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“It could be a way to drive us out of Windridge Hall. If we run out of food, we’d have no choice but to try to hike out of here and reach town.”

“And I’d make you take me with you?” I give him a smile, trying to ease the tension, but it feels like rigor mortis across my face.

A muscle beneath his eye ticks. “You asked me if I’d hike you out of here.”

I did? I have to scramble in my memories to recall when. Then the penny drops.

“That was ages ago! And it was just a question. I wouldn’t destroy our food to make it happen.”

“Bullshit.”

Tears of rage and frustration fill my eyes. I sense Blake and Dov both staring at me, questioning my motives. How can they believe this of me? I know how important it is that we have supplies here when we’re cut off. I’d never put them in a position that might harm them.

Blake steps forward, his hand outheld. “Okay, let’s just take a breath.” He looks to his younger son. “If Aspen says she didn’t do this, then she didn’t do it.”

I exhale a breath of relief at Blake’s support. Blake is always the one who gets the final say, and him sticking up for me makes me want to hug him. I’m hurt by Levi’s accusations. I thought he cared about me, that I meant more to him than this.

“But I saw her!” Levi insists. “I looked right at her.”

I can’t keep quiet. “What, and then you never said a word to me about it? Why not talk to me?”

Levi clenches his jaw, the muscles popping. “Because it was freaking weird. I didn’t want to embarrass you.”

“Embarrass me?” My tone grows higher in pitch with every word. “No, you’d just rather accuse me of…of… sabotage!”

He growls. “Well, someone did this.”

“What about the goddamned ghosts?” I throw at him. “What about this place?”

“Nothing like this has ever happened before.”

“So you’d prefer to blame me? Nice.” I cross my arms over my chest defensively.

“You’d rather we blamed ghosts?” Levi’s voice tinged with sarcasm.

I spin to face Dov. “You have cameras all over this place. Surely you have proof? You must catch things happening, don’t you? Strange shit happening. Have you caught me entering the storeroom at any point?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t have cameras everywhere, Aspen. No matter what you think.”

“Ghost shit, then. You must have caught them moving stuff around before.”

“No, I haven’t. They’re careful.”

“Do you believe I did this?” I demand of Dov. “You know me.”

The frustration of not being believed makes me want to scream.

Dov holds my eye. “I believe you, Aspen.”

“You did ask me if I’d hike you out of here,” Levi insists.

“Can you blame me, after everything?” I snap back at him. “I’m allowed to know what my options are. You can’t all just expect me to sit down and shut up when I’ve ended up trapped here.”

Blake speaks, but his tone is level. “We don’t, Pen. That’s why we’re asking you if you did this.”

I give a yell of annoyance. “Gah, you three are so frustrating. I swear on my life that I didn’t do it.”

Blake turns to Levi. “When you saw Aspen in here before, you said it was weird.”