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Lyle called Mr. Delta, who reluctantly accepted Amy. My husband wasn’t in any condition to drive, so I made Amy’s favorite meal of arancini stuffed with caciocavallo, and we spent the whole day cuddled together as a family. I stayed awake, watching over them, as if my vigilance could somehow protect us from the demons of our past.
Later, I packed Amy’s things, including a cell phone so she could text me when she reached Three Fates. It’s one of the things I regretted when Dolly left. Apart from the incident where she harmed another child, they haven’t called us since she was admitted.
The next morning, Lyle left so early that I was still sleeping when the phone rang. It must have been a pocket dial, because Amy didn’t speak. All I heard was Lyle ranting to my little girl. And I couldn’t believe what he was saying.
FORTY-SIX
XERO
Isabel told me Amethyst thinks I could be Father, which explains her distress. I washed the brown wax from my hair and wiped off the tint I used to darken my skin, so that I look more like myself.
When I step into the room, she’s already sitting up in her bed, having escaped most of her restraints. My chest swells with pride that she’s used everything I taught her to survive. I pause in the doorway, marveling at my determined little ghost.
We kept her sedated for the journey back to Beaumont City, where a triage truck waited to transport her to this out-of-town safe house. We’re providing everything she needs to recover from her ordeal, but she needs to understand that she’s free.
Amethyst turns her head, and her pretty green eyes flicker with recognition. All the tension in her features melts to relief, and my heart soars.
She isn’t lost to insanity.
Without speaking, she communicates with a wide-eyed expression and a tilt of her head that beckons me closer.
“Amethyst?” I ask.
“I said where did you go?” she whispers.
My brow furrows, and I make a tentative step to her bedside. “What do you mean?”
She stares at me as if I’m a puzzle she desperately needs to solve. “You vanished,” she whispers, her voice barely audible over the machinery. “I couldn’t reach you after Delta boarded the bus.”
I inhale a sharp breath, disturbed she could ever mistake me for a bastard like Father. Amethyst once told me she only hallucinated men she murdered. She probably thinks I died in that fire.
Isabel warned me not to argue with her if she’s hallucinating, saying it would distress her further. I need to guide her back to reality without dismissing her perception.
“Where do you think we are now?” I ask.
“You don’t know?” she asks back with a frown.
I shrug. “I have an idea, but I want to hear your opinion first.”
She turns her attention back to the straps encasing her legs, removing them with trembling fingers. “Delta must have taken me to one of his hideouts after I messed up his filming schedule.”
My chest tightens at the thought of her fighting her way to freedom.
“He’s cut off the painkillers as a punishment and left me here until he can rebuild his sets,” she continues.
“I see,” I reply, a lump forming in my throat at the thought that she’s distressed. “What if I told you Delta wasn’t here?”
She pauses, her gaze darting toward mine. Tears cling to her long lashes. She’s paler than usual, with dark circles ringing her eyes. I’ve never seen her look so heartbreakingly vulnerable.
“Did you overhear something while I was dissociating?” she asks.
The question hits like a punch to the throat. I school my expression, wondering if her experience at the asylum created more damage than I originally feared.
Does she think I’m one of her alters?
Not wanting to trigger any confusion, I shake my head.
After freeing her legs, she removes the electrodes from her temples and chest, leaving her skin sticky with residue. She slides out the needle from her vein with a wince and tosses it aside.
