na's

of Nadia's street and stoppe

e steering wheel, starin

ome with yo

he will not say a word if

If you are not out in on

very window along it glowed yellow behind thin curtains. I had walked that street ten thou

the front door, and moths circled it in slow loops. I climbed the three steps and stopped on the d

oor opened before I co

er long black hair was tangled, and dark circles sat beneath he

me," Na

ked me

d. I was awful to you the

tened. I unders

ast, just as it always had. Her mother's coats hung on the same brass hooks, and her fathe

called from the kitchen, asking whether we wanted tea. Nadia answered that

more than any que

ry one showed the same girl. She had long dark hair and a notebo

adia explained. "I did not decide to draw

asked, though

ly know that I miss her so mu

side me, and the mattress sank under our weight in the same soft way it

said at last. "Tell me even t

on them. Her gaze settled on the wall of faceless draw

rain on a tin roof, and a girl screaming my name.

note

as soft, and the pages c

een notebook still rested. Nadia followed

I remember," she muttered. "Th

o

t of stairs. He had black hair and a grey coat.

it Lu

t say it with certai

laced Lucian at the center of the night I had lost, y

ned after t

e, and the next thing I remember is

e drew a shaky breath. I put my arm around her shoulders, and she leaned against me. Her shoulders were t

way she had once done for me when I w

r," she whispered. "I am sorry

t have to

k to me, and I trie

n she lifted her head, she wiped her cheeks wit

se," she said. "I have

say anyth

hout telling me where you went. You came home with ink on your fingers and mud

told yo

er to read your notebooks, and yo

ight have asked of her, but I could not remember making

you what I

people. You said that if anyone came asking about

did

ted. "Yet that is exactly what happened

clutching her notebook as though it were the only thing she had left. Nad

across the floor. She wrote each memory on a small slip of paper and arranged them in a long line. I added the details I kn

ip in the r

but she did not write anything. Her hand t

aid. "I found it in my jewelry box this mo

de, she took an object wrapped in a handkerchief and carried it back to me.

nce. I had embroider

rass key attached to a loop of red string. A paper tag hung

e letter g was

he lamp and read it alou

cliff. Burn nothing,

rs around the key until its teeth bit into my palm. I co

I knew the place, but I had no idea why someone had hidden its

at fifty minutes had passed sin

with alarm. Before either of us could spe

d toward

, "that is the car of t