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“Yeah,” Lily said, pointing to the red marks on her face and arms. “It’s been sort of hard on me, which is why I haven’t been in touch with anyone. They say I’m supposed to limit my contact with foreign substances until I’m one hundred percent.” Lily pursed her lips, passively implying that Simms was a foreign substance.
“I completely understand,” Simms said, suddenly smiling. “You look like you’ve been through hell.”
Something flickered in Simms’s eyes—a combination of pity and genuine concern. She could tell that something bad
had happened to Lily, and more than curiosity drove her. Lily realized that Simms was a good person, even if she did rub Lily the wrong way.
“I’m feeling much better, actually,” Lily said honestly. “No more seizures.”
“That’s wonderful.” Simms’s fake smile flashed back on again and Lily’s dislike for her rekindled. “I’m so glad to hear that you’ve made such a miraculous recovery, especially considering how worried we all were about you.”
“Thank you for your concern,” Lily said cautiously. She didn’t know where Simms was going with this and she didn’t trust her.
“So you’ll be going back to school soon? I’m sure you’re eager to graduate with your class,” Simms said smoothly. Lily hadn’t thought about going back to school, and the very notion seemed ludicrous to her. Simms watched Lily’s calm expression falter and smiled a gotcha smile. “That’s why you got the treatment at such an odd time of year, right? You couldn’t wait for summer break because it was your lifelong dream to walk with your class on graduation day. Or so I’ve been told.”
“Right,” Lily answered confidently, trying to recover from her misstep.
“Right,” Simms parroted. “Just like you didn’t tell your friends you were going away for treatment because you wanted to surprise them.”
Lily kept her mouth shut. She knew Simms didn’t buy a word of any of this, but it didn’t matter. There had been no crime. All Lily had to do was stop talking and Simms wouldn’t have anything to go on, but as the staring contest stretched out Lily started to understand what she was dealing with. Simms wasn’t going to give up until she got an explanation she could live with—and maybe even a culprit to arrest.
“Well. I’ll let you get back to healing from your ordeal,” Simms finally said. She turned to leave, and then swung back around as if something had just occurred to her. “Oh, Lily? What was the name of that miraculous clinic you went to? I can’t seem to get a straight answer about that from anyone. I thought you’d be able to help me, considering you were there for three months.”
Lily’s mouth parted and her mind went blank. Samantha spoke up to fill the void a second too late.
“I told you it was a holistic healing center on a Native American reservation, which is why it didn’t show up as a hospital on your search. The name is hard to pronounce. It’s Native, you know,” she said, her hands fluttering to her frizzy hair like startled birds. “I’ll send the details to your e-mail address when I can.”
“When you can,” Simms repeated almost mockingly. She’d seen enough. “I’ll be waiting. And I’ll tell the superintendent of your school how excited you are to be coming back, Lily.” She looked Lily up and down. “You’re so happy you’re practically speechless, aren’t you?”
Simms left them, but Lily didn’t shut the door or turn away until her car had disappeared around the corner.
“Come inside, Lillian,” Samantha urged.
“Has that horrid woman been harassing you this whole time, Ma?” Lily asked angrily, following her inside. Her mother was shaking and her eyes skipped around like she couldn’t settle her gaze on anything solid.
“She’s been very persistent,” Samantha said, trying to smile comfortingly, but only managing a wan grimace.
Juliet and Rowan came rushing in the side door, just back from their trip to the market.
“Was that the FBI agent I saw at the end of the block?” Juliet asked. She plunked down a bag of groceries, her eyes wide.
“Yeah,” Lily replied. “Don’t worry. She can’t do anything to us.”
“Except keep harassing everyone, like she’s been doing. Which is bad enough,” Rowan said, tipping his chin at Samantha.
Your mom can’t handle this kind of scrutiny, Lily. She’ll crack.
What should we do, Rowan? I can’t make Simms go away.
“You need to get back to your normal life as soon as possible,” Rowan said aloud. “Blend in. Don’t give the agent any more reason to be suspicious.”
Samantha had started wandering toward the garage door. She was twisting her hands together so tightly the skin on her knuckles was thin and white.
“It’ll be okay, Mom,” Juliet said, chasing after her and catching ahold of her elbow.
“I think I’d like to make a pot,” Samantha said, her eyes wild.
Juliet and Lily shared a pained look. “Ma, you’re out of clay. Why don’t you let Juliet take you upstairs so you can lie down?” Lily said.
