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“Do you know how we survive here? How we get the money to pay for the electricity and the food we don’t grow and store on our own?” Ophelia demanded.
Ravinia’s fear turned to irritation. “We have lots of property. We get rent. I don’t need an economics lesson.”
“Somebody has to run things around here. Catherine can’t do it all.”
“She pretty much has so far. And she has Isadora, too.”
“Isadora helps with housework and meals. She doesn’t work with the finances at all. You want better television? How about electricity on every floor? How about you learn how to drive a car, like I did.” Ophelia’s blue eyes glimmered.
“What? You don’t know how to drive.”
“Last summer I studied and practiced, and then I took the test with the Buick and passed.”
“Bull. Shit.”
“You were just too busy running away to notice.”
“Somebody here would have known,” Ravinia retorted in disbelief.
“Aunt Catherine knew. She took me out for driving lessons. You were gone all the time. Locked in your room, or out running around at night with all your new friends.”
“You made me these clothes so I could!” Ravinia glanced down at the pants and shirt that covered her slim body.
“I know what you want. I know you think you need to be free of these walls. So I helped you. When Catherine asked me about it, I told her what I’m telling you now. That you need to be free of these walls.”
“She told me if I left, I could never come back.”
“She’s afraid, Ravinia. For all of us, and there are people out there that want to really harm us.”
It felt like Ophelia was trying to tell her something. Something she didn’t want to state aloud. “How do you know that?” Ravinia asked.
“History. Justice was bent on killing us, and we’re lucky he was killed, because he would have never given up.”
“That’s not all it is. You know something.”
Ophelia pressed her lips together, her blue eyes holding Ravinia’s. She had opened her mouth to say something when they heard Isadora and Cassandra coming back down the stairs.
“Ophelia, what do you know?” Ravinia hissed.
She shook her head and threw back, “What did you and Catherine and Earl talk about?”
Stalemate. She wasn’t going to even hint at the future body switching. She didn’t know when and how that was going to happen, but she wasn’t going to trust Ophelia with the information just yet.
Something crossed her older sister’s face—a flicker of surprise and alarm—just as Cassandra and Isadora entered the kitchen and Cassandra asked, “What are you two whispering about?”
Ravinia waited for Ophelia to say something, but she seemed too distracted to answer. “Ophelia has her driver’s license,” Ravinia said into the gap.
Cassandra’s large-pupiled eyes moved from Ravinia to Ophelia. “You’re leaving?” she asked tremulously.
“No. We were talking about . . . destiny,” Ophelia said, still locked in her own thoughts.
“Whose destiny?” Cassandra asked.
“Yours, Cassandra,” Ravinia snapped, sick of this conversation. She needed to get away from all of them.
“My name’s Maggie now,” she cried. “Why can’t you call me that?”
“Becau
