He smiled and patted my shoulder. "Let's not talk about anything unpleasant right now. Eat first. Your health is already fragile enough without you skipping meals."
"I'm not hungry. You go ahead. I'm going to stay at Hillside Estate for a few days."
"Eat, June." He couldn't hold back his displeasure anymore, his voice dropping into a command.
I ignored him, went upstairs to grab my things, and drove to Hillside Estate. Locked the door behind me and fell into bed like something shutting down.
But the sleep was wrong—thick and suffocating, pulling me under and holding me there. When I finally clawed my way back to consciousness, I had no idea how much time had passed.
There was nothing left in my body. I lay on the bed limp as a rag, unable to move.
The room smelled like medication. I looked down at the back of my hand and saw a needle taped into the vein.
My vision swam, then slowly tightened on a figure in dark green standing at the vanity. She was turning my jewelry over between her fingers, picking up pieces and dropping them back like they bored her.
"Oh, you're awake?"
The woman in green walked toward me, and her face hit me like a fist to the chest.
It wasn't a stranger. It was the daughter of my parents' research assistant at the Floral Research Institute. Joy Henson.
That night at Hillside Estate, the voice had been hers. The silhouette too.
Why Joy Henson? Why?
My mind fractured into pieces.
Joy's mother, Daphne Henson, was one of the suspects in the fire that destroyed the Institute. But there had never been enough evidence, and eventually Daphne and Joy had vanished like smoke, as if they'd simply ceased to exist.
I couldn't hold it in anymore. Her name tore out of me like something bleeding. "Joy Henson."
"I'm surprised you still remember me, Junie. All these years and you still hate my mother that much?" She stuck her tongue out at me playfully. "But it's not Joy Henson anymore. My name is Jade Holloway now. Don't get it wrong again."
The bedroom door opened.
"You're awake?"
"William!" My whole body was shaking—I couldn't stop it. "Do you know who she is? Do you know who she is?!" The words ripped out of me raw, half-scream, half-sob, and I couldn't tell where the trembling ended and the screaming began.