Chapter 27
“You stayed there one night. Elena came before dawn and took you away.”
I remembered the pale walls.
The humming.
The woman fastening my coat.
“When the stars come back, Victor will find you,” I said.
Sofia’s eyes widened.
“You remember that?”
“Only pieces.”
She smiled through tears.
“I used to tell Annie that stars always came back after storms. When you were frightened, I said it to you too.”
“Why did you call me Annie?”
Sofia looked stricken.
“I didn’t.”
The floor seemed to tilt again.
“I remember it.”
“You may have heard me say her name. I was not calling you Annie.”
Victor looked up.
“Then where was Annie?”
“I didn’t know.”
“But you said you brought a baby.”
“Hannah was the baby.”
I stared at Sofia.
“So the memory is wrong.”
“Not necessarily,” she said. “Trauma can blend voices and moments. You may have heard Rosa and me speaking.”
Rosa looked away.
Victor noticed.
“What aren’t you saying?”
Rosa’s face tightened.
“I saw another child that night.”
Sofia turned sharply.
“What?”
“In the corridor outside the blue room.”
“You never told me that.”
“I thought I imagined it. The house was dark. There was confusion.”
“What child?”
“A little girl. Perhaps two years old.”
My heart began to pound.
“You said I was six months old.”
“You were,” Rosa replied.
“Then who was the other child?”
May you like
Rosa shook her head.
“She wore a white nightdress and carried a wooden star.”
