I jumped up from the bed, grabbing a sheet and wrapping it around my body. 

Ryker didn't seem concerned at all, rising at a leisurely pace, putting on his boxers in full view of my sister. 

My heart was pounding.

She was really here.

I turned my eyes to her, blushing fiercely when she smirked at me.

She was beautiful. Tall and sexy, with long black hair and those striking blue eyes, she reminded me of Snow White. Her skin was paler than ever, unmarred. She looked like a vixen. She wasn't the little girl I remembered. My sister was all grown up.

She also wasn't Astor.

"What the fuck?" I asked her, coming closer to make sure I was seeing right. "You're not Astor."

"No," she purred. "Took you a long time to figure that out, didn't it?"

"I should’ve known. I should’ve known from the way you dotted your i's."

"Little hearts. Just like I used to do it."

"Allegra," I said, a warning tone to my voice. "Is… is Astor dead?"

"No," she replied, and a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

"How? They said nobody was saved from the fire."

"I don't know everything. But when I got out of the asylum—that fucking hellhole—I went to see Jonathan Smith, just like you."

"And?" I asked, my eyes imploring her to tell me everything.

Deep down, I was thoroughly confused. Why was she pretending to be Astor? Was she as dangerous as I thought all those years ago, or was this all some kind of crazy coincidence? Surely not. 

"He told me he helped Astor that night," she said. "He's the only one who knows I'm not her. And you two, I suppose."

"But why? Why would you pretend to be her?"

"Because I'm going to kill anyone who wanted to hurt her," she said simply.

I stared at her with my eyes wide open. "What do you mean?" I asked. "You're talking in riddles, Allegra."

"Lower your voice," she hissed. "Nobody can know who I am."

"Why?" Ryker cut in. "You even lied to me. You never told me your real name. I don't understand why you did it. I thought we trusted each other."

I glared at him over my shoulder. I hated them being in the same room, especially with how confusing the entire situation was.

"You really don't know anything, do you?" Allegra asked softly. "You've done no digging. You don't even know why the fire happened."

"Because you made it happen," I accused, my voice shaky. "You killed our parents!"

"I did what I had to do," she threw back with a sneer, and my blood froze in my veins.

Until then, I really was convinced she wasn't guilty, but she'd practically admitted it.

"How could you do that?" I whispered. "Kill somebody… in cold fucking blood. Your parents. Our parents. You ruined so many lives, Allegra. How could you do that? How could I be so selfish?"

She took a step toward me, and I noticed she was shaking just as badly as I was. For a second, I was convinced she was going to slap me, but she seemed to pull herself back together, taking a deep, calming breath.

"You should’ve done your research, Ginger," she said. "But you did always keep your eyes firmly shut when it came to seeing the truth. What do you remember of our parents?"

"They were good people. They took care of us."

She laughed out loud and I stared at her in confusion.

"You have no idea what they were going to do," she told me, her voice breaking over the words. 

First the shaking, now this. They were the first signs of vulnerability, of cracks in her facade.

"What were they going to do?" Ryker asked, stepping behind me and placing a hand on my hip. "You need to stop talking in riddles, Ast—Allegra. Tell us the truth."

"If you can handle it." She smirked. "Our parents were monsters, Ginger. They wanted to kill Astor. Do you even realize that?"

"Kill her?" I let out a shocked laugh. "That's just not true. They loved her more than the both of us together."

"Exactly," she said slowly. "It would be a big sacrifice. But they were supposed to make one. Didn't you ever wonder why there were no other kids in Hollyhock, Ginger? Didn't you ever wonder why we weren't allowed to leave?"

"What? We were homeschooled, but we were allowed to leave. We would've gone off to college eventually anyway."

"That's what we thought." Allegra shook her head. "They would've never let us go. Do you remember that night when you tried to go out?"

I did, and I could tell she knew by the way my shoulders slumped and I shivered. I still had the scars from when our mother hit me with a belt over and over again.

"They freaked out," Allegra said. "We weren't allowed out of Hollyhock. They were going to keep us there forever."

"But why? Why would they be like that?"

"Did Jonathan tell you anything?" She sighed at my blank expression. "I figured. In some way, he was the worst of the bunch. He knew what they were doing, but he never tried to stop them."

"Stop what?" Ryker demanded, his grip on me tightening.

"Our parents were fucking insane," Allegra spat. "Just like the rest of that godforsaken town. They believed in curses, in being damned, destined to suffer. There was a curse placed on the town, do you remember, Ginger?"

"Yes," I said, vaguely recalling some talk of it, always in hushed tones. "Centuries ago. A gypsy from the traveling circus cursed Hollyhock when a local man raped her in the woods."

"They all believed that. All of them. They had yearly sacrifices—little kids, like us—to keep the curse at bay."

