Page 48 of The Women of Wild Hill
“You’re aware that my mother drank poison?”
Sibyl hesitated. “Mmm-hmm.” She was scared to say yes. “She told me. It was the same one.”
It was all too much for Brigid’s mind to absorb. “What the fuck, Sibyl. You spoke to my mother?” She knew she sounded angry. But she wasn’t. Or was she? For her, hurt and anger had always come as a pair. At this point it was almost impossible to tell them apart.
Sibyl took a step back, but it was too late. She’d already detonated the land mine. “I did.”
It took a superhuman show of willpower, but Brigid briefly wrestled her emotions back under control. “Did she tell youwhyshe killed herself?”
“No,” Sibyl said. “She’s waiting until you and Mom are both here.”
“She’swaiting, is she? You sure she’s not going to take another thirty years?”
Sibyl wisely didn’t respond.
All this time, Brigid fumed. All this time, Flora could have come to her in a dream. But she hadn’t. Because she waswaiting. Until the moment was right forher.
Brigid emptied her glass in a single gulp. “I haven’t been back toWild Hill since I was seventeen,” she told her niece. “Do you know why?”
Sibyl silently shook her head.
“Because I was brought up believing that our family had a mission and Wild Hill was part of it. I did everything that was asked of me, and in return this fucking place took away everything I loved. My mother, my sister, my family. I got sent to live with a couple of assholes who hated my guts. Now my house has burned down, and I’ve been dragged back to the Island because the Old One has plans for me and for you and your mom, too. Do you have any idea what’s going to be asked of us?” Brigid waited. “Do you?”
“No.”
“We’re going to have to kill people.”
The revelation didn’t seem to faze her niece. “Who?” Sibyl asked.
“What the fuck, Sibyl. I tell you we’re supposed to kill people and all you want to know iswho?”
“Well, it kinda makes a difference, don’t you think? Do you know who we’ll have to kill?”
“No,” Brigid admitted. “But I have a sneaking suspicion Calum fucking Geddes is involved somehow.”
Sibyl looked confused. Brigid had finally hit on the one thing her niece didn’t know. “Calum Geddes? The AMN guy? The one who just died? What does he have to do with any of this?”
Brigid pointed at the piece of yellow caution tape that Sibyl had left on the table. “He was here when they found the bodies.” She grabbed her bottle. “I’m sorry, but I can’t bear to be in this house right now. We can catch up more in the morning.”
Brigid stomped back outside to confront the ancestors.You bitches, she cursed them silently as she paced back and forth across their graves.You hid your secrets from me, then shared them with a girl you’d never even met before. And you. She focused on Flora.Youabandoned me. Do you have any idea how much that fucking hurt? Did you know you were leaving me with a couple of monsters? Would you have still chugged that poison if you’d known?
WHEN BRIGID WAS FIVE YEARSold, Flora sat her down and informed the kindergartner that her father was Simon Laguerre, a movie producer with whom she’d had a weekend-long affair. What her mother failed to mention was that the affair had taken place only a few months after Simon married his wife, Sienna. Flora was far from Simon’s only dalliance, but a vasectomy had ensured that Brigid would be his only child.
When he heard that Flora had taken her life, Simon hopped on a plane to New York, thanking the heavens for his good fortune. Simon’s latest film had recently flopped and his finances had taken a dive. One of the few things he knew about his ex-fling was that she was loaded, and he was father to one of her underage heirs. A few days later, when he discovered that Brigid’s mother had placed all assets in an untouchable trust, he quickly lost interest in his only daughter.
By then the two of them were back in Los Angeles, where Brigid found herself in the custody of Sienna Laguerre. Brigid had always been led to believe that women could be trusted. She quickly learned there were notable exceptions to that particular rule. In the seventeen years since her husband’s love child was born, Sienna’s rage had been ripening. Now, here was the living proof of Simon’s betrayal—a girl who bore a remarkable resemblance to Flora. A decent human being wouldn’t have punished a lonely, grief-stricken teenager for her mother’s sins. Sienna wasn’t decent. By the end of their time together, Brigid wasn’t even convinced she was human. Her carefully crafted face resembled that of a Disney princess, but behind the disguise was a demon from hell.
Brigid spent nine months with her father and stepmother. To a seventeen-year-old girl, that felt like eternity. Every day, Sienna belittled and berated her. She wouldn’t give Brigid spending money—and denied her any opportunity to support herself. The kitchen staff often slipped Brigid food when her stepmother refused to let the girl join her parents for meals. And yet Brigid would have rather starved than call on the Old One for help.
In the past, whenever Brigid needed solace, she could usually find it outside. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much nature on the grounds of the Laguerre mansion. Simon and Sienna liked their hedges sculpted, their grass cut into a checkerboard grid, and their flamboyant flowers genetically modified. But there was a lovely old crepe myrtle near the pool, and that’s where Brigid would go to sit and listen to the rustling of leaves and the lapping of waves against concrete walls.
Sienna discovered her there one afternoon, wearing a black bikini and shades large enough to hide her tear-swollen eyes. The pool maintenance men had just finished testing the chlorine and removing leaves from the filters. If they’d noticed Brigid beneath the tree, neither of them had shown it. They went about their business quickly and efficiently, like professionals with a dozen pools to clean.
“Showing off for the help?”
Brigid had heard the click of her stepmother’s heels across the patio. She’d stayed still and kept her eyes closed, hoping if she played dead the beast would move on.
“Ahem.” Sienna cleared her throat when she didn’t get a response. “I told you that if I caught you whoring around, I’d kick your ass out of my house.”
