Page 56 of Switching Graves

Jonah scoffs. “And out of her mind.”

Ignoring him, Matilda keeps her attention fixed on Ava, eyes squinting. “Warning against what, exactly?”

“Dr. Whitlock.”

Her face flickers with understanding as she sets down the hot mug to pace across the room, toward a bookshelf.

“Of course.” Wiggling her fingers in the air, she mocks, “The cursed family.”

“Why are they cursed?” Ava prods. Beatrix has stopped her rifling to listen, and I can tell she hangs onto every word that Matilda speaks.

The woman thinks for a moment, clicking her tongue when she finally finds the book she was searching for and pulls it off the shelf. Turning back to fully face us, she holds up the cover to reveal The Odyssey.

“Have you read it?”

We all nod. “In high school,” Ava confirms.

“Then, you know the story with Helios.” As she speaks the name, her eyes flick over toward me knowingly, lingering long enough to confirm my fears.

Helios: Greek god of thesun.

And with that tiny, subtle message, I know, without a shadow of a doubt, thatsheknows. She knows I’m not Poppy. She knows my real name is Sonny. She knows who my mother is. She knows everything.

Somehow, she knows.

Even though we confirm we’ve read it, she goes on to tell the story, anyway. “Despite his warnings and against his better judgment, Odysseus’ crew stops at the island Thrinakia for a bit of a breather and they get stuck. During their unexpectedly long stay there, they find Helios’ precious herd of cattle. They had originally promised not to touch the herd, but the days were growing long as they waited out a storm that Poseidon was punishing them with, and they were eventually influenced to slaughter and eat them. Helios was furious. He insisted that Zeus punish the crew for what they had done, and Zeus complied. When the ship finally departed the shores of Thrinakia, it was hit with a thunderbolt of Zeus’s lightning, killing everyone but Odysseus.”

She looks between the four of us with a tight smile, noting the confusion on our faces, then continues. “There’s unrestwithin Nocturne Valley. The worker bees are growing tired. They no longer want to blindly comply with whatever scraps they’re thrown to survive. To be punished for following the rules while the leaders gorge themselves on the cattle without a single repercussion.”

“What does that have to do with Whitlock being cursed?” Jonah asks.

“Every story needs its villain. The Whitlocks have taken on that role for over one hundred years for the sake of protecting the innocent.”

“I’m not following,” Beatrix admits.

Neither am I.

Matilda looks back toward me, her smile turning sad. “He’s a distraction . . . a sacrifice, if we’re being honest. We’re waiting on our Helios to beg Zeus to punish them. For the thunderbolt to strike down the greedy and reward those who have staved off their appetites. Only the innocent will survive. They just don’t know it yet.”

Silence.

None of us know how to respond or wrap our minds around what she’s saying—especially me. With her reference to Helios and his relation to me, it seems like she’s suggestingI’llbe the one to start whatever anarchy she’s talking about.

But I don’t have the slightest clue how that could be.

Holding her palms out in front of her, she shakes her head and laughs. “I’m getting ahead of myself. It’s just hard to stay quiet sometimes.”

Mercifully, she drops the subject and we each stay quiet the rest of the visit. Beatrix finds a tarot deck shortly after, and we quickly get out of there the moment she pays, just like we did at the dress shop.

“What the hell is in the water here?” Jonah laughs as we break into a jog and cross the street. We each agreed not to makeany more stops, which I’m grateful for because I don’t think I can carry this dress around much longer without ruining it.

He was right. Somehow, we wasted two whole hours in that shop, even though it felt like we were only there for a few minutes.

“It definitely seems like Nocturne Valley is having some technical difficulties,” Ava agrees, twisting her lips to the side.

Jonah casts a glance over at me. “Why was she looking at you so weird?”

Shaking my head, I sigh. “No idea. I’m ready to hide out in my dorm for the next six months.”

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