Page 188 of The Lost and Found Girl

“What happens now?” Ruby asked.

The breeze ruffled the leaves, the sound mingling with the birds, the river. Everything felt so sharp and real.

“Whatever we want,” Lydia said.

Marianne walked to the edge of the path and leaned against the rail, looking down at the water below. The lines by her mouth looked deeper, and there was a sadness in her eyes that hadn’t been there before.

The greatest gift was that their relationship felt strong still. Stronger in some ways, yes. But mostly... They were sisters. It was a sister Marianne needed now.

Ruby had asked her a few weeks ago how she was.

Getting there.

What does that mean?

I don’t know. But I’ll be okay. I didn’t come this far to crumble now.

“Do you think there’s justice on the other side?” Marianne asked. “Or do you think he got away with it?”

“I like to believe there is,” Ruby said. “I like to believe that in the end of all things, there’s justice.” She took a deep breath of the cold, sharp air. “But what I know for sure is thatherethere’s life. And we have that. It was never his story. It’s ours. It doesn’t matter why he did it. It doesn’t matter what happened to him. What matters is us.

“He led the mob against Nathan,” Ruby said. “With every word he wrote. He created a villain so that no one would look and see who the real monster was. He made the outside world the dark place so that no one could believe there was a predator here. And then when it was clear there was, he found a scapegoat and wrote the story the way he wanted everyone to see it.”

“Yes,” Marianne said. “He was manipulative. And dedicated to his fiction about his own position as...as a hero.” She blinked rapidly.

“He was wrong, Marianne,” Ruby said, reaching out and taking her hand.

Her sister’s hand.

She would always be her sister.

“It’s you,” Ruby continued. “You were the hero all along.”

Dahlia reached into her pocket and took out a small packet.

“What’s that?” Ruby asked.

“Carter said that he was able to release the necklace. Since Dale is dead and there’s not going to be a trial.”

Ruby had hers around her neck, and she couldn’t quite say why. Because they were not happy things. Not by any stretch of the imagination. And yet...

“I think I know what we should do with them.” She took hers off, and Dahlia unwrapped Caitlin’s. And they put both into Marianne’s hand.

“We don’t need them anymore. We did. They’re part of what linked Caitlin to me. What linked you to Caitlin. And they helped. They helped bring out the truth. And the truth... The truth is what set us all free. It’s what brought her back home. But they should rest somewhere. Somewhere not with us.”

Marianne leaned out over the side of the bridge and released the necklaces down into the current.

They probably sank to the bottom there. Would probably cling to the rocks. Maybe they would get stuck again. Maybe they would end up floating all the way down to the sea. But it didn’t matter. Not anymore. They didn’t need to hold on to them now.

“Now what?” Ruby asked.

Marianne looked at her sisters. “Whatever we want. We’re writing the story.”

And so they walked across the bridge, on the road that led to home.

Epilogue

Excerpt of: Heroes and Monsters