“Hate me?” she said. “It was twenty years ago, and I was a single mom raising four insane children. No, it’s fine. I get some leeway on this.”

“People got killed, though,” I said.

“You didn’t kill them, sweetie. You made a thing. And people went absolutely crazy, and they did strange things and some people died. I mean, I wish it hadn’t happened. I wish you had maybe written it in a diary and that was that, but it’s okay. It was beautiful, and then somebody else, the rest of the world, made it not beautiful.”

“You’ll be okay?” I asked.

“I’m the grandmother who wears Air Jordans, sweetie. It’s fine. I’ll be fine. Will you be okay?”

“Who knows?” I answered. “Aaron is so confused. Junie won’t understand and won’t care, but maybe later she’ll wonder. I don’t . . . I mean, I don’t really know anyone else. I have friends, and they’ll be super polite about it and a little weirded out, but I just really want you and Aaron and Junie, the only people I love, honestly, to not be hurt because I made this thing.”

“Again, when you were sixteen, sweetie. It’s fine. It’s okay.” She looked at me for a few seconds. “I honestly thought we’d never talk about this. I figured we would both die without ever telling anyone.”

“That was the plan!” I said, and then I remembered. “Oh, you know who else knew? Mr. Avery.”

“Randolph Avery? What in the world? How?”

“I’ll tell you later,” I said. “Actually, do you think it would be weird if I talked to his sister?”

“Yes, sweetie. Really, deeply, truly weird. Not good. She is very, very, very old.”

“It’s just . . . I need to look for something in that house. It’s mine. You know, from that summer? It’s my backpack. He kept it for me after he found out about the posters. I want to see if it’s still there.”

“That’s just the worst idea I’ve ever heard, Frankie. My god, are you okay?”

“I think I’m gonna go over there,” I said. “I don’t think I can stop myself. I need to find it.”

“Frankie? I am begging you not to go over there. This is insane. Plus, she has a live-in nurse, who is there all the time. Okay, now, remember how I said that you weren’t responsible for the deaths of all those people? And, okay, Frankie, it’s probably—if you work out to encompass the whole world—it’s probably a lot of people who died. And that is not on you! But, if you kill Ms. Avery because you’re trying to get some backpack from twenty years ago, then that will be your fault.”

“Okay, I understa—”