Sisters of Misery (27 page)

“How close were you exactly? I mean, did you know—did she say anything about…?” Maddie’s voice trailed off. What exactly was the etiquette for asking a guy if he’s the father of an unborn child that may or may not still be alive?

Finn abruptly turned and punched the wall, “Dammit!” he shouted, his voice echoing through the barren hallways. He regained his composure and turned to Maddie, tears flooding his eyes, “Tell me that I might be a dad? Yeah, she mentioned that. She wasn’t sure. If she had told me before that night out on Misery Island, there’s no way I would have let her go out there at all.” He shook his head emphatically, “No way, man. No way would I have let her go through that shit.” He was silent for a moment.

Maddie was confused. If Finn was the father of the child, why did Reed give Cordelia money for the abortion? And how could Abigail possibly even know about that?

“Anyway, she told me if there were ever consequences from that night…that I should get you out of town fast. That’s why I wrote all those notes to you. When Cordelia disappeared, I figured that whoever took her would be coming for you next. Cordelia had this weird way of knowing that something bad was going to happen. I just wish…I wish I had known at the time—then I…I…well,” he choked on his words with sobs coming from deep within his chest.

Maddie lunged forward and clasped Finn tightly in her arms. Both of their faces were wet with tears. He squeezed her into his chest, and she listened to the strong beat of his heart mixed with the sound of his ragged breath.

She pulled back and said gently, “Finn, you know you were a suspect. You were put down in the police reports as the last person to see her. Why didn’t you tell them any of this?”

He looked at her fiercely. “I never talked to any of the police—I was never questioned. How do they know I was the last person to see her? Who could have known that?”

She shook her head, not knowing what to say to him.

He laughed a short, curt laugh. “I’ll bet one of those asshole Hawthorne guys set me up. They wanted to cover their own asses if Cordelia ever came forward. They’re probably the ones who made sure that she couldn’t report anything on her own.” He punched the wall. “If they hurt her—if I could have protected her…if only I hadn’t been such an idiot and made sure that she got home okay. Damn it!”

“You saved her, Finn. No matter what happened to her that night, you were her savior. You have to remember that always,” Maddie said, placing a hand on his damp cheek.

“And YOU KILLED HER!” shrieked a voice from above where they were standing.

They both looked up, and there inside the steel cage of the staircase was Rebecca, illuminated briefly by a flash of lightning from the storm outside. Her hair was wild and ragged, and a dirty nightdress clung to her thin frame.

Maddie wasn’t sure how long Rebecca had been listening to them, but her face appeared shiny and slick with tears.

Maddie grabbed the flashlight out of Finn’s hands and aimed it at Rebecca. “You killed my baby! You all did!” Rebecca screamed, digging her fingers into the steel mesh that caged the stairwell and shaking it so hard that debris and dust took flight into the musty air around them. “I knew that those girls were evil! I warned you!!”

Then she turned and ran up the staircase, her footsteps echoing as she fled away from them down the hallway. Finn and Maddie raced toward the steel cage. Finn fumbled with his keys.

“Hurry up,” Maddie yelled. “We’re going to lose her.”

“I’m trying, hold on!”

He spun the key in the lock, and the door screeched open. They ran up the stairs, following the demonic sounds of Rebecca’s screams.

SORROW

F
inn and Maddie raced, climbed, and stumbled through the decrepit maze of Ravenswood. The rumors of it being haunted seemed more real than ever—it was alive with a buzzing electricity she’d never experienced. The walls seemed to be moving, breathing, churning with energy. Instead of fearing it, however, Maddie was channeling it to propel her forward.

They finally caught up with Rebecca in one of the turrets of the sprawling madhouse. The rain-soaked winds swarmed into the cavernous room through the smashed blue-black glass of the window frames.

“Rebecca, please,” Maddie begged her aunt, “don’t do anything dangerous. We’re here to help you. We want to bring you home.”

Rebecca stared at her, her eyes flat and lifeless.

