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Aoife.
    “Oh Samantha, where are your manners?” Aoife’s hand came up again and Samantha cried out. A shudder passed through her body and then she lay still.
    “I already said I’d do what you want,” I said, turning to glare at Aoife. “You don’t have to hurt her.”
    Aoife appeared to delight in my outburst. I’d reacted exactly as she’d wanted me to. “Oh, I know that,” she said with a malignant grin. “Samantha is a bit of a… fail-safe, just in case you think to defy me.”
    With a flourish, she turned to leave the cavern.
    Even though I was pretty certain she couldn’t hear me, I attempted to speak in Samantha’s thoughts again.
    I’ll be back for you as soon as I can.
     

 

     
     
    Without a moment wasted, Aoife whisked me through the portal and back to the abandoned cabin where we’d left my car.
    She paced back and forth as I opened the door to climb in. “What will you tell them about your disappearance?” she asked.
    Gripping the top of the car door, I glared at her. As if she needed me to tell her. It was all planned out for me, down to the last letter. “I was on my way to follow Niamh and Aodhan to Thunder Bay when my car broke down. I couldn’t find my phone so I had to spend the night sleeping in the car.”
    Aoife appeared directly in front of me in the space of a breath. Her eyes were laser sharp as she leaned in. “You will not speak of this meeting to anyone. You will do as I’ve told you, right down to the last detail. If you think you can fool me, or trick me in any way, your father will suffer. Do you believe me?”
    I nodded, her compulsion too strong for me to resist.
    “Good, go then,” she said, pushing my face toward the car with one finger.
    I got in, the burden of what I must do heavier than I thought I could bear. So many lives were in my hands and it settled like a lead cannon in my stomach.
    As I backed out of the overgrown lot, I looked over my shoulder where Aoife had stood seconds before. I saw nothing, but I knew she was there.
     

     
    By the time I made it back to Stoneville, it was nearly forty-eight hours after I’d gone dress shopping with Nicole.
    I pulled into my driveway and looked at the house I’d lived my entire life. I’d called the house from a payphone to let Gram know I was okay, but no one had answered. Everyone’s cell numbers were programmed into my own cell, which now lay on the side of the road somewhere and I couldn’t remember them from memory.
    Taking a deep breath, I climbed out of the car and made my way to the porch. As I took the first step, the front door slammed open. Nicole and her mother, my Aunt Jessie walked out wearing identical expressions of confusion and relief.
    “Oh my God, Allison,” Nicole said. “Are you all right?”
    “I’m fine,” I said, not meeting her eyes. “Did you get my message?”
    I told them Niamh left abruptly after a fight with Liam and I’d gone after her. My family thought Liam was Niamh’s brother and one lie blended into the other. I was appalled at how easily the lies came to me. But relieved as well, since there were many, many more to come.
    Aunt Jessie wrapped her arms around me. “Did you ever catch up with Niamh?”
    I stalled for a second, then shook my head. “The address to their family’s home was on my GPS. Once I lost my phone, I didn’t even know where to go. Then of course, the car broke down.”
    “We were so worried. You’ve been so impulsive lately. It isn’t like you,” Nicole said. I finally met her eyes and saw the disapproval and hurt there.
    As far as Nicole knew, I’d left the dress shop when Niamh called me upset about something to do with her family.
    “I know. I feel terrible.”
    “Listen, honey,” Aunt Jessie said and I pulled back to meet her eyes. “Pop was having some chest pains early this morning and he’s been admitted up at the hospital. Gram is with him right now while they wait for a room to open up.”
    “Oh no,” I said,