“Briony… Fly. Yes. I think she did mention you.”
I nod eagerly.
“But not him,” she adds in a rush, pointing at Thorne as she starts trembling all over again.
“Thorne is our friend too,” I explain. “Please, can we come in? We need to talk with you.”
“You’re traitors,” she hisses in a whisper. “If you’re caught in my home?—”
“Please. It’s important.”
She thinks for a moment, then, taking a wide berth around us both, sticks her head out of the door, swinging her gaze up and down the corridor. Finally, she beckons us inside and shuts the door.
“These walls are thin,” she whispers, leading us through several rooms into a bedroom right in the center of the apartment. By the decor and the number of books, I’m sure it must be Clare’s. “Talk quickly. You’ve probably been seen, and if you’re caught here?—”
“I’m so sorry to tell you,” I interrupt her, “that your daughter is dead.”
The words seem to ring around my ears. Your daughter is dead. Your daughter is dead. Your daughter is dead.
I feel suddenly lightheaded, the blood rushing away to my feet. The room spins, and I feel like I might hit the ground at anymoment. Thorne must sense it because he reaches forward and grips my shoulder.
“My daughter,” the woman says. “My… my Clare. Dead? No. No. You’re wrong. We’ve heard nothing of the sort. This is some tr—” Her face is swamped by shock, then it morphs into something ugly and angry. She jabs her finger toward me. “Is this some sick game? Some sick plan of yours? My daughter is perfectly fine. I would know if she wasn’t. And you, you stay away from her. You stay far, far away from her.”
“I’m not lying,” I tell her. “We were in Slate Quarter. There was an attack by demons. I tried to save her?—”
“What would Clare be doing in Slate Quarter?” she snaps. “Don’t be ridiculous. She’s at the academy. She’s safe at the academy. Excelling at the academy. And she’s just fine. I told her to stay away from girls like you. Girls from Slate. Nothing but trouble.”
“Please, Dr. Watson,” I beg. “Please, I’m not lying.”
“She’s not,” Thorne says, his voice commanding and firm. “Your daughter died several hours ago. We tried to save her. We tried to heal her. But we couldn’t.”
“Get out of here!” she screams. “Get out of my home! Get out now!”
I glance at Thorne in alarm. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to make her believe us. This is not how I imagined it would go. Not how I wanted it to go. I’ve failed my friend all over again.
Then the woman is screaming – calling us traitors, crying for help.
I step toward her, trying to shush her, to calm her down, to explain what’s happened, but Thorne is having none of it. He grabs my arm, and with a crack of air, we’re gone. Displaced.
When my feet hit the ground again, we’re back at the academy, out on the field by the trees, the cold wind sweeping through the grounds and flattening the grass around us.
I snatch my arm away from Thorne’s grasp and take a decided step away from him.
“I failed her. I failed her again, Thorne,” I wail into the wind. “I messed up.”
“You didn’t mess up, Nini. Her mom wasn’t in a place where she was willing to listen to us.”
“I did let her down, Thorne! She’s dead because I didn’t take better care of her. It’s my fault. All of this is my fault!” I fist my hands into balls and knock them against the side of my head. It’s like nothing – nothing ever works out like it should. I save Fox, and the Princes get arrested. I stop Fly from being fucking lynched and lose Clare instead. I can’t keep all the pieces in one place. I can’t keep all the balls spinning in the air at once. I can’t keep everyone safe. Tears of frustration leak from my eyes and snake their way down my face. “I should have been there for her, I should have protected her. I’ll never forgive myself for this, Thorne. Never.”
“Briony,” Thorne says, stepping toward me and taking my shoulders firmly in his hands. “You are not responsible for us all. It’s not your job to keep us all safe – not Fox or Beaufort or Dray, not me, and not your friends. You’re placing too much on your own shoulders.”
I bite down hard on my lip. He’s wrong. It is my responsibility, isn’t it? I started all this. I set the wheels spinning. And now look what’s happened.
I didn’t pay close enough attention to my friends. I didn’t watch Clare like I should have. I didn’t warn her, I didn’t keep her close, and look what happened. My own damn ineptitude means I’ve lost someone else I love.
It’s just like my sister all over again.
Thorne’s gaze crisscrosses my face, and he says, “It wasn’t your fault, what happened to your sister, Briony. You were just a kid. You couldn’t have stopped it even if you had tried.”
