This—the Knox—could have been where Taylor’s mother got the drugs.
Opium’s always been a large part of the Knox, Liam and Eduardo told her. What if her own mother had drifted through these walls in a drugged haze, a shadow of the woman Taylor once knew?
Taylor clenches her fists, each subsequent memory further fanning her fury.
“Is that all of it?” Rose barks.
“Yes.”
“Let me see.”
A creaking noise, and then what sounds like the trunk cover closing.
“Now light it,” Rose commands. “We’re going to burn it—all of it. Because it’s the only thing Oliver cares about. The only thing.”
“This is a wooden box, Rose. Not metal. We could set the whole building on fire,” Michael protests.
“I said fucking light it!” Rose screams, setting Taylor’s hairs on end.
But something in her stirs in triumphant recognition.Yes,Taylor thinks.Rose has the right idea. Get rid of the fucking drugs.
The strike of a match, and then a crackle of fire. The air instantly fills with a strong, acidic scent, like the one Taylor smelled earlier, but so much stronger. Rose starts coughing, as does Michael. The temperature in the room instantly rises; sweat pools in pockets under Taylor’s robe. The emerging haze grows more opaque by the second. Even wearing double masks, Taylor has to bat down a cough.
“Tell me, Oliver, how does it feel to lose what you care most about?” Rose spits.
“Rose, I’m Michael, not Oliver,” he interrupts, just as Taylor is thinking,Huh?
“Ha,” Rose laughs humorlessly. “As if I wouldn’t know my own son.”
Taylor’s mind stutters over Rose’s words, trying to accept them in a way that makes sense. Rose is Oliver’s mother?
“I…” Michael’s voice falters. He’s surprised, too, then.
“No words now, Oliver? You had a lot to say to me earlier.”
“Rose,” Michael tries again, “you’re confused…. The opium smoke, the stress—it’s making you confused. Oliver’s upstairs, at the Brains scroll, with the others. We need to get out of here. We should go.Now.” There’s urgency in his voice.
“You’re trying to trick me again! Just like you tricked me about tonight’s initiation, when you said I would become a member. You humiliated me, Oliver. You’re just like your father, after all. Just like Graham!” Then, a strangulated sob escapes, as if Rose can no longer contain herself.
Taylor feels dumbfounded; Rose thought they were going tomake her a member? Her wail is packed with so much anguish, it’s almost hard to listen to.
Then, a sudden tussling noise ensures; is Michael trying to get the gun away from Rose? Another startling gunshot pierces the air, followed by a deep groan.
Taylor screams, shooting up from behind the couch like a jack-in-the-box. She’s not thinking clearly, but she knows she needs to get out of this room. Away from the danger. The gun. The fire.Now.She can hear the distinct whoosh of her blood pumping through her veins as she starts to stagger across the smoke-filled room.
Michael lies in a heap, a few feet from the wooden box that’s burning stronger by the second. He’s clutching his knee. Taylor looks at him, surprised at the contempt she feels.That’s karma for all the lost girls, she thinks.
“Tara?” Rose gasps.
Taylor whirls around, startled to see that Rose is addressingher.
Tara. Tara—Jerry’s sister? Taylor shakes her head, unable to form words.
“Tara, what are you doing here? It’s not good for the baby!” Rose looks from Taylor to the gun, which she still holds between two shaking hands. Her face dramatically contorts, like a cartoon character. “Oh my God,” she breathes, dropping the gun, which skids across the floor. “Come with me! He’s a murderer—you can’t trust him!” Then she disappears into the hall.
From the ground, Michael moans. As Taylor hesitantly nears, he reaches up with surprising strength to grab ahold of her ankle. “Stop,” he mutters, in a strained voice from beneath his mask. She tries to shake him off, but he won’t let go. Then he claws at her with his other hand, too.
“Let go of me!” she yells. The air feels so smothering, it’s asif someone is holding a bag over her head. Aunt Gigi’s words flash before her:It’s probably why your mom died in the basement fire—she was likely passed out.
