Sisters of Misery Read online

  Maddie had made the mistake of saying Cordelia’s name once while they walked past Potter’s Grove. Cordelia yelled at her and then sharply called out, Maddie!, allowing it to spread and echo throughout the grove. She was furious that Maddie “gave” the forest her name and said that if she were now required to return to these woods eternally, Maddie would have to join her as well.

  It’s only fair, Cordelia had said.

  But standing by herself next to Potter’s Grove and hearing the winds echoing out her name, Maddie wondered with a chill if Cordelia had been lured into these woods the night she went missing.

  Maddie trudged home, stopping at Rebecca’s Closet on the way. Tess and Maddie had urged Rebecca to shut the store down, at least until Cordelia was found. But Rebecca staunchly refused. Yet Maddie could see the energy and life fading from Rebecca as the hours turned into days and still Cordelia had not returned.

  Maddie peered in and watched Rebecca, now a gaunt shadow of the woman she once had been. Her eyes had the sunken, far-off gaze of someone numbed by great pain. The beautiful red hair that had once flowed down her back like silk was now dirty and knotted. Her arms were scratched from the thorns on the roses she endlessly arranged. They were Cordelia’s favorite flower, the Bluebird Rose—a pale lavender-blue rose with the sweetest scent. Cordelia loved that flower because Simon LeClaire had once said they were the exact color of his daughter’s hauntingly beautiful eyes.

  When she wasn’t searching for her daughter, Rebecca spent day and night creating ornate, brilliantly colored arrangements, all of them containing Bluebird Roses.

  Word spread throughout Hawthorne about the eerily beautiful floral creations borne from a grieving mother who was waiting for her daughter’s return, and crowds gathered daily at the shop window to watch the display. Rebecca hardly noticed—working with the flowers had become a form of therapy for her and replaced the rituals she had foregone since Cordelia had disappeared. Eating, drinking, sleeping, all these habits were a distant memory for Rebecca.

  With nimble fingers, she worked those flowers into magnificent constructions—grotesque, exquisite, elegant. The constant wrapping and pruning of the blossoms hardened her skin and stained her fingertips. Watching her aunt through the window, Maddie saw a woman who had lost the will to live and was only surviving through the repetition of arranging the flowers. Again, she puzzled over Cordelia’s disappearance. Surely Cordelia wouldn’t put her mother through all of this pain by choice.

  Maddie entered the store. Rebecca looked up at her niece, but it was as if she was looking right through her. “Rebecca, you need to come home,” she said slowly.

  “Home,” she said, almost a question. She repeated the word home as if she was trying to discern the meaning.

  “Y-y-yes,” Maddie said, unsure of how to treat the woman that she had idolized for months, the one who had resembled a screen goddess and now looked like an actress in a horror movie, her cheeks hollow, darkened circles beneath her glazed eyes. “Tess wanted me to make sure that you came home. We need to take care of you. It’s not doing Cordelia any good with you in this state.”

  “This state!” Rebecca screeched. “THIS STATE? This God-forsaken STATE! If only we hadn’t moved back to this state, Cordelia would be fine. We would be poor, we would be living hand to mouth in California, but we would be together and everything would be as it should be. This state, this town, this horrible place has taken her away from me. And now what do I have? Nothing! I don’t have my Simon, my Cordelia, my life! All of it is gone. All that I have left is this.” Rebecca lifted her arms and gestured to the store. “This little store, the last place that I saw my little girl. And I’m not leaving this place until she comes home.” She stared out through the darkened window and laughed a small, quiet laugh and whispered, “Home.”

  Realizing that the store was the last place that Rebecca had seen Cordelia, Maddie understood why she refused to leave. It was almost like Rebecca was trying to turn back time, go back a few pages to when Cordelia was with them, brimming with life and a bright future. Maddie wanted to return to those days as well. But all she was left with was the image of Cordelia bruised and battered out on Misery Island.

  Maddie backed out of the store into the late afternoon darkness. As the door closed behind her, Rebecca continued talking to herself. Maddie ran back to Mariner’s Way, dreading that she had to tell Tess what had happened, that Rebecca was teetering on the edge. It would only be a matter of time before she finally was sent spiraling into the abyss.

