I smile at my mother. Of course I don't tell her it wasn't that. I don't tell her anything at all.
“Interesting that you took Lancelot with you,” she says. “He came back a little while ago. Someone left him on the doorstep in his carrier.”
“Did they?” I give her a sharp look. “Who brought him back?”
“I didn't see,” she says with a shrug. “But it looks like he's been well cared for while he was gone, hasn't he? It's not exactly like he was a stray wandering the streets looking for scraps of food. He's plump as ever.”
“You didn't see anybody?”
“No. But there was a note.” She pulls a small folded paper from her pocket.
He missed you.
My hands shake as I take it.
Is that Ashland's handwriting?
Was he here? He brought my cat, and then he… went back?
He left?
I go up to my room and collapse on my bed. The weight of it all is absolutely exhausting.
I can't get it out of my head. Lancelot is back, which meansAshland knows I’m gone, and he hasn't come looking for me.
Why does that make a lump rise in my throat?
My phone buzzes. I’ve half forgotten how to use a cell phone since I’ve been here. I haven't looked at it, and honestly, I almost enjoyed having a break. It was quieter without one.
It buzzes again, and I look at it sitting on the bedside table. I reach forward and tap the screen.
Unknown Number
This is Ashland. Keep my number.
He'stextingme?
My hands are shaking. I don't respond.
I see the little dots on the bottom of the screen rising and falling, rising and falling. Then another message pops up.
Unknown Number
I know why you left, and I've decided this time I won't chase you. You need to see this for yourself, Bianca, and stop taking my word for it. But I will be watching. And if he tries to harm one hair on your head, lass, you know exactly what will happen.
I won’t be far.
I swallow hard, but I don’t respond.
I put the phone down.
I will be watching.
I look around my room—at the walls, the dresser, the mirror. My skin prickles with awareness.
He's been watching me for six years. Why would he stop now?
I push to my feet and start searching. I need to find where he's watching, where he's put his cameras, and how he's been spying on me.
