Sisters of Misery

by Megan Kelley Hall

  “Reed, wait,” Maddie said quickly. As he turned, she reached up and kissed him gently. She pulled back for a moment and looked into his eyes, and when he didn’t move away, she kissed him again passionately.

  He gently pushed her back, trying to restrain his surging emotions. “I will wait for you. I can promise you that.” He smiled down at her. “Be good.”

  Reed turned and walked out the door. He stopped at the end of the pathway and turned back to smile and wave at Maddie. She smiled and closed the door, breathless and lost in the incredible feeling of kissing Reed Campbell one last time.

  Just as she was taking one last run through the house to make sure she had everything, Maddie heard something scurry up above her head. She crept up the staircase, hesitating on the first landing, and then continued up to the third level of the house, taking care not to interrupt her mother’s nap. Tess’s door was shut tightly. Maddie didn’t remember closing the door earlier when she’d made a final sweep of all the rooms. As she turned the handle of the door, Tess’s faint voice echoed in her ears.

  She likes the window open. The girl in the basement is gonna be so sad when we leave her. Why does she cry all night long?

  Maddie pressed forward into the room and was met with a rush of cold air. The window overlooking the ocean was open, lace curtains snapping and flaring in the breeze. She strode across the room and tugged the window shut.

  The taxi wasn’t scheduled to pick her up for another few hours. Maddie collapsed onto Tess’s bed and stared out at the ocean as her grandmother had day after day, night after night. Maddie felt so close to her, the scent of her Tea Rose perfume still lingering, as if her grandmother were standing above her, her frail hand lowering to smooth her hair back. Maddie tried to recall one of the last coherent conversations she’d had with her grandmother before she fell victim to dementia. They were sitting downstairs, and Tess had been telling her again that she’d been dreaming of stones.

  Stones, Maddie thought, her eyes drifting closed. Soon, Maddie had that sinking, almost falling sensation as she drifted into sleep, only to be pulled quickly upward as if yanked by an unseen force. She looked around to see what had interrupted her midday nap and then sank back into fitful sleep.

  The rock hit her squarely on the forehead. Maddie stumbled backwards in shock and felt herself fall into the soft sand. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw a figure standing above her, holding a large jagged rock. It was Kate Endicott.

  “I hope you weren’t planning on leaving us,” Kate snapped. “The fun is just starting. Come on!” She yanked Maddie to a standing position. They made their way back to the bonfire, Kate dragging Maddie with one hand and a large bucket of water in the other. Maddie saw Cordelia’s lanky shape through the flames, which appeared to lap at her arms and legs.

  “Girls, now that Cordelia has appeased the elements, it is time for us to do the same,” Kate ordered.

  Maddie looked at the other girls quizzically. This had never been part of the ceremony. Were they all going to spend the night on the island?

  Kate walked over to Darcy and placed the bucket of ocean water in front of her. “You are Water.” Kate reached down into the bucket, and Darcy cringed, bracing herself for whatever Kate had planned. With a soaked hand, she anointed Darcy as if with holy water.

  “Hannah, you are Air.” Kate whispered something into Hannah’s ear. She looked at Kate and nodded.

  “Bridget, you are Fire.” She whispered something to Bridget and handed her a long, slender piece of driftwood.

  “And Maddie, you are Earth.” She walked over to Maddie with a large, sharp stone. Maddie shook when she saw the stone, preparing herself for another blow, but relaxed when Kate simply slipped it into her hand.

  Behind the flames, Cordelia’s eyes grew wide.

  Kate smiled. “Let the second part of our Sisterhood ceremony begin.”

  She yelled out, “AIR!”

  Hannah quickly tore Cordelia’s jacket off her, leaving her exposed to the elements with just a thin peasant blouse on, and threw it high up into the air so that it was carried off into the night by the gusty island wind.

  Kate then yelled, “FIRE and WATER!”

  Bridget set her stick into the bonfire in front of Cordelia until it caught and then raised it in front of Cordelia’s face. Cordelia shook in horror and started screaming. Darcy hoisted up the bucket of water and stood next to Bridget. Maddie watched, confused, but couldn’t make herself move from the spot. It was happening so quickly and methodically, it seemed almost choreographed.

  Bridget brought the flame closer and closer to Cordelia, and suddenly, the blouse and part of her hair caught on fire. She began shrieking and crying, but before the flames licked her skin, Darcy doused them with the bucket of water.

  Maddie watched helplessly as Cordelia shivered uncontrollably from fear as much as the frigid water and whipping winds. Then suddenly, it was her turn.

  “Earth!” Kate shouted. Maddie looked down at her hand and realized that she’d been gripping the heavy stone so hard that it had almost pierced the skin.

  Everyone looked at Maddie expectantly. In a moment of pure disgust and horror, Maddie realized what Kate wanted her to do. She was supposed to hurl the stone at Cordelia.

  “NO!” she shouted, backing away from them, crying. “No no no no no no.”

  Kate flew over to her side. “Maddie, the ceremony won’t end until you finish it.”