  When Rebecca hadn’t come home by midnight, Tess, Maddie, and Abigail went to the store, determined to bring Rebecca home no matter what. Abigail led the way, and Tess and Maddie tried to steel themselves for what they might find inside the shop. The windows of the tiny store had black, almost funereal curtains to block out the sunlight. When Maddie tried to push the door open, it was heavy as if something was wedged against it. Abigail and Maddie both gave the door a shove, soon realizing that an overturned bookcase was blocking the entrance.

  “Oh, my God!” Maddie said when they finally got inside.

  Shards of glass covered the floor like a glittering carpet. The old-fashioned glass counter that Rebecca had so earnestly polished in preparation for the store opening had been smashed. The remaining shards of glass that hung from the counter resembled the sharp, jagged teeth of a monster ready to consume them if they got any closer. All of the bottles and flowers and herbs and gift items had been pulled from the shelves and thrown in a heap on the floor. The store was lit by candles that had burned low, leaving huge pools of melted wax around them, and smelled of acrid smoke.

  Abigail looked unnerved, a sight that Maddie wasn’t used to seeing. “Rebecca, are you alright? Rebecca!!”

  Rebecca was nowhere to be found, and no one answered them. It looked like someone had broken into the store and trashed the place. Could it have been the same person who took Cordelia?

  Tess said quietly, “We should call the police. Let’s just go.” Maddie put an arm around her frail grandmother when she noticed that her tiny body had begun to shake visibly.

  Abigail yelled out again, “Rebecca?”

  The women heard a muffled sound, like a small child laughing…or crying.

  “Rebecca!” Abigail said quickly, horrified as she picked her way across the glass-strewn floor.

  Rebecca crouched in the corner of the store, rocking back and forth on a pile of glass and ash and flowers and debris. Her hair had become a rat’s nest, and her clothes were dingy and stained. There were blood stains on her peasant blouse, and her arms were scratched and torn and bloodied. Tess and Maddie looked at each other through their tears. Without having to say anything, they both knew that the wounds were self-inflicted.

  “Come on now.” Abigail’s voice softened a bit as she tried to pull her sister up off the ground, but Rebecca only cried out as if in pain and scuttled closer to the door.

  Tess and Abigail looked at each other helplessly, not sure what to do.

  Tess pleaded, “Rebecca, who did this? How did this happen?”

  Rebecca looked up, her eyes glazed over. When they finally pulled into focus, they landed directly on Maddie. “You,” she said softly. Then her voice got louder and more forceful. “YOU!”

  Maddie took a deep breath as she stepped backward into Tess’s steadying arms.

  “YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU!” Rebecca shrieked so loudly that it seemed that any remaining pieces of unbroken glass would soon shatter from her shrill tone. Her accusatory voice filled the entire store and burrowed into Maddie’s brain.

  Finally, Abigail took control of the situation, as she often did, and simply said, “Ravenswood.”

  Tess looked horrified. Maddie began crying openly. But they all realized that despite their best intentions, Rebecca was too far gone for any of them to help. Cordelia’s disappearance had sent Rebecca spiraling away from them, away from her own sanity.

  “Go on,” Abigail instruct
ed Maddie. “Get your grandmother out of here. She doesn’t need to be subjected to this. I’ll deal with my sister.”

  Tess and Maddie hurried out of the store. “Why was she screaming at me like that? I swear I had nothing to do with that mess in there, Grams,” Maddie pleaded with her grandmother. She wasn’t about to go into the events on Misery Island, and she wondered if somehow, Rebecca had used her gift and had seen the horrible events of that night.

  “It’s the devil in her,” Tess said quietly. “The devil is in all of us at times. Some people more than others. Some people can’t help letting him in. Rebecca was just too weak to keep him out. Others, well, they are more than happy to let him in whenever he pleases.”

  As Tess spoke of the devil, Maddie flashed to an image from Halloween night. Kate was standing before the bonfire. Her pale eyes were lit orangey red, reflecting the color of the flames, her hair lifting up and down with the coastal winds. Maddie felt a sickness in her stomach as Kate seemed to revel in Cordelia’s pain. “It was the devil in her,” Tess said again firmly. And though on the surface, Tess was talking about Rebecca, Maddie had a sinking feeling that underneath, she was talking about someone else entirely.

