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Authors: Brian Knight
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a habit of keeping it well-oiled to cover her nighttime jaunts. She walked as quietly as she could down the stairs to the bottom floor, not wanting to wake Susan.
But Susan was already awake.
“Who else could have done it? Who else would have?” Susan kept her voice low, obviously not wanting to wake Penny, but all the calm was out of her voice now. The one person who could make her lose her cool, apparently, was her sister. After a few minutes of silence on her end, Susan spoke again.
“You weren’t looking out for anyone. You did it to cause trouble. You and that ….” It seemed she couldn’t find the right word or simply wouldn’t allow herself to use it. “That man has had it in for her since the day she showed up. You never gave her a chance either.”
More silence, then Penny thought she could actually hear Miss Riggs shouting from her end of the line.
Susan forgot about keeping her voice down. “You narrow-minded ….”
She called her sister a word Penny had never heard her use before, then hung up.
Penny stayed put on the landing between the second and third floor as Susan stomped from the living room into the hallway, where Penny could see her shaking with barely contained anger, then onto the front porch. She closed the door quietly behind her.
Penny waited a few moments to make sure she wasn’t coming right back inside — she didn’t want Susan to know she’d heard the argument — then crept down the steps to the hallway and hurried to the back door.
The night beyond was silent, moonlit, cool, and Penny let herself enjoy the peace of it for a few seconds before dropping to her belly in the grass and reaching into the darkness under the steps in search of some unknown, and likely exotic, item.
She found it quickly and was relieved when her hand was back in sight.
Ronan had left her a stone, mottled gray and strangely textured, shaped like a large egg.
Marveling that just when she didn’t think Ronan could get any weirder he always somehow managed it, Penny crept back inside, and, after checking that the hallway was still empty, hurried up to her bedroom.
In bed, she examined the strange egg by the light of her lamp. It was heavy, felt solid, and when she shook it nothing rattled inside. It was too rough to be soapstone and too bland to be valuable.
Trying unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn, Penny put the egg in the drawer of her bedside table and nestled under her sheets.
She’d be able to ask Ronan about the weird egg the next day, and maybe he’d even give her a straight answer or two, though with Ronan you could never count on straight answers, only hope for them.
She’d also have to talk to Zoe about the argument she’d overheard through the kitchen window before Miss Riggs had stormed out of the party and, if she had time, start trying to confirm her suspicions about her mom and Susan.
It seemed unlikely in some ways. If Susan and her mom had been Phoenix Girls when they were younger — probably her aunt and Katie’s aunt, too — then Susan would know what she was up to when she left the house for hours at a time to visit Aurora Hollow. She would have said something, let Penny know she was a part of the secret, wouldn’t she?
With that question in her mind, Penny finally drifted to sleep.
Chapter 5
Memories
Penny awoke with the rising sun the next morning, a plan of action swirling around in her sleepy head. She was looking for her past, her family’s past—and where do people store all the old stuff that no longer fits in their day-to-day lives?
In an attic, which was not an option in this case because that’s where Susan stored Penny and her things.
Or the basement.
This house had one; she knew that because of the furnace grate in the living room floor, but she had never explored it.
She checked her clock. It was just after six, so Susan would be sleeping. Sunday was the one day she
But Susan was already awake.
“Who else could have done it? Who else would have?” Susan kept her voice low, obviously not wanting to wake Penny, but all the calm was out of her voice now. The one person who could make her lose her cool, apparently, was her sister. After a few minutes of silence on her end, Susan spoke again.
“You weren’t looking out for anyone. You did it to cause trouble. You and that ….” It seemed she couldn’t find the right word or simply wouldn’t allow herself to use it. “That man has had it in for her since the day she showed up. You never gave her a chance either.”
More silence, then Penny thought she could actually hear Miss Riggs shouting from her end of the line.
Susan forgot about keeping her voice down. “You narrow-minded ….”
She called her sister a word Penny had never heard her use before, then hung up.
Penny stayed put on the landing between the second and third floor as Susan stomped from the living room into the hallway, where Penny could see her shaking with barely contained anger, then onto the front porch. She closed the door quietly behind her.
Penny waited a few moments to make sure she wasn’t coming right back inside — she didn’t want Susan to know she’d heard the argument — then crept down the steps to the hallway and hurried to the back door.
The night beyond was silent, moonlit, cool, and Penny let herself enjoy the peace of it for a few seconds before dropping to her belly in the grass and reaching into the darkness under the steps in search of some unknown, and likely exotic, item.
She found it quickly and was relieved when her hand was back in sight.
Ronan had left her a stone, mottled gray and strangely textured, shaped like a large egg.
Marveling that just when she didn’t think Ronan could get any weirder he always somehow managed it, Penny crept back inside, and, after checking that the hallway was still empty, hurried up to her bedroom.
In bed, she examined the strange egg by the light of her lamp. It was heavy, felt solid, and when she shook it nothing rattled inside. It was too rough to be soapstone and too bland to be valuable.
Trying unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn, Penny put the egg in the drawer of her bedside table and nestled under her sheets.
She’d be able to ask Ronan about the weird egg the next day, and maybe he’d even give her a straight answer or two, though with Ronan you could never count on straight answers, only hope for them.
She’d also have to talk to Zoe about the argument she’d overheard through the kitchen window before Miss Riggs had stormed out of the party and, if she had time, start trying to confirm her suspicions about her mom and Susan.
It seemed unlikely in some ways. If Susan and her mom had been Phoenix Girls when they were younger — probably her aunt and Katie’s aunt, too — then Susan would know what she was up to when she left the house for hours at a time to visit Aurora Hollow. She would have said something, let Penny know she was a part of the secret, wouldn’t she?
With that question in her mind, Penny finally drifted to sleep.
Chapter 5
Memories
Penny awoke with the rising sun the next morning, a plan of action swirling around in her sleepy head. She was looking for her past, her family’s past—and where do people store all the old stuff that no longer fits in their day-to-day lives?
In an attic, which was not an option in this case because that’s where Susan stored Penny and her things.
Or the basement.
This house had one; she knew that because of the furnace grate in the living room floor, but she had never explored it.
She checked her clock. It was just after six, so Susan would be sleeping. Sunday was the one day she
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