Page 16 of Hide and Seek

“What about it?” I ask, my heart dropping into my stomach.

“There’s been a change of plans.”

“Oh?” I say in a flat voice.

“Yes,” she continues. At least now she sounds somewhat alert and like she’s paying attention to me. “The Mancinis invited your father and me to spend the new year at their villa. You remember the Mancinis, right? They have a daughter Lily’s age and a son just a bit younger than Cam.”

“Yeah, of course,” I say dryly. I have no idea who the Mancinis are, and I really don’t care that they have kids my brother and sister’s ages. But it’s better to just say I do than have my mom go off on a twenty-minute tangent telling me everything about them and all the reasons we should worship the ground they walk on. “But what does that have to do with me and my school break?”

“The issue is that we won’t be home for New Year, or the last week of your break. We’ve already arranged things with your brother and sister’s school so they can go back early, and we just got word from your school admin that you can go back to Silvercrest at the same time.”

“Why would I have to go back to school early because you’re going to Italy? I’m an adult. I can stay at the house by myself for my break.”

“Yes, of course you are,” she says quickly. “But remember how we’ve been talking about remodeling parts of the main floor?”

“Yeah,” I say slowly.

“We’ve got everything set up so it’ll happen when we’re away, so staying at the house isn’t an option.”

“I don’t care if there are workers around,” I tell her. “Especially not if they’re only working on the main floor. They won’t bother me, and I’ll just stay out of their way.”

“It’s not safe,” she says firmly. “There will be too many people around, too many opportunities for something to happen. I want you and your brother and sister safe at school while we’re out of the country.”

“But—”

“I’m sorry,” she says, her tone softening. “But we can’t be too careful after what happened. You understand, right?”

I get where she’s coming from, and I know she’s not doing this to be a bitch or ruin my life or anything like that, but that doesn’t mean I agree with her or her overprotective ways.

But arguing with my mom is pointless. She’s the most stubborn person I’ve ever met, and once she digs her heels in, it pretty much takes an act of god to get her to change her mind.

“Yeah,” I say, barely managing to control my tone. “I get it.”

“I knew you would,” she says brightly. “You’ve always been the easiest of the kids. I swear I never would have had three if I had to worry about you like I do your brother and sister,” she adds with a chuckle.

I force out a laugh. She’s been saying shit like this to me for years, and she still doesn’t understand that it’s not the compliment she thinks it is.

Being the quiet kid means I didn’t get in trouble growing up like my more wayward and chaotic siblings constantly do. But it also means I’ve spent most of my life being ignored because I was the well-behaved one they never had to worry about.

Until they did have to worry, and now that’s all they do.

“I have to go,” she says, sounding distracted again. “We’ll talk soon.”

“Okay. Bye, Mom.”

“Bye, sweetie.”

The line goes dead, and I toss my phone back onto my desk.

Just fucking perfect. The last thing I want is to come back to school a week early, but it’s not like I have a choice. I might be an adult, but between my parents’ overprotectiveness and the tight control Silvercrest keeps over its students, I have zero power or autonomy, and I won’t until I graduate and am finally out on my own.

The hairs on the back of my neck stand up again, and that now familiar feeling of being watched settles over me.

I haven’t seen anyone or anything suspicious since my run last week, and I still don’t even know if I saw what I think I did. It could have been a figment of my imagination or even just an optical illusion my brain interpreted as a person.

Even if someone was in the woods, it’s possible they were just going for a walk or getting high or doing something completely unrelated to me. If they were walking or just being in the woods, I probably startled them, and that’s why they hid. If they were up to something less than legal, then obviously they’d hide from me.

I almost had myself convinced it was all in my head, but then I got that email last night, and it’s like my paranoia has been launched into hyperdrive.