by Sonia Hartl
Not for the first time, I considered if it was all worth it. Protecting Parker had becoming important enough for me to say yes, but Ida had no such attachment, and her memories felt so much larger than mine. I didn’t have a sister who had been my sun. I had a mother who’d consistently put her fragile ego before me and a teacher who had stopped caring about his students. When I put it like that, I wondered if I was really making any kind of a sacrifice at all.
I approached Ida as the last of the morning mist burned off with the sun and rubbed my arms. “Are we doing the right thing? Is killing Elton worth the cost?”
“Yes.” She grabbed me so fast, I was nearly thrown off balance. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you? Because we’ve passed the point of no return already.”
“I’m still on board. I’m just …” I lifted my hands and let them fall uselessly at my sides.
“Just what?” Ida’s black-cherry scent sharpened as her ancient eyes bored into me. “We don’t have room for doubt, so you better spit out whatever you’re thinking.”
“I’m in, that’s not going to change.” Like always, Parker was at the forefront of my mind. The way she scrunched her nose whenever she was trying to figure me out, her adorable ramblings, the way she’d let out a soft sigh the first time we kissed. Every memory I had of her, I’d be able to keep, and making sure she made it out of this safe and alive made it worthwhile to me. But Ida would be losing Bea. It felt like she’d been asked to pay significantly more than Rose or I had, and I hated the unfairness of it all. “I wish there was another way.”
“Believe me, so do I.” She released me and hung her head as she leaned against the gray, splintered siding. “I’m the only one left who remembers Bea. When my memory goes, she goes with it. Permanently. There are no pictures, no recorded history. She’ll just be wiped away. As if she’d never been here at all.”
For some odd reason, jealousy rose inside me, snapping its bitter teeth. I couldn’t help but wish I’d had family I’d loved like that in life, who had loved me in return. Maybe I wouldn’t have made the choices I had with Elton. Or maybe I would’ve gone through with it anyway, and I would’ve felt worse. That was the problem with constantly looking back. I could spend the rest of my eternity running over every choice I’d made and convincing myself I’d done everything wrong. Regret was the kind of burden that managed to get heavier with each passing year.
Ida had her own burdens, some she shared and some I only knew as shadows that lingered in her dark eyes. “What’s the one thing you wish you could keep?” I asked. “If you could have just one memory?”
“The summer Bea turned thirteen and the fair had come to town.” Ida fired off the memory without a second thought or consideration. As she smiled, it melted away all the hard angles of her sharp face. “She had a crush on a farmhand named Tommy, who had been in charge of keeping watch over Mr. Harrison’s prize pig. I lured Tommy away from the judging pen, while Bea sneaked out the pig so she could spend the afternoon with Tommy looking for it.”
I chuckled. “That sounds like a terrible plan.”
“Oh, it was.” Ida let out a small laugh, edged with the weight of knowing just how far and long those days were gone. “That damn pig caused the biggest ruckus around the food tents. I laughed so hard I ended up puking. The three of us managed to corral the pig before Mr. Harrison found out, and Tommy bought us both popcorn fritters for our trouble.”
“Hold on a minute.” I rushed into the house to dig through my suitcase, tossing clothes around until I found the notebook where I kept track of all the books I’ve read. I grabbed a pen off the sticky countertop and went back outside. “Give me the sights, sounds, and little things you don’t think matter. I’ll keep the memory here. If you ever want it, all you have to do is ask.”
For the next hour, she gave me everything she could remember. Corndogs dipped in hot oil, the screams from the top of the Ferris wheel, the hay and flies and animals with blue ribbons. Every taste and texture from the 1920 Allegan County Fair. I wrote until my hand cramped, filling pages and pages of details. She wouldn’t have the exact memory, and the feeling could never be replicated, but she could go forward knowing that in these pages, it would always be there. A record of her and Bea on their best day.
Once I finished writing, I put the cap back on the pen and closed the notebook. “Should we get ready and head over to the bank?”
“Might as well.” Ida turned her gaze to the unkempt lawn. “Thank you. For taking the time to write all that down. If you want to go ahead and tell Rose that we’ll be ready to leave soon, I’ll be along in a minute.”
I stepped inside, leaving Ida alone with the memories she wouldn’t have for much longer. For the last couple of hours, Rose continued with her quest to tidy up the main living area. Despite her best efforts, it still looked like the set of a post-apocalyptic vampire takeover. Not that it mattered. Per my agreement with Stacey, once this was all over, we’d never set foot in Michigan again.
I found Rose in the downstairs powder room, putting the finishing touches on her powder-perfect makeup. She reminded me of a porcelain doll, delicate features set within a sweet face made for tea parties and picnics. A lovely façade to conceal the vicious predator beneath.
“We should leave soon,” I said.
“Where’s Ida?” Rose dabbed a little gloss on her lips. “By the way, I took a look at the bathing situation, and we’ll be better off using the hose outside to shower.”
“Ida is coming in a minute.” I looked Rose over. She’d put on another polka dot, fifties-style dress that she favored but paired it with gloves, like a lady about to go out for a Sunday drive. “You know people don’t dress up to go to the bank anymore, right?”
