Page 77 of If Anything Happens To Me

At the same time, I heard the thud of Matt hitting the window, smashing it with a chair, then the crash of glass falling. A whoosh of fresh salt air filled the attic.

“Hurry!” Matt shouted.

“Yes, come on!” Iris yelled. She was standing outside on the fire escape, waving madly.

Iris!I understood then: Matt had hidden her in that empty room, but once she found out that he and Minerva had a plan, and that he was on our side, she joined forces with them to rescue us.

“Abigail’s having a seizure!” I said. “We can’t leave her!”

“If we don’t get out now,” Matt said, grabbing my shoulders, “we won’t be able to help her at all.”

Iris jumped in through the broken window, ran to us. Hayley screamed out with shocked joy. “You’re here!”

“We’ll have the best reunion in the world once we’re down on the street,” Iris told her sister after one incredibly tight hug. “Now, get out—I came up the fire escape to make sure it’s safe, but it’s only hanging by one bracket per floor, and they’re rusty. Be careful, okay? One at a time.”

“I can’t leave Abigail,” Hayley said.

“Hayley, this is it. I’m your big sister, you’re going to do what I tell you. Movenow. I’m not letting you stay here for one more minute,” Iris said.

Hayley nodded, glanced once at Abigail. Iris pulled her away, and the Bigelow sisters clung to each other. Iris saw Hayley safely onto the top rung, waited for her to descend a few steps, then stepped out behind her.

I stood by Abigail, looked at Matt.

“We have to carry her,” I said. “I don’t know what Fitch will do to her if we don’t.”

Matt didn’t ask questions. He just reached down and grabbed hold of Abigail. He tried to put her over his shoulder, in a fireman’s carry like we’d learned in lifesaving, but her body was too stiff from the parasomnia. He lowered her onto the mattress.

Neither of us wanted to climb out that window without her, but for now, she was beyond help. I felt a sob rise up in my throat.

“I can’t leave her with a murderer,” I said. I thought of what Fitch had done to my sister. I didn’t care that he had claimed he didn’t mean to kill her—the fact was, he had.

“Fitch’s focused on you at the moment—not Abigail. In spite of everything, she is his sister. But if he hurts you, I couldn’t . . .” Matt sounded too upset to finish. When he saw that I wasn’t moving toward the window, he took a deep breath.

“We can do this,” I said, looking into his eyes. He nodded.

I lifted Abigail’s feet, and Matt slipped his arms under hers from behind. She was still rigid as we carried her to the window. But whether it was the blast of cool air or some inner determination, Abigail came to—without any help from Fitch or his medication. Her eyes looked cloudy, and I didn’t think she could make it down the fire escape on her own—Matt obviously thought that, too. Once again, he hoisted her over his shoulder.

Matt went ahead with Abigail, and I followed them. As we made our way down the fire escape, I realized I was holding my breath. My heart was back there in the attic. I was grateful we were getting away, but not all of us. Not Eloise. The one sister who couldn’t escape.

I was still thinking of her when my feet hit the ground. I saw Matt’s Jeep right there, with Minerva behind the wheel. Iris and Hayley helped Abigail into the back seat, right between them. Matt grabbed my hand and pulled me onto his lap in the front. Minerva glanced at me.

“You made it,” she said.

I nodded. “Thanks for being our getaway driver.”

She smiled and gave a little salute. “Sorry not to make it back sooner. Daphne’s memory about where she sent the map was a little rusty. But I’m here now.”

She had been parked at the back entrance, and she pulled around to the front. I gazed at the porch. Fitch wasn’t there. I realized he must be running up to the attic—I loved imagining what he’d think when he found us gone.

But Daphne was still in her rocking chair. In her white dress, she reminded me of the girls on the panels, the Sibylline sisters—because she was one of them. She saw me through the window of the Jeep, and, just for a second, our eyes met.

She touched her heart and nodded.

And I nodded back. She was the only surviving Sibylline sister, and I felt that her magic, her sisterly love, had helped all of us to escape today.

“We have to call the police,” I said to Matt.

“I already have,” Minerva said, holding up her cell phone. “The minute I saw you all coming down the fire escape.”

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