“Home? I don’t have a
home
anymore. Cordelia was my home, and now that she’s gone, I have nothing!” Tears streamed down her face as she hissed, “Do you have any idea of the evil that was unleashed on that island? You’ve cursed us all. Cordelia is gone, and now I have to go to her.”

“What do you mean cursed? How are you going to go to her? Rebecca, do you know where Cordelia is?” Maddie wanted to keep her aunt talking until she could figure out how to get them all safely out of Ravenswood.

Rebecca’s mouth gaped open, and she let out a maniacal laugh. “Do I know? DO I KNOW? What do you think, Maddie?? I knew all along that those girls were somehow responsible, but I just couldn’t believe that you were a part of it. I didn’t know about the island and the black magic that took place out there. I warned you! I warned Cordelia! And she did it all to save you—to take care of you! How could you let this happen to her?”

“I swear I didn’t know that any of this would happen,” Maddie cried. Finn backed slowly out of the room, Maddie kept her eyes on Rebecca, trying to keep her talking. And considering that no one had heard the woman speak in months, she was certainly making up for lost time.
Please, Finn, go get help
, she silently willed. “Rebecca, I had nothing to do with Cordelia’s disappearance—or that black magic or whatever you call it. I promise you.”

“LIAR!” Rebecca wailed. “I found these, and they told me the truth. These belonged to Cordelia. She never went anywhere without them. They kept her safe. Safe from people like you!” Rebecca held up the same rune stones that she had hurled at Maddie during her visit to Ravenswood.

“Those aren’t Cordelia’s. You sold them in the store, remember? You had lots of them. It doesn’t mean anything,” Maddie explained. “And the things that happened on the island…I thought it was just a silly ritual. But it got out of hand. Yes, those girls were horrible to Cordelia—and I’m ashamed that I did nothing to stop it—but they didn’t make her disappear.”

Maddie stepped closer to Rebecca.

“Rebecca, you need to listen to me.”

“No!” screamed Rebecca and in a flash she was perched at the edge of the open window. “You all must pay for this. I need to find Cordelia, bring her home. She was cursed on that island. Our family has been cursed. She had no choice but to leave, and now she’ll never return. Never! And it is all your fault!”

“Madeline had nothing to do with it, Rebecca,” a voice said from behind them.

Maddie spun around quickly, shocked to see her mother standing in the doorway. Abigail stepped slowly into the room, careful not to excite Rebecca any further.

“Maddie had nothing to do with Cordelia’s disappearance. It was all my doing.”

“Mother, what are you saying?” Maddie hissed incredulously.

“I’m saying that it is my fault that Cordelia’s gone,” Abigail said stoicly. “There is no one to blame but me.”

Maddie looked back and forth between the two sisters, her mentally disturbed aunt and her secretive mother. She noticed Finn edging back into the room from one of the arched corners, entering through a hidden passageway. Maddie noticed him shoving his cell phone into his jacket pocket, but didn’t want to call any attention to him.

“I knew it,” growled Rebecca. “I knew that you were the reason for Cordelia’s disappearance. I’ll make you all pay for this.”

“Rebecca,” her mother snapped, “keep Maddie out of this. She doesn’t know anything about what happened. She never did. It’s all my fault. I’m the one who should be punished, not Madeline.”

“Why?” Rebecca shrieked. “Why did you do it?”

Maddie was becoming more and more confused.

My mother killed Cordelia?
Madeline thought incredulously.

“How? I—I don’t understand,” Maddie whispered, afraid of her mother aggravating the situation any further, terrified of what Rebecca would do if she became more agitated.

“I’m saying,” Abigail said as she strode past Maddie toward her sister, “that it’s my fault that Cordelia’s gone. It wasn’t intentional. At least that’s what I’ve told myself again and again. I made a mistake, but then again, we all are guilty of making mistakes, aren’t we, Rebecca?” She paused for a moment. “I’ve had to live with my actions. If you are looking for someone to punish, to blame, to hate, then hate me, Rebecca.”

