dark black soot, like I’ve been digging outside in the garden. There’s a worn-down nub of pencil in my lap—and more pencils and markers and crayons scattered on the floor, all the art supplies that Caroline stashed away in the kitchen.
Teddy looks around the den in wide-eyed wonder.
“Mommy’s going to be so mad.”
I look where he’s looking and the walls are covered with sketches—many, many sketches, dense and detailed and spanning from floor to ceiling.
“Teddy, why did you do this?”
“Me? I didn’t do anything!”
And of course he didn’t. He couldn’t! He’s not tall enough! He’s not the one with charcoal and graphite smeared all over his hands. I walk across the room to take a closer look. These are Anya’s drawings, there’s no doubt in my mind. They’re all over the walls, drawn in the blank spots between windows and thermostats and light switches.
“Mallory? Are you okay?”
He’s tugging on my shirttail, and I am not okay.
I am definitely not okay.
“Teddy, listen to me. We need to fix this before Mommy and Daddy get home. Do you have any erasers in your bedroom? Big fat pink rubber erasers?”
He looks at all the pencils and crayons and markers on the floor. “This is everything I have. But I’m not supposed to use these anymore. Not until we get to the bottom of things.”
It’s too late, anyway. I can hear a car pulling into the driveway. I look outside and see not just Ted and Caroline but Adrian, too. He’s parking his landscaping truck in front of the house. Right now I’m supposed to be putting on one of Caroline’s summer dresses, getting ready for my big dinner date in Princeton.
“Go upstairs, Teddy.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you to be here.”
“Why?”
“Please just go upstairs? Please?” There’s a USB cable on the coffee table and I pass it to him. “Go charge the iPad in your bedroom.”
“Okay, cool.”
Teddy takes the iPad and the cable and runs out of the den, like he thinks he’s getting away with something. I can hear his little feet running upstairs to his room.
And then the sound of the front door opening, the soft swish of the door sweep whisking over the tiled floor. I can hear Caroline talking to Adrian, welcoming him into their home. “Where are you going for dinner?”
“A really good tapas place,” he says. “They make a killer patatas bravas.”
“Mmmm, what are those?” Ted asks.
“Mr. Maxwell, they’re the best French fries you’ve ever tasted, I guarantee it.”
I know I need to intercept them and somehow prepare them for what I’ve done. I head into the kitchen and Caroline is asking Adrian if he’d like something to drink. The cabinet above the refrigerator is still hanging open, its contents have been looted, but Caroline hasn’t noticed yet.
And Adrian is so handsome it’s almost heartbreaking. He looks like he’s just stepped out of the shower. His hair is a little damp, and he’s smartly dressed in dark jeans and a crisp white button-down shirt. No one sees me enter the kitchen until I announce my presence.
“Something happened.”
Caroline stares at me. “Mallory?”
“What’s on your hands?” Ted asks.
Adrian hurries to my side. “Are you okay?”
And I know he’s my only hope.
He’s the only one who might believe me.
“This is going to sound crazy but I swear I’m telling the truth. After Teddy went upstairs for Quiet Time, I started feeling tired. I lay down on the sofa to rest. I figured I would close my eyes, just for a few minutes. And then somehow—I don’t know how—Anya’s spirit took possession of my body.”
Caroline stares at me. “What?”
“I know. I know it sounds crazy. But while I was sleeping, she made me get out all the pencils and markers and crayons.” I point to the empty cabinet above the refrigerator. “And since you took all the paper, she made me draw on your walls. She couldn’t get inside Teddy so she put herself in me.”
Adrian puts an arm around my waist. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re safe now. We’re going to figure this out.”
Caroline shoves past me, storming into the den, and we all follow. She draws in her breath sharply, staring at the walls in disbelief.
“Where’s Teddy?”
“In his room. He’s fine.”
Caroline looks to her husband. He hurries upstairs.
I try to walk Caroline through the afternoon. “He went into his bedroom at one o’clock. For Quiet Time. I let him take the iPad, just like you said. He didn’t come downstairs until ten minutes ago. Right when you got home.”
“Four hours?” she asks.
I show Adrian my right hand, all covered with graphite and charcoal and blisters. “I’m left-handed, just like Teddy. I couldn’t have done this on my own. These are just like the pictures in my cottage.”
“Yes, exactly! The style is identical!” He takes out his smartphone and walks around the room, capturing photographs of the various scenes. “The first thing we should do is compare them to the other pictures. See how they fit in the sequence.”
“No,” Caroline says. “The first thing we’re doing is a tox screen. Right now. Or I’m calling the police.”
Adrian stares at her. “Tox screen?”
“I can’t believe I left you alone with our son. I can’t believe I trusted you! What the hell was I thinking?”
“I’m not using,” I tell her. I try to speak softly, as if it’s somehow possible to have the conversation in a sidebar. As if Adrian wasn’t standing right there listening. “I swear to you, Caroline, I’m clean.”
“Then you’ll have no problem with the test. When you started working here, you agreed to random testing every week. You volunteered. On days of our choosing.” She takes my wrist and studies my arm for marks. “I guess we should have started a lot sooner.”
Ted returns from the second floor, and with a single look he assures Caroline that Teddy is fine. Meanwhile Adrian is trying to persuade Caroline that she’s got the situation all wrong.