Page 104 of The Manor of Dreams

DAY 7 IN THE HOUSE

NORAfaced her mother in her room.

“I told youone thing,” her mother said. “To not speak to their family.”

Two, actually. The second rule was to never go into the garden. She’d broken that one, too. But at this point, what did it matter?

Ma pointed to her shattered phone. “Look at what they did. Lucille would have thrown us over the railing if she could. And look at what she did toyou.” She touched the scratch on Nora’s cheek. “I’ll make sure they leave tomorrow if I have to drag them out of there.”

“I’m still going.”

“No.You’re staying with me. I know this has been difficult. But once we’re free of that entire rotten family we can finally make this house into our home.”

It scared her how much Ma had changed her tune. Now she was going to force Nora to stay?

“I told you,” Nora insisted. “I’mnot staying.”

Ma skewered her with a withering look. “It’s not because of that girl, is it?”

“What? I—”

“Are you still not listening to me? The rest of my family loved them.Worshipped them.My sister fell in love with Ada, and looked what happened to her.”

Nora’s stomach churned. “Sophie died because of Vivian,” she said slowly. “Ada didn’t do a thing to her.”

“It’s all the same. That family protects itself. If you love any of them, they’ll destroy you.” Her mother’s eyes widened. “Don’t you see what happened before?”

We inherit their history, Madeline had said, and now Nora’s heart stuttered.Whether they know it or not.“I didn’t know what happened before,” she said, “because you didn’t tell me.”

“I was protecting you! Who was the first to talk? You or her?”

Nora swallowed. “She was.”

“You should have told methat very moment.”

“And you should have told meeverything!” Nora burst out. “You’re my mother. But it’s like I don’t know you at all. I didn’t know you came here to see Vivian. I didn’t even know you had asister.” She whispered, “Why didn’t you tell me about—Sophie?”

Her mother’s expression went slack. Her hands fell to her sides. “Because it would have killed me to.”

Nora sat on the bed opposite her. Her mother seemed to shrink. Her expression was hollow. The strange, ferocious figure from the past few days regressed back to a childlike self in front of Nora’s eyes.

“Stay with me,” Ma pleaded. She reached out and clasped Nora’s hand with tears in her eyes. “I can’t lose you too.”

“Then tell me,” Nora said. She moved to kneel on the floor in front of her mother. “What happened the day you saw Vivian Yin?”

“Do you actually think I did it?”

Nora steeled herself. “I’m asking you.”

Ma put her face in her hands. “After Sophie’s funeral, I tried to put all of this behind me. I couldn’t live with myself—that I had left home, hadn’t stayed in touch enough to know what was going on and protect her. No one in my family could. We left the house so we wouldn’t have to be constantly reminded. It was—” Her mother’s fists clenched. “An accident. That’s all we knew. I couldn’t drive for years after that, because every time I would think of my sister and panic. Your grandparents had their own nervous breakdowns.” Her eyes found Nora’s now. “But Ialways thought that Vivian had something to do with my sister’s death. I just had a feeling.”

“So you knew that she was poisoned?” The horror of it cast a chill over Nora.

“I’d suspected,” her mother said. “I found dried flowers in her nightstand drawer and didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until years later, thinking back, that I realized I didn’t recognize them and had never seen them in the garden, so I looked up what they were. When I saw they were poisonous, I couldn’t figure out why she would have them. Neither her nor Bà would have planted them, knowing what they were, so I started putting it together. I told Ma that maybe it had something to do with the garden. I brought it up to Bà, and he didn’t believe it. Said he never saw the flowers. Even after all that happened, he still refused to think ill of Vivian. So I buried it. For years.” Her expression hardened. “Until Vivian found my number and called me.”

Nora nodded. “And you got the truth from her. You were right.”

“And it was even worse hearing it. But I needed to hear Vivian say it. I needed her to admit that she was responsible for my sister’s death.”

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