Symphony of Bones by L.T. Ryan (little bear else holmelund minarik .txt) 📕

louder this time, and Cassie wanted to slap a hand over her sister’s mouth. The night was so dark, she could hardly see her hand in front of her face. There was no moon, and the overcast sky had obscured what little light the stars would’ve given off.

Cassie wasn’t sure what to do. If she stayed still, Laura might say her name again. Then the monster might find her sister. If Cassie tried walking to Laura, then the monster might come after her instead. If Cassie said something, she’d risk the monster finding both her and Sarah.

Before she could decide, Cassie heard Laura shuffling through the leaves toward them. Every crunch sounded like a boom in the night, and she wondered if Laura hadn’t heard the monster or was more afraid of being alone than what would happen if it caught her.

The rustling stopped as Laura moved closer. Cassie could envision every footstep her sister made. Heel to toe, heel to toe, heel to—

The pattern changed as the tip of Laura’s toe hit a branch or a rock or a vine. She tripped, and when she hit the ground, her camera bounced. It must’ve landed at the perfect angle because there was a loud, mechanical scraping sound as it went off. Then a flash of light lit up the entire woods.

The brightness lasted half a second, but Cassie could’ve sworn she had time to count every leaf on every tree within a ten-foot radius. There was Sarah standing next to her, eyes wide and hair brushed back into a ponytail. There was Laura on the ground, eyes squeezed shut and a cry of pain about to escape her mouth. And there was the monster, hunched over, hair wild, staring directly at Sarah.

But it wasn’t a monster. It was a woman. She looked older than Cassie’s mom, because of the wrinkles or the pain in her eyes. They were a golden-brown, the same color as her hair. It was frizzy like Laura’s when she combed it with the wrong brush. The woman should’ve had silky smooth curls, but she had a bird’s nest on top of her head instead.

Cassie froze as though the woman might not notice her if she didn’t move. She stood rooted to the spot while Laura lay in pain on the ground. Sarah was the only one who dared to breathe, and when she took a step back in fear, the woman’s gaze snapped to Sarah’s face.

And then the light went out.

Cassie didn’t think. She just moved. Whether the woman was a monster, it hardly mattered. No one should’ve been in the woods that night, least of all three little girls. She sprinted forward, picked Laura up with a strength she didn’t know she possessed, and launched herself back toward the house with Sarah right on her heels. The blood pumping through her body drowned out all the other noises, and Cassie couldn’t tell if the woman was chasing them or if she’d turned and run in the opposite direction.

Either way, Cassie, Sarah, and Laura didn’t stop moving until they came crashing through the front door, nearly bowling over Mrs. Lennox in the process. From there, it was a blur of relief and terror and shame for breaking a rule she knew had been in place for her own safety.

34

The nurse returned to switch Cassie out for Laura, and then it was time to return home. The hospital wanted to keep Judy a few hours longer, and Walter had stayed on the promise to keep the girls updated with any developments. Cassie was still buzzing with her newfound memory. If Laura had said anything to her on the ride home, she couldn’t remember.

“Okay, you’re killing me.” Laura shifted the car into park. Somehow, they had already made it back to the house. “Did you and Mom make up?”

“I think so.” Cassie unbuckled her seatbelt but didn’t move to get out of the car. “We still have some stuff to talk about, but I think she’s scared. She wants to keep me at a distance because she’s afraid I’ll leave again, and she wants to hold me close because—”

“—she’s afraid you’ll leave again?”

“Exactly.” Cassie waited for Laura to open her car door, then mirrored her movements, still in a daze. She waited until they were inside and had kicked off their shoes and hung up their jackets before she spoke again. “She told me more about that night Sarah went missing.”

“Anything important?”

“She told me Mrs. Lennox had caught us sneaking back in that night. Then it all came back. I remembered waking up in the middle of the night to a face peeking in the window.”

“Oh my God, that’s terrifying.” Laura had the coffee pot halfway to their mugs. “Do you think it was one of the kidnappers?”

“It was Sebastian.”

Her jaw dropped. “When he was alive?”

Cassie shook her head. “I knew he needed help, so I woke Sarah up and we walked out into the woods. You must’ve followed us because your camera went off. The flash lit up the whole woods like it was daytime, and there was this crazy woman standing there.”

“Holy shit, that’s terrifying.” She blew on her coffee with a contemplative look on her face. “I remember sneaking out into the woods. Following you guys to see what you were up to. I don’t remember seeing a woman though.”

“You had tripped and fallen. That’s why your camera went off.”

“I broke it that night.” She laughed. “Mom and Dad were so mad. They had just gotten it for me. The film was still good, but the lens had cracked. I—”

Laura broke off, her eyes wide.

Cassie looked around, like someone was standing behind her. “What?”

“My boxes upstairs. There was a roll of undeveloped film in one of them. I didn’t toss it because I figured one day I’d develop it, and we could laugh at all the ridiculous pictures I took of you guys.”

Cassie didn’t need to hear another word. She sprinted for the staircase