Page 52 of The House of Quiet

Chapter Forty-Four

A Nimbus Restored

When Birdie came into the kitchen that morning, everyone was so happy and relieved to have her back that they failed to notice a key event.

Forest didn’t only stay at Birdie’s side.

There was a moment when he leaned down, put his hand on Nimbus’s shoulder, and said ever so softly, “ Find your way back to yourself .”

It’s taken a few hours, but Nimbus at last has settled in his own mind.

He knows who he is. He knows which thoughts are his, which eyes, which hands.

He can still feel all the other minds, hear and see and even think them, and it’s still confusing and overwhelming and more terrifying than ever thanks to the new additions, but.

But. Amid all that incredible clamoring, he exists.

And, thanks to his time spent being trapped in the thoughts of others, he’s seen Lake’s visions of the future. River rushes Iron in an attempt to drug her. Iron ducks and throws River into the mantel, where River’s head cracks against the stone. She dies, immediately.

Arrow attacks Iron. Iron triggers so much pain in Arrow’s body that she can’t move. The men come and retrieve the unconscious Arrow and do the procedure on her. She dies, not immediately.

Forest wakes and, enraged and confused, screams before he realizes what he’s doing. They all die, in incredible agony.

Except Lake, who has just put plugs in her ears, having seen this happen in any number of variations. She alone will stand witness as Forest rampages through the house, discovers what he’s done, and then lights the House of Quiet on fire, standing in the center, cradling Birdie’s body to the last.

Nimbus doesn’t like that sequence of events at all.

He loves everyone here. Well, obviously not the new additions. But he loves every resident of the house because he’s been them. He has the compassion that comes with a perfect understanding that other people are as real as he is.

And they’ve taken such good care of him.

Not just his old friend Birdie, but all of them.

Dawn, with her determined cheerfulness to comfort him when he was so lost. Lake, who often told him she wished they could wander together instead of lonely and apart.

Arrow, who came here with only anger and determination to do violence, but immediately abandoned her own schemes when she thought he was in danger.

Forest, who risked his deepest fear—accidentally hurting someone again—to throw Nimbus a lifeline and lead him back to his own mind.

And River, who is somehow both the sweetest and most terrifying person here, even if no one else can see it.

He knows exactly how far she’ll go for the people she loves, and because she loves them so fiercely, he does, too.

He even loves Cook. Poor Sable, with her tortured thoughts and broken heart, who only ever wanted to be with her daughter and chose to ignore the cost. She’s absolutely guilty and culpable in all this suffering, but he understands why she did it.

He can’t say that he loves the House Wife, because there’s not enough of a person left in her mind to love. But he’s sorry for what Mouse was turned into.

He does not, however, love Iron. So he stays in Iron’s vicious, greedy, paranoid mind and mirrors her just long enough to change things.

River’s so confused that she doesn’t rush Iron.

And Iron is worked into such a baffled frenzy that she barely notices as Hawthorn comes and takes Arrow away.

Arrow, who is still conscious and capable of defending herself.

With Arrow gone, River waits for an opening, trying to be smart and not panic.

Forest, thankfully, is still out cold. Things can be different.

Nimbus looks at Lake and winks. She rolls her eyes but smiles.

I know you all better than you know yourselves , Nimbus thinks, and holds back his own smile. Now it’s time to unleash true chaos and hope against hope that the others can take advantage of it.

“If he doesn’t stop, I’m killing him!” Iron snaps, but this time, Nimbus doesn’t mirror her.

Instead, he says in as cold and clinical a tone as he can manage, “I think Iron’s becoming a liability.”