Early the next morning, only a little while after the change had ended, Everett got a call from Kristen. She sounded much calmer than she had when she kidnapped Elena and told them to meet her in a parking lot on the other side of town. Everett and Marguerite hurried into the car and headed over. Kristen was already waiting for them, standing beside an old beat-up car with Elena next to her.

The little girl looked frightened but no worse for wear. She tried to dart forward when they got out of the car, but Kristen pulled her back and whispered something that made her go still again.

Rage boiled in his blood. How dare she? How dare she take an innocent little girl and try to blackmail them with her safety? He started forward but stopped when he heard Marguerite cry out. As she started forward, Kristen tensed, so Everett grabbed Marguerite’s arm and pulled her back. They didn’t want to spook Kristen again.

He swallowed down his rage and nodded to her. “We’re here. Let us have Elena back and we can forget this ever happened.”

“And that’s why you look like you want to rip out my spine?” Kristen snorted, though her hands were trembling. “No. It’s not going to work like that. First, you’re going to tell me where to find Simon Bell. Then you can have her.”

Everett clenched his jaw. He wanted to tell her no deal and that if she didn’t give them their daughter back right now, she would regret it, but he held himself back. This was his sister. Despite everything, she was still the only person he’d had over the past six years. And he was still the only person she had.

“Let us have Elena and I’ll give you the address,” Marguerite said.

“No. You give me the address first.”

“He lives out east, in Pennsylvania,” Marguerite said. Her voice was defeated, her shoulders slumped as she pulled her phone out. “I’m texting you the address now.”

Kristen’s phone dinged and she pulled it out. She read the message while gripping Elena’s hand. Everett tried to catch his daughter’s eye to reassure her, but her gaze was locked on Marguerite. She, in turn, shook and trembled, face blanched except for the black bruise around her nose. Her hands clenched and unclenched.

“Calm down,” he whispered, taking her hand. “You’re frightening Elena.”

Marguerite gave him a panicked look but nodded. She sucked in a deep breath and stilled.

Kristen let go of Elena’s hand. “Go to your mother.”

The little girl didn’t need to be told twice. She raced across space between them, flinging herself into Marguerite’s arms. She started to sob, and the rage he’d been fighting down boiled again. He started forward, digging deep within himself to bring up the extra strength his beast gave him, but Kristen whipped a gun out from behind her back and pointed it at him with both hands. He froze.

“I don’t know if this will kill us,” she gasped out hoarsely. “I don’t want to find out on you, Everett. You’re the only one that’s kept me sane these past six years. But I remembered. I remembered everything and I can’t . . . I can’t keep going like this.”

Her gaze moved to Elena and a look of anguish crossed her face. Her hands trembled. Everett wasn’t sure if the bullet would hit him if she fired. It might miss. It might hit Elena or Marguerite. He fell back a step.

“Kristen, it doesn’t matter who you were, okay? Whatever you are remembering that’s making you go crazy . . . We’re all we have. Don’t do this.”

“No,” Kristen whispered. The gun lowered an inch. “We’re not. You have them. And after what I did, you can’t forgive me. I wouldn’t forgive me. And your . . . whatever she is to you—” She gestured towards Marguerite with the gun and Everett tensed, but it pointed back at him quickly enough. Marguerite rounded the car and crouched behind it, shielding Elena. “She’d have never forgiven me for sure. I know. Because I was a mom, too.”

Her file had said nothing about her having children.

“I had my baby at fourteen. Fourteen. My parents kicked me out, but I loved my little boy. He was my world, and I would have done anything for him. I did things that make me sick to remember, but I kept him safe and I kept him fed and warm and loved.”

Everett started to inch forward again. “Kristen, put down the gun. If anybody sees, they’ll call the cops and then—”

“You’re not listening.” Her voice broke. “Only five percent of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases are genetically linked. But both my boy and I were diagnosed at the same time. I wasn’t going to let him waste away like that, so I signed us up for Bell’s program. He promised that he could save us.”

A cold ball of dread sank in Everett’s stomach. Ninety percent of patients died after the treatment, whatever it was, was administered.

“The procedure went wrong, he said. I fought tooth and nail to get past him and see my son, and I will never forget what I found. A monster. His face, but his body was covered in hair and there were fangs in his mouth. He’d already dissected my boy for research purposes and I didn’t even get to bury him. Then the procedure took effect in me, and I became a monster.”

“You’re not a monster. Neither of us is.” Everett started forward again, his eyes locked on her face. “Listen to me. What happened was awful. I am so sorry that you lost him. But listen to me – he would have died anyway if you hadn’t done what you did. You’re not to blame for his death, and neither is Bell—”

Kristen snorted and shook her head. “If that was the truth, then why did he make us forget?”

