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“Welcome to Three Fates. You must be Amy and Dolly. I’m Charlotte, your counselor, but you can call me Kappa.” Her voice is chipper, as if she’s trying to make a concrete box in the woods seem friendly. “Let’s get you girls settled in.”
Kappa leads us from the car into the main building. Inside, it looks like a prison with a long hallway full of locked doors and cold, gray walls.
We walk by an older girl mopping the floor with bleach, and another girl our age wiping the scanners on the metal doors. Now, I’m wondering if this place is a Kung Fu version of Annie.
At the end of the hallway is the only door that isn’t metal. Kappa knocks on its wooden surface and waits for a male voice to tell her to come in.
She pushes open the door, leading us into an office lined with shelves filled with thick, leather-bound books. The wooden desk with a high-backed chair straight ahead of us is empty, so I glance to the sofas on the right.
Dad sits opposite a man so terrifying that my blood runs cold. He turns his head in our direction and stares through deep blue eyes that I’m sure can read minds. The air becomes heavy and thick. I inch closer to Dolly and stare at my feet, praying he won’t speak to me.
“Amaryllis, Dahlia,” he says in a hypnotic voice. “Welcome to Three Fates. You may call me Delta.”
SIXTY-THREE
AMETHYST
Six weeks after arriving at Three Fates, Kappa drives us through the gates of a mansion. It’s bigger than any house I’ve seen before, with its stone front covered in thick ivy and creepy marble statues standing on both sides of its wooden doors. Moonlight shines on its darkened windows, making them look like eyes peering out of a hood.
She hands us caffeine pills to wake us up because we fell asleep in the backseat during the long drive. They’re bitter and make my heart race, but if we complete this mission, Mr. Delta says we’ll be able to go home.
“I don’t need to remind you of what will happen if you fail,” she says.
“We won’t,” Dolly replies.
Kappa turns around in the driver’s seat to look me in the eye. “Amy?”
“We won’t,” I whisper.
She nods, seeming satisfied, and hands us identical Alice headbands. They contain two syringes filled with a sleeping agent. Our job is to inject our targets so they can fall unconsciouswhen the police come to search their house. As soon as we’re done, she’ll drive us home.
I once described Three Fates as an orphanage, like Annie, but it’s far more brutal. Mr. Delta told Dad it was one big happy family and that he would take care of the ‘beautiful twins’ as if we were his own daughters.
The minute Dad left, Mr. Delta ordered us to join the other girls outside for fresh air. Kappa walked us back to the lawn, where the girls were exercising, and there was no sign of Dad’s car.
Dolly and I went to the back of the procession of robotic girls and tried to follow their movements. It was so hot outside, and there were no breaks or water, just constant exercises under the sun. Every time we stopped, Kappa forced us to run laps.
It took two weeks to get used to the routines before the instructors called us out for one-on-one sessions, which were more like wrestling than combat drills. They pinned us down on the mats and we had to wriggle free. If we failed, the consequences were disgusting. And painful.
“Do you hear me, Amy?” Kappa’s voice cuts through my thoughts.
“Go in there, do what they want, and wait until we get them alone,” I say, my voice flat. “Then we pull the syringes out of our headbands, knock them out, and leave.”
She nods.
“Then we go home,” Dolly adds.
“That’s right,” Kappa replies with a bright smile.
Dolly opens the door and steps out into the courtyard. I’m about to shuffle across the back seat to follow her, when Kappa grabs my wrist.
“Don’t crease your pretty pinafore,” she says, her smile vanishing.
Nodding, I swallow down the lump in my throat and open the door. My feet crunch on the gravel in these weird patent leather shoes that pinch around the toes, but I ignore the discomfort.
This time tomorrow, we’ll be back home.
Back in our rooms, where we’re left alone to be normal kids. Where the only man we have to deal with is Dad.
