CHAPTER FOURTEEN

When we get back from school, the house is empty. Cold. 

"Where's Sarah?" I ask as I move down the hallway, checking our bedroom a second time, just to be sure.

Katherine dumps her shoulder bag on the dining table and sighs. "She mentioned earlier that she'd be gone when I got back. I think she said she was going shopping."

Caden makes eye-contact, an invisible message passing between us. "Shopping?" I say.

"Yeah. You know what Sarah's like." I really don't. "She likes to get out of the house, doesn't enjoy being cooped up all the time."

I try to contain my frustration. Sarah made me a promise that she'd tell me everything this afternoon, and now she's MIA. "Did she say when she'd be getting back?"

Katherine thinks about it for a second. "I don't think so. But it'll be before dinner, I'm sure. She never stays out that late." She pauses. "I doubt she would have left without her phone. If you really need to see her, you could give her a call."

I nod, send a look in Caden's direction and make for the hall. He follows, picking up his pace until we're side-by-side, heading for the back of the house. "Nevers stays out late, huh?" he says in a hushed voice. "Is it just my imagination or did that happen just last week?"

I'm silent until we reach the back door, which I swing open quietly. We emerge into the backyard and come to a stop on the grass.

"There's something I need to tell you," I say, my voice at normal volume now that we're away from Katherine's ears. I take a breath. "Sarah's been lying to us. About – about everything. Her entire backstory – it's all made up."

He frowns. "You're kidding."

"No, actually. And what's worse is, Katherine helped her make it up. That's the thing – they all know. Everyone. Katherine, Ethel, even Patrick. Sarah told me not to say anything to you and I wasn't going to but..."

"But you don't trust her anymore."

I shake my head. "No, I don't. I thought at first I could get past this – I still believed her, you know? But suddenly she has abilities and her father – the one I grew up with – has vanished, and I think she might be an Anarkk somehow. Plus she keeps disappearing all the time with no good explanation, and we're always getting angry at each other – like, always. I don't even know how to have a conversation with her without it eventually ending in an argument. Everything I know about her just feels like a lie."

Caden's silent. I continue. "There's just something going on with her. She said she'd tell me everything this afternoon but now she's not here and who knows when she's going to get back."

"She hasn't told you the truth yet?"

"No. I think she's avoiding it. Although this morning she seemed pretty keen. And a couple days ago too." I exhale. "I really don't know. I don't know what to think."

Caden, on the other-hand, looks like he's piecing together a puzzle. "I think whatever she's keeping from us has something to do with Thomas. And her ability."

"You think it's all linked?"

"It has to be. All of it's being revealed to us at once; it's a chain reaction – has to be. And all these events are a part of the same chain. We just need to figure out what set it all off. Why her father decided now was the time to run off. Because think about it. He's been in that house for ages – if he wanted to get away, he's had plenty of opportunity. But he only leaves when you're there. It's almost as if–"

"He wanted us to see it," I say softly.

"Exactly." Caden lets out a breath, and the trees around us seem to mimic him, sighing as a breeze drifts amongst their ranks.

"But why?"

"That's the golden question, isn't it? I don't know."

I move over to the bench, hanging from the branches above, and take a seat. It swings gently with the sudden weight. "God, this is one hell of a situation. Do you think Sarah already new about her ability? That she was just pretending to be surprised?"

"Maybe. But I wasn't there – I didn't get to see her reaction. What do you think?"

I shrug. "I don't know anything at this point."

We're silent. I can feel Caden's gaze boring into my skull as I look off to the right. The dark clouds overhead are finally starting to pass, making way for a lighter covering which turns the suns light into a glare. The seat beneath me is still damp from the rain earlier. I can feel it seeping into my uniform but I don't really care.

Eventually, I give up trying to ignore him. "What?" I say.

"You look like you could do with some homework."

I breathe a laugh. "Uh, no thanks."

"Come on, it'll take your mind off things." He grabs my hand, pulling me up off the seat. "Besides, you have to get it done."

"Not if I don't care for school." We're walking back towards the house now – myself somewhat reluctantly.

"Do you?" He raises an eyebrow

"Not really."

"But what about the future? Don't you have plans to go to university, get a job doing something you enjoy?"

"Maybe if I wasn't busy trying to figure out how to stay alive. People who make plans for the future don't have to worry about their insane uncle coming to kill them or strange supernatural powers or doomsday prophecies. I've got enough to worry about without the drama of school and grades and work."

Caden leads me into my room where my schoolbag still rests on the bed, untouched. I try not to think about the pile of Latin 'catch-up' homework sitting inside. "What about you? Do you have plans for the future?"

He shrugs. "I always thought I'd go to university, I just didn't put much thought into what I'd study. I assumed it would just come to me – like a revelation, or something."

"Let me guess: no revelation."

"Not yet, anyway. But I still have time to figure it out."

I hope so.

"You seem to like science," I say, and take a seat on the edge of my bed. He places himself on Sarah's, which is neatly made. A dramatic contrast to mine, which has majority of its bedding either resting on the floor or bunched up by the base.

"You seem to like Latin."

I make a face. "Really?"

He laughs. "No."

