I clutch my burning jaw. My skin is tender to the touch, but the bone isn’t broken.
“Magnus!” Mom rushes in. Her cheeks drain of color, despite her blusher, as she sees me shaking on the floor. “What happened?”
He pulls me up onto my feet using my hair. “Another daughter being a disappointment, that’s what!”
“Ouch!” I yelp. “Please?—”
“First Sarah, and now you!” he continues. “After everything I’ve done for you girls, you continue to defy me. What are you looking for?”
“Nothing,” I lie. “I was just… curious.”
“Curious?” He releases his hold on my head and his hands move to my throat to grip my windpipe.
Being cornered by masked strangers is scary, but nothing compares to the fear of being held in my father’s grasp. My life is in his hands.
“Magnus!” Mom yells hysterically. “Stop!”
He whirls around to face her, letting me fall. I clutch my throat and gasp for air.
“What did you say, Jocelyn?” he asks. “Are you questioning me?”
Mom opens her mouth to argue, then her features go blank. Her eyes glaze over, like she’s been injected with a sedative.
“No,” she says hazily. “I?—”
He slaps her. Her head turns at an awkward angle and bangs into the wall with a thud, then she drops.
“Mom!” I scream, scrambling to get to her.
Blood trickles down the side of her face from a cut on her forehead.
Before I reach her, she sits up, putting a hand to her wound, and smiles serenely, like she’s high as a kite.
“You should do as your father says, Erin,” she says robotically, calmly rising.
“Are you okay?” I ask her. “Your forehead…”
“Oh, this.” She looks at her bloody hand. “It’s nothing.” She laughs. “How silly of me. I better get myself cleaned up.”
She pads away down the hall like a brainwashed zombie.
My anger rises. I’ve bitten my tongue for too long, but I won’t anymore. With Sarah gone, it’s time someone else stood up to him, considering Mom isn’t able to.
“You hurt her,” I scream. “You’re a monster!”
I expect him to get angrier. Instead, he cackles, a deep rumble from the pit of his belly. It’s the most I’ve heard himlaugh for weeks until his expression turns completely deadpan in a flash, like a psychopath dropping his social mask.
“Be careful what you say next, Erin,” he warns ominously.
I want to blurt out that I know what he’s doing at the asylum and threaten to report him, but I resist, remembering my promise to stay quiet. Although I don’t know what the guys are planning, any doubts I had about helping them are gone. Whatever it is, I want in. He must pay for what he’s done.
Growing up, my father never showed us any affection. Yet, despite his flaws, I still loved him because he’s all I’ve ever known. The familial obligation blinded me to his true evil nature. Now I have all the facts, and I’m sure he’s involved in Sarah’s disappearance somehow. I have to find out what happened.
Dad’s glare scans me like an X-ray.
“What are you looking for?” he probes. “Tell me the truth.”
“I…” I need to come up with an answer fast. “Pills.”