  “I won’t,” Maddie cried. “I can’t!”

  “Maddie, you can do this the easy way or the hard way. Don’t be a coward! Why are you protecting her? You know you hate her just as much as we do, or else you wouldn’t be here. Do it! NOW! DO WHAT THOU WILT!” She spat her hot words into Maddie’s face, their breath mixing in the cold darkness. “If you don’t do it, you are gone, you are nothing. You and your pathetic mother will have no place in Hawthorne.”

  Maddie looked at Kate. Her pale blue eyes appeared almost red, demonic in the reflection of the fire as she waited for Maddie to respond.

  “Then I guess we’ll just have to let Cordelia go. I know that Mr. Campbell is probably expecting her. Tell me, it must be hard to have such a beautiful cousin, such a perfectly beautiful face. Flawless, really. You know, if she stays here, you’ll start being referred to as ‘the ugly one.’ That will be hard for you, won’t it?”

  Maddie looked past Kate at Cordelia. Despite the brutal night, she still looked beautiful, haunted. Rage pulsed through Maddie, though she wasn’t sure where to direct it.

  “Maddie,” Kate hissed. “You do know that we can start this entire night over and you can be the guest of honor. All I have to do is say the word, and you can take your cousin’s place. Is that what you want?” Maddie continued to avoid her gaze, then Kate suddenly lowered her voice to a growl. “Cordelia even suggested it to me on our way out here. She knew that she was the one who was going to end up on the island, and she practically begged me to pick you. ‘Pick Maddie,’ she said. ‘She doesn’t even like you girls. And she hates you especially, Kate.’ Now, is that the type of slut that you are willing to sacrifice everything for?”

  Maddie walked toward Cordelia. Her cousin’s eyes widened in confusion and fear. She would throw the stone at her cousin, and that would be the end of it. She knew Kate was lying, but she just wanted all of it to be over. To put the night behind them. Cordelia would be a part of the Sisters of Misery, and they would go on like none of this had ever happened.

  Maddie looked at Cordelia’s shoulder and knew if she aimed it there, it wouldn’t hurt as much, even though she knew that Kate wanted her to hit Cordelia squarely in the face. Maddie drew back her arm and threw the rock at Cordelia’s shoulder as hard as she could. But as soon as the stone left her hand, Maddie could see—almost in slow motion—Cordelia cringe and turn her head in the direction of the stone. Before Maddie could yell out for her to move, it smashed into Cordelia’s forehead, and she slumped forward, blood flowing from the gash.


  Kate yelled in mock surprise. “What the hell did you do, Maddie?”

  Maddie backed up as the other girls looked at her with a mixture of awe and disgust.

  “I did what you told me to do, Kate! You…you…I didn’t…I only…you—you said,” Maddie stammered incoherently.

  Cordelia was bleeding heavily, and Darcy went over and put a towel over the angry gash on her forehead.

  Kate said to the other girls, “I never said anything like that. God, Maddie, you really do have issues.”

  She turned, afraid of what she did, afraid of what she was capable of, afraid that she had killed her own cousin. And then the night swallowed her up into its blackness. Maddie screamed loud, louder than the pounding surf, “NO!”

  “No!!!” Waking suddenly, Maddie looked around, trying to get her bearings, desperately trying to catch her breath. Had all of this really happened? Maddie was the one who betrayed Cordelia? She was worse than everyone else because she was Cordelia’s sister. Lying there for a few moments, Maddie knew it wasn’t only a dream. Tears streamed down the sides of her face as the weight of what really happened that night finally hit her. Abigail hadn’t been responsible for the gash on Cordelia’s head. It was Maddie’s doing. Even if Cordelia hadn’t been told the truth about her real father, Maddie knew deep down that Cordelia would never return to Hawthorne, to a family that betrayed her at every turn. That is why Maddie had to find Cordelia on her own, and bring back her sister.

  They had each hurt Cordelia in their own way—Abigail, with words; Rebecca, with lies; and Madeline, with jealousy and fear. Tess’s dreams of stones were true after all, and Maddie prayed that Tess never knew the horrible truth behind them, that she never connected her dreams with what happened out on Misery Island.

  All of the pieces of the puzzle had finally come together. It was time for her to leave Hawthorne—only this time, it would be for good. It was, as they say in fairy tales, the end.

  Epilogue

  “Crane, you’ve got mail,” the RA said, knocking at Maddie’s door, and slipped the letters underneath. She’d been sitting and staring at the blank screen of her computer. It blinked back at her, taunting, yearning for black characters to march across the screen like ants. Her first writing assignment was an article on dealing with the loss of loved one, as if the overwhelming emotions she had experienced recently could be tied up neatly in two thousand words or less.

  Maddie leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and listened to the sounds and chattering that filled the dormitory. Suddenly, she heard something tumble onto the hardwood floor. She looked down and saw two onyx rune stones lying at her feet. This must have been the jacket I was wearing the day I left Hawthorne, she thought. She picked them off the floor, running her fingers over the etched letters. She clicked over to a Web browser page of Nordic rune markings and their meanings.

