Blood Sisters (Ch. 16) Rory

Day Five

Alice is scaring me. Her eyes look like they are about to pop out of her head and she's breathing all wrong. I try to grab her hands but she keeps avoiding my touch. What did I say?

"Rory- please... please, I'm so sorry. You... don't know..." The words are thick and I realize that she's crying. Tears stream down her face.

"Alice, get ahold of yourself! What's wrong?"

After gulping in a few times, she forces herself to face me. "Rory... I-I did it."

"Did what?"

"I killed them! Don't you get it? I killed them!"

My mouth falls open, but I shut it. The few people in the diner are craning their necks to see what all the fuss is about, but I'm having trouble caring.

"Killed who?"

Alice's fingers fly up to her hair, each fist struggling to not pull out a clump from either side. "How do you not get it? I killed your parents, Rory! I did it. And I wish I could take it back- but, but I can't. And I'm so unbelievably sorry."

And it finally hits me. My whole body freezes.

Alice's voice become unusually steady, but her expression is anything but. "A year and a half ago, I agreed to kill a man named Lawrence Reed. I don't know who hired me, Harold usually deals with things like that. I thought it was a stupid idea. Doing business in town could ruin everything. But Harold said if we didn't, the person would go to the police. They knew all about us, and this was their blackmail.

"I could tell the house wasn't empty. The lights were on downstairs. But I was informed that Lawerence would be in bed upstairs around that time. I waited until the wife had left the bedroom... but he woke up."

Her voice pauses as if to censor something.

"I barely made it out. Someone saw me. Just a glimpse of my dress. I had hoped they would just think I was a ghost or something- that was what the dress was for."

"That was me." I whisper, my own words surprising me. I don't know why I couldn't remember before, though that might be because I'd thought it was a nightmare. "That's why I recognized you when we first met."

Her face shifts and I realize she remembers that moment too. We had just spoken our names- and while the name hadn't rung a bell- that face of hers did. And something about the way she carried herself. Almost too gracefully, as if she had to be sure of every move she made. I remember her odd eyes watching my every little twitch or slouch. The town's girls my age always whispered about strange little Alice and her eerie older brother. About how even their father left after the mother died because he couldn't deal with them. And I had chalked it up to rumors! It serves me right that I would ever trust someone like Alice Lee Mason.

"So it's true. You are a killer. And all that talk about being a thief was a lie." 

She nods, her fingers twitching painfully on the table. "I was trying to protect you. If you knew what-" 

"You even told me your name." I interrupt, "I bet you were thinking you were just gonna kill me after- weren't you?"

Her eyes widen. "No- I swear, I just-"

"I trusted you." I interrupt again, "Every little thing you did or asked for, I gave you my full trust. Even after what's happened in the past few days, I never blamed you. I blamed your brother. But he didn't kill my parents, did he?"

The tears are falling down her face again, but I could care less. No, that's a lie- I do care. I care too much. Why do I keep giving this girl everything she asks for? Even now, I feel bad that's she's crying. 

I need to leave. I need some space to think straight. I'm the one who should be crying. I stand up, my eyes trained on the door.

"Please," Alice begs, "Don't go. You can hate me all you want, but please don't go. I wish I could take it all back. I would if I could."

I force myself to start walking.

"Just leave me alone, I need space." I try to force the words out- to make her not look at me in any way, but they hardly exceed a whisper. 

Thankfully, she gives me my wish and stays put. I see Elijah over my shoulder just as I push my way past an incoming customer. He looks bewildered and angry all at once. For a moment, I wonder if he'll try telling Alice off, but I force my mind to think about other things.

For example, what I have to do now. If I'm lucky, Alice will have enough sense to drag herself back out in the woods and stay there. But then again, what can I trust her to do? Perhaps Elijah will follow me and offer an earlier ride. But the sooner I return home, the sooner I'll have to tell Octavia and Soren the truth about our parents. The idea creates a lump in my throat.

The air is warm and damp outside and I start to feel suffocated. My hair sticks to my neck, but I make no effort to pick the stubborn strands out of the way. I'm so distracted, I don't even notice the dark car pulling into the parking lot. It rolls into the paint-streaked parking spot slowly, just a few feet away from where I stand. I tilt my head, realizing I recognize it from somewhere.

A door flies open- at a speed unlike the casual crawl it drove in with. A face that I recognize all too well pops out from behind a tinted window. I'm just moving to break into a sprint when his hand closes around my wrist. Another hand slams into my mouth- immediately choking off any attempt at a scream. I swing out my leg to kick his shin when the hand around my wrist grabs it and pulls me into the backseat.

This is the man who tried to hand me off to Harold.