“Hurts like a son of a bitch,” I puffed. Out of breath.
She nodded. “I will get something to help once you get back home. I can’t fix that, sorry. You did good.” She squeezed my arm and sent me a half smile.
In the background the clock, tick, ticked, ticked.
Karson was on the phone, barking out an order to get here and fast.
Ethan got out his phone and moved away. I guessed he spoke to Bob. A solemn, tormented look cloaked his face. Tears pooled in his eyes.
I clutched my hands over my face for a long moment. Then I peered up at Karson. “You better leave town, Bob—he might . . . I don’t know. Once he knows what you did . . .”
He showed perplexity in the faint light. “What do you think I have done, that I need to leave town for?”
“Jesus, Karson, are really that fucking insensitive? You killed his son.”
Ethan said, “Karson didn’t kill Nathan . . . Sarah did.”
I felt a sense of relief, followed instantly by confusion. “Why does she think Karson killed him, then?”
“BJ, take Georgie home to get her things, then come back to Ethan’s. Don’t let her speak to anyone. Dahlia, you go with them and make sure they’re safe. Ethan, you can explain to Amelia. I’ll search the hidden room. Do not move until help gets here,” Karson commanded and then he was gone.
Georgie shook her head as if trying to clear a cobweb of distress from her mind. It didn’t work. Pale faced and gaunt, shestared at the ground. BJ clasped her elbow to steady her swaying body.
“You sure you’re okay, Amy?” BJ asked, a deep frown in his forehead.
“I’m fine, BJ, I’ll meet you all at Ethan’s. Then you can tell me about the awesome witch skills you keep buried.”
He gave me a tight smile. Dahlia grabbed Georgie’s other arm and they helped her walk to the door.
I moved. I pulled myself up slowly, but only because I needed to lean against something. I went to the desk, lowered myself gingerly down to the floor, being careful not to re-split the wound. I sat, knees bent, back and head rested against the wood of the desk. My chest felt as if someone was sitting on it, and it was hard to draw air.
Ethan slid down beside me. His elbows resting on his bent knees, his eyes downcast, looking every bit a broken man. When he spoke, I could hear the agony in his voice.
“Sarah and I dated for about six months. I loved her, I did.” He sighed. “But not as much as she loved me. She was possessive, jealous, with a rage that was uncontrollable. The slightest annoyance and she’d fly off the handle. I knew we needed to break up, so I did the only thing I thought would make her not want to be with me.”
I closed my eyes, his unspoken words land deep. “You slept with her best friend.” My eyes blinked open. “I can’t believe Georgie would do that.”
“We both got really drunk and I know exactly what to say . . . I’m not proud of it, Amy.” He dropped his eyes back to the floor. “Sarah spiralled out of control, drinking and partying. Georgie and Nathan began seeing each other secretly. Georgie apologized, begged her forgiveness, but I didn’t help the situation. I rubbed it in. Instead of taking her anger out on me, she blamed her. Her anger at Georgie grew, but none of us couldhave realized just how much. One night, blind drunk, she found Georgie and Nathan on Parson’s lookout. They argued. Sarah hurled a large knife at Georgie. It would have killed her, except Nathan pushed her out of the way. He saved her life, but the blade sliced his neck open. He fell backwards off the cliff. The fall did the rest.”
“Why does she think Karson killed him, then?”
“Karson blocked it from her mind, knowing she’d never forgive herself. He told her we dated for a bit, but it was nothing serious, it ended mutually. That we didn’t really like each other much. He wiped her memories of finding Georgie in my bed.” He rubbed his hands roughly together, stared blankly off to the side. “I don’t know. I guess she remembers parts, maybe his face afterwards. As far as we knew, they all thought he died, beheaded in a car crash.”
“That’s why Georgie hates you so much,” I murmured.
“Karson altered Georgie’s mind, as far as she knows, nothing ever happened. Although it’s safe to assume he told her she didn’t like me much.”
“Bob, does he know the truth now?”
He shook his head. “No, Amy, how could I tell him his son died at the hands of his other child?” He drew a thick breath. “It’s all my fault, if I could turn back time I would.”
There were moments in life when my breath had been sucked like a vacuum out of my body. When the pain of life had swooped in and snagged its claws against my soul. This time it wasn’t my pain, it was Ethan’s, but in that moment, his grief became mine and dug down to my bones. I wished with all my heart I could take his pain, that somehow, like a fine brush, I could gently sweep against the harshness of reality. Somehow, I could smooth it away. But I couldn’t, I was stuck, just as he was, caught by the invisible threads that bind our souls together.
I cried then, not for myself, but for Ethan.
I put my arms around him and pulled him in tight. My chest began to hurt but I endured it.
“It’s okay, Ethan, it’s not your fault. You know there’s nothing you can tell me that would make me stop loving your ugly head.” I fixed his wayward hair and kissed his cheek. My breathing shallowed, I couldn’t draw a proper breath. Each inhale felt as though I’d only sucked in half of what I needed. I began to feel faint, the room swinging on an axis. I needed to lie down.
