“We’re just supposed to watch her here … ‘until something changes,’” Maritza said.
“Nothing ever changes,” the girl said in a lifeless voice, staring back at the ceiling. I flinched at the sound. Her vocal cords sounded rough and deep, as if they were threaded with something unnatural. Something ancient.
The priest drew back.
Maritza screamed. At her scream, a man poked his head inside the cottage. He hovered at the door, unwilling to step inside the house. “Maritza?” he said. “We brought another carving.”
Maritza shook her head. “I can’t spend another minute in this house,” she cried and stormed out the door. Outside, two men were hauling a wooden manger out of the flatbed of a truck.
The priest leaned forward and gestured to the girl, whose eyes were now closed. “That’s the most she’s said in days. They made the right call contacting you.”
I pulled my arms close to my chest and inched closer to the girl, feeling that same strange pull in my gut. A sense of decay, and of deep, deep water.
She hears everything we’re saying, Maritza had said.
I hesitated. “Can you tell me your name?” My voice had lowered to a choked whisper. I didn’t know if I really wanted her to answer, if I even wanted her to hear me at all.
Her eyelids fluttered but remained closed. She was motionless save for the breath in and out of her chest.
Maritza came back into the cottage, hands clasped hard around the cross on her neck.
My eyes flicked to the priest, who nodded encouragement.
“What about the name of the other girl?” I tried again, directing my question to the hem of her nightgown hanging down above me instead of looking at the girl head-on. My heart pounded, voice wavering. “Were you two friends? Lovers? Why did you—can you tell me what happened?”
I was no detective, no police officer, didn’t know if the questions I was asking her would set her off, trigger some sort of episode. But with the way the priest and Maritza watched me, I thought that was what they wanted. For something to happen, for something to change.
After a few minutes of silence, the only sound in the room the girl’s steady intake of breath, Maritza’s face fell. “That’s enough for today. Perhaps you and Max could visit her again tomorrow, once you’ve both settled.”
I winced. For some reason, the sound of my former partner’s name sent the nerves in my gut churning faster than the terrifying girl in front of me did.
“Sure. Maybe,” I said quietly, focusing all my attention on the door. I wanted out of the cottage, away from the smell, far away from the strange, levitating girl.
“Where’s Dr. Robetresse?” I asked once I reached the doorway, one leg safely planted on the dry earth outside. I was here at the request of the president of the school, so why hadn’t she filled me in herself? I was someone who liked to understand everything there was to know about any situation I walked into. If you’re ready for all possible scenarios, nothing can surprise you. And if nothing can surprise you, then nothing can hurt. That was the thought, anyway.
“She’s preparing for the meeting tonight in the main house.”
I nodded, eyes searching the horizon. I kept waiting for her to offer more of an explanation—of anything, of why the priest was there, of what had happened to the girl—but none was forthcoming.
“Where’s the manger?” I blurted instead. A nonsensical question; the house was crammed with religious and protective ornaments and didn’t need more, but my head was still reeling.
Maritza stared at me. “It’s outside. My brother won’t come in here.”
“Oh.”
“Dr. Robetresse will fill you in on everything later tonight. The staff prepared your old room for you.” She handed me a stack of fresh linens. “You remember the way?”
“Can’t seem to forget it,” I said.
The priest stood in the stray beam of sunlight that pierced the gloom. He touched the brim of his hat in farewell.
I bit my lip, a sudden surge of anxiety swelling in my gut as I thought about what “later tonight” meant. “Will you be at the meeting tonight, too, then?”
He shook his head, white-blond eyelashes fluttering like a moth in the light. “No. I need to stay here.”
Behind him, the girl’s eyes flickered open. Her cheeks spread into a wide, grotesque grin. She winked, as if it was our little secret, and I felt a chill crawl down my spine.
The door slapped shut behind me.
