Chapter 6
I could feel his eyes on us.
Not on me.
On Lily.
I turned sharply.
“Why are you looking at her like that?”
His expression closed.
“Like what?”
“Like you recognize her.”
“I don’t.”
“You said I have someone else’s eyes.”
He looked at Rosa and the doctor.
“Give us the room.”
“No,” I said immediately. “They stay.”
Rosa hesitated, but Victor did not argue. Instead, he walked to one of the cabinets and opened a small safe hidden behind its back panel.
He removed a narrow wooden box.
The box was worn at the corners. It looked out of place among the modern equipment and neatly stacked supplies.
He set it on the table.
Inside was a photograph.
Victor placed it in front of me.
The image had faded into soft shades of gray. Four young people stood on a pier beneath a summer sky. Victor was easy to recognize despite his longer hair and unguarded smile.
Beside him stood a slender young woman with dark curls.
My mother.
She was younger than I had ever known her, laughing with her head tilted back.
Next to her was another woman, elegant even in denim and a loose white shirt. Around her neck was the silver locket.
My locket.
The fourth person was a tall young man whose hand rested on my mother’s shoulder.
His face made my stomach tighten.
I had seen it before.
Not in a photograph.
In my own mirror.
“Who is he?” I whispered.
Victor did not answer immediately.
“His name was Daniel Vale.”
“Was?”
May you like
“He died the same night Sofia disappeared.”
I stared at the photograph.