  Maddie scanned down the page to the letter B. It meant Birkano, the symbol of the birch goddess. She suddenly had an image of Cordelia tied to the tree on Misery Island. The Sacred Birch in the grove on Misery. She continued to read, rebirth…new beginnings…renewal…freedom.

  Her eyes then traveled down the page to the letter M—Ehwal, the horse…travel…movement…forgiveness.

  It couldn’t have been a coincidence that these stones somehow found their way to her just as she was embarking on an essay about the many tragedies she’d endured over the past year. Maddie believed they were a message from Tess. She smiled, realizing that if ever there was a way for spirits to communicate from beyond, then Tess would be the one to find it. It was the first time in many months that Maddie felt a sense of peace—the weight of her guilt was lifting off her each day, stone by stone by stone.

  Maddie squeezed her eyes shut and tried to get a strong visual image of Cordelia. Not the girl tied to a tree, lifeless and broken—the person who haunted Maddie’s dreams—but the old Cordelia, the one who came to Hawthorne filled with light and happiness and a generous spirit. She had a half smile, and her eyes shone with amusement. Her red hair fell in thick tangles down her back. Maddie clung to these details, this clearly defined picture of Cordelia, because she feared she might never have it again.

  Maddie’s eyes fluttered open, swelling with tears as she placed the rune stones next to her keyboard. This assignment will have to wait, she thought.

  She got up and grabbed the mail that had been shoved under her door. Maddie smiled when she saw the return address on the first envelope. It was a letter from home.

  Dear Maddie,

  I hope that you are well. Your aunt Rebecca is making great strides in her recovery. I think that the impact of the horrific events that occurred at Ravenswood actually helped snap her back into reality. She’s been talking with grief counselors and psychologists on a daily basis, and they have been helping her with various types of medication. I’ve even gone to visit her a few times. I know that is what Tess would have wanted me to do.

  It seems that the plans for The Endicott Hotel have been halted. I didn’t realize that your friend Finn and his father were so involved in Hawthorne’s Historical Society. It seems that they’ve pushed for the Ravenswood Asylum and Fort Glover to be declared historic properties and have stopped any future plans for the luxury hotel to be erected on that site. It’s just about destroyed the Endicotts since they’ve put millions into plans and contractors for the hotel. Plus, their investors are dropping like flies. There are whisperings of illegal money transactions as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get indicted. It’s like Tess always used to say, “What goes around…”

  Next time I see Finn, I’ll have to thank him myself. That’ll put those Endicotts in their place.

  In any case, I hope you decide to come home for Thanksgiving. I’ve enclosed a letter that was left for you (probably from someone who doesn’t have your address up at school). I had half a mind to open it and make sure it’s not from that Reed Campbell, though that’s not my decision to make. In any case, I miss you very much, and I hope that all is going well for you up at Stanton.

  Love,

  Mom

  Just as Rebecca had predicted, Kate tried to send evil out into the world, but it came back to her threefold. Karma’s a bitch.

  Opening up the second letter, Maddie wondered if it was from Reed, who kept in touch as often as he could. Or maybe it was from Finn, gloating over the fact that he was able to stop Kate’s family from building the hotel, costing them millions. Maddie couldn’t believe how he had managed to single-handedly bring down the Endicott family. And it was all in Cordelia’s honor. She would be thrilled.

  The letter was written in block letters, definitely a guy’s handwriting. It was similar to the letters she’d received before from Finn, but there was no signature. Was that intentional? The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she scanned the brief note. It read:

  MADDIE,

  CORDELIA IS ALIVE.

  SHE’S COMING FOR YOU.

  BE CAREFUL.

  After reading it several times, trying to discern the handwriting and the tone of the message, Maddie folded the paper and put it into her pocket. She walked back over to the computer screen and scrolled down to the reversed meanings of the stones. Chills went down her spine when she read the reversed meaning: Your desire to escape is thwarted by many problems, obstacles, and false starts. Expect disturbing family news, especially involving a sibling…

  If Cordelia was alive, it would only be a matter of time until Maddie found her.

  Or, Maddie thought with a shudder, she finds me.

  Please turn the page for

  a sneak peek at

  Megan Kelley Hall’s exciting new book,

  THE LOST SISTER,

  available in August 2009!

  The Lost Sister

  Sisters are born, not chosen.

  Determined to start over after the disappearance of her half-sister, Cordelia LeClaire, Maddie Crane moves to a prestigious Maine boarding school far away from her hometown
of Hawthorne, Massachusetts and the Sisters of Misery—a powerful group of girls whose hazing pranks set off a chain of horrific events.

  Beware the sister betrayed.

  But when an unmarked envelope arrives at Maddie’s dorm containing an ominous tarot card, Maddie realizes that some secrets won’t stay buried. When another one of the Sisters of Misery disappears, Maddie knows she must return to Hawthorne and face the fears of her past…and the sister she betrayed.

  KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

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  New York, NY 10022

  Copyright © 2008 by Megan Kelley Hall

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

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  ISBN: 978-0-7582-6469-5