“Wake up to what?” I ask.
“I can’t tell you,” she says. “You have to find out for yourself.”
“What? That’s ridiculous. Just tell me!”
“I can’t,” she says like it hurts her. “They’ve trained you not to believe what you’re told by others. You have to come to it on your own. I can’t wake you, Philomena.”
I’m convinced that she’s not lying, even if I have no idea what she’s talking about.
Valentine presses her lips together apologetically. She glances at the bed, and then she walks out of Lennon Rose’s room, closing the door behind her.
I’m stunned by Valentine’s words, but not exactly scared of her anymore. I’ll have to tell Sydney about this. Again—what am I supposed to wake up from?
Now that I’m alone in the room, the grief hits. Lennon Rose is everywhere.
Her sweet scent is still in the air, her hairbrush on the table with long blond strands hanging from it, her shoes by the bed.
She didn’t even take her shoes, Annalise had said. That detail bothers me now.
I walk around, poking through the items on Lennon Rose’s dresser, finding nothing unusual. Anton said that he’d talked to Lennon Rose about her parents not being able to afford the school any longer. But why didn’t she tell us?
There’s nothing obvious here, but then I think about hiding places and turn to where Valentine was when I walked in. I cross to the bed and lower myself to check under the mattress.
I run my hand along the fabric until I touch the spine of a book. My heart jumps. I pull out a small, leather-bound book and read the title aloud in a whisper.
“The Sharpest Thorns.”
The title is unusual, the red font dug deeply into the leather. I’m a mixture of curious and alarmed. This doesn’t seem like a book Lennon Rose would own. And it’s not a book the school would give her.
Scanning through the pages, I discover it’s a collection of poetry. I sit on the edge of Lennon Rose’s bed, the springs creaking, and begin reading the first poem.
“Girls with Sharp Sticks”
Men are full of rage
Unable to control themselves.
That’s what women were told
How they were raised
What they believed.
So women learned to make do
Achieving more as men did less
And for that, men despised them
Despised their accomplishments.
Over time
The men wanted to dissolve women’s rights
All so they could feel needed.
But when they couldn’t control women
