“With the bleeder?Puh-leeze.” Aeson scans him up and down.
“Shut up and stand still, or I’ll leave without you,” Gunnar grates through his teeth.
I blink as the smell of old blood and rot hits my nose. I’m standing in Vanessa’s foyer. The bodies are all gone, but the scent of death still lingers.
Calix releases his hold on me and scans the area. Grim keeps one hand around my back as I take another look around.
“Don’t get all high and mighty. If I’d had the time, I could have found a door. I let you bring me along. Don’t forget it.” Aeson’s voice floats over to us. “Damiana!” she shouts.
“I’m right here,” I call back.
“The bleeder is an asshole,” she comments, while making her way into the foyer.
“You’re no ray of fucking sunshine, either,” Gunnar barks.
Aeson gazes around, seeing for the first time all the blood and gore we left behind. “Sorry I missed the party.” She grins up at me, her eyes as dark as the sneer on her lips.
“What’s the address?” I ask Gunnar, hoping the little, dick-measuring competition is over between him and Aeson for now.
“It’s on the other side of town, near your old place.” Gunnar looks up from his phone.
“Well, shit. Good thing it’s late—we wouldn’t want to chance a run-in with dear ole mummy and daddy.” I raise my voice to a proper woman’s tone just like I was taught, mocking them.
“You should have just said that in the first place. I could have been there like this.” Aeson snaps her fingers. It’s loud for her hand being so small.
“No, this is better. Who knows what kind of security they installed after they sent me away.” I turn to Calix. “Any vehicles left out there?”
“Yeah, the issue will be finding keys. I had to search the bodies for the ones I took yesterday.” He shrugs.
“We could always call a ride share?” I suggest.
“I can hotwire a car.” Aeson plants her hands on her hips like we’re insulting her for not assuming.
“I’m very familiar with where you grew up, I can take us there,” Grim volunteers.
“Not inside, right? You can get us out front or something?” I open and close my fists. I always said I would never go back to that place.
Grim pulls me in close again, and I feel Calix wrap his fingers over my shoulder when Aeson grumbles, “Ah, shit.”
This time when I blink, I’m standing out front of my childhood home. Surprisingly, the lights are still on. When I look up, it doesn’t seem nearly as tall or imposing as it did when I was a child.
It’s still a garish white with matching tall columns that stretch across the entire front. It resembles the façade of the Pantheon far more than it pretends to be a home. I hate this place.
I speak past the lump forming in my throat. “Address?” I want away from this place and the memories it brings up.
“Two houses that way.” Gunnar points to the left.
“That’s…that’s really close. Doesn’t that seem weird?” I whisper, as I turn to follow the direction of Gunnar’s arm. The wide driveway is lined with unfamiliar cars. No wonder the lights are still on; they must be having a party.
For just a moment, I wonder what they told people had happened to me. Did I die in some tragic accident? That would be my mother’s style—she always loved attention. Maybe they told them I was studying abroad, found a husband in France, and they visit me twice a year. Maybe they just pretend I never existed, which would be the truest, most accurate of the three.
“Dami, are you coming?” Calix tugs my fingers.
I blink away the memories and look around, seeing the house for what it really was—a prison, complete with solitary confinement. A place designed to make me lose my mind. I think about how much I isolated myself over the years, how I continued to punish myself, just like they did.
I bend down and grab a large white rock in my palm, weighing it over and over. I release Calix’s fingers and turn at the same time, throwing the rock as hard as I can through one of the long front windows.
Someone inside screams. Several other voices rise in question, asking what happened. The milky white curtains pull back to reveal my mother with her icy blonde hair, staring out at me. Her eyes round as her mouth drops open. I can’t tell if the look is fear or horror.
