Annie came down with the suitcases and took the keys. I was happy to let her drive. Cars had never been a big deal to me, and the wide-eyed look she gave me when she saw the keys was worth being demoted to passenger status.
“I parked outside the gates.” Russ’s voice was careful. “Near the planetarium.”
It was a relatively short walk to the Buchanan Planetarium, but I couldn’t imagine why Russ had taken the car there. “Why?” I started to ask, and then it became clear when I saw Clive Rice coming up the walk.
“Leaving so soon, Mr. Hampton?”
I’d known Clive Rice all my life. While I never would have called him warm, he was someone I’d always considered odd rather than menacing. But something about the set of his jaw and the fact that he was in front of my house at 2:00 a.m. for no good reason I could think of, made me nervous.
“I couldn’t sleep,” I said. “We thought we’d go for a walk.”
Russ took a step closer so that Annie was sandwiched between us. There was no way we looked like we were going for a walk. Not with our bags and suitcases on the stairs behind us.
“Yes,” Rice said. “Insomnia. It afflicts many in St. Hilaire.” Then he turned toward Annie, and something in my spine shuddered. “And you, Miss Krylova? Have you had sleep issues since you’ve been a guest here?”
I could almost hear Annie searching for the right words. “A bit,” she said softly.
“Well,” Rice said. “It does seem like a nice night for a stroll, so I’ll let you get on with it.” His eyes flicked to Russ. “I expect to see you Monday morning, Mr. Griffin. We have much to discuss.”
Russ nodded, but didn’t say anything. Even though Rice had dismissed us, no one moved until I worked up the guts to take a few steps forward.
“Oh, Mr. Hampton. One thing I forgot to mention,” Rice said to my back. I turned to look at him just as Annie grabbed for my hand. “Your parents.” I froze. It was so quiet that I could hear Russ’s breathing and a coyote or some other animal rustling in the woods.
It felt like hours before Rice continued. “I was thinking how much they’d given to this community. How much we miss their valuable input. I thought we might break with usual protocol and reach out to them. Next week at our fundraiser. Or perhaps it could be an assignment for the Corps. Your parents were always so good with children.”
I trembled. The night air blew the scent of my mom’s wildflowers around us. All the things I wanted to say to her and my father raced through my head. I wanted to know they were okay and to let them know that I finally was too. Despite how it probably looked, I wanted to talk to my dad about Tristan and hear all of the stories he had always kept hidden about his own childhood. And of course, I wanted to ask about the accident, but that was suddenly last on my list.
I imagined my mother’s arms around me and the way my father’s face would light up when he met Annie. For a single minute, the pain, the longing, the loss of the past two years lifted in a sense of possible comfort.
Russ turned to face me, his back to Clive Rice. His eyes caught mine and he mouthed, “No.”
I was at war with myself. Stay for this chance or leave right now and turn my back on my parents, and Laura, and Harriet, and all the Hamptons who came before me.
I turned and looked at the house, and my entire childhood seemed to envelop me. What if I left and wasn’t allowed to return? What if the Guild got more and more out of control and went after Laura and Harriet?
Russ coughed under his breath and drew my attention. I wanted the time to discuss this choice with him, but Clive Rice was standing there with an expectant and smug look on his face that demanded a response.
Under his breath, Russ said, “Remember our conversation,” as if I could have forgotten it. Nothing had changed. Even if we could talk to my parents, they probably wouldn’t be the people I remembered or wouldn’t be able to answer my questions. And if I wasn’t going to go through that with Russ, there was no way I was going to jeopardize everything with Annie and my future on the chance that Clive Rice, or worse, the Youth Corps could pull it off. Even with Russ as their leader.
I squeezed Annie’s hand and looked Rice in the eyes. “Thank you,” I said, voice unsteady. “I appreciate the offer, but no. I don’t think my parents would want that.” I prayed I was right. That I wasn’t making the biggest mistake of my life.
Annie squeezed my hand back and nodded.
“Get going, you two,” Russ said with a tone of false cheerfulness. I nodded at him, grabbed our bags, and started to walk toward the path that would take us to the gates.
“Yes, Mr. Hampton, safe travels,” said Clive Rice. I turned back for a second and saw him tapping his watch. “You have but six hours before your flight. You don’t want to be late.”
“How do you know that?” I asked. I knew I’d never mentioned specifics on the phone. Or had I?
His stare was unwavering. “Oh, we made it our business to know. And don’t forget to remind your sisters to put up the Guild flag. I would hate to see any trouble come to them.”
Russ coughed and nodded toward the path. I nodded back and started walking, although I could feel my legs shudder. The sting of tears behind my eyes was blurring my vision.
Annie and I stayed quiet as we walked through the gates and down the block to where Russ had left the car. Neither of us had turned to look back.
“Are you okay?” she whispered.
I nodded. I wasn’t sure I could speak.
“That was very unnerving, but is it odd,” she asked, “that I feel like I’m leaving my home behind too?”
I thought about her question as we reached the car. It looked dark and imposing on the mundane Buchanan street.
After we got in, I pulled down the visor and looked at St. Hilaire reflected in the mirror. The steeple of Eaton Hall, the intricate iron scrollwork in the gate. Those were the only things I could see from here, and had it not been for Clive Rice, the view would have made my running away seem like an overreaction.
“No,” I answered finally. Perhaps I hadn’t even appreciated St. Hilaire until Annie showed up. In a way, she’d returned my home to me as well. “It’s not odd at all.”
Annie asked, “They will let you come back, right? To visit?”
I looked back at St. Hilaire through the mirror again. Of course, I wanted to come back to see everyone, and the graves of my parents would always pull me back. And Tristan. I couldn’t let his sacrifice be for nothing.
And Russ. Of course, Russ. To make sure he and Ian… The fact that I had to think of Russ and Ian in any way connected again ate at me, but less than it had in the past, so maybe that was progress.