Make them forget? The leaden ball in his stomach grew heavier. “It was the change that—”

“No. I remembered. The change didn’t make us forget anything – not any more than it makes us forget now. He cut into our brains and took out those memories. And then we were in the dark. There were others, but they were too afraid to leave when we clawed through the dirt and found our freedom.”

A tingling at the back of his mind made him shiver. He didn’t remember digging, but he remembered exiting the tunnel. Kristen by his side. Covered in dirt and terrified. “Do you remember when we stepped out into the moonlight? You said you couldn’t run, that you were too frightened. So I put you on my back and carried you. Kristen, we’re family. Don’t do this. Don’t leave me.”

A tear ran down her cheek. “I don’t think we’re immortal. I hope we’re not. Well . . . after Bell’s dead, we’ll find out.”

She slid into her car. Everett ran forward, but before he could reach her, she had peeled out of the parking lot, running over the median to drive away. He watched her go, his heart feeling like ice. The rage was still there, but it was tamped down by the pain ripping through his chest.

“Evett?”

He turned to see Marguerite still holding Elena. His eyes burned as he raced back to them and pulled them both into his arms. Maybe Kristen was right . . . Maybe she was alone now, now that he had Marguerite and Elena. Now that he had more family.

But that didn’t mean that Kristen was any less his sister.

Elena put her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly. The tightness in his chest worsened. How was he meant to apologize for letting this happen? How could he restore her trust in him when he had failed her so much? Tears started to leak from his eyes. It was Marguerite who set them back on track, hustling them into the car to go back to the hotel.

“Are you okay, baby?” she asked as she sat in the back seat with her daughter.

Everett glanced in the rearview mirror to see her nodding. “I wasn’t that scared. Kristen wasn’t mean. She let me watch cartoons and gave me a chocolate muffin.”

The tightness in his chest eased a little.

“She told me it was a game, but I don’t like that game. I don’t want to play it again.”

Marguerite kissed the top of her head. “We won’t, I promise. I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.”

Elena sighed and leaned against her mother. “I love you, Mommy.”

She was asleep by the time they got to the hotel. Marguerite sat on the bed with her, watching her sleep. Everett stayed back a bit, not knowing what he should do. Part of him wondered if they should contact Bell and warn him about Kristen was coming. Another part wondered if what Kristen had told him was true. Had Bell performed a lobotomy on the two of them to make them forget? Why would he do that? Research into curing ALS was a noble enough calling, even if he had taken it too extreme, why cut into their brains?

He thought of the file that Bell had had on him. Was he the same person he was back then? There was nothing about what sort of person he was. Nothing about personality, likes, interests. Was he a good man?

And Kristen . . . A single teenage mom doing whatever she had to do to look after her son. He could guess what that meant. It was no wonder she had such a worse time with this than he did.

Marguerite got off the bed and walked to him. He opened his mouth, wanting to apologize, but she pressed a finger to his lips. “I know what you’re thinking. It’s not your fault that she took Elena. And she’s back with us safe now. That’s all that matters. But . . . ”

Everett knew what he was going to say. “But we need to find Simon Bell before Kristen can get to him.”

“He doesn’t have a listed number, so calling him is out of the question. If we look right now, we might be able to get tickets to Pennsylvania for this evening. Hopefully, we’ll be able to beat her there. I shouldn’t have given her his address. I should have lied.” Marguerite dug her hands into her hair. “I should have lied. Why didn’t I?”

He wrapped his arms around her waist. “Because our daughter was in danger and you couldn’t risk it.”

Elena sighed in her sleep and Everett’s arms tightened around Marguerite. He didn’t want to have to protect Bell. The thought of going back to that lab, facing him again, made his chest tighten and his heart palpitate. But Marguerite had been right all this time. They needed answers. Answers they weren’t going to get if he let Kristen kill Bell.

His gaze moved back to Marguerite’s face. The bruise was even blacker now and he winced as he looked at it. Maybe if he had talked with Kristen more, she wouldn’t have gone this far.

“Let’s get those tickets,” he whispered. “But Elena . . . Once we’re there, we’re getting a hotel and you’re staying out of the line of fire.” Marguerite opened her mouth and he shook his head. “No arguing. You are going to stay with Elena and keep her safe. Bell, Kristen . . . they’re up to me.”

She closed her eyes briefly before she nodded. “Okay. Okay. Just . . . take care of yourself. If it comes down to you and Bell—”

“I’ll come back to you.” He kissed her. “I promise.”