Page 51 of Mama Si's Paradise

Funny thing, though. She didn’t ask me why or how I knew the name or where I read it. Probably because it really was just a fantasy story.

Maybe the journal I’d found wasn’t a journal at all but a book. Maybe it washerbook. It would explain why her picture was at the end of it, but she didn’t even let me ask again.

“I’ve given you as much time as I can. We’ll be starting next week, Fall Doll,” she said when we reached the second floor.

Chills rushed down my back. “Start what?”

“Yourofficial training. You will learn the art of seduction, as well as the basics of pleasing people, serving and massaging and singing and dancing, just to name a few. Right now, you are exclusive to your client, but we don’t know how long that will last, so I’d rather prepare you.”

Oh, God. My stomach twisted and turned, and I was about ready to throw up within a second. “Oh.”

“I believe you’ve made yourself comfortable in the Paradise,” Mama Si said, leaning closer to me to whisper, “Continue to explore it. You’ll find it has so much more to it than meets the eye.” And she winked at me.

She then turned around and walked down the hallway, and Assa gave me a once-over, too, before she turned on her heels to follow.

“I’ll see you tomorrow!” Mama Si sang, and I was stuck there looking at her back, at the way the dress flowed around her legs like it was made out of liquid. I stayed there all alone until the walls began to close up on me, sucking in all the air from my lungs.

Then I went straight for the third floor, to the triangle room, hoping with all my heart that it was open.

It was.

Taking my shoes off, I ran like mad, and I was in the clearing before five minutes were over, breathing heavily until I’d been moving for hours.

“Ennaris,” I whispered into the night when my heartbeat slowed down. The animals approached me, lighting up the dark as soon as I touched them.

I refused to think. I refused to fear tomorrow. I refuse to accept the reality outside of this forest—at least for right now.

At the sound of my voice, the trees moved their branches like they were waving at one another. Atme. The ground sprouted new life and flowers grew as big as my palms within seconds right in front of my eyes. Owls and so many birdstook over the sky, singing a beautiful song as they danced with one another.

And the tree roots began to climb up, twisting and turning, creating the same shape they had last night. Making the most unusual and beautiful piano the world would ever see.

All my worries disappeared among the leaves and the lights. Nothing existed for me except the here and now.

When I sat on the bench, the melodies came out of me raw and vibrant and without stop as the animals listened, and some danced, and some slept.

That is where I stayed for a long, long time.

Fifteen

The triangle roomopened only when the sun began to set. I knew because I checked, and I went back there every single night of the week. It became something to live for so quickly—for the animals, for running and playing with them; for playing the piano that the ground gave to me whenever it felt me in the clearing; for the flowers that sprouted on their own now, too, as if they lived underground, but when they heard me approaching, they all came out to greet me in a rush.

It was perfect, everything I’d ever wanted and never even knew it.

I stayed in the forest until dawn, and I slept until noon, and I still had time to eat and rest and work out, and I never wantedanythingto change.

Until the knock on my door before dinner exactly a week from the night Mama Si had last come for me.

Every inch of me rose in goose bumps. Mylessonsbegan tonight.

I walked all the way to the door as if I was in a dream. Ipulled it open and I didn’t even see anything at first, but I heard Mike’s voice.

“My, my, Autumn. You grow more beautiful by the week.”

His face came into focus the more I blinked, until I was fully aware of where I was again. It was Mike, the host from that party, the guy who’d taken me to Johnny. He looked just as handsome as he had that night, wearing a black suit and colors in his eyes like he really was Mama Si’s relative.

Fuck, I’d completely forgotten to ask the girls who he was.

“Mike, hi,” I thought to say, tightening the robe around my body. The dress I was planning to wear was on the bed still.

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