  “It’s for her own well-being,” Abigail said the next morning at breakfast, her expression tight-lipped. Any sympathy she may have shown for Rebecca the previous evening had turned into annoyance. “She hasn’t slept or eaten or even bathed in weeks.” Her nose wrinkled in slight disgust. “Rebecca needs help to get through this—real psychological help that we can’t give her. She’s always been an emotional basketcase. And when that spoiled brat of a daughter returns, I’ll make sure she pays for this, once and for all!”

  Tess sat at the kitchen table rocking back and forth, staring at her bird-like hands. Maddie knew that it must have been a horrible thing for a mother to experience, seeing her daughter on the brink of madness. Almost as terrible as what Rebecca was going through—having a daughter disappear into thin air. And Maddie felt responsible for all of it. Maddie was desperate to tell Tess the truth about Halloween night. Yet the words choked in the back of her throat whenever she tried. Maddie couldn’t bear to see the look of disappointment in Tess’s eyes, so instead, she remained silent.

  She tried to think of who else she could tell—the police, her mother, anyone—about what went on that night on Misery Island. But her confession to Mrs. Endicott made her realize that it wouldn’t make a difference. Cordelia was gone, and nobody really cared.

  Chapter 11

  EIHWAZ REVERSED

  THE HUNTER

  Nostalgia and Confusion, Weakness and

  Dissatisfaction

  Not long after Rebecca was sent to Ravenswood, Mr. Campbell held Maddie after class. “Now, Madeline,” Mr. Campbell said tenderly, dragging a chair over to her desk and flipping it around so he could sit on it backwards. His blue eyes were warm, friendly beneath his blond lashes. “I know that this has been a difficult time for you.” He paused and took a deep breath. “But I wouldn’t be doing my job as your teacher if I didn’t discuss this with you and how it is affecting your grades in my class.”

  Maddie tugged at the ends of her hair, nodding halfheartedly. Cordelia had been missing for weeks, and her sleepless nights were starting to show. Mr. Campbell dropped his head to his arms folded over the back of the chair, looking more like a guy her own age than her twenty-two-year-old teacher. “Looks like Maddie’s the new teacher’s pet,” Kate said. The others laughed as they pushed out the door. If Mr. Campbell heard the comment, he paid it no mind.

  “What can I do to make things easier for you? Would tutoring or, I don’t know, counseling help?”

  Maddie shook her head, staring out the window. Why is he singling me out now? she wondered. He never seemed to care this much about her before. She entertained the thought—for just a moment—that maybe he was digging to find out how much she knew about the night of Cordelia’s disappearance. Could her cousin have gone to Mr. Campbell’s house after getting off the island? Did he know about what went on that night?

  “Are you still on the field hockey team?” he asked.

  “I don’t have time,” Maddie said, not wanting to explain that she had nothing but time these days. She just didn’t want anything to do with Kate and the rest of the Sisters of Misery. Every time she looked at them, the guilt only dug its bloody claws deeper.

  “What about friends? It seems like you don’t have time for them anymore either,” he offered. “Are you going to visit your aunt a lot?”

  Maddie shrugged off the question. Since Abigail had Rebecca committed to Ravenswood, her aunt had shut the entire world out—Maddie especially. It was as if she were frozen in time, Sleeping Beauty locked up in her castle, surrounded by thorns and bracken, waiting for Cordelia to return and break the trance. She was so far gone that Maddie wondered if she even recognized herself in the mirror. But Mr. Campbell didn’t need to know that.

  After the breakdown in the shop, Maddie couldn’t face her beloved aunt. Her nights were haunted by Rebecca’s accusatory shrieks—YOU, YOU, YOU! Maddie didn’t have the strength to face her, not until she found Cordelia and made things right again.

