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was trouble from the start. No. None of us have heard a peep from that strange young man since Halloween night of last year. We’ve simply accepted the fact that he either escaped the island somehow or died in his attempts.”
    â€œI see. Well, thank you anyway. I was just curious. And by the way, Father—” Angela snagged him by the sleeve of his coat. “If I were to visit with Stephanie, what are the institution’s hours during the week?”
    Father Schrader gave Angela another long and wary look. “They allow visitors on Thursdays,” he said quietly.
    â€œThank you,” Angela said, letting go of his sleeve.
    Father Schrader turned to leave but stopped abruptly, as if the oddest thought had just occurred to him. He regarded Angela again with a strange mixture of fear and awe, but then shook his head as if telling himself that whatever he thought he’d seen, he was surely mistaken.
    Angela watched him leave the house and walk into the snowy night. The street was so silent, the universe could have been swallowed into nothingness. Overhead, wind whistled through gables on the roof, and to her left ocean water frothed weakly beneath a grate, half of its fury quenched by a blockade of ice in the sluice. The snow fell in a constant silvery stream.
    Angela held out her hand. A flake kissed her skin and melted, leaving a tiny puddle behind.
    Overhead, a crow screeched into the night.
    Angela glanced up, scanning the darkness as a sudden fear clenched at her heart.
    Without warning, two strong hands gripped her shoulders from behind and she screamed.

Five
    We’d determined our fears were only yesterday’s sorrows. But even so, without telling Her, I began counting the inevitable days to our good-bye. —S OPHIA
    â€œGood Lord, you’re a nervous wreck,” Camdon cried, spinning Angela around to face him.
    She almost collapsed against him, desperate for air and weak in the knees.
    â€œI thought you’d left with the others,” Angela said, gasping angrily. Her heart thundered in her chest. She pushed him away, steadying herself, still envisioning Troy swooping down from the blackness to wring her neck. “And why are you still here anyway?” Angela said, even less gently this time. “Didn’t Sophia find your coat?”
    How much did he hear when I was talking to Father Schrader?
    Camdon smiled wryly. His expression revealed nothing. “I had to use the bathroom unfortunately, and your odd friend Sophia pointed me to the second floor. I’m the one who should be peeved, Angela. It’s me—not you—who has to walk home in the cold alone.”
    â€œNext time, drink less water,” Angela said.
    She stepped around him, trying to get back into the house. Despite its draftiness and the horrible furniture, it was much more cheerful than Luz’s new bone-chilling winter.
    Camdon didn’t budge. “Angela, are you going to the Christmas Ball this Saturday night?” he said, his voice softer than the snow.
    Angela paused at the threshold of the door. “Why?”
    â€œBecause I don’t have a date.”
    â€œAnd that means?”
    â€œYou’re really going to make me ask you point-blank? You know how tough that is for a man, don’t you?”
    Angela stepped inside the house and shut the door.
    She stood, thinking, and then opened the door again to Camdon’s bewildered face and said briskly, “I’ll let you know.”
    Angela didn’t allow him time for a reply. She shut the door one last time and escaped back to the hearth room where Sophia waited with a paper in her hands.
    â€œWhat was that all about?” Sophia said, amused.
    â€œCamdon asked me to the Christmas Ball this Saturday evening. I told him I’d think about it.”
    Sophia’s face blanched with shock.
    â€œOh, stop it,” Angela hissed. “He’s Nina’s half brother and . . . I feel like