*
Megan forced herself to lie still under the covers after she ended her call with Livia. Her mother was back on the prowl of late, since the nightmares started again, and had reacquired the annoying habit of peeking her head into Megan’s bedroom to check on her. Stirring in bed would draw her mother’s attention. Something tonight, more than any other, Megan needed to avoid. It would take two hours for Livia to make the drive from Raleigh, but Megan knew she couldn’t stay still for long. It would be impossible to tolerate the throbbing in her carotid artery for much longer.
It had come to her. She had solved the last year of her life. The tumultuous fourteen months that had unfolded since the moment she saw Mr. Steinman’s headlights on Highway 57 and sat in his car. More than a year of mystery had stretched along the road of her life since then, and now she finally had things straight. With her revelation, though, came an irrational fear that the secrets she had discovered buried in her mind would be broadcast to the world. That if she spent one more day attempting to tie up the details, her discovery would spill for the world to see and it would be too late. She thought of the girls Livia had discovered—Nancy and Paula—and the others who might still be out there. A nauseous ache turned her stomach. She couldn’t risk waiting. It had to be tonight.
Forty-five minutes passed before the pulsing in her neck grew too great to bear. She considered briefly that her catharsis might be causing a panic attack. But Megan knew the throbbing vessels and beading perspiration were her sympathetic nervous system telling her to move. Her mind was preparing her body for fight or flight, and there was no one in her house to fight. So she ran.
Megan stuck three pillows under her covers for anyone who might check on her tonight, snaked into a pair of jeans, and dropped her phone into her pocket. She was careful when she slipped out the back door, took the stairs with silent steps, glided across the back lawn and into the night. Solving the mystery of her life had not answered all her questions. Why this had happened to her she couldn’t quite figure. But her dream the other night, when she saw Livia in the window of the commuter train as it blurred past the cellar window, told her that no one else could help tonight. She needed Livia.
Megan made it to the intersection with more than forty minutes to spare before Livia would arrive. She stood in the shadows and tried to breathe. Tried to push from her mind the thought that with each minute that passed, the monster would learn of her discovery.
CHAPTER 46
August 2016
The Night of the Abduction
She endured three hours of tedium while she waited. She talked with people she had no interest in, and laughed at stupid high school humor she’d long grown bored of. She watched Matt deliberately ignore her, and listened to Megan giggle in her fake voice whenever Matt uttered a word. On a normal night, it would have been too much to handle. But tonight was anything but normal. Tonight was special. Epic, even.
She stood with Rachel and Jessica around the bonfire and pretended to drink beer. Pretended to be interested in them. Pretended to care which college everyone was off to in the fall. Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she quickly grabbed it.
Finally, Casey was ready.
CHAPTER 47
November 2017
Fourteen Months Since Megan’s Escape
It was approaching midnight when Livia pulled to the intersection and saw Megan standing in the shadows of a building. The streetlight painted her face when she walked from the alcove, and even from such a distance Livia recognized the difference. When Megan climbed into the passenger seat, the dim glow of the car’s dome light confirmed the startling transformation. More than two weeks had passed since they were last together, when Megan had squeezed Livia’s hand in her father’s office after he agreed to help them. Back then, Megan’s eyes were filled with hope and elation. Now, Livia noticed vacant and wandering eyes, heavy with burden.
“What’s wrong?” Livia asked.
Megan shook her head. “I know where he kept me. I figured it out.”
Livia took a moment to decipher Megan’s words. “The bunker?”
“Before that. I know where he kept me during those two weeks. The cellar. I need to go there, Livia. I need you to take me.”
Parked on the side of a deserted road, dark and quiet in the middle of the night, Livia understood something cathartic was happening. She realized suddenly this girl’s frailty, and she felt the heavy responsibility of Megan’s well-being on her shoulders.
“Maybe we should talk to your dad, Megan. He told me you were having trouble with all this.”
“No. Only you.”
From her short stint through psych rotations during her internship year, Livia was familiar with different states of psychosis. She was certain Megan was in one now. “Maybe we should call Dr. Mattingly. Let him know about this.”
Megan shook her head in the darkened car, then turned and looked at Livia. “Please, Livia. Take me there. Help me.”
Livia stared at Megan, and in that moment another metamorphosis took place. Megan was no longer the girl who went to school with Nicole. She was no longer the other girl who had been taken that night. Megan was, in that moment, a friend who needed help. “Okay.” Livia put the car into gear. “Where are we going?”
“West Bay.” Megan shook her head in disbelief. “It’s not far. Not far at all.”
CHAPTER 48
August 2016
The Night of the Abduction
Casey drove a rusted-out Buick Regal he kept covered and stowed in a storage unit in West Bay. He drove this car when he took the girls. The last time he put miles on it was when he journeyed to Virginia the previous year to steal Nancy Dee. Now tonight, nearly a year later, it came from storage once again. His insides exploded with fear and excitement.