wouldn't s

it was

SURRENDER H

d it

ag

augh

a ch

the

augh

e

ay

is eyes o

ha

my phon

is t

gla

one g

ce wen

e blood lef

id you g

your q

ri

gnature is on it.

locked arou

hought he mi

see it p

N

, ple

I don't know the whole story.'

s cut acros

econd

econd

gh

a

oom. Files. No one touches them. No

e seen

're dangerous to open. People

st tig

known my mother's n

le

. How

e ton

ia

ned so hard a

me before I told y

dn't

nce was t

ce told me

ack at the

barely visibl

Stamped in

is 2

n't k

is your house. Your nam

to everything my father buries. So

at DO yo

et mine in

ious. But

Enough to protect you

is voice made

om, since the photograph, since my

phone

the qu

wn nu

RUST TH

dropped t

Same number

HY YOUR MO

s went

hone slowly so

rea

le face

ed int

me the

he two li

traight out t

sca

's watch

I got the c

right now. I

so hard I felt

ha

turn

e I turn

ck

cars

us for the las

dows. No p

th

again. Eye

flat. Cold. T

ing. Sharp. Down a narro

ned too. No

yn.

see

limbed int

o? Do we call

what? That some

celer

side road, tir

d parking garage and slammed

at t

gine ticking. Bo

straight past

ng. Didn

o

o hard I al

ouldn't st

me, his own b

you o

n't k

ave to prete

t me si

nding all night.

kno

olarship sti

kno

scared I'm goi

kno

d to me for tw

kno

says she signed me away the day I

yes c

pi

ted

, sharp anger - bu

n't carry someone else's choice l

ever said

gant. Untouchable. The guy who says "I

only person making th

before he could se

o. Before it

d out, eyes still c

-

minutes

rough th

n't a

a for

riveway lined with ligh

where y

etim

etim

tra

say that like walking

uth tw

smi

ne se

Callahan heir and more like a

t I noticed

already opening the massive fr

n. We were e

night. East guest room

's eyes m

fr

surp

conf

gnit

stant re

knew by name. Like she'd b

mach d

looking at

n instantly, h

nett. It's... good

o

ice sharp. "She knows m

he coul

ed to interrog

n Cal

ing. Tall. Cold. Looking down at us lik

ought h

voice hard, stepping slightly in front of me.

n't stay there. Th

somewhere s

eyes mo

d - something like regret cross

ne. Like a mas

stay. O

le?" Zay

ght at me, eyes col

the east wing. Under

. "What's in t

your mother's room is

hing s

ir st

art s

never li

to this side of the state. She tol

as I felt. His head sna

? Elise Bennett had

, already dismissi

Aria. Good

g. Gone. Upstair

le

e in that hu

d I sto

mother lived here

the dark hall

sed. A chain across o

a long time, from

s of my life ju

doors was a room she

Preserved. For t

were still a

t. My feet moving before

abbed m

ri

t g

ard my

eard

on't. P

y can't

eyes on that dark ha

re twenty-one years ago... wh

owly loosened

raid of it. And my father

en hallway, my heart ha

ng about my sch

ut Montclair, or tuit

king about

docu

hotog

oom she l

ht - and why had the Callahans kept her room unto