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Rhiannon shuts her eyes. It takes her a while to speak again. “I just don’t understand this. If you thought I was so terrible, why did you agree to come to Halcyon?”
“Because I didn’twantto believe you were terrible, obviously. I wanted to fix things. You’ve always meant so much to me.” She laughs self-consciously. “She always did say you had a strange hold on me. I guess it’s true.”
“Who said that?”
Lenna eyes her. “Gillian,” she says quietly.
Rhiannon straightens up like the name is electrified.“Who?”
Lenna just stares blankly. She still doesn’t quite buy that Rhiannon doesn’t know about the past and is playing dumb.
“Gillian, as in that creepy woman around the office?” Rhiannon thinks aloud. “You talked to her? What, after I left?”
Lenna just shrugs.
Then Rhiannon jolts as if something physical has struck her. “Wait a minute. Sarah had a friend named Gillian, too. But she died. Fell in a canyon, or something. It was tragic…” She squints, putting pieces together. An uncomfortable expression rolls across her features. “Is this thesameGillian?” she sounds out.
Lenna studies the woman across from her. It doesn’t make sense that she’d be just piecing this together.
“Is it?” Rhiannon repeats. “And are you afraid of Sarah, for some reason?”
Lenna wants to shake her. “Youknewthat.”
“I swear, Lenna, Iswear,I had no idea.” She puts her hands on her hips. “You really think I’d invite you here if I knew there was a complicated person from your past already here as a resident?”
“Maybe.”
“I’m sorry you’d think of me like that.” Rhiannon clears her throat. “Tell me what happened. Maybe I can help you.”
Lenna shakes her head. She can’t do this. “I need to go.” She tries to step around Rhiannon. “Get out of my way.”
“Wait, Lenna.” Rhiannon grabs her arm. “It’s not that easy. The gate. It’s locked.”
“So?”
“I mean, I…I could get the code. But I don’t have permission to use the car, and neither do you.”
Permission?“Fine. Then I’ll walk.”
“It’s miles to the highway. And even if youdoget there, you might not encounter a car for a long time. And there’s all kinds of creepy stuff out here. That house we passed? That guy has lots of guns. It’s why we have that huge barbed-wire fence.”
Lenna crosses her arms. “You told me the fence was to keep out animals. Not people.”
“It’s…both.”
Just then, something makes a noise outside the door. Maybe a footstep. Maybe a breath. Lenna freezes. Rhiannon’s eyes widen. They wait a few seconds. No new sounds come. But Lenna’s heart is pounding.
Rhiannon inches closer. “If you really need to leave, I’ll help you. But you have to hang on just a little longer.”
“For how long?”
“We’ll go tonight. That’s when the car’s free.”
“Tonight?Why not sooner?”
“Because…I can’t, okay? I need to speak to Marjorie first. She’s the only one who knows the gate code.”
“Is that safe that only one person knows the code?”
