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“Thank you,” Maisie said and kissed me once more. “I can feel the others tugging at me,” she said. “I need to go join them, but when all of this is over, I want the two of us to take a couple of days to talk about what happened with Connor,” she said and held up her hand to fend off any protest I might make. “You need to be able to tell someone exactly how much you hate him for what he did, and Iris is not going to be up for that. And given Wren’s involvement in the whole thing, we should spare Ellen and Oliver as well. They created and nurtured a murderer. They may be acting like they don’t feel horrible about that fact, but they’re just trying to shield you from any further pain. Now, I’ve got to go.”
“Wait!” I said, reaching out and grabbing her skirt like a little kid. She looked down at me with an amused expression on her face. “There’s something important I need to tell you.”
“Okay, but make it fast.”
“No,” I said, letting go of her. “You go on, it can wait.” I smiled at her, and she shimmered and disappeared right before my eyes.
Soon the investment would be over, and we’d have the rest of our lives to catch up. “We can wait to tell her about you, can’t we, buddy?” I asked, placing my hand over my stomach. “You are well worth waiting for.”
THIRTY-TWO
The drawing of the lots had taken place thirteen days after Ginny’s death, and the investment ceremony would take place today, thirteen days later. Oliver’s prediction had been spot on—other than the few minutes I’d shared with Maisie upon her arrival, the families had kept her pretty much sequestered. What she’d told me had surprised me. I couldn’t believe that some of our family members truly believed that the line had truly chosen me as anchor. I chuckled to myself as I finished packing an overnight bag for my stay at the Mansion, not my ratty old backpack, but one of Ellen’s fancy, honest-to-God overnight bags. She had blanched when I’d told her I was planning on taking my backpack and had practically flung the thing at me. And even though we only lived about ten blocks from the hotel, Oliver had arranged for a town car to pick me up.
There was a rap at my door. “Your coach awaits, Cinderella,” Oliver’s voice called out to me.
“Tell the driver I’ll be right down.” My own reflection caught me by surprise as I grabbed my bag and headed for the door. The woman I saw in the mirror looked happy. In spite of everything that had happened over the past several days, I honestly felt like it would all turn out okay. Once the investment was over, I’d spend time with Maisie. We’d catch up and finish working things out. And then I’d get Iris away from here for a while. My first installment from the trust had hit my checking account on my birthday, and I was astounded by the size of it. There was plenty enough to take us to Paris, or maybe Florence. It would do us both good.
Uncle Oliver had decided to relocate his business to Savannah. He was staying home for good this time. That would be good for all of us, especially Ellen. Oliver might be a tad self-centered, but he would look out for her until she was back on an even keel. Peter, well, we’d work things out. Whether or not we got back together, we’d raise our boy right. Colin Taylor Tierney would be a blessing to this family—he’d be the new start that we all so badly needed. I smiled at my reflection and went down to meet the car. I gave Oliver a quick peck on the cheek on my way out, then winked at the driver as he took the bag from my hand and opened the door for me.
“It’s only a few blocks,” I said. “It feels downright decadent.”
“Nothing wrong with a little decadence now and again. Enjoy it, ma’am.” After closing the door behind me and stowing my bag in the trunk, he got into the driver’s seat and pulled out onto the street, showing much more care than the casual driver. “Scenic route?” he called back to me, glancing at me in his rearview mirror.
“Please,” I said. He turned the car in the opposite direction of the Mansion and zigzagged around so that he could circle the six closest squares.
As we neared Pulaski Square, he looked at me in the mirror again. “Oh, I almost forgot,” he said, handing me a small but beautifully wrapped package over the seat. “Your sister asked me to give this to you.”
“Thank you,” I said and took it from him. The box was covered in velvety midnight blue paper and tied with a single silver bow. I undid the bow and tugged open the box. On top was a note from Maisie. I unfolded it and read. “Even if you can’t be here with me, I’ll be able to feel your presence if you wear this.”
“Everything all right back there?” the driver asked.
“Yes. Everything is perfect,” I smiled up at him then took the necklace out from the box, kissing the beautiful stone that I recognized as azurite. Rounded and polished, it looked like a small globe of the world. As I slipped the chain around my neck, I closed my eyes and held the stone tightly in my hand, thinking of Maisie and sending her all my love.
When I opened my eyes, the driver was still looking at me in the rearview mirror, but his brown eyes had changed to a sapphire blue. The face beneath the driver’s cap had morphed into a completely different one. I’d know those eyes anywhere. That face. “Jackson?” I said, gasping.
“She told you I’d be back,” he said, throwing me a grin over his shoulder. His eyes were gleeful, crazed, and full of hate. I reached over to try the door, but it was locked.
“I don’t understand,” I said. He turned the car onto Barnard and sped across Liberty Street with the gas pressed to the floor. I screamed as he pulled into oncoming traffic.
He laughed as the vehicles passed right through our car—and us—without so much as a tickle. “Well, I’ll be glad to explain a few things to you. Starting with how we’re just a little out of sync with the world you’re used to right now. Those charms your buddy the golem set up for you ain’t gonna work here. And you can try and run away from me if you’d like, but you’ll never get home without me. See, I kind of like it here. We can see and hear what’s going on in the other world, but nothing and no one there can touch us. Unless that someone happens to be wearing the mate of that necklace you just put around your pretty little neck. Care to guess who that might be?”
“Maisie,” I said, once again astounded by my own stupidity, my willingness to be deceived.
“That’s right, my girl,” he said, continuing to drive. The familiar landmarks we were passing surprised me—we were heading back in the direction we’d come from. “Your sister set you up.”
“But why?” I asked.
“That’s a bit of a long story, but I guess we got the time for it. Unless you’d rather I smear blood on your head and toss you to the shadows like you and Jilo did to me?” He looked back over his shoulder at me again.
“All I ever did was love you, Jackson. That’s what we did to Wren, not you…we had to stop him, ” I said.
“You just don’t get it, do you, girl?” he asked. “I am Wren.”
“You’re Wren?” I asked, completely thrown.
“That’s right,” he chirped in Wren’s falsetto, before his voice broke back into Jackson’s range. “And thanks to your sister, I was finally able to break out of that way too small shell. Maisie helped me grow.” He winked at me. “Of course that’s what any good woman should help her man do, but in this case, I mean it literally.”
