“I don’t see anything about this place on the internet,” she said, her eyebrows raised, phone in her hand.
I wasn’t surprised. “Makes sense since it’s a secret society.”
Katie pursed her lips. “And Derrick thinks this is a good idea? Sounds sus to me. And by tonight? I’m pretty sure this is how people get kidnapped.”
“Maybe if I can get kidnapped twice more, the third time will be the charm,” I grumbled.
A frustrated groan sounded as I eyed the letter on my bedspread. It looked like it was written in fountain ink, and the paper was thick, yellow cardstock.
“It is odd,” I said, sighing. “But no one’s scamming Derrick. It must be real. Plus, he said my mom went there, and nothing about her was normal, so this isn’t that strange.”
Katie scowled, one eyebrow shooting up. “It’s also very possible this is where she got involved with the people whom she went into hiding to get away from.”
I grimaced. She had a point.
“So what? You think I should stay here, go to college, and hope no one shows up to kill me, too? Or worse, drag you and your mom into it?”
A flicker of fear crossed her face. “They brought you back, Anna. Why would they come again?”
“I don’t know, but I can’t live my life always looking over my shoulder,” I said.
Katie pursed her lips. “Eiryn isn’t going to like it.”
A soft knock at the door sounded before it opened.
Susan poked her head in. “How’s it going?”
Katie glanced at the letter, then at me. “Not great. You’re going to have to talk her out of this. I’ll give you two a minute.”
She got up and crossed the room, softly shutting the door behind her. Susan sat down at the end of my bed and pickedup the letter. We’d talked about Derrick and what he said. I was surprised at how well she took it.
I had waited for her to be shocked, but it never came.
“Why do I get the feeling you know what this place is?” I asked, watching her curiously.
“Anna, do you remember when I told you about losing my sister?” she asked.
I nodded slowly, not sure what this had to do with me. When I first came to live with Susan and Katie and was still unable to sleep because of my nightmares, Susan would sit up with me at night. One night, Susan told me about her younger sister who’d disappeared when she was in her early twenties and was never found. I think part of the reason why she was so kind to me was that she hoped someone out there was being kind to her sister.
“I’ve never told anyone this, but my sister went to this place. She was excited. That’s where she met your mother—Adelyna,” she said.
My heart dropped into my stomach as I recalled the old photo of the three of them.
“Adelyna came to our house. She couldn’t have been any older than you are now. That was the day we took this photo. She invited my sister to this place—she described it as an opportunity. My sister had always been different, and she suffered from serious depression. This sounded like the perfect opportunity for her. She went and, for the first few months, sent home letters about how much she loved the place. Then, her letters stopped coming one day. And she never came home,” Susan said. “It was years later when I saw your mother in town. I couldn’t believe it. I begged Adelyna to tell me what happened to her, but all she ever did was tear up. She couldn’t talk about it. After that, she bought the old cabin up the mountain, and you were born. Her name was Annabelle; we always used to call her Anna.”
Her words hit me like a hammer. I didn’t know which piece to focus on first. Susan’s sister went to Nightfall. She went missing at this school. Or that she’d had the same name as me.
I chuckled nervously. I couldn’t imagine it. My mom had had a life before our quiet presence on the mountain? And her name; that couldn’t be a coincidence, could it?
“She named me after her?” I asked.
“Well, sort of. You know your real name, right?” she asked.
I looked at the floor and nodded.
Susan drummed her fingers across her knee. “I’ll never know what happened to my sister, but your mother knew—and it made her live in isolation and keep you from that place for the rest of her life.”
I got up to sit down beside Susan.
