Back then, Ellie’s efforts were pretty basic. Colonel Fawcett, Amelia Earhart, big obvious cases that a child could research. Ellie had been a child trying to make sense of a thing she still couldn’t understand twenty years later. Statistically, 98 percent of the people who were declared “missing” were found eventually, often quickly and occasionally deceased. The remaining 2 percent, however, were the cases that filled her dark blue binders.
Ellie added three cases to the blue folder (unsolved). Sometimes, she was able to move a case to the white binder (found: alive) or the black binder (found: deceased). As each page printed, Ellie read it, slid the sheet into the three-hole punch, and then she added it to the correct page in the binders.
Her phone buzzed.
HESTIA
Withering away. Eagles will eat my carcass soon.
ELLIE
Eagles?
HESTIA
Sky burial.
ELLIE
I will not leave your corpse on the roof.
HESTIA
Then you better feed me soon.
Ellie packed up and went by the house to collect Hestia, who had texted they needed “a night out” before her “imprisonment.” Honestly, Ellie didn’t mindnotcooking tonight. Whatever had caused her to collapse earlier left her exhausted.
By the time Ellie and Hestia were in the car and headed toward Fallingwater, where the restaurant was, Ellie had decided if she could find out about people who went missing, maybe she could find out about Prospero.
Is that stalkery?What were the rules after kissing beautiful strangers? Prospero had seemed to know that Ellie would be there, so really, this was just leveling the playing field.
It was just that Ellie felt… desired. It didn’t seem like a huge thing, but it had been a minute since anyone had made her feel like she was interesting and beautiful. She felt empowered by the way Prospero had looked at her, spoken to her, kissed her back.
“I met someone today,” Ellie blurted out. It was a little foolish because she had no intention of seeing Prospero again, of going to lunch with her or any such thing, but there was an innaterightnessabout her.
“Someone you like?” Hestia prompted mildly.
“I think so.… You know that click?” Ellie glanced over. “The opposite of the belly eels?”
Hestia nodded. They’d long since come up with words for the way some people made a person feelrightand some felt innatelyoff.Hestia called it intuition, although every so often she said “magic.” Whatever it was, Ellie only talked about it with Hestia.
“She feels right, like I want to know everything about her,” Ellie admitted. “No one ever has before.”
“Tell me about her.”
“She’s pretty and has an elegance to her, and possibly a bit dangerous. Well, she said she was dangerous.” Ellie paused at that thought. Prospero did have an edge to her that was hard to explain. She was risky in some indefinable way, and in that moment, Ellie was as certain of it as she was of gravity.
“Nothing says you have to stay in Ligonier,” Hestia said gently. “I’m an adult, able to look after myself, and you have your whole life in front of you. Don’t grow old before your time.”
Ellie looked over to Hestia. “I’m where I want to be.”
“If that changes…”
“I’ll tell you. Promise.” Ellie shook her head. “She’s not for me, though. We kissed, and she left.”
“Don’t give up before you try.” Hestia pointed at her with a shaking finger. “I met a man once. Thought he was the one. I sometimes regret not trying.” She grinned. “I’ve enjoyed the hell out of the single life, mind you, but Walter was something else. He understood me.”
“You never said anything.” Ellie felt foolish. “But yes. That’s it. When she looked at me, I feel like shesawme. Does that make any sense?”