Rebecca fell down off the window frame to the floor in a mass of sobs and howls. “Why?” she cried again and again. “How?”

Maddie watched her mother in horror. It just couldn’t be possible.

“I think you should start explaining, Mrs. Crane,” Finn said, moving out from the shadows and over to Maddie’s side. “Not only to us, but to the police as well. I called them earlier. It’s only a matter of time before they arrive.”

Abigail no longer paid any attention to Finn or Maddie; she was confessing her sins to her older sister, seeking forgiveness by finally speaking about her actions.

“There were so many reasons, Rebecca. You knew that I didn’t want you back here. Hawthorne is
my
home. You left it behind and created a life far from here. But, you see, I never wanted anything but this town, this life. And then, all of a sudden, you’re back—you and Cordelia. Don’t you think I heard what the people in town said about you, how they looked at you? Didn’t you
ever
once think about how you and your wild daughter’s actions would reflect on me, on
my
life,
my
reputation?”

Abigail’s voice trembled in growing anger and frustration.

“I worked so hard to be accepted. Again and again, my position threatened. First, when Malcolm took off with some slut. And then the money—ha! Never enough!” Then Abigail turned quickly to her daughter, as if begging for her forgiveness as well.

“I did it for both of us, Maddie. It was so important for you to befriend those girls. You didn’t think I knew about the Sisters of Misery, but I did. They’ve been around for a long time—generations. I could never be a part of that group because we didn’t have the money or the family name. You had the opportunities that I never had,” she reasoned. “Those families are powerful. Being accepted by them opens doors that will never open any other way. I did that for you. But you turned your back on them and chose to spend your time with Cordelia and Rebecca.”

Rebecca’s sobs had subsided, and she watched intently as Abigail paced back and forth between them.

“And then that Halloween night, I waited up for the girls to return. When I found Madeline passed out on the front stoop, I was livid! Cordelia didn’t even have the decency to see my daughter home safely. Got her drunk or drugged and just left her on the front stoop for the whole world to see. I was angry with Maddie, but even more furious with Cordelia for letting this happen to my daughter. I never could have imagined what would happen, what I was capable of, when she returned.”

The tension in the room was overwhelming. The world seemed to drop away. Even the rainstorm that raged through the broken windows seemed to die down a bit. Everything awaited the outcome of Abigail’s story.

“And so I waited. And when she snuck into the basement, stinking of booze and cigarettes and Lord knows what else, I confronted her. She had money on her, a lot of it. I asked who she stole it from. She tried to push past me, said it was none of my business. I was so angry that I yelled. ‘Answer me! This is my house!’ She ignored me and said that she needed to sleep, needed her mother, needed a shower. And so I told her that what she really
needed
to do was leave. And that if she didn’t, I would throw both of you out on the street for good,” Abigail rambled on.

Finn squeezed Maddie’s back closer to his chest as he inhaled sharply. She could feel his racing heart beating against her. They stood there listening, barely breathing, waiting for the inevitable.

“Cordelia swore at me, saying awful, dirty things. She told me that I’d be sorry if I tried to force you out. That she’d make me pay, just like she’d make the others pay. I slapped her hard across the face. And then, I don’t know, something just exploded inside her. She tore at me like a wild animal. I grabbed her by the hair and shoved her backwards. She fell against the wall and then down to the dirt floor. I told her to get up and get the hell out of my house. Now, I didn’t think I pushed her that hard, that I swear to you. But I must not have known my own strength because that’s when I saw the blood on her. It looked black in the dim light of the basement, and it smelled of old pennies as it dripped down from her hair into her face. She got up off the floor and spit at me.

“And so that’s when I told her the truth—the truth about who she really was.”

Rebecca held her head regally like she was the queen of this fallen castle. Her face slick with tears, her voice was calm, resigned as she asked firmly, “How could you have told her? That’s why she’s gone. Don’t you see? She hates me now. She’ll hate me forever!”

Maddie searched her mother’s tired face, almost afraid to hear what was coming next. Abigail turned to her and simply said, “Maddie, Cordelia’s not your cousin. She’s your half-sister.”

