Page 53 of Nineteen Eighty

He’s the only kid they’re gonna have. And he’s important.

I don’t understand, Lizzy. How?

I don’t know, but he’s… uh, well, he’s got an ability, it seems. I couldn’t see it all. I saw him with Amelia in a gazebo, at The Gardens, but not these Gardens, if that makes sense. No, no, I know it doesn’t, but I know it’s important. I know you need to help Oz if his parents won’t.

She’d meant what she’d said, about not changing Oz. She would’ve given the same advice to anyone she cared about, no matter the circumstance.

But now she understood Elizabeth’s words better.

She understood them well enough to know trying to squelch Oz’s ability was bigger than two parents having bad dreams.

Amelia was an empath, and one day, she’d become imperiled because of that.

And one day, Oz would save her.

CHAPTER 15

Never Going Back Again

Olivia was over at Augustus’ when Maureen got the package. Alain was sleeping. He was a good sleeper, and by the time she finished reading the contents, she was grateful for the solitude.

The package had no return address, but the postmark was local. There was a card on thick gold-leaf stock, embossed with an “LV.” There was also something else, but she couldn’t think about that just yet.

We thank your brother for taking out our trash, so we didn’t have to.

Unsigned. Only the “LV” there to provide indication of the origin.

Trembling, she set the card aside and reached for the plastic bag. The growing dread turned her stomach over. She didn’t understand, yet, but a part of her was beginning to piece this together.

Maureen screamed when she withdrew a scarf, covered in dried blood. She scrambled back and away from the cursed present, almost flipping over the back of the couch. The flecks of silver woven through red and green, but there was never so much red before. Never so much…

She knew that scarf. Jesus God, she knew that scarf.

We thank your brother for taking out the trash, so we didn’t have to.

“No, no, no, no,” Maureen whined, crab-walking herself into the corner, where she curled up, folding further into herself. “Charles, no. Noooooooo!”

Edouard entered the room. “Maureen. What is it? What’s going on?”

“He killed him! Charles killed him!”

“Charles… I’m sorry. I don’t understand.” He helplessly paced before her, disturbed by her state, but unfocused. “What did Charles do?”

“You don’t know what he’s capable of,” Maureen sobbed. “What he’s done, for years!”

But Edouard did know, to some extent. They wouldn’t be having this conversation if Charles wasn’t capable of changing lives. Maureen looked up at him. “He killed Soren, Ed. That’s what he did. He killed my Soren, and he did it to hurt me, and this is… this is the last time.” Maureen choked on her tears. She pointed at the couch. At the card… and the scarf. “See for yourself!”

Edouard wandered toward the evidence in a daze. He read the card, turning it over, and then reached for the scarf… then recoiled, jumping back. “Jesus Christ.”

“No, just my brother, playing God.” Maureen rolled her head back and howled.

“LV? Who is LV?”

“LaViolette! Don’t you understand? Don’t you get it? Soren was an outcast! A black sheep! They’re not mad at Charles, they’re thrilled he did what they didn’t have to!”

“But why…” Edouard wasn’t getting it, but he was trying. “Maureen, why? Why would he, as you suggest, kill Soren? And why would his family ever be okay with that?”

Maureen slid herself up the wall until she was standing. “You think you know Charles, because he bullied you into marrying me? Well, you don’t. You don’t know what he’s done. You wanna know why he did it? Why he does it? Because he can, Edouard. Because he can! Because he’s past the point of having justified reasons to protect his family, so he’s concocting them from thin air!”

---