“What happened?” he asked. He looked at me as though he thought I’d done it on purpose. I wanted to rest my forehead against his chest but stopped myself. I needed to be stronger than that. I wasn’t a child. I wanted to be an agent and needed to act accordingly.
“The mirror shattered.” I nodded toward the shards of glass on the floor and in the trash can. I didn’t even feel the pain, still felt strangely removed from my body.
Devon shook his head, his fingers gentle on my hands. “We need to disinfect this and bandage it up. I’ll go get the gauze. You stay here. I don’t want Mom to see. She’s been worrying enough about you lately.”
“Who’s been worrying enough lately?” Linda stood in the doorway. When her eyes fell to my cuts, the color drained from her face. She took my hands, her touch gentle.
The worry on Linda’s face was too much. I stared at my palm. The gash seemed to be much smaller than I remembered and had nearly stopped bleeding. Maybe my transformation back to Madison’s body had helped to heal the wound.
Linda tended to my hand without speaking but I could feel the questions and worry roll off her in waves. Eventually she was finished. She hugged me, barely leaving room for my breathing. After a moment, I hugged her back with just as much force. It felt like some of the broken fragments inside me had mended, too.
Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to pretend that Linda was really my mom, that her love and worry were for me and not for the mask I’d put on. I dreaded the day this would all be over but deep down I knew there was no other way. I needed to learn to be enough on my own.
“You have to be more careful. Please, Maddy.”
I pulled away from her embrace. “Don’t worry. I will.”
The morning after the mirror incident, Linda accompanied me to Sheriff Rutledge’s office. Before we entered the building, she paused and wrapped her arms around me. “It’ll be okay. Just tell him what you remember. Even if you think it’s not important, it could be helpful for the police. Everything could help lead them to that . . . that person.” She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear with trembling fingers. “Maybe something you say will give them a lead and then all of this can finally be over.”
Sheriff Ruthledge was a short, stocky man with thinning red hair and pockmarks on his cheeks. He rose from his chair and shook my hand across his desk before he gestured at the vacant wooden chair. I sank down onto it.
Linda sat off to the side, out of sight where she couldn’t influence me, but her presence was calming.
“Thank you for coming today,” the sheriff began. “You don’t have to worry. I’ll ask only a few questions. If you don’t remember something, then tell me and don’t feel any pressure to add anything just to give a response.”
I nodded and relaxed against the chair. Sheriff Ruthledge’s deep, calm voice dispersed the rest of my nerves.
He went over my name, birthday, and place of residence before the real questioning started. “That day, March second, what did you want at the lake?”
I’d learned about police procedure in FEA classes, so I doubted he’d ask any questions that would surprise me. “I—I think I was there to meet someone.”
“You think? Or you remember?”
“I don’t remember, but I know I often met with friends at the lake.”
“With your friend Ana for example?”
I hesitated. “Yes.”
“But you don’t remember who you wanted to meet that day? Are you sure?” His eyes were sharp but not unfriendly.
I shook my head and looked at my lap. Major didn’t want the police to interfere with our investigation, so I had no choice but to lie.
“It’s okay. Doctor Fonseca told me that you’re suffering from amnesia.” Summers had spent the last few days diverting the police’s attention. She’d once demonstrated the full extent of her Variation, which left Holly and me so befuddled that we hadn’t been able to find our room, though we knew our way around every inch of headquarters. I was willing to bet my interrogation would have been very different without Summers’ intervention.
“Do you remember what happened when you were at the lake?”
“No. I’ve been trying so hard to remember, but it’s all gone.” I let my voice come out shaky and nervously wrung my hands.
The Sheriff scribbled something on his notepad. “Did you have a fight with someone before you were attacked? Or was there someone you didn’t get along with?”
“I don’t think so. I know that I broke up with Ryan a while before the attack, and Ana told me that we had a rift within our group of friends because of a fight, but I can’t remember what caused it.”