Silver Stilettos

22 | lights will guide you home

Caroline cast her pale blue eyes toward the door, and Reed, for some reason, began to move toward it, head down like a cowed dog. The frantic energy had ebbed away from him and there was only dejection in the curve of his neck.

"Reed," I said, voice small, almost timid.

Anger flashed across Caroline's face, so swift and intense that she looked ghoulish. "We're just chatting here," she said, lips forming a sullen pout. She breezed into the room, the loose nightgown trailing behind her. She reclined on the bed, arching her matchstick body like she was posing. "Come, sit with me." She patted the space next to her. I saw her blunt nails, shorn well past her fingertip.

Noticing my gaze, Caroline pressed her lips into a thin line. "Mother says nails are a privilege."

The door swung shut, and as the latch clicked into place, a shiver went down my spine. Caroline Norcross appeared like a broken bird, fragile and wispy, but there a calculating gleam in her eye and a hardness to the set of her mouth. She was no delicate flower, no, there was a hint of overt malice in the way she looked at me. Almost like she wanted to devour me whole, bones and all.

She was younger than me, and judging by the bones protruding from her skin, at least twenty pounds lighter too. And yet I was afraid of her. It was a chilling observation and I fought to keep my face steady, betraying none of my inner turmoil.

"You're good," she said. "I almost believed it." When I didn't immediately ask her to elaborate—I figured keeping my mouth shut and letting her fill the silence would be the smartest option—she made a tsking noise and wagged one finger in the air. "I said almost." Caroline smirked. "But then you said my brother's name, and, well, that rather gave it all away, didn't it?"

Swallowing, I asked, "What do you mean?"

She laughed. The sound was brittle. "You looked to him for support. But he's not capable of that." She raked her skeletal fingers over Reed's blankets. "When you said his name. That's when I knew." What could have been a glimmer of a smile ghosted over her face. "That's when I knew you weren't as brave as you looked."

"Oh, so you're aware you're totally channeling a Silent Hill vibe right now?" I didn't know where I got the courage to snark right back at her, but seeing the anger on her face made it all worth it.

"It's about time we talked," she said, enunciating each word in short bites. "Girl to girl." Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "Sit."

I remained standing. The way she was clawing at Reed's bed, I had the hideous vision of her attempting to do the same thing to my eyes.

"Are you friends with her?" She cocked her head to the side.

I didn't bother playing dumb. She meant Dominika. "No," I answered honestly. "I barely know her. But she does seem to care a lot about you."

"She cares about Reed," Caroline corrected me with a scowl.

I shrugged. "Either way, she seemed to think you were a prisoner in this house."

Caroline released an amused laugh, but like the rest of her, it was harsh and grating. "When Mother is around, I am. But she's gone to meet her husband in Europe and has left Reed in charge of me with the strictest of instructions." She leaned forward, eyelashes fluttering. "Namely, keeping me under lock and key, out of sight."

"What about school?" Granted, my parents didn't have the strongest regard for the public education system, but they'd never pull me out of school unless they had a damn good reason.