Page 89 of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies

“What happened?”

I raise my hands over my ears to try to block them out. They’re like the fireworks, a boom, boom, boom of distraction. I can’t figure out what I need to do with everyone looking at me like I’m crazy and should be locked away somewhere. But just like the last time I almost died, when I nearly choked on that fish bone, I don’t have to stand here and take it. I can be like Oliver and walk away. I can banish myself from my own life.

So I do it.

And the fact that everyone follows me like lemmings, well, that might be predictable, but sometimes predictable things happen in life.

In books, too.

We end up in the hotel library. I didn’t know this hotel had a library, but when I got inside the building with the rest of them trailing behind me, I didn’t feel like leading them to my room, so I took a left in the lobby and ended up in here, a room lined with books and cushy red velvet sofas.

I sit down on one near a roaring fire, and even though it’s still a million degrees outside, the heat feels good. I’m shivering and feel feverish.

I must be in shock.

Well, obviously.

“What happened, Eleanor?” Allison asks sitting on the arm of the couch in front of me. She’s dressed in a flowing chiffon number that looks like something a movie star would’ve worn to the Oscars in the 1950s. It looks amazing on her, and I feel a flash of jealousy.

So, I’ve come out of my second near-death experience with my personality intact.

Good to know.

“Someone tried to push me down the stairs during the fireworks.”

A murmur of shock travels through the room like a wave.

“Did you see who did it?” Guy asks, and I can’t help but wonder if his voice sounds nervous.

Because he’s a suspect, right? They all are.

Did I say that already? I feel like I did, but my brain’s not working quite right.

“No, they were behind me.”

“Are you sure it was deliberate?” Shek asks. “There were a lot of people out there. Everyone was trying to get a better view, but as I informed the very rude girl who pushed me aside, the fireworks were above us, and there was no need to vie for a better spot.”

“Shek makes a good point. Maybe you were only jostled.” Connor’s eyes are twinkling with something, which is never a good thing.

But I know what he’s saying. Because it’s what I said to him about what happened in Rome outside the Vatican. That being pushed around in a crowd isn’t evidence of anything.

“I… I’m not sure.”

“How can you not be sure?” Emily asks.

“It felt like someone pushed me. Maybe it wasn’t deliberate?”

But even as I say it, I don’t believe it. There have been too many almost-deaths on this trip, both real and faked. I don’t believe everything happens for a reason, and there are coincidences, but not this many.

Which means that someone’s trying to kill me and Connor.

But who?

I hug myself and angle my body toward the fire. It feels like I’m never going to get warm.

“I think someone pushed her,” Oliver says, stepping into the room. We make eye contact, briefly, then turn away. He’s still mad, and I still feel stupid.

That is what I wanted, wasn’t it?