That gave me a couple of hours to spill the beans and hope Asher didn’t kill me. If he did, it gave him a couple of hours to clean up the mess and find himself an alibi.

I forced a grin and got out of the car, snagging my backpack.

We went in the side door that led to the back hallway outside the kitchen. My feet stalled when I heard a clattering of pots and pans and the familiar humming of old tunes drifting through the air.

“Is Matilda here?” I hissed, snagging Asher’s arm and pulling him back against me as a shield.

He nodded and held a finger to his lips, pointing to the back staircase and tugging me after him.

Quiet as two mice, we scurried up to the second floor and down another long hallway to the west wing. We veered left and followed it all the way to the end where Asher’s room was nestled into the corner of the house. Mine used to be the one across the hall, a mirror image of his. The twin rooms, like us, Mom used to say.

The door sat closed, and I was too afraid to ask if they’d kept it the same or not. Was my bed still unmade with those awesome silk sheets I’d bought for way too much money online? Were my band posters still decorating the walls? Was my porn collection still wedged between the mattress and box spring? Shit! Did anyone feed Albert? I gasped and brought a hand to my mouth. My fish!

It had been two months since I’d been shown the door. Two months, but I had a feeling if I dared peek inside, all I would find was a dark void of nothingness and death. No sign I ever existed in this house or lived at all. No evidence that there ever was another Charming boy. I was erased. Nothing more than a distant memory that was slowly being forgotten.

A solid kick to my ass had me stumbling against the door to my old room, knocking my head. Asher burst out laughing as I spun and rubbed the injury. “What the fuck, asshole?”

“You’ve got that forlorn look in your eyes, like Mom and Dad have gone downtown to formally file paperwork eliminating you from the family.”

“Did they? Can they do that?”

“You’re an idiot. They haven’t touched your room. Come on.”

“But Albert!”

Asher yanked me into his bedroom by the sleeve of my jacket and slammed the door behind us. I spun and sighed with relief when I spotted my fish tank and my prehistoric dragon fish named Albert still alive and well, swimming inside.

“I forgot about Matilda. We’ll be fine up here. She’ll be busy cooking for Mom’s dinner party this weekend. Besides, I’m pretty sure she’s learned her lesson about entering a room before knocking.”