So. There was a familial connection. Which meant I had a relative who’d (1) worked for Anima and (2) killed Cole’s mom. Awesome.
“Why have I never heard of her before? You’ve never talked about her. Mom never talked about her. Why?”
Again, silence, and I wasn’t sure what to think.
Then she said, “She took off right after high-school graduation. I never heard from her again.”
“What of her parents?”
“They’re dead,” Nana added, “just as Helen is.”
“What about—”
“Ali. Let’s drop this, all right? Please.” Her desperation tugged at my heartstrings, and if I’d been made of weaker stuff, I would have done as she’d asked.
But I wasn’t. “I can’t. I won’t.” None of her family—my family—had known Helen worked for Anima. Otherwise, they would have known about the zombies, and none of them had. “I have to know everything. I deserve to know.”
Cole stepped in front of me. The muscles in his face were like stone, or ice, carved from a blade surely honed in the fires of rage, and it kind of scared me. He’d never looked at me like that.
“Nana,” I said. “It’s your lucky day. You’re gonna get the reprieve you want. But I’m calling you tomorrow, and I expect you to answer all of my questions.”
“All right,” she said and sighed. “Tomorrow. Just know that, no matter what, I love you. So much. Never forget that.”
What wasn’t she telling me? Whatever it was, it frightened her. Badly. Made her think I’d grow to...what? Hate her? Not gonna happen. “I love you, too. I’ll always love you.”
Trembling, I set my phone aside. I opened my mouth to ask Cole what was wrong, but he just handed me his phone.
“Mr. Holland?” I asked.
He didn’t waste time with pleasantries. “I graduated a year before your parents.”
Um, okay. “That’s...nice?”
“Just listen,” he barked, startling me. “I kept track of the students in the grades behind me, always on the lookout for new recruits. I was especially interested in your dad. But you know that already. You also know he wasn’t interested in me.”
“I don’t—”
“He started dating Helen his senior year.”
Wait.
What? My dad and Helen?
“I tried to recruit them both, in fact. Unlike your dad, she was interested. Then, from what I’ve been able to piece together, your dad met your mom at some family get-together and dumped Helen that same night. He and Miranda started dating the next day. A few months later, all three graduated. Your dad and mom got married almost right away, and Helen took off. I’m not sure when she started working for Anima. All I know is that she returned to Birmingham six years later. There were rumors she’d had a daughter, but the little girl, Samantha, had died.”
Wait, wait, wait. Back up. That sweet little girl was dead?
Reeling. “Died how?”
“Zombie bite.”
I didn’t like that, wouldn’t believe it until I had proof. Rumors weren’t always true. If they were, Cole would have horns, fangs and a forked tail and I would, apparently, look like a he-man. What if the girl, Samantha, was out there?
Could she be my...sister?
What did I know about her?
Helen had packed a bag for her. Had planned to send her to her dad.
“Who’s the girl’s father?” I asked, then froze, ice actually crystallizing in my veins. Dark suspicions were like a cascade of wind. What if she wasn’t my sister, but I was...
“Don’t know that, either,” he said.
Nana’s reaction to my questions...
Helen saying, “They’ll think that you’re...” to the little girl.
Dead, I finished now and knew I was right.
And Mr. Holland had called the little girl Samantha. Sami. The name Helen spoke the first time she appeared to me. At the time, I thought she was telling me her name. But she’d clearly been saying her daughter’s name...while looking at me. Calling me—
No!
I vividly remembered my mom—my real mom—telling me she’d named me after my dad’s mother at birth. So, why was I even traveling this path? It was impossible. I had no memories of Helen.
Well, except for the dreams.
I struggled to breathe. The truth was, I had no memories of the first five years of my life.
Five, not six.
The difference mattered. I couldn’t be Sami. I’d gotten it right the first time. Sister.
But...two facts niggled at me. One, there were very few pictures of my early years, and those we had were of me. Just me. I’d never thought that strange before.
I thought it strange now.
Two, I’d always felt like the odd man out at my grandparents’ house. Like they’d seen something in Emma they hadn’t seen in me.
I pushed out a breath.
Time to break down the facts. Helen had dated my dad. Probably slept with him. She’d disappeared soon after graduation. To escape the pain of seeing my mom and dad together—to hide a pregnancy?