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She’s about to cross a busy road when I reach her.
“Ava, please, you have to listen to me. Give me a chance to explain. I miss you. I love you.”
She doesn’t hear me above the traffic noise so I grab her arm. She startles and glances over her shoulder, and as she sees who’s accosted her, she yanks her arm out of my hand.
But in doing so, she staggers back a little, loses her footing on the curb, and falls.
Into the path of an oncoming bus.
Chapter39
Lucy
Igape at Spencer, unable to process the truth.
“But if Mom is Cora’s daughter, that makes me her granddaughter…” I shake my head, unable to comprehend the enormity of this. Nothing makes sense. “Cora’s Ava died. Daphne said they found a finger in the swamp. Unless my outlandish suspicion is right and Mom faked her death to escape this place for whatever reason.”
Spencer’s sorrow is palpable, radiating off him in waves that make his shoulders slump and his back bow. “I planted that finger. I found a body washed up ashore about five miles from here on my daily walk and before I called the police, I…” he clears his throat. “Severed the finger because I knew it was Ava’s way out. A rash, impulsive decision I’ll never regret.”
My head is spinning and my knees are shaking so hard I sink to the sand and wrap my arms around them. “You helped my mother escape.”
It’s a statement, not a question, because I can see Spencer is genuine. He’s hurting, and that means he must’ve cared for my mom enough to help her flee Arcania.
“I did. I helped her because she’d only just discovered she was pregnant with you and she knew she had to get out.”
“Why?”
He grimaces and waves his arm in the direction of the mansion on the cliffs that’s not visible from here. “Because she didn’t want you raised at Arcania. To go through what she had. To become one of Cora’s underlings.”
My chest aches with the enormity of what Spencer has revealed.
Mom fled Arcania to protect me.
So how bad must it have been for her growing up here?
“If it’s so awful, why did you stay?”
He drags in a breath and blows it out slowly, before sinking to the sand beside me. “In case you came here one day looking for answers.”
He eyeballs me and I can’t fathom the tears in his eyes. “That’s why I’ve been warning you to leave from the start because I recognized you instantly because of your similarities to Ava, and if I did, Cora may too. Has she said anything?”
I shake my head, disconcerted by the idea Cora may know who I am and is toying with me regardless.
“It doesn’t mean she doesn’t suspect.” His jaw tightens. “Has anything weird happened to you since I’ve been away?”
I want to tell him about the visions, the voices, the diving suit. But can I fully trust him? For all I know, he could be fishing for information and will run to Cora and tell her. Because if my supposed grandmother is that bad, he would’ve left years ago too. To hear him say he stuck around in case I visited is ludicrous.
“Tell me, Lucy. What’s been going on?”
“I’m not buying the fact you stayed all these years on the odd chance I would show up one day. What’s the real reason?”
His gaze slides away as his fingers pluck at his frayed sleeve. He’s nervous, which means he’s hiding something.
“Spencer, I want to hear why you think Cora had something to do with Mom’s death, but I’ll be honest and say I’m not sure if I believe a word coming out of your mouth. So tell me why you thought I’d show up here one day.”
He drags his eyes back to meet mine, pain shimmering in their depths.
“Because Ava was my daughter and you’re my granddaughter.”
