The entire basin of Addamsville was visible. The long line of Valleywine Road glittered in the night, stretching to the northeast until it disappeared on the horizon. There was Black Creek Woods. The radio tower with its red lights blinking.The looming shadow of Piper Mountain. The high school and its football stadium, town center, a bursting wealth of houses and streets. The sweep of the Goldmine, the trailer park, the junkyard in the distance. A partial cover of trees that trailed south to hide the mine and then, eventually, the bluffs. The shore of Addams Lake was visible. There was a straight line of sight into the third-floor room of Grimshaw House.
“Oh wow.”
“This was what Sylvester Hillcroft saw after he founded this place,” Artemis said, standing next to me. “From here he could survey the whole town as it grew.”
“Maybe he’s the one messing with your shoes.”
She shoved me with her elbow, then went to close the curtains again. She was smiling. “It’s really late.”
“Can we leave the curtains open?”
“Sure.”
I pulled back four layers of blankets and sheets on the bed and slid in. It was a firmer mattress than I was used to, but most mattresses would’ve felt firmer than the broken-down thing I’d slept on my whole life. Artemis got in on the other side and busied herself putting in her retainer.
“Don’t drool on me, okay?” I said.
“I won’t as long as you don’t snore,” she replied.
“Idon’tsnore.”
“I guess we’ll find out.”
She was asleep in minutes. I knew because she slept like Sadie; heavily, on her back, arms sprawling everywhere and mouth slightly open. I ran a finger down the bridge of her nose and she didn’t so much as twitch. Her stories about not waking up for the boots or footsteps on the stairs seemed dubious.
I laid back, pulled the covers up, and stared out at Addamsville.
Sometimes you have so many thoughts and feelings that your brain decides to ignore every single one of them. It hangs a Closed for Business sign and walks out. No more worrying whether you did right or wrong. No more flashes of the only home you’ve ever had reduced to beach wreckage. No more fear. No more anger. No more tears. You can’t look inward anymore, so you look out and see what’s left, and you’re happy to take it, no matter what it is. And if you’re lucky, you find exactly what you need.
You find lights in the darkness and a place to rest your head.
In the night, I woke.
My mouth was bone-dry, and the alarm clock was blurry. Artemis was a lump under the covers. The stairs creaked as I descended, though not as loudly as they’d seemed to on the way up. Hillcroft House was still awake.
I couldn’t remember where the bathroom was on thesecond floor, so I went all the way down to the first floor. I followed the path of moonlight on the hardwood, and after the bathroom took another couple of turns into the kitchen.
Of the whole house, the kitchen had been remodeled the most. Granite countertops. Refinished cabinets. Stainless-steel appliances. A big window over the sink looked to the northwest of town, over the woods at the mountain. A dark form obscured the view, her hip leaning on the edge of the sink, a mug in her hands. I stopped in the doorway, squinting. Her edges were solid. Aunt Greta glanced at me over her shoulder. Her hair was up in a messy bun and haloed by the moonlight coming through the window, her face shadowed.
“Sorry,” I said. My voice came out hoarse.
Without saying anything, she took a cup from a cabinet, filled it with water from the refrigerator, then held it out for me. The stark smell of black coffee wafted from her mug. We stood together by the window, watching the red lights of the radio tower blink on and off, a Piper Mountain lighthouse.
I cleared my throat and said, “Why did you show up at the bluffs? You never cared about us before. A week ago you were accusing me of killing George Masrell and telling Chief Rivera to arrest me.”
“I never accused you of killing him,” she said. “I knew exactly what you were doing there, and I knew you were going to cause more trouble for yourself and our family by showingup. Dasree was the same way when she was younger. Couldn’t resist going to the ghosts, even if it got her in trouble. She eventually learned to hunt at night, when no one was watching, but even then people noticed.”
I stared at her, my brain blinking awake. “If you knew what I was doing, why didn’t you try to help?”
“I was,” she replied. “The day after Masrell, most of the town council wanted a witch hunt. I’ve spent all my time over the last week keeping the living in Addamsville from completely impeding your ability to track this firestarter down, and you can tell tonight I didn’t do a very good job.”
“You tried to keep Artemis from helping.”
“Artemis is...” She paused. Sipped. “She wanted to do it herself. Hunt this one. I knew if I grounded her, she would understand why that wasn’t a good idea, and she would go back to you. God forbid she listen to me when I say it in plain terms. Neither of you should be doing this alone. Artemis wants too much, and without someone there to pull her back, she goes too far. It was the same with Dasree.”
“Goes too far?”
“She wants to know the truth. So did Dasree. She wanted to solve every mystery, especially about what happened to us.
