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I press my palm against myself to hold the invites in place. “I’m just looking around.”

“You’re a special guest,” Charlie says. “Mother wants you in the main house.”

“I wasn’t quite finished.”

Charlie doesn’t move. The suited man’s gaze darts between us. I swallow the urge to protest and escalate this, risking giving up what I did find. But as I leave, I turn to the suited man and ask, “How long has the guesthouse been so full?”

“With the prep for Trials, I haven’t had any open rooms for weeks.” He stares, apparently bewildered by my inquisitiveness.

That was my mother’s room. I follow Charlie out the door. I should’ve expected Beaulah would have eyes on me everywhere I go. She’s cautious to a fault.

When we’re outside, I stop Charlie, annoyed that my plans have been thwarted.

“You’re in charge of security on the grounds?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then who are you?”

“A trusted confidant.”

“Do you live here?”

“I do, most of the time. In the north wing. And all this matters to you because…?”

“Because I want to know who you are and why you have the authority to pull me away. Nothing I was doing concerned you. It was a vacant room.”

“Mother’s House. Mother’s rules. And your mother, Rhea…”

Hearing her name knocks the wind out of me.

“She’s no longer here. You could have just asked.”

“Is it wrong to want to see where she stayed?”

“Not wrong.” We start walking. “But it makes it look like you don’t trust us.”

“I don’t trust anyone.”

We walk in silence until we’re out of the forest.

“I met your mom,” he says. “She was real nice.”

I press the invitations hidden against me, digging my nails into my skin.

“I was bummed I didn’t get a chance to see her off. I was in bed sick as a dog, all day, the day she left. If there’s anything else you want to know, just ask.”

We don’t talk the entire way back to my room, Adola’s warning about Charlie fresh in my mind. I don’t trust Charlie or Adola, but if I had to pick, I’d pick her. I understand the pressure on her shoulders. I don’t know anything about this man or what drives him.

“Mother wants to see you at dinnertime in the cigar lounge,” he says.

I agreed to be her science experiment, so I don’t see a way around coming when she calls.

“If you want me to escort—”

“I can find it.” I offer a tight smile before disappearing inside my room. I didn’t even get a chance to look in the closet, under the bed, or in the bathroom. Who knows what I missed? I have to get back to that guesthouse when everyone, including Charlie, is distracted. I slip out of my shoes before pulling the invites out of my bust. Each is hard and well worn.

My mother never mentioned the balls she attended before she had me. She never talked much about life with Grandmom. But the one thing I do know is that my mom is careful: she only takes calculated risks. Collecting so many invitations from various people would not have been easy. Why would she do that? I flip through the invites again, looking for some kind of message or written note. But there’s nothing. Just papers that have long been trash.