‘I’m sorry,’ I said quietly. ‘I didn’t know.’
She turned quickly, spinning on the heel of her pointed shoe.
‘You didn’t know because your precious daddy was a selfish asshole.’
A sharp, sudden burning sensation sprang to life in my chest. Anger. I was angry. It wasn’t a feeling I was used to.
‘How can you say that?’ The rage in my voice rattled my bones and echoed off the walls of the library. ‘My dad was an incredible man.’
Ashley’s lips twisted into something ugly. ‘You’re going to defend him when he dragged you all over the world, when you could’ve grown up here, with all of this? When he lied to you about everything? Me, Catherine, Bell House. Even your own name?’
‘He had his reasons,’ I replied, my fury simmering down to a confused frustration. ‘You didn’t even know him.’
‘He was my brother before he was your father,’ she reminded me. ‘Paul never wanted anything to do with me when I was a kid. Did you know, when he was supposed to be babysitting,your incredible dad would lock me in my room so he could hang out with his friends instead?’
‘He was a teenager,’ I said, defensive but chastened. ‘Teenagers do dumb things.’
‘No, dumb people do dumb things,’ Ashley snapped. ‘He wasn’t a teenager when he stole you away, when he left me behind without a second thought.’
If looks could kill, I’d have struck her down on sight. I looked away, just in case, and stuffed another cookie into my mouth to stop myself from saying anything I might regret. I was angry because she was right. He did lie. He did leave her behind. I couldn’t defend what my dad had done and now he’d never be able to give us his side of the story.
‘Paul was a selfish, uncaring, wicked man and I’m not sorry he’s dead,’ Ashley pronounced. ‘As far as I can tell, there’s only one downside to his accident and I’m looking at it.’
Stunned, I swallowed and opened my mouth to speak but as I tried to inhale, a chunk of cookie got stuck in my throat. I coughed, trying to clear it, but instead of moving down, the blockage seemed to grow, stabbing at the soft tissue and closing my airways, just as at the Powell house. I clutched at my throat and doubled over in my chair, beginning to panic as my lungs burned, but Ashley stayed where she was, fingers twitching at her sides, watching. She wasn’t going to help me.
This time it all happened more quickly. The edges of my vision turned grey and fuzzy as I was drawn backwards, then, all of a sudden, I could breathe just fine. I was still in the library but Ashley was gone and in her place, I saw my dad and, when I turned towards the door, my mother.
‘I didn’t want to wake you,’ he said, the warmth of his love filling the room. ‘How do you feel?’
She came inside and closed the door quietly, her eyes neverleaving my face. She was beautiful, even more beautiful than she looked in the only photographs I had. A perfect heart-shaped face and a wide, angelic smile, but that smile didn’t last long. When she turned her attention to my dad, her gentle expression transformed into something uneasy.
‘Fine now but something’s wrong. I’ve never blacked out before and last night makes it three times in one week. I’m serious, Paul, I think we need to get away from Savannah. Just for a little while, just until I’m myself again. Think of it as a vacation.’
Her voice again, the same sweet tones I’d heard the day before but roughened with an edge of exhaustion. She looked tired with dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. Tears poured down my cheeks but when I tried to call her name, all that came out was a cry.
‘Looks like Emma agrees with you,’ Dad replied, picking me up and cradling me in his arms. ‘OK, let’s go. I’ll talk to my mom tonight.’
The scene clouded over and everything faded to black before bringing me right back to the present. The blockage in my throat gave way and I reached for what was left of my tea but it did nothing to soothe the raw burning sensation in my throat. On the plate, in among the crumbs, I saw a sharp splinter of something woody sticking out of one of the cookies. The sort of thing that could easily get stuck in someone’s throat.
‘What the hell?’ I croaked, staring at my aunt in shock.
‘That will teach you not to speak with your mouth full,’ she replied. ‘It’s bad manners. Or did your perfect daddy not teach you that?’
With something like a triumphant smile, she sailed out of the library, leaving me with watering eyes and shaking hands. I might not be any closer to working out what was happeningto me but at least now I knew how Ashley really felt about my arrival.
It wasn’t only wolves, blackouts and hallucinations I had to worry about.
Chapter Fourteen
Nerves shot and throat raw, I sat on my bed, sipping water and counting the seconds until Catherine came home. Hours had passed since the incident in the library and there was still no sign of her. Not that I had no idea what I was planning to say. ‘Hey, Catherine, hope you had a good day, by the way, Ashley baked me some really great cookies but I almost choked on one while she stood and watched, oh and I think I might have rabies and also, should I dress for supper this evening?’
Reaching across the bed to put down my empty water glass, I felt a warm pulse in my palm as it hovered over the antique nightstand. Slowly, I opened the drawer and the silver pin that saved my life in Bonaventure winked at me in the darkness. The pulse became a throb and all I wanted to do was touch the pin. I needed to feel the cool silver against my skin, run my fingers over the filigree and the centre stone, but before I could reach it, two sharp taps sounded against my window and I slammed the drawer shut.
Someone was clinging to the trunk of the tree that grew all the way up to my balcony. A magnolia tree, I noted, as Icautiously crossed my room to get a better look, but their face was obscured by its enormous white blossoms. Thankfully, their canary yellow tank dress and bright blue sneakers were perfectly visible as were the handful of little round stones that sat on the balcony.
‘Hi neighbour!’ a voice exclaimed as I lifted the sash window.
‘Lydia,’ I replied, leaning outside. ‘What are you doing?’
