Twenty-Seven

I paced around, looking for a way up to the electrical cords. On my third circuit of the attic, I stopped to gaze at Abigail. She hadn’t had an episode since that first one, but it seemed to have taken so much out of her. She looked pale and thin on her canopied bed, in her long white dress. She seemed to be asleep, but she wasn’t.

“Why are you staring at me?” she asked.

“I’m trying to understand you,” I said.

“I’m just like you, but I have this disorder.”

“Not really. We’re nothing alike. I wouldn’t do what you’re doing. You could help us get away from your brother, but you’re not.”

“I want to help you,” she said. “It’s complicated.”

“You told me it was an accident,” I said. “What Fitch did to my sister. But you know what? I don’t believe you.”

“Stop,” Abigail said, shaking her head hard as if she could dispel the horrible thought.

“I loved her,” I said. “As much as you love your brother.”

“I know,” she whispered. “And she loved you.”

“She told you that?”

“Yes,” Abigail said, her voice shaking. “She begged him to let her go, so she could return to you.”

“But he wouldn’t let her,” I said. “Because she stood up to him. He said he doesn’t like girls who defy him.”

“That’s what happened with Iris,” Hayley said.

“Yes,” Abigail said. She glanced at the owl, lowered her voice. “It’s why you have to get away. Because I can’t stand if he does it again—if he sends any of you to the dirt. It can’t happen.” She took a deep breath. “I already know, he’s going to do it to me, too.”

“No, he loves you,” I said.

“He won’t after this,” she said.

“After what?” Hayley asked.

“After I stop being the sweet little sister,” Abigail said, and Hayley chuckled.

“Oh boy, watch out,” Hayley said.

“Danger zone,” Abigail said. “The oldest ones rely on us being exactly the way they want us to be, right, Hayley?”

“One hundred percent,” Hayley said. “We have to know our places in the little-sisters box.”

I watched Abigail give Hayley a big smile, and Hayley smiled back. I was struck by it all—the bonding of younger sisters, hearing what it was like for them. Had I kept Eloise in a box, expected her to be a certain way?

I realized then that Abigail and Hayley had a sort of friendship. In spite of the circumstances, the horror, they had become close.

But now, Abigail turned away from Hayley. I noticed she was staring hard at the panels.

“I used to wonder what it was like for them,” she said, pointing at the Sibylline sisters. “I knew about parasomnia, and how the two younger sisters died in their sleep, but it seemed so far away, so impossible. Like something that could never happen to me.” She swallowed hard. “But it is happening. I don’t know how many more episodes I can live through. They’re getting worse. I didn’t think I’d survive the last one.”

“But you did, Abigail,” Hayley said. “And you’ll keep going.”

“You will,” I said. I realized that in spite of her part in this, I really wanted Abigail to be okay.

“Maybe for a while,” Abigail said. “But I won’t survive my brother.”

“Fitch?” I asked, confused.

“I’m going to help you get away,” she said. “And he’ll kill me when he finds out.”

“No, we won’t let him hurt you,” I said, excitement building inside as I thought of the possibility of really getting out of there.

Abigail shrugged. “I’m going to die, anyway.”

“Don’t say that,” Hayley said. “You’re not going to die.”

Abigail gave Hayley a skeptical smile.

“How are we going to do this?” I asked.

“I heard you two talking about the window, and the cameras,” Abigail said. “Like I said—the glass will be almost impossible to break, but you’re right—there’s a little crack. If we focus on that one spot, hit it over and over with something sharp, it might be possible.”

“But first, the cameras,” I said. “We have to get up to the ceiling, to unplug them?.?.?.”

“That’s one way,” she said. “But they’re controlled by an app. He can run it on his phone or a laptop.”

“And we don’t have either of those,” Hayley said.

Abigail smiled. “Not his,” she said. “But the system is wired into the control panel, and I know where it is.”