“Don’t you understand? I was the one who called her name. It’s my fault that she fell. She lay there in a pool of her own blood, and she pointed up at the stars. And then she mumbled something about star signs. I think, even at that moment, she was trying to comfort me.”

I can barely swallow away the lump in my throat. I’m almost choking on my own words.

“If I could, I’d take on all of her pain. I didn’t think she was ugly or scary—anything but.”

“You gasped when you saw her,” shouts Claus. “That’s what it says in her diary!”

“Of course I was shocked. It was my fault that she looked like that. They weren’t able to save her eye. She’d never be able to see with it again.”

I take a deep breath.

“I couldn’t find her in the place she’d moved to. I waited at the harbor every Friday, but she never came.”

“You’re lying,” says Claus.

“No, I’m not. I’ve never forgiven myself, and I never will. That’s why I couldn’t look at her. Not because she disgusted me, but because I felt so guilty. I haven’t said her name ever since that night.”

For a moment, there’s silence.

I can see that Claus is completely stunned. In the few seconds it takes him to recover, I dive forward. Before he can react, I snatch the stun gun from his hand.

I grab his shirt and hold the stun gun to his temple. It’s not lethal, he said, but what will happen if I do this?

“You’re no better than I am,” I hiss. “We both destroyed her.”

“Fender,” I hear Kate say. “Please, let’s call the police. They can take him away.”

“No,” I growl. “I want to do this myself.”

If only she were here now, then she could have seen me taking on Claus. She could have told me everything, and I would have helped her.

“You still don’t get it, do you?” Claus looks at me. His voice suddenly sounds different. “You still don’t get who I am.”

What’s he talking about? Is he trying to buy time by playing some new game?

“You’re a psychopath. That’s what I get.”

I put my finger on the trigger, but just as I’m about to pull it, someone yanks back my arm.

“Don’t do it.” It’s Linnea, who’s freed herself from the ropes. “Listen.”

Fender wants to kill me.

I can see it in his eyes.

Does he still not get it?

“It’s me,” I say quietly. “Isolde.”

Linnea

“It’s me,” I hear Claus say in a voice that sounds softer than before. Girlish. “Isolde.”