Rose turned up her nose. “Just because the rest of the world is content to do their business in Hello Kitty pajamas doesn’t mean I have to follow suit.”
“If you say so.”
Ida came back inside, her eyes a little wetter than when I’d left her, but I didn’t mention it. Stacey had gone out after we finished playing early this morning and hadn’t returned. She’d left the forged paperwork stating that Rose was dead and Kristin Helms was the personal rep for her estate. Since Rose had the key, we hoped it wouldn’t be too much of a fuss for her to get into the box.
I passed by the basement, where the feeble cries of the teens filtered through the cracks in the door. Their pleading had become weaker over the night. Either they had accepted their fate, or Stacey hadn’t been giving them enough water. After going so long without mortal nourishment, it was easy for us to forget how frequently they needed to drink.
“Should we bring some water down to those kids in the basement?” I asked.
“No need,” Rose said. “I took care of that earlier this morning when I went down for a little snack. But I must say, if they’re all going to taste like toast and rubber, I’d rather Stacey just let them go. It’s too much responsibility remembering to feed and water them. This is why I’ll never get a dog.”
“Stacey is probably keeping them all on a steady diet of her favorite food.” I mimed gagging. “Grilled cheese sandwiches made with that fake stuff you spray out of a can.”
Rose furrowed her brow. “I don’t understand.”
“Never mind. We can ask her about it when we get back.” I didn’t like the idea of keeping a corral of kids on hand, either. Especially since it remained important to me to allow my victims a chance to run. I headed to the front door, with Rose and Ida behind me.
Sunlight had cleared most of the early-morning frost, but the grass still crunched beneath our feet, and we cut through the yard and into the neighborhood. The bank where Rose kept her heirlooms wasn’t far from the high school. Just two streets over from where she’d grown up, in an area that was now considered retro and trendy for young families.
“Have you gone to your house since we’ve been back?” I asked.
“Why would I?” Rose asked. “My family is long dea
d. I have no reason to call on the strangers who live there now.”
“Just wondering.” The closer we got to ending our memories, the more I wanted to know about Rose and Ida while they’d been alive. If only so I could remind them once they could no longer remind themselves.
The bank was in a smaller building off the main road. Rose told us it had been called something else in 1954, but they still had their safe-deposit boxes in the vault. We had a few minutes until they opened, so we pretended to window-shop at the clothing store in the nearby strip mall until the manager unlocked the doors at exactly nine. No sign of Elton or Gwen on our walk over, or hovering around the entrance. An uneasy feeling settled into the pit of my stomach, but I brushed it off. Maybe he expected us to come at night.
As soon as we walked through the door, Gwen stood behind the teller line, wearing a name tag that said DEBBIE. “Welcome to First National.”
She gave us a deadly smile and a prom-queen wave. Her robot-voiced greeting made me shudder. I couldn’t think of anyone on the planet less suited for customer service.
We should’ve anticipated this. There was no way Elton would let us just waltz in here without having someone on guard. While we took a seat in the lobby, Gwen tapped the manager on the shoulder. She pointed to us, then looked directly at Rose and licked her lips.
Gwen was a sadistic beauty who never should’ve been made into a vampire. Elton once told me her maker had turned her after he found her squeezing the heads off kittens in a remote barn. He had hoped to use her to handle his enemies. She did as he asked because she took pleasure in the pain of others, but when she met up with Elton a year later, she killed her maker and did as she pleased. When she lived with us, I barely ever saw her, much to my relief. She made it a point to be gone whenever I was around. She’d done the same with Rose. Gwen didn’t play well with others, except Frankie, whom she had created to be a plaything, and Elton, who was her narcissistic kin in every way that counted.
“There are three of us,” Rose said. “She can’t do anything when there are three of us.”
I would’ve had a lot more confidence if her voice hadn’t wavered. Though Rose had managed to overpower her in the graveyard, it was only because she had the element of surprise. Gwen was mean, strong, and had no fear. It made her a dangerous enemy.
The branch manager came out from behind the teller line. “Can I help you?”
His voice dripped with disdain. He had one of those mustaches that looked like a broom, and he wore a three-piece suit with gold cuff links. He was the kind of person who carried himself with an air of being Very Busy and Very Important, and three teenage girls who clearly didn’t have any money weren’t worth bothering with manners.
Rose told him our reason for being there, and as he took her over to his office, Ida leaned into me and whispered, “Can we just kill him and skip all this?”
“If only.” I kept a close eye on the manager as he examined Rose’s forged paperwork. He wore a polite, if disinterested, mask but didn’t appear to suspect her of lying.
Until he left his office.
He walked over to the fax machine with the personal-rep papers Stacey had drawn up, and Gwen pulled him aside. While he recoiled from her touch, his gaze remained intensely focused as she pointed at the paper and waved her hands around. His frown deepened.
Whatever Gwen was telling him wouldn’t work out in our favor.
Their voices were too low to overhear, so I stood and went over to the office, where Rose sat with her hands folded in her lap. “Why isn’t he letting you in the box?”
“He said something about faxing the paperwork to legal. I don’t know.”
“Did you see that Gwen’s talking to him?”
