A deep rumble came from outside, and Laura gave a happy little shiver. “Big storm coming in tonight,” she said. “I love storms. I love feeling safe inside the house while it’s so wild outside.”

I nodded. I wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about the elements—to be honest, my sense of adventure in general had been pretty suppressed since the accident. But I could see the appeal of being sheltered in this fortresslike place while the wind thrashed and the rain fell in buckets.

I wasn’t very thirsty, so after she left, I set down the teacup and closed my eyes. My head was full of thoughts of Barrett and the garden and my sisters and Laura’s strange mood change. Then I remembered the elaborately decorated lock and the key that seemed to match it. And once I started thinking about that, I couldn’t think of anything else.

The first fat drops of rain hit the window, and I took the key out of my bottom drawer, where I’d stashed the small bag, and stared at it as I finished my lukewarm tea. I was trying to calm myself with my evening ritual, despite knowing that I wasn’t going to properly relax until I’d had a chance to put the key in the lock and see if it turned.

The only thing was . . . when? If Agatha had hidden the key, and hadn’t wanted Laura aware of our mission to recover it, then maybe Laura wouldn’t approve of my having the key at all. I would have felt worse about possessing it if Agatha hadn’t been the one to give it to me. That wasn’t my fault, was it? It wasn’t anything I’d done wrong. I was her companion; I’d accompanied her somewhere in the middle of the night, that was all.

So when, then? Certainly not when Laura and I were working in the garden. And there were no other times of the day when there would be the freedom to roam around unnoticed. Laura didn’t micromanage my every movement, but she did seem to have a sixth sense about where I was at any given time. If I went to the garden outside of our typical time, she’d want to know why. And I was a pretty bad liar. Besides, I didn’t want to lie. Lies pile up until they bury you, Dad used to say. Better to avoid having to tell the truth than to come up with a lie, no matter how believable it seemed.

I held the key in my hand. I would just have to wait until the right opportunity presented itself.

CHAPTER

14

WATER STREAMED DOWN my face. A sudden arc of blue-white light cut the world in half and then disappeared, leaving its imprint on my vision. I blinked hard, and the air around me filled with the roar of thunder.

What on earth?