When I looked back a moment later, Lisabet and her sister were nowhere to be seen. There was only the pool, the water so black it absorbed the reflection of the sun. The reflection, once crisp and shimmering, was now like looking up at the night sky. I even saw the faint outline of a blanket of stars there, stars that blinked and whirled, making me feel off-balance and queasy.
The water grants wishes.
I thought again of her first words. I thought of the two little girls and how the eldest especially seemed so unfamiliar, but not. The answers seemed to hover just out of reach as my hands trembled and my head pounded. I felt locked in a dream, the atmosphere so bleak it left me struggling for air.
The water grants wishes.
My spine went rigid, the memory of those words finally spilling through me with terrifying awareness.
I knew that girl.
I blinked, trying to remember what exactly I’d been told about my great-aunt’s case.
“Mama! She’s singing again!”
An older Lisabet was in front of me now, seemingly unaware of my presence as her older sister danced off the steps of a cottage and down to the edge of the loch. Her strawberry hair was now cut short, and soft kohl liner rimmed her eyes. She looked far beyond her years, while her sister still wore pigtails tied with red ribbons, a skirt, and hand-me-down leather oxford shoes and white socks with a chiffon ruffle running along the top hem.
“Mama went to see a patient about birthin’ a baby. She can’t hear a thing. It’s just you and me, kiddo.”
I watched riveted as the eldest spun and hummed a soft song to herself. “Love is so fleeting, Lisabet. When you find it, never let go.”
“Love?” Lisabet, twelve or thirteen at most, sat on the steps with her face in her hands. “You don’t know love. You’re only fifteen.”
“And yet I feel positively moved by the love of a man I met in Kylemore a few weeks ago. I’ve been sneaking away to see him at night. Don’t tell Mother, but we kiss. He’s such a good kisser. I’ve never been kissed like that. The way his hands touch me, it’s as if he knows me better than I know myself.”
Lisabet scrunched her nose and huffed. “You kissed a boy? That’s gross.”
Her sister frowned. “You’ll understand someday. Or maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll like girls instead. Do you like girls, Lisabet? Oh, what would happen if the entire town found out you want to kiss girls?”
“I don’t want to kiss girls! I don’t want to kiss anyone! Stop being mean to me, or I’ll tell Mum you’re sneaking out with boys!”
“Oh, I’m not sneaking out with boys. I’m sneaking out with a man. A very important man. What do you know about it anyway? For all you know, I could be lying. That’s what I’ll tell Mum, ya know. That I was only teasing…right after I caught you kissing girls!”
Lisabet was in tears, while her elder sister laughed and danced and continued to sing about love.
“I saw you with him. You’re not so sneaky. I know who you’re talking about, you know!”
“You didn’t see anything.”
“Yes, I did. Two nights ago, I saw you walking along the loch. I thought it was a ghost at first, right over by the big boulders that come out of the water. And then I saw you were with someone. You were with that horrible man who owns Leith Hall. How could you do that to Mum? If she loses her job—”
“Keep your dirty mouth shut, then.” Lisabet’s sister turned vicious, thrusting a threatening finger in her young face.
“He’s mean, you know. Everyone hates him. The entire village thinks he’s horrible and cruel. I don’t think you should see him anymore. I don’t think Mum and Dad would want you to.”
“Oh, I don’t care what you think. You’re still a baby. I’m going to get us out of the gutter, don’t you see, Lisabet?”
“But…he’s married.”
“He’s not. I mean, he lives with her, but they don’t have a marriage, not really. He’s told me she no longer…pleases him.”
“But—”
“Shuddup, Lisabet, shuddup! If you say another word, I’ll drown you in this loch, I swear it!”
Lisabet’s eyes trembled with water before she swiped at her tears and turned in the opposite direction of her sister. “You’re always so mean, Mary.”
My blood ran cold when she used her sister’s name.
