No, she realized.It would have sounded crazy.
Emeline thought of Pa’s missing memories. Without them, a part of her grandfather was missing too. That’s what Hawthorne had done—taken a piece of Emeline, without her even knowing.
As the truth flooded her, the walls of the house seemed to shrink, with Hawthorne standing between her and the only exit. She suddenly felt like the nymph Daphne. Swallowed by the bark of a tree closing around her. Caging her in.
It made her want to get out of this house.
Out of the woods.
Out of his life.
She wanted to put as much distance as she could between herself and Hawthorne Fell.
Emeline strode towards the door, avoiding the spilled logs.
“Wait.” Swiping a small crimson book off the harvest table, he held it out to her. “Take it.”
Emeline stood frozen between him and the door, unsure.
“Please.”
His voice shook with anguish, and it was this that made her reach for the book, tucking it into the back pocket of her jeans.
“Good-bye, Hawthorne,” she whispered, unable to look at him. And then she walked out of his house and didn’t look back.
In the yard, Claw’s warning clanged through her mind:He betrays you in the end!If Claw mistook the order in which he saw things, the end he foresaw could have easily been two years ago.
A storm of anger and confusion whistled through her body as she strode towards the creek. At the bridge, she remembered the white ring on her finger.
Think of where you want to be, and it will bring you there.
Emeline slowed to a halt.
Home.Her throat burned with unshed tears.I want to go home.
The second she thought it, the bridge and the creek and the trees disappeared. One moment, Hawthorne’s house stood behind her; the next, she was stepping out of the woods and into Pa’s rose garden.
The ring had brought her to Edgewood.
THIRTY-SIX
THE MOMENT EMELINE STEPPEDinside the house, she found Pa, who stood at the kitchen window. Throwing her arms around his shoulders, she hugged him tight, breathing in his soapy smell and willing his familiar presence to soothe her.
She was safe. The woods and everything in them couldn’t touch her here.
Her arms tightened around her grandfather.
“Now, now,” Pa murmured, rubbing circles into her back. “Everything’s all right.”
Maisie looked up from rolling strudel dough across the kitchen table. Her frizzy gray curls were tied back, and white flour speckled her red apron. “Baby girl.” Those clear hazel eyes scanned down Emeline. The last time they’d seen each other, Emeline had slain a shadow skin in this very kitchen, then disappeared into the woods. “Are you okay?”
Was she okay? She’d just learned that the boy she loved had stolen something precious from her. Pieces of her past. Pieces ofherself.
Emeline swallowed, then forced a smile. “I’m fine.”
Wrinkles lined Maisie’s tan face, like rings on a tree. She studied Emeline as if unconvinced, but didn’t press her. “Joel left yesterday.”
Emeline winced.Joel.She’d fled without telling him where she was going.