It was at that moment that Maddie finally understood the animosity between her mother and Rebecca. Her father had an affair with Rebecca. When she left town as a pregnant, unwed mother, everyone assumed that Simon LeClaire was the father. Simon had raised Cordelia as his daughter, even though he knew that she wasn’t biologically his own.

Cordelia and Maddie were sisters.

Maddie finally spoke. “Mom, where is Cordelia?”

Abigail shook her head. “I honestly don’t know. She left the house in a rage, screamed at me that we’d all pay for what we’ve done. I thought she was just playing a game—punishing us for everything that happened. I never reported it. I couldn’t. It would have—I just didn’t want—”

“You didn’t care about Cordelia, Mother. You just didn’t want anyone to know the truth,” Maddie said flatly. “And all this time, it was more important to keep up appearances than to help us find her. What kind of person are you? How can you be so cruel? How—how could you!?”

Abigail looked like she had been physically struck by her daughter’s words. She hung her head and started weeping. It was the first time Maddie ever remembered seeing her mother cry.

“All those nights that I escaped from here, from this prison, watching, waiting, listening, returning to Mariner’s Way, trying to discover who had taken Cordelia from me—I never dreamed it would have been you, Abigail,” Rebecca cried, bringing her hands to the sides of her head and shaking it as if she was trying to comprehend it all. “I thought it was those girls, so I left them a warning. I gave them each a stone. Then, I thought it was a boy, so I stole her love letters to try to learn the truth. I even wrote in Maddie’s journal, trying to scare her into coming clean about what happened to Cordelia. But nothing worked. All of those nights, all of that wasted energy, all of my carefully planned escapes, all of it, only to discover it was you all along, Abigail.” She looked at her sister incredulously. “I know you hated me for what happened with Malcolm, but I never thought that you’d punish me by taking away the only thing I have in this world to live for. That you would make Cordelia leave me forever!”

All of the questions that had plagued Maddie for months—the red-haired girl in the basement, the missing letters, the rune stones, the scribbling in the journals—all of it could be explained with one word: Rebecca.

When Rebecca finally stood, she was trembling, her body was drenched from rain, sweat, tears. Maddie could see the pale skin of her arms glistening. She reached her arms out toward them, palms out, fingers pointed to the ground. In front of her lay a shard of glass that had come from one of the broken windows. At that moment, Maddie noticed it was stained with blood.

Grabbing the flashlight from Finn’s hands, Maddie pointed it directly at Rebecca, who recoiled from the bright light. At this point, they all noticed for the first time that Rebecca was not drenched from the rainstorm—her veins were split open from wrist to elbow, and her body was covered in blood. The entire time Abigail had been telling her story, life was slowly draining from Rebecca’s body.

Abigail sprung across the room and grabbed her sister. Tearing the scarf from her neck, Abigail made a feeble attempt to stop the flow of blood.

“Call an ambulance!” Abigail shrieked. “Do something!” Rebecca tried to pull away from her; the women struggled back and forth. Through Maddie’s tears and in the shadowy room, it almost looked like they were dancing.

Finn ran over to Rebecca, pulling off his belt, and used it as a tourniquet on one of her arms. He ripped the scarf from Abigail’s hands and pulled it tight around the other arm. He spoke in a calm voice. “Hold on, Rebecca. It doesn’t have to end like this. You’ve got to look at me. Do it for Cordelia. If she’s still out there, she’s gonna need her mother. You gotta hold on for me, okay?”

Abigail was sobbing and cradling her sister’s head as Rebecca seemed to drift away. It occurred to Maddie then, in a moment of morbid absurdity, that it was the first time she had ever seen them embrace.

In the distance, the sirens of police cruisers grew louder. Tires crunched up the gravel path to Ravenswood. Hopefully, it wasn’t too late. If they got Rebecca to the hospital quickly, she could be taken care of. Everything could be taken care of, Maddie was sure of it.