"W-what? That can't be true! Allegra, that's fucking insane."

"It's the truth," she snapped, tears in her eyes. "I overheard them. They were going to kill Astor. They were going to fucking kill her."

"Our parents would never…."

Then I remembered the night when I'd sneaked out, really thought about it.

How my mother had punished me cruelly. That my father never spoke up about the way she was hurting me. The threats.

It was the only time I'd seen them like that. They hid it well, but was it possible those were their true personalities? That they would've killed their own child in favor of some old superstition?

"They would," Allegra said brokenly. "They were going to. Only days before the fire I set. The bonfire. They were going to take me with them, watch Astor burn."

"That's just horrendous," Ryker said. "Who would do that to their own child?"

"They were superstitious. The whole town is riddled with it, stupid people who believe in curses. That's why I like you, Ryker. You never believed in such nonsense."

"But you did. You believed in it. Like the stone."

"What stone?" I asked, looking between the two of them.

"La Bellezza Maledetta," they said in unison, and Allegra smiled with a hint of sadness.

"I am my parents' daughter," she admitted. "I believed the diamond was cursed. And I wanted to steal it from you, Ryker. That way I wouldn't be cursed. But I could sell it to the townsfolk of Hollyhock, fucking curse them again. I wanted them to burn for what they did, and I could never deliver on it. But maybe, if the stone really was cursed, it could do it for me."

She laughed, but it was a sad sound, and I just stared at her, seeing her in a completely new light.

"You were so distracted that night," she said slowly, looking at me. "I was wearing Astor's shirt, and you thought I was her. I just let you think that, and it worked in my favor. Whoever would want to hurt her would come after me."

"You tried to save her," I whispered. "So they'd come after you, not her."

She nodded.

"Where is she?" I demanded. "Where is Astor now?"

"Safe. I promised to keep everything secret until Hollyhock is rid of the people who wanted her dead."

"But… she's alive? She's okay?"

"She is." She nodded, offering me a small smile. "I haven't seen her since the fire. Sometimes she sends letters. She sent some to you too. I kept them all."

She pulled another cardboard box out of her coat and handed it to me. My fingers shook as I opened it. My sister's handwriting stared at me from the inside, the i's dotted normally. Tears stung my eyes.

"But why would you send me those cryptic messages?" I asked her shakily. "How could you make me feel so afraid?"

"Because, you ruined my fucking life, Ginger. And I wanted you to be afraid."

Fear washed over me, but was soon replaced by regret that reached down to my bones.

"The asylum," I whispered. "You were sent to the asylum because of me."

"Yes. I suffered in there. Fucking suffered. I had to set it on fire. It was the only way to get out there."

"But a woman died. An innocent woman died."

"Innocent?" She laughed. "She wasn't fucking innocent. She was the head of the whole thing. You ever wonder why a small town like Hollyhock had an asylum?"

I shook my head.

"They put everyone in there who didn't agree with their crazy fucking logic," she spat. "Kids. Old people. Every-fucking-one who had some sense, so they wouldn't tell anyone about the crazy shit that went down in Hollyhock."

"I still can't believe it." I shook my head. "Jonathan would’ve told me all this."

"He's riddled with guilt," she said. "He was going to go through with it, you know. Killing Astor. I had to threaten him, tell him I'd kill him too unless he saved her."

"And he did," I whispered.

"He did." She nodded. "He got her to safety and kept my secret. Didn't tell a soul which sister I really was."

"Allegra, I never wanted you to be sent away."

"You did. You didn't give a shit about me. You never came to see me. Do you even realize the last time I saw you was right after the fire?"

She was right. I couldn't stomach to look at her after. But I didn't know any of the stuff she'd just dumped on me.

"I couldn't," I managed, shame weighing heavily on me. "I'm sorry, Allegra. I didn't know. I didn't know why you did it."

"You told them I was insane," she said, the pain in her voice unmissable. "You told them I deserved to be locked up."

"I didn't have a choice!" I cried. "They said you'd go to jail if I didn't! I tried to fucking save you, Allegra. Even when I believed you were guilty."

"So they made you say it?"

"They said I had no other choice. Jonathan too."

"That bastard," she hissed. "I fucking knew he wanted me locked up. He was so afraid of me. You know how scared he was when I got out of the asylum? He gave me so much money. Filthy, bloodstained money to keep my mouth shut."

She raised her head proudly and said, "I'm going to kill him first."

"You can't kill anyone. You need to move on."

"Never. Not until that town is razed to the ground."

She was clearly obsessed. There was no talking sense into her.

Ryker squeezed my hip, and I looked at him for help.

"Look, why don't we sit down," he said. "Explain everything to us from the start."

"Okay," Allegra agreed. "But you'd better believe me. It sounds like a nightmare, I know, but trust me, it's the fucking truth."