My brother is dead. With his bullying and his demands for perfection, Father drove Alexander away. Alexander joined the Navy and Father cut him off without a dime. He has been writing me and my dear Hermione has been gathering the letters before Father could confiscate them.

Kellen stopped reading.

Rae craned her neck around to look at her mother.

“What?” Max asked.

“Ruby didn’t like Hermione,” Rae told her father.

“Something must have happened.” Kellen hooked her finger in the diary. “We can be sure no one likes Mr. Morgade, so Hermione wouldn’t, either. Ruby sounds charming, and she and Hermione are close to the same age and the only young women on the island—”

“There had to be staff,” Max pointed out. “Maids to do the cleaning and stuff.”

“Yes, but they would be working all the time. All the time. I’d guess Ruby and Hermione bonded, and I mean, really—if Mr. Morgade is gone most of the time, how would he know whether all his instructions are obeyed?”

Rae grinned at Kellen. “I like Hermione!”

“Me, too.” Kellen sobered. “Although she’s taking a terrific chance. If Morgade finds out, he’ll toss her aside the way he did Miss Harriman. She might never work again. A single woman on her own could starve.”

Rae took a long, frightened breath. “Read more. Read faster!”

Alexander went through training and he was happy. He shipped out to Hawaii, and he was happy.

Three days ago, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. We heard many brave men were killed. President Roosevelt declared war on Japan. Mother is devastated. She cried because her people murdered so many. Then this morning she got the news about Alexander.

He was in a hangar preparing a plane to take off when a Japanese fighter dropped a bomb and demolished the building. He was my next oldest sibling, twenty-one years old, and he’s dead. My heart is bleeding.

Father said he deserved what he got for disobeying him.

I hate Father so much. Now there is only Bessie, married and living on the east coast, and Larry in Britain, at Oxford, where it is not at all safe. The Blitz targets all historical buildings, and I fear for him.

Then there’s me, here on this horrible island, learning the correct way to pour tea and direct servants while the world goes up in flames.

Father went to the mainland to deal with the news stories. I sent him a message, begging him to return. Mother isn’t well. She isn’t crying now. She sits and stares.

He hasn’t come.

He won’t.

He doesn’t care. We’re Japanese. We’re liabilities now.

Father is incensed. The Navy has come to Morgade Island. They arrived without warning, presented Mother with papers and began construction on a structure that looks to the west.

Men are swarming everywhere.