“That book was the bane of my childhood. We used to have to copy passages from it when we got in trouble.” He tried to smile reassuringly, but the misery shone in his eyes like dying embers. “Don’t worry, she’ll never do it to you. You’re not duty bound to the family like I am.”

But Laura wanted me to be.

Barrett glanced back out at the hall. “I’m supposed to be packing. I don’t want her to find me in here.”

It felt like there was a hole in my heart that went all the way to another dimension. “I hate this,” I said.

“Me too.”

His fingers wrapped around mine. His skin was warm and a little rough, and it took all my strength not to yank him toward me and smother him with sympathetic kisses—and be smothered by them, myself. Moment by moment, it was sinking in that he would be gone soon. He was being punished, but his punishment was as bad for me as it was for him.

Or worse. Because he would be free of this place—and I was stuck here.

We were both at lunch, but neither of us spoke. There was nothing I wanted to say to him that I was willing to say in front of Laura. Instead, they made small talk about what he would do when he got to his friend’s house.

At one point, Laura made some comment about a girl—somebody’s sister. Judging by her tone and the things she said about her (“I’ve heard she’s destined for Ivy League”), I guessed that this was a person Laura considered to be an appropriate match for Barrett.

But his answers were clipped, almost rude.

So Laura turned her attention to me, fussing at me for being out of bed and suggesting that I go back and rest so I had enough energy to come out and say goodbye to Barrett.

Initially I resisted, but she wore me down. She made me a cup of tea and I went upstairs, preparing myself for a dull afternoon in bed.

PATTER PATTER PATTER PATTER.

I opened my eyes and squinted.

The room was dark, and the shock of the darkness and the confusion of not knowing what time it was propelled me up to a seated position.

The sound came from thick raindrops splatting against the window. The darkness, I thought, must have come from the storm.

Or was it nighttime?

I yipped like a hurt dog and raced out to the hallway. The house was quiet. I hurried down the stairs and toward the only room lit up in the darkness—Laura’s office.

She sat at her desk, and Agatha sat nearby in a tufted chair.

“Goodness, Margot,” Laura said. “Are you all right?”

“Are they gone?” I asked.

She blinked. “I’m sorry—do you mean John and Barrett?”

No, I mean Mickey Mouse and Wonder Woman.