“Have I?” he said. He was drunk; I could tell by the way he swayed almost imperceptibly back and forth, by the way his eyes didn’t quite seem to focus. “Because right now it feels like I’ve never really known you at all.”
“Oh, give me a break—” I said, shrugging out from under Colin’s arms. “Don’t worry, I’m not staying. Let me just get my sister and we’ll both go.”
“Your sister? Mary isn’t here,” Colin said.
Billy recoiled further at the mention of my sister, and abig part of me wanted to whisper some singsongy mumbo jumbo in his general direction and see how quickly he sobered up, afraid I was turning him into a cat or a frog. But then Colin’s words caught up to me, and I looked at him.
“What do you mean she isn’t here? She was just ahead of me.”
Billy opened his mouth to speak, but Colin stepped in front of him, pushing him bodily away from me.
“Enough, dude,” Colin said, disgusted. “Yeah, I don’t know, Georgina, but I’ve been out here for a few minutes. She’s not here.”
“Fine. What about Vira? Is Vira here?” I asked.
Colin shook his head. “She’s not either, sorry.”
“Great,” I said. I reached behind him and plucked my umbrella out of the stack.
“Georgina, wait—”
“It’s fine, Colin,” I snapped. “Everything is fine. Enjoy your party.”
I opened the umbrella and stepped out into the rain, ignoring Billy’s jeers and Colin’s attempts to both call me back and shut him up. My body felt hot with anger—at Billy Kent and every person who shared his opinion, and at my sister, for inviting me to this party in the first place and then vanishing without a trace.
I didn’t even realize where I was going until I was halfway to the town green, to Ice Cream Parlor and the smalltwo-story apartment above, where Vira lived with her mother, Julia.
I didn’t meet a single soul the entire way, and the water came up to my shins and soaked my sneakers and splashed up my legs until I was soaked to my waist. I had a single word stuck in my head and it played over and over to the tune of every nursery rhyme my mother had ever sung me.
It was the word they had called all the Fernweh women before me. The word they would call all the Fernweh women after me. The word that could seem like either a blessing or a swear, depending on how you said it.
When I got to Ice Cream Parlor, it was closed. There was a funny sign on the door, handwritten by Vira:
closed due to inclement weather;
also, stop being assholes
I felt my heart swell with love for my best friend because I knew that second part was directed at all the people like Billy Kent and Lucille Arden, all the people who were suddenly convinced we must have had something to do with Annabella’s death.
I walked around the building to the metal stairs that snaked up the back, leading to the second floor and the door to the Montgomerys’ apartment. I knocked a little melody on the glass windowpane and Vira appeared a second later. She scowled when she saw me but she flungthe door open, reached a hand out, clamped down on my wrist, and pulled me inside.
“I’ve called you a thousand times in the last three days. Did anyone see you come up here? Geez, you’re soaked.”
“Nobody saw,” I said. “There isn’t anybody out theretosee.”
“Good.”
“What do you mean,good?”
“Sorry. But I think I’m the only person on the entire fucking island who hasn’t lost their mind. Aside from you, probably. Unless youhavelost your mind since I saw you last. I wouldn’t really blame you.”
“People are avoiding you because they know you’re my friend,” I guessed.
Vira rolled her eyes, which was always an impressive sight, because she could get them so far in the back of her head that only white was left. “I’m so sorry, Georgie. On top of everything.”
“Your mom?”
“I’ve been working on her. But it’s me against the whole world, you know? Thankfully she’s not here right now.”
