Page 50 of The House of Quiet

River frowns. “He told me he was wealthy because of the procedure. I asked him to explain, and he took me to a room with a small box on a pedestal. But I’ve seen the procedure room.

One of the pedantic ministers took my father on a tour once.

The machine they use is enormous. Bigger than the footprint of this house and almost as tall.

Even if you could hide it, you couldn’t transport it.

And you couldn’t perform the procedure without someone knowing. ”

Birdie’s fingers drift to her head. Hawthorn had walked into the kitchen with his usual smug expression, but then he had such a strong reaction and immediately withdrew. Because he saw someone he wasn’t expecting to.

Hawthorn, who works with Dr.Bramble, who runs the procedure machine.

The doctor would have no reason to interact with wealthy families, because wealthy families have no reason to need the procedure.

So how did the doctor know that the workings of the House of Quiet would be disrupted?

How did he know they’d need new maids and a tutor?

And how did Hawthorn already know exactly who was going to be here?

They couldn’t have known. Unless the doctor was the one making it happen.

Several things click into place at once. The first: Hawthorn tried to kill her last night. The second: He did it by performing the procedure on Birdie’s too-old mind, an event that up until now has almost always resulted in death.

And the third: Everything they thought they knew about the procedure is wrong.

“I think—” Birdie starts.

“Where’s Nimbus?” Cook asks, dodging around various branches and fronds. She’s flushed and sweating.

“What do you mean?” Arrow demands.

“I mean, where’s Nimbus? I can’t find him anywhere, and the House Wife is ready to start treating him.”

“No!” Birdie, River, and Arrow shout simultaneously. Forest stands, closing the distance to Cook. She doesn’t notice him looming menacingly.

Cook scowls. “You don’t get to say no. This is what he’s here for. What his parents want. I’ve let you all have too much freedom, and things are going to change around here. Now tell me where you’ve hidden him.”

“We don’t have him,” Arrow snaps. But her expression changes from defiance to fear. “You really can’t find him? He was cleaning bathrooms with Dawn and Lake.”

“You had him cleaning bathrooms?” Cook shakes her head in disbelief. “Well, he’s not down here. I looked in every room. Did you leave the stairs unlocked?”

“We’re not the ones who forget to lock things. The front door,” Arrow says, already rushing toward the greenhouse exit. “Is it locked?”

Birdie nods at Forest. He runs ahead with Arrow.

“He wouldn’t have gone outside!” Cook shouts after them, then grumbles as she follows with Birdie and River. Birdie leans heavily on River for support.

“He almost got out once before.” Birdie picks up her pace. They reach the foyer just as Forest throws open the unlocked door and bursts outside.

Which is when a club swings out and hits him in the head.

“Forest!” Birdie screams.

“Who?” Cook asks, blinking in confusion.

Arrow turns and looks at Birdie with an expression of pure terror and dread on her face. River rushes forward to help them, but before Birdie can, Cook grabs her arm.

“Not you, dear,” she says.

Arrow is shoved roughly forward, revealing a young woman, as lovely as a summer day, with golden ringlets and pale cheeks flushed with a healthy pink. She smiles brightly as she steps over Forest’s prone body.

“Hello,” she says.

Arrow spins on her heel, driving a fist into the new girl’s stomach.

The girl doubles over with a pained exhalation.

She reaches out a hand and brushes Arrow’s arm.

Arrow collapses to the ground, writhing and screaming.

River moves to run toward her, but Arrow holds up a single hand in warning. River stays where she is.

“Forest, Forest, wake up! Please, let me go help him,” Birdie says, trying to break away. Cook is so much heavier and stronger than she is.

“Help who ?” Cook shakes her head and begins dragging Birdie back toward the House Wife’s room.

“Beetle! What are you doing? Help me get her to Mouse,” Cook demands.

The driver is bending over Forest, shoving a piece of cloth into his mouth.

There’s a trickle of blood at Forest’s hairline. He’s breathing, though.

Dr.Bramble appears, walking toward them with a cane that’s purely for show. He steps over Forest’s prone body and smiles. His teeth are very straight and very white, and his face is round and friendly, but his smile doesn’t touch his eyes. How did Birdie not see it before?

“Dr.Bramble?” River says, confused and shocked.

The same doctor who visited her when she was so sick. Of course it’s the same doctor.

“Hello, Birdie,” he says, ignoring River.

Birdie lets out a low cry of despair. She can’t take her eyes off Forest, lying there, so vulnerable. “I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know they would do this. I needed their help finding Magpie. I should have told you all about them; I should have warned you.”

“Who are these people?” Cook demands, looking at the driver. “All you told me was to send the older ones outside! You didn’t say anything about visitors. What are you doing, Beetle?”

“They promised to help.” The driver ties a scarf tightly around Forest’s wrists, binding them behind his back.

“We have to send this one up.” Cook twists Birdie’s arm as she tries to break free. “She’s hurting our little Mouse.”

“Who is she hurting?” Dr.Bramble asks.

“The House Wife,” Cook snaps. “We need to quiet her.”

“But she said I was quiet. She said—” Birdie blinks once, twice, three times. Forest shines. River shines. The terrifying new blond girl shines. And no one else does. Whatever Hawthorn did didn’t succeed in killing her, but it did trigger an ability.

And now she’s going to end up like Rabbit. A quick death would have been kinder.