A World Without You(42)

The silence of the marsh is weird and unsettling. I can see little fish swimming in the water around my legs, darting away as I slosh forward. In my time, the marsh is murky. But here, the water is clearer, the sky is wider. A bluebird cuts through the air, a bright flash of color that reminds me of Sofía’s house.

I hear people.

I drop down, squatting behind a clump of reeds, crouching so low that the water’s up to my neck. The people I heard were on horseback, and they stop not too far from me. The horses flick greenhead flies away with their tails and snort so loud that I’m sure the men can’t hear me breathing.

“Nineteen,” one of them says.

“For truth?”

“In Salem.” The first man sounds a little older. “Nineteen.”

“Madness.”

I strain to hear more. The men’s voices are loud and deep but heavily accented, their words almost indiscernible.

“How many in the prisons?” the younger man says.

My mouth drops open as it finally dawns on me what the first man means. Nineteen. Nineteen witches. Nineteen people. Hanged. Crushed. Dead.

They move again, heading away from where I’m hiding.

I stand up. The men could turn around and see me, but I rise anyway. They know what’s going on. They might know if Sofía is among those taken.

“Fifty or more,” the old man says.

I start running toward the men, not caring about the noise I’m making.

“The dark one will be next to hang, surely,” the first man adds.

“Of the devil, no doubt.”

I shout for the men to stop, and they do pull their horses up short. Water sprays all around me as I surge forward. But as hard as I’m running—and I’m straining every muscle, my body aching to move forward—I barely shift an inch. The water droplets hang impossibly in the air around me.

Time snaps me back to Berkshire.





CHAPTER 26




Damn it.

I ended up right back here.

Not in my nice warm bedroom.

Nope, in the marsh. Without my shoes.

At least I’m close to the boardwalk. I pull myself up and begin the soaking wet walk of shame back to Berkshire, praying that no one will see me when I return.

Nope again.

Dr. Franklin’s there, waiting for me. He has a flashlight and a radio in his hand, and there are a few other staff members in the main entryway. They were about to go look for me.

Great.

“What were you doing?!” Dr. Franklin shouts as the other staff members scurry back to their own units. “Where are your shoes?” His face sort of crumbles as I try to think of an answer. “This is about Sofía, isn’t it?” he asks in a softer tone.

I nod, hoping that he can understand what I really mean—that this was about saving her. How much of her and the reality of her situation have the officials erased from his mind? How much control of his own memories—of his own reality—has the Doc already lost?

“Go get changed,” he says, “and meet me back in my office.”

? ? ?

I need a shower, but the Doc didn’t seem in the mood to be kept waiting, so I pull on some dirty clothes and head over to his office. The door is already open. Inside, I can hear low-pitched angry voices.

First I hear Dr. Rivers, but I can’t make out what she’s saying.

Then Mr. Minh starts talking. “I must say, we’re very disappointed here, Dr. Franklin. Very disappointed. Your school may be private, but it still must follow Massachusetts law—”

“We’re not breaking any laws!” the Doctor protests, his voice drowning out Mr. Minh’s. “Sofía’s accident was never supposed to happen, and I’ve been fully cooperative with law enforcement since then!”

I cringe. So the government officials have the Doctor so turned around that he’s brought in law enforcement?

“Well, of course something like that isn’t planned,” Mr. Minh’s voice is harsh, cruel. “But regardless, it happened, and we’re trying to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Which, frankly, I’m not sure this school is capable of guaranteeing. I was shocked to see one of your students coming into the school late tonight. How tight of a rein do you have on your students if one can wander off into the marsh at night?”

Well, crap. I didn’t realize they’d seen me too.

The Doctor splutters, but Dr. Rivers cuts him off. “It’s just extraordinarily disappointing that not only were the master files of the video observations you compiled destroyed, but the additional files are missing, and there is apparently no way to replace them.”

“What are you trying so hard to hide, Dr. Franklin?” Mr. Minh shouts. “This level of encumbrance from you makes me question just how much you want to reveal to us at all.”

“My practices have been transparent from the start!” the Doctor shouts back. “And my students are the most important people to me—not you and your damn paperwork!”

“That’s what we want to see,” Dr. Rivers says in a clear, high voice, silencing the men’s argument. “We want you to put your students first. But clearly something here at Berkshire Academy is wrong. That boy came back soaking wet and stinking of the marsh. Why was he allowed outside, alone, at this hour? He could have been a danger to himself or others.”