FORTY-NINE
This is it.
The robin’s-egg-blue house. The one I woke up in. The one Warner lived in. The one his mother is stored in. We’re standing in front of it and it looks exactly as it did the last two times I was here. Beautiful and terrifying. Wind chimes whipping back and forth.
“Why the hell would Warner be here?” Kenji asks. “What is this place?”
“I can’t really tell you,” I say to him.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not my secret to tell.”
Kenji is silent a moment. “So what do you want me to do?”
“Can you wait here?” I ask him. “Will I be able to stay invisible if I go inside? Or will I get out of range?”
Kenji sighs. “I don’t know. You can definitely try. I’ve never tried to do this from outside a house before.” He hesitates. “But if you’re going to go in without me, can you please hurry the hell up? I’m already freezing my ass off.”
“Yes. I promise. I’ll be fast. I just want to make sure he’s all right—or that he’s even in here. Because if he’s not inside, he might be waiting for us back at the drop-off.”
“And all of this will have been a huge waste of time.”
“I’m sorry,” I say to him. “I’m really sorry. But I just have to make sure.”
“Go,” he says. “Go and come back fast.”
“Okay,” I whisper. “Thank you.”
I break away and climb up the stairs to the little porch. Test the handle. It’s unlocked. I turn it, push the door open. Step inside.
This is where I was shot.
The bloodstain from where I was lying on the ground has already been cleaned up. Or maybe the carpet was changed. I’m not sure. Either way, the memories still surround me. I can’t walk back into this house without feeling sick to my stomach. Everything is wrong in here. Everything is so wrong. So off.
Something has happened.
I can feel it.
I’m careful to shut the door gently behind me. I creep up the stairs, remembering how the floorboards squeaked when I was first captured and brought here, and I’m able to sidestep the noisiest parts; the rest of it, thankfully, just sounds like it could be the wind.
When I’m upstairs, I count three doors. Three rooms.
On the left: Warner’s old room. The one I woke up in.
In the middle: the bathroom. The one I was bathed in.
On the far end of the hall, all the way to the right: his mother’s room. The one I’m looking for.
My heart is racing in my chest.
I can hardly breathe as I tiptoe closer. I don’t know what I’m expecting to find. I don’t know what I’m hoping will come of this trip. I don’t have any idea, even, if Warner is still in here.
And I have no idea what it’ll be like to see his mother.
But something is pulling me forward, urging me to open the door and check. I need to know. I just have to know. My mind won’t rest otherwise.
So I inch forward. Take several deep breaths. I grasp the doorknob and turn, so slowly, not even realizing I’ve lost invisibility until I see my feet crossing the threshold.
I panic in an instant, my brain calculating contingency plans, and though I briefly consider turning around and bolting out the door, my eyes have already scanned the room.
And I know I can’t turn back now.