Chapter 19: One Year Each

Cadence's POV

I went back to the Fairbanks' house at nine that night, because I had the ring in my pocket and nowhere to put it.

The church had emptied hours ago.

The ambulance had taken Pierce, and a doctor at the hospital had said a word I did not listen to.

I sat in my car on Larch Street for twenty minutes with the engine off.

Then I let myself in with the key Lorna had pushed into my hand on Friday and never asked me to return.

The kitchen light was on.

Alden and Lorna sat at the table in their funeral clothes, not speaking, not touching.

They looked up when I came in.

"I'm not here for you," I said.

"Cadence," Lorna said.

"I'm putting something back."

I climbed the stairs alone.

The lock was gone from Ewan's door.

There was a bare square of wood where it had been, with four small holes.

I pushed the door open.

His lamp was on, and a gray sweater lay folded on the pillow.

I stood in the doorway and could not go in.

"I brought it back," I said to the room. "It's still yours."

I crossed to his dresser and opened the sock drawer.

It was where he had kept it for five years, under the gray socks, in the back.

I laid the velvet box against the wood.

Then I turned, and saw the wall.

It had split in a long straight line beside the wardrobe, floor to ceiling, and white light was coming out of the crack.

I stood there for a long time.

I knew exactly what it was.

I should have been afraid, and I wasn't.

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