I shook my head, but there was no way I could tell him.
Grace entered the dining room, and our gazes collided. She looked miserable—and though I wanted to despise her for capturing Luc’s heart, I couldn’t. The truth was, I had never been good for him. I had pushed him to be someone he wasn’t. Grace probably drew out the best in him. She did that for everyone, except perhaps me, who was selfish and spiteful when I should have been happy for her.
And this shouldn’t have come as a complete surprise. I saw the way Luc looked at my sister on the train and at the air meet. He’d probably been in love with her a lot longer than she with him. Could I blame her? Could I blame him?
“Did something happen between you and Grace?” Isaac asked.
Seeing the concern in his gaze, I nodded, but before I could say more, a commotion in the corner of the room drew our attention.
Susannah, who was sitting at a table with Mercy, started to spasm like she had so many times before.
Father was on the other side of the room, but he dropped the cup of cider he was filling and raced toward her. He put his arms around Susannah from behind, holding her steady as her body trembled.
“They afflict me!” Susannah cried in a wretched voice as she looked up into his worried face.
I turned to Grace. This was the moment—the one I had warned her about.
She was crying, and her eyes filled with an intense sadness that broke my heart.
I mouthed the word, “Please.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks as she dropped her chin, and then she began to cry out—louder than Susannah—in a voice that was wracked with such anguish, I knew she was not faking her emotion.
“She afflicts me!” Grace cried. “She pinches me and bites me and torments me.”
Everyone turned their stunned gazes to Grace. Even Susannah stopped spasming and stared at Grace, her mouth slipping open.
The tears cascaded down Grace’s cheeks as she began convulsing, twisting her body in painful contortions. Her heart was breaking—and it wasn’t just about this moment and sending me to the gaol. I knew my sister. She would not have fallen in love with Luc to spite me. She had probably fought it, forsaking her own feelings, her own happiness, for mine.
As she cried out in pain, I knew she was sacrificing for me yet again.
Tears gathered in my eyes as I watched her, knowing this went against her nature—but she was doing it for me, because I had asked her. Begged her.
And she loved me.
“What are you crying about, daughter?” Father asked as he left Susannah’s side and put his hand on Grace’s shoulder.
Grace opened her eyes and grabbed his doublet, sobbing so hard she couldn’t speak.
Father looked truly concerned—as did all the others who watched her. This was not an act. Grace was being afflicted by guilt and fear. Terror flashed in everyone’s eyes, and more than one person looked behind them to see what—orwho—might be causing Grace such anguish.
Isaac stood close beside me, stiff and uncertain.
I wept silently as I watched her, knowing shewasin anguish. Our souls were two halves of one whole, and I could feel the pain she endured. I wanted to call out to her to stop—but I knew it would mean she would end up in the gaol with me. And I wouldn’t let her. This might hurt for a time, but in the end, she would be free from chains.
“She pinches me and—and chokes me,” Grace finally said as she fought for air, clawing at her throat.
“Who pinches and chokes you?” Father asked, his voice severe.
There was silence as everyone waited. I held my breath.
And then my sister lifted her shaking hand, sobbing—and pointed at me.
It didn’t take long for Father to force me upstairs and into the room where the others had been held for questioning. He didn’t even ask me if I was guilty of the charges. The look in his eyes told me he believed it was true—perhaps had suspected it all along.
He’d said I was just like my mother, Tacy, after all.
An hour later, I sat alone in the cold room, looking out the window at the storm-tossed front yard. Across the way, guards were changing shifts at the watchtower. Always watching forthe enemy’s arrival. What they didn’t realize was that the worst threat to Salem Village had come in the form of fear—a timeless adversary that stole through the recesses of the mind and heart. There was no guard, no watchtower, and no magistrate who could protect the people from the greatest enemy of their soul.
