somewhere only we know || grayson hawthorne x oc

chapter fifteen (avery)

The five of them had gone to Izzy's room. Avery hadn't wanted to be left alone again, and no one objected. Inside, Izzy was sat on a windowsill in her library/living room. She had a book in hand, some sort of bottle in the other. Alcohol. But she didn't seem intoxicated at all. Instead, she almost seemed ready for this conversation.

"I'm surprised this didn't happen earlier, but you know, I'm not complaining." She shut her book, put down the bottle, and turned so that her legs weren't propped up anymore. Her arms were on either side of her legs, bent as if ready to spring off at any moment.

"We need your help." Jameson's expression was unreadable, just like the others'.

"Oh, Jamie, where are your manners? What's the magic word?" She was playing with him, and she was enjoying it.

"Isabel, please." Something told Avery that Grayson didn't use the word often, causing the questions that had been nagging at her for the better part of a fortnight to reemerge.

She's definitely not a stranger. This was the final piece of the puzzle that solidified her suspicions.

Avery phrased her question differently to as she had done previously. "How do you know the Hawthornes?" The question came out quieter than she would have liked.

"She hasn't worked it out yet? Seriously?" Izzy directed her questions at the brothers, as if Avery wasn't in the room.

"We need you to come with us, Izzy." It was Xander who was pleading with her now, but this only seemed to make her more resistant.

"Why?"

"There's a door that only you can open. It's the last piece of the puzzle," Xander explained.

"No. I mean, why? Why bring me back here? Why make me the last piece of the puzzle, the last thing all of you need for answers? He didn't give me the riddle, so why do I need to be involved?" She knows about the boys' letters. No one could answer her questions, because no one was Tobias Hawthorne. And they were perfectly valid, ones which were already tugging on Avery's mind.

"If you didn't get the riddle, what did your letter say?" Jameson's eyes narrowed slightly.

"I burned it." She shrugged with her arms crossed, unmoving from her perch.

"Izzy, what did it say?" Nash stepped towards her, warmth underlying his voice.

She looked down, shaking her head. "Dear Izzy, I regret nothing. Tobias Hawthorne." She looked up at them, not letting any emotion whatsoever cross her features. "It tracks, I guess. Straight to the point. No fancy wording or anything."

The others looked down. Suddenly, something flashed across Izzy's face. She sighed dramatically. "Fine, I'll come with you. No harm, I suppose. But then you leave me alone, understand?"

She pushed herself off the windowsill, not waiting for a reply, leaving them all behind her in utter surprise.