My scar is gone.
Gone.
“This is so weird.” I look at the smooth skin on my wrist. “Jesus. That’s just not normal.”
“I’m giving up on normal at this point.” Logan sits up. “Why don’t we…”
I move to show him my wrist again.
“Seriously, look.” I push my arm at his face.
He laughs and tries to shift away. “Now who’s shoving body parts at people?”
“Vivian said, ‘If she can remove the bars that close her heart from knowing its true match...’ I thought it was Jane behind bars, you know? Jane’s heart. Mama thought so, too. But it was also mine, wasn’t it? My heart was closed, and once I opened it, I realized you were my true match.”
I shake my wrist at Logan again and then start to climb on top of him.
But there’s that jingling sound from last night. Now it’s beneath me somewhere.
“What the hell?” I say. “I’m going to figure out what’s making that freaking noise.”
I reach down to the bottom of the bed where my dress and Logan’s suit were tossed into a pile, and I uncover my purse. When I pick it up, the jingling gets louder.
“Your keys?” Logan suggests.
“No. They don’t make that sound. The only thing I’ve ever heard make that sound before is…” I have my hand inside the left front pocket now, and I cry out when my fingers close around an object and I recognize the shape I know so well.
“What?” Logan says.
I pull it out and stare at it. The key to Cell Number One—the ancient gold key with the antique heart-shaped ring around it that jingles every time it moves.
“You brought that here last night?”
“No,” I say. “I didn’t. Last I saw it, it was wrapped in fabric underneath my desk at The Cowherd. She gave it to me. Jane Austen’s ghost gave it to me when she left—I heard the jingling right after she waved to us, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.”
“So you were the key.” He takes the key from my outstretched hand and looks at it. “You held the key to her freedom all along.” He gives it back to me. “Pretty freaking cool.”
I pull one of Logan’s t-shirts on over my head and sit back on the bed. “Her cell door’s wide open. I can’t believe nobody’s said anything yet.” I turn on my phone, but there aren’t any messages.
My cell phone rings almost immediately.
“Mama’s here!” Riley says into the phone. “We know! You and Logan are going to be so famous, and I would be super jealous if I wasn’t so damn happy for you!”
“So y’all saw the cell door?” I say.
“Oh, we saw the cell. We tried to call you, but your phone was off, and then Mama’s incessant screaming distracted everybody. God, she can yell. Poor Mr. Bingley was traumatized—I had to cuddle him forever to calm him down afterward. Anyway, Daddy saw the open door first, and Mama found the cactus flower. And as if that wasn’t enough, while everyone else was carrying on about Jane finally going free, Daddy found the broken glass near your desk. He took one look then bent down and touched his finger to the liquid pooling around the glass and touched his finger to Mama’s mouth. Guess what she tasted? A Loganiskey!”
I laugh. “Daddy’s a good detective, huh?”
“Yeah, that’s when he knew you two had been in there and that you saw the open cell door. I mean, why else would Logan just drop his favorite drink to the ground?”
“Well, that is pretty much how it happened,” I say. “We heard a bang, and there was the door—wide freaking open. And I saw her ghost, Riles—I was so stunned, I had to take some time to process it all.”
“Unbelievable,” she says. “Mama says she’d still be passed out from shock if she were you. She wanted me to call and make sure you were conscious. Mace, I can’t believe you and Logan are the couple that saved Jane Austen’s ghost! That is the most romantic thing ever!”
I hear a rustling and some arguing, and then Mama’s on the phone.
“Riley refused to hand the phone over even though you and I both know I called this first. Didn’t I Mace?”