I sigh and unzip my school bag, reaching in for my textbooks. "I guess I better to get into that homework then."

"It'll clear your head," he says. "You'll love it."

I roll my eyes. "Please."

-:-:-:-:-

Later that afternoon, when the sky has darkened enough that I have to squint at my homework in order to see it, the door swings open, stirring the stagnant air. Caden was wrong – the homework hasn't done anything to clear the thoughts swirling noisily in my head – and when I look at Sarah standing in the doorway, it's through a heavy fog of emotions. Combined with the twilight, she almost looks like a ghost.

I stand up. "Where have you been? I've been waiting for you all afternoon."

"I've been out," she replies curtly. She pushes past me into the room, dumping some things onto the desk – keys, wallet, phone. "Look, I don't want to tell you anymore. I've decided that my past is my past and it should stay that way."

It takes me a couple seconds to understand what she means, and when I do, it catches me off-guard. "Wait, wait – but this morning you said–"

"I don't care what I said." Her voice is hard, final. I don't recognise it.

"I deserve to know. I mean, I'm practically your sister. And you can't lie to someone and then decide – after you've already told them you've been lying, mind you – that you aren't going to tell them the truth. "

"You don't deserve anything from me." She strips off her thick coat and crosses to the cupboard to hang it.

I take a step back, shocked. Her words hang in the air for a few moments, forcing me to inhale them. They taste like hatred. "Sarah, this isn't you."

She rounds on me. "You don't even know who I am! You don't know anything about me."

"Then tell me, for god's sake!"

She slams the cupboard door shut, her eyes burning with an ugly light. "Fine. Fine, you want to know who I am? Truth is, I'm insane! I'm a goddamn freak."

"And I'm not? I lived for thirteen years as the pale demon girl who froze the city."

"Oh wow, I'm sorry, that must have been so hard for you." The sarcasm is unmistakable.

"Excuse me?" I can't believe what I'm hearing. Is this really the same girl I was friends with when I was five?

"Damaged little Melissa. She's had such a tough life." I'm silent. "But don't worry, everyone loves her now. It's all about Melissa. Melissa has amazing powers. Melissa's going to save the worl–"

"Stop. Just stop, okay? You don't mean this. You're angry at something, but it's not me."

"You wanna bet?"

"No, I don't want to bet!" I snap, because now I really can't take it anymore. "What's happening to you, Sarah? Please, just tell me what's going on."

"What's going on is, you're my mother's new favourite daughter. Who cares that Sarah has a new power and doesn't know how to control it? Who cares that she's afraid she's an Anarkk and that her father is definitely an Anarkk? As long as Melissa's doing okay, everything's great!"

I'm too angry not to snap back at her. "I am not doing okay. In case you haven't noticed, my life is filled to the brim with shit. Exhibit A – my supposedly-closest friend, who won't even tell me who the hell she is! And also, at least you still have a father – my father's dead! Dead, Sarah. He hasn't just runaway or whatever. He's gone, and he's never coming back."

Sarah takes a sharp breath. She almost looks as though she's been slapped, and her eyes well with tears. "He was my father too, genius."

"Oh, well that sucks for you, doesn't it! One father dead, one missing – oh, and a dead mother as well! Thank god you didn't know her! I really pity the poor daughter who grew up with her." I realise that I'm being cruel, but I can't stop myself. All the stress and fear and pain has come back, hitting me full force. I'm a wrecking ball of emotion, and it smashes out of me as anger.

"I am not playing this game – my life was worse than yours, blah, blah, blah – I'm not doing it. We've both lost people we care about. We've both been through shit. I – we both suffer the guilt."

"The guilt? What guilt? I'm the reason we were swapped, Sarah. I'm the reason my mother is dead – the reason Thomas sunk into depression. Rand died rescuing me. You nearly died because of me. I killed people all the time. A boy at a bus-stop, an old lady in her car, a young girl at a park. I–"

"I murdered my father!"

I freeze, my breath getting caught in my throat. Suddenly, everything is amplified. The wind rapping against the window. The distant grumbling of the overhead fan in the kitchen. Sarah's breathing, the air gushing in and out of her lungs in quick, short spurts. There are tears running down her cheeks, and the room is icy cold as the ghosts of her explosion scatter. "What?"

"I murdered – my father. Your father. That's the big secret. I couldn't tell you so – I lied. About him, about my past – everything. But I–" She clasps a hand to her mouth, and her tears roll in violent streams over her fingers. "I killed him."

A/N

yeah. 

so, uh, dramatic chapter, sorry about that. it had to happen though.

also, i apologise for the late-ish update. i've got a shit-tonne of work to do before i go back to school, and so by way of procrastination, i got caught up in the vast universe of tumblr. i literally spent a day (a DAY!) on my bed, with my laptop, on tumblr. 

pros: i've refurbished my blog! (grymoires.tumblr.com go follow me yayy) cons: i've done zero homework and didn't do any writing - only until today tho bc i didn't want to be an ass and not update even tho i could. 

oh - and the song up top doesn't rly go with the story but i put it up anyway cause im in love with it atm and i was listening to it when i wrote this chapter. go listen - it's fab x

so yeah, thanks for reading as always! i'll c u next week with another chapter :)

- shaye