“My room.” I sat up and leaned against the wall.
“How did I get here?”
“Don’t ask.” I wasn’t about to try to explain that the Lilum had somehow transported us here.
I was more worried about what it meant.
It wasn’t John Breed.
And there was someone I had to talk to.
12.21
Plain English
I knocked on the door and stood waiting in a pale yellow circle of porch light. I stared at the door, shifting my weight uncomfortably, my hands jammed in my pockets. Wishing I wasn’t there. Wishing my heart would stop pounding.
She was going to think I was crazy.
Why wouldn’t she? I was beginning to think so myself.
I saw the bathrobe first, then the fuzzy slippers and the glass eye.
“Ethan? What are you doing out there? Are you with Mitchell?” Mrs. English peeked outside, patting her plastic curlers as if there was a way to make them look more attractive.
“No, ma’am.”
She looked disappointed and switched to her classroom voice. “Do you have any idea how late it is?”
It was nine.
“Can I come in for a minute? I really need to talk to you.”
Well, not you. Not you exactly.
“Now?”
“It’ll only take a minute. It’s about The Crucible.”
Just not the one you taught us about.
That finally got her, like I knew it would.
I followed her into the parlor for the second time, but she didn’t remember. The collection of ceramic figurines on the mantel over the fireplace was lined up perfectly again, as if nothing had ever happened there. The only giveaway was the spidery plant. It was gone. I guess some things were too broken to fix.
“Please have a seat, Ethan.”
I automatically sat in the flowered chair, and then stood right up, because there was nowhere else to sit in the tiny room. No son of Gatlin would sit while a lady stood. “I’m fine standing. You go ahead, ma’am.”
Mrs. English adjusted her glasses as she sat down. “Well, I have to say, this is a first.”
Anytime now. Wade on in.
“Ethan? Did you want to tell me something in particular about The Crucible?”
I cleared my throat. “This might sound sort of weird, but I need to talk to you.”
“I’m listening.”