  Seeing that he was getting nowhere, Mr. Campbell tried another tactic. “I think that you are taking on an awful lot for a girl your age. I know it’s hard, but you should let the police do their job of getting Cordelia back, let your aunt recover from all this craziness, and you just worry about taking care of yourself.” He patted her gently on the back and moved his hand up to give her shoulders a squeeze. Ticklish tingles traveled up from Maddie’s shoulders, along her neck, up to the base of her hairline. His hands were like magic.

  “My age?” Maddie laughed, realizing the irony of his comment. Girls her age were responsible for this mess. Girls her age were capable of unspeakable things. “You’re not that much older than me—or Cordelia, for that matter. You have no idea—” She stopped herself, afraid that she would say something that she’d regret. Something that Kate would make her regret. She dropped her face into her hands. “I just feel like I should be doing something. Something more. Like it’s my responsibility to find her.”

  “Your job is to get good grades, and right now, you’re averaging a D in my class. It’s my job to step in when there’s a reason for concern.” He paused. “Should I be concerned, Maddie?” She trembled. What exactly was he asking her? Was he asking her what she knew, what Cordelia may have told her in confidence?

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Campbell,” Maddie said. “I’ll try harder. I really will.” She yearned to tell him more, tell him about what happened on Halloween night, but from the rumors that were swirling around about his alleged affair with Cordelia, he was the last person she should trust.

  His face was close to hers, his blue eyes searching. When the silence between them became too awkward to bear, Maddie blurted out, “You’re Cordelia’s favorite teacher. Did she…say anything…to you?”

  “I wish she had come to me, if she needed help,” he said, sighing. He shook his head and looked down, a sad smile spread over his face. “She was really something special.”

  “She still is special! I don’t know why everyone keeps referring to her in the past tense!” Maddie insisted.

  “I’m sorry, Maddie. I never meant to say—to suggest…Well, you’re right. If she’s found, it will be a great relief to all of us…”

  “When she’s found,” Maddie whispered, lowering her eyes to the floor.

  He reached out and covered her slender hands with his. Maddie noticed the blond hair moving as the sinewy muscles in his hands tightened around her own. “Yes, when she’s found.”

  He swung his head downward; they were sitting so close that the tips of his soft blond hair gently brushed past her cheek. It smelled like a combination of woods and sand, just how she always imagined it would.

  Maddie wanted to tell him that she knew he wasn’t involved in Cordelia’s disappearance and that if there was a way Maddie could set t
hings straight with the people in town, she would. Maddie wanted to express something, but every word she tried to say got stuck somewhere down in the base of her throat. With the town’s rising suspicions regarding his involvement with her cousin, Maddie could see the visible effects of the toll it was taking on him. His eyes were rimmed red, and the circles under them were deep.

  A noise made them both look up. Trevor Campbell stood in the doorway with an odd accusatory look on his face. Mr. Campbell’s face darkened. He met his brother’s gaze and shook his head subtly. Trevor paused for a moment before walking away. Once he was gone, Mr. Campbell smiled, his watery blue eyes crinkling at the corners, and he clapped heartily as if a weight had been lifted. “Good. I’m glad we had this little talk.”

  But before she left the classroom, Maddie was struck suddenly by the look on Trevor’s face. “Mr. Campbell,” she asked quietly, “has Trevor said anything about Cordelia?”

  Mr. Campbell’s smile froze on his face for a moment as he seemed to carefully choose his response. “Not really. I mean, he’s upset by her disappearance. We all are,” he paused. “Why do you ask?”

  “No reason,” she replied, suddenly overcome with the feeling that Trevor seemed unusually pleased that Cordelia wasn’t around—almost as happy as Kate. “See you in class tomorrow.”

  She left Reed Campbell staring after her, his eyes narrowed and head cocked to the side.

  As Maddie lingered on the edge of sleep, her mind drifted to a conversation she had with her grandmother years before Cordelia and Rebecca came to town. It was the first time that she had ever suspected Tess had a “gift.” That night, the winds rattled the old window panes, and Maddie gathered her grandmother into a long hug, “I’m never going to leave you,” Maddie said, deeply inhaling the comforting scent of rose and gardenia. Tess swatted her granddaughter away playfully, accusing her of trying to get a peek at her well-worn Gypsy Witch cards during their game of gin rummy.