Page 64 of See How They Hide

She was staring at the dirt. Riley turned and it took a minute, but then she realized what her grandmother had been doing.

She’d pulled up flowers and dug a hole. In the hole was a stick. No...not a stick. It was a bone. Two. Three. It looked like a hand. But it couldn’t be a hand. It had to be an animal.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, Riley, I am a fool. We need to leave. Do not tell anyone—notanyone—what you have seen or where we went.”

Riley didn’t sleep well that night. She wanted to talk to her grandmother and find out what made her sad and why she was keeping secrets.

It was still dark when Riley finally got out of bed. She didn’t know what time it was, but the homes across the valley were quiet. Though late spring, it was cold at night, and Riley slipped into her warm boots and pulled her heavy coat around her pajamas.

She knew which stairs creaked and avoided them without thought. Her house was quiet and warm, the embers in the potbellied stove still smoldering. She would go to her grandmother’s cottage—it wasn’t far, and she wasn’t scared of the dark. Besides, each house had a light in the window, and each path was marked with lights. They were like tiny stars on earth, guiding her.

She stopped when she saw that there were more lights on in her grandmother’s small house than there should be. And voices. They weren’t shouting but they were angry.

Curious, but cautious, Riley walked along the trees to avoid being seen as she neared the house. She couldn’t see through the curtains, but as she stood under her grandmother’s window, she heard her voice.

“I’m leaving. You can’t talk me out of it.”

“Theywilllisten to you, Mom!”

It was Aunt Thalia.

“Not anymore, darling girl. Your sister has turned enough souls to her. I just want to go. William tried to tell me...but I was more in love with my dream than I was with your father.”

“I will stand with you. I won’t let you face Calliope alone.”

“It’s not just Calliope. It’s Calliope’s partners. And others. Too many to fight, and I’m old and tired.”

“We can’t let her get away with murder.”

Riley gasped, then covered her mouth.

“I’ll walk away at the fair. No need to make a scene.”

“Mother—you’re not the only one who feels uncomfortable with the fact that we haven’t heard from people. If everyone knows that Calliope has killed ourfamily—they won’t stand with her. We can banish Calliope and anyone who helped her. I think we have enough people to do the right thing.”

“But do you have violence in your heart? Would you kill another human being? Because they will take a life. They have done it before, it’s easy for them.”

“I have Robert on my side.”

Father?Riley didn’t understand everything they were talking about, but her daddy Robert had been as quiet and distant as her grandma the last few months.

“He has control over the money,” Aunt Thalia said. “We take control and tell everyone what you found, and she’ll leave. She’s weak.”

“Do not underestimate your sister. She will never leave Havenwood. She never has.”

“Myhalfsister. If what you tell me is true, I will prove that she killed my father and all the others we thought left Havenwood.”

“The field of poppies is littered with their souls.”

“Mother, think on it. Everyone here respects you. Everyone, even the people Calliope thinks are on her side, they love and respect you more than anyone else.”

“I’m tired, Thalia. So very tired.”

A hand clamped down on Riley’s mouth and held her tight.

“Naughty little girls eavesdrop.”

---