“I’ll handle it.” She shot a worried glance over her shoulder. “Go.”
I went to the lobby and flopped back in my seat. “I don’t like this.”
“I’m going to see if I can get closer.” Ida stood and walked past the check-writing stand, dumping a stack of deposit slips to the ground as she passed.
While I crawled on my hands and knees to pick them up, the other teller came out to the lobby to help me. Ida took advantage of the distraction to slip behind the teller line and position herself behind the vault door. I kept the teller too busy to notice, but within a few minutes, Ida rushed over to where Rose was still seated in the office. The two of them argued, then Rose got up, and they both motioned for me to follow them outside.
“What’s going on?” I asked as soon as we hit the sidewalk.
Ida looked both ways before picking up her pace and running. “Gwen called our bluff. She convinced the manager to get on the phone with the police.”
“Are you serious?” We cut through a neighborhood, running between the unfenced yards on the way back to Stacey’s. “What do we do now?”
“We go back to the original plan,” Rose said. “We’ll have to break into the vault.”
“We have three days,” Ida said. “That’s the soonest they can get their locksmith in. Gwen told him that Rose’s death certificate is real, but Kristin’s personal-rep papers are forged. They’re going to drill the box and send the contents to the state.”
“I need to do more research on bank vaults,” Rose said. We slowed down once we got to Stacey’s street. “I should’ve planned for this. Elton knows my heirloom is at that bank; I should’ve expected he’d station Gwen there to keep an eye out for us.”
“You couldn’t have known.” I laid a hand on her arm. “I mean, who would hire Gwen?”
Ida let out a snort. “They must be really desperate for employees.”
“Be that as it may, I need to go to the library today.” Rose wrung her gloved hands together. “Maybe they have some old plans on the bank. We’ll have to do it tomorrow night.”
“So soon?” I didn’t want to do the break-in at all, but with such short notice, it was bound to go wrong. “Shouldn’t we take time to plan?”
“We don’t have time,” Ida said. “If they get their locksmith in sooner, all will be lost. I agree with Rose, it has to be tomorrow.”
Great. Three girls with no experience in breaking and entering were bound to be successful. We couldn’t count the odds though, because the box was for sure getting drilled, and we needed those combs out of there before that happened. Better if we could do it without Gwen around.
We walked into the house, completely deflated, to find Stacey had returned. She stood in the center of the living room with the bodies of the teens at her feet. A fly landed on one of their open and sightless eyeballs. Blood soaked into the carpet, and Rose groaned behind me. It had taken her hours to get the living room into habitable shape.
“Okay, this is way worse than anything Rose has done with her kills.” Ida lifted an arm of one of the bodies and tilted her head, like she was contemplating what kind of secondary use it might have. “Were you really that hungry?”
“I don’t normally kill where I sleep, but when you three said you weren’t going to eat them, I had to get rid of them somehow.
They were becoming a nuisance.” Stacey’s tone suggested it was our fault she’d piled up four bodies in her living room. We never asked her to keep her cult captive. She could’ve let them go the first night, but it wasn’t a point I wanted to spend any amount of time arguing.
“Bad news,” I said. “Your paperwork didn’t get us in.”
“No problem.” She licked a bloody finger. “I already came up with a backup plan.”
“What kind of backup plan?” I asked.
She looked at the angelic face of one of her victims and, with a wicked smile, she turned toward the sliding glass door, where Frankie had just stepped in from the backyard.
Chapter Nineteen
“What is he doing here?” Frankie hadn’t sold us out at the graveyard, but from his sour expression, he hadn’t forgotten about me tearing out his eyeballs, either. Or maybe his face just always looked like that. It was hard to tell.
&n
bsp; “I caught him following me,” Stacey said. “We had a nice little chat.”
“I wanted to see Ida,” Frankie mumbled to the floor. If he could blush, his face would’ve been on fire. “And say I was sorry for what happened at the graveyard.”
“I’m standing right here.” Ida had already removed one of the teen’s arms and bent it back and forth at the elbow like a seesaw. “But your apology is unnecessary. We know you didn’t tell Elton we were gathering our heirlooms.”
Ida turned her back on us and wandered over to the fireplace, measuring the arm she’d just collected against the mantel. I didn’t even want to ask what horrifying project she had in mind. Frankie frowned. He had to have been deluding himself if he expected more than a brush-off from Ida. She had no interest in him and had never expressed otherwise.
“Is that all you wanted?” Rose wrung her hands as she glanced at me. She didn’t like the idea of Frankie knowing where we were staying any more than I did. He didn’t sell us out, but that didn’t mean we were ready to start braiding one another’s hair.
“No.” Frankie shook his head like he was clearing out the small family of bats who resided there. “I can help you get into the bank.”
Ida dropped the arm she’d been holding against the fireplace.
“Are you serious?”
“See why I brought him back here?” Stacey gave us a curtsy. “You’re welcome.”
This was getting a lot more complicated than breaking into a high-security vault, and we hadn’t expected that to be easy. Frankie looked at Ida with longing in his eyes. It gave me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, but if he really could get us past Gwen and into the bank, we’d need him. We didn’t have any options at this point.
