Page 58 of Other Birds
She was going to stay here and be happy and full.
But then she felt an odd chill.
Mac reached out and put his arm around her, as if he’d felt it, too.
Oliver, who was standing behind Zoey with his phone up to take a photo, looked around as if he was also aware of the sudden change in atmosphere.
Zoey finally took a deep breath and extinguished all the candles but one.
And at that same moment there was a crash from inside Charlotte’s condo.
The four of them looked at each other, surprised, then immediately went inside to see what had happened. Nothing had been disturbed in the living room or kitchen. Charlotte opened her bedroom door and turned on the light. When she stepped into the room, something crunched under her sandal.
“I found it,” she called.
“What happened?” Zoey asked, appearing at her side.
Charlotte held her arm out to keep Zoey from entering. “Careful. The witch balls broke.”
“How many?”
“All of them,” Charlotte said.
“All of them?” Zoey looked up, confused. “How did that happen?”
“I have no idea.”
Mac appeared with her broom and her trash can, and they stepped aside to let him sweep a path to the bed. Charlotte followed him and carefully folded her comforter, keeping the pieces of glass that had fallen there inside. Zoey and Oliver brought up the rear and started picking up some larger pieces off the bedside table and the television.
“How could all of them have broken at the same time?” Mac asked. “The window isn’t open and the AC isn’t even on.”
“I don’t know,” Charlotte said, feeling uneasy. Something about this felt portentous, almost as if she’d caused it by the audacity of finally feeling like she could let go of the ghosts of her past.
“I didn’t blow out the candlesthathard,” Zoey joked. She suddenly waved her hand above her head, then looked up with a frown.
“I feel kind of silly asking this,” Oliver said, “but what is a witch ball?”
Before any of them could answer, a voice from the bedroom doorway said, “Look at Princess Pepper, getting her friends to clean for her.”
Zoey, Oliver, and Mac all turned.
But Charlotte, who’d had her back to the door as she’d pulled the bundled-up comforter off the bed, froze.
She knew that voice.
And every single crack she’d tried to seal over since leaving the camp split open at once.
Chapter Nineteen
“Charlotte,” Mac said as he held out his hand to her, “come here.”
He hadn’t taken his eyes off the person behind her. Zoey and Oliver had gone unusually still. She didn’t understand. She had every reason to fear that voice. What reason did they have?
“Charlotte,” the voice said. “I should have known. I should have figured that out a long time ago.”
She slowly turned.
Her mother stood in the bedroom doorway with a large, tattered backpack at her feet. She smelled strongly of body odor and cigarette smoke. If Charlotte was shocked by her being here, it was nothing compared to the shock at her physical appearance.
