“Oh...who knows? He made us good,” Thora said. “He didn’t make us wise. I have no idea if it was right or wrong, good or evil. I know it would be considered unethical, the way he went about it. But I ask myself this—would I want to undo what he did?”
“No?”
“Never in a million years. I don’t remember much about my life before Dad, but I do remember...” Her voice trailed off. She looked away out the window. A tear escaped her eye and all the way down her face where it fell off and landed on her thigh. “I remember enough.”
Allison didn’t ask for details. Thora deserved some privacy, even some secrets.
“I know there were others,” Thora said. “I know he hurt them when he was trying to help them. But I know Dad loved us. To take the risks he took to help us, that’s love, right?”
“It’s a kind of love,” Allison said. “Or an attempt at it, anyway.”
“When you love someone, you sometimes make choices you don’t want to make. You do things to help them that you wish you didn’t have to do,” Thora said. She had been looking at the floor but she lifted her head and met Allison’s eyes.
Allison knew then who it was who’d called her aunt that day.
“I had a feeling it was you,” Allison said. “Though I could never guess why.”
“I saw you lying there unconscious,” Thora said with a shaking voice. “I saw Dad over you, panicking. And I watched the ambulance take you away. You looked so helpless. You looked so little. I knew what Dad had done to us and I thought... I was scared.”
“You were scared he was going to do it to me, too?” Allison asked. “The operation?”
“He lied to people so he could do it to us. What if he was lying about you falling down the stairs so he could experiment on you? When Deacon ran to find Kendra and tell her what had happened, I called your aunt. I pretended I was you. I didn’t know what else to do. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Allison said. “Sisters protect each other.”
“They do.” Thora nodded, her face contorting as if she was forcing herself not to collapse into her grief. “But I was wrong to make you scared of Roland. I was so wrong about him. I love him so much. And you, I loved you and I still do. Can you love me?”
“Yes, I can love you. I can love you forever,” Allison said. She took Thora into her arms and they wept together, held each other, shook and cried together.
Oh, yes, Allison could love Thora. Thora who had called her aunt to protect her all those years ago. Deacon who had given her the pepper spray to protect herself. And Roland who’d taken an ax to the attic door when he’d heard her scream. Dr. Capello, their “savior,” had tried to kill her and the killers had saved her. Dr. Capello hadn’t just made his children good. He’d made them even better than him.
“Thank you,” Thora said, pulling away to wipe her face.
“No problem.” Allison ran her fingers through Thora’s wild hair, taming it. Like sisters do.
“I’ll have to tell them,” she said, shrugging. “Deac and Ro. They need to know it was me who called your aunt.”
“I called my aunt,” Allison said. “It was me. I called her because I was freaked out after Roland and I fooled around on the beach. I’d forgotten it was me because of my head injury. I was so upset about Roland, crying so hard that I tripped. That’s what we tell them.”
“Is that what happened that day? You were crying and you tripped? Or did Dad do something to you?”
Thora knew her father had lied to them about what they were. She knew he lied about the operations he’d performed on them. She even knew he’d harmed other children with his experiment. But Thora didn’t know what he’d done to her sister up in that attic.
And Allison wasn’t going to tell her.
“He caught me going through his files. I got scared and ran off. I fell down the stairs. But he didn’t push me. No one pushed me. If your dad acted cagey about it, though, that’s why. Because I’d run from him, and he knew I knew about you all.”
“So he didn’t...he didn’t do anything to you?”
“No,” Allison said. “Except catch me in his files.”
Thora took a shuddering breath and, once again, she seemed ready to weep. This time, however, it was tears of relief. It hadn’t been easy to lie to Thora, but she was glad she did it.
“I was worried,” Thora said in a hollow voice. “I was... I don’t think I could forgive him if he’d done something to you.”
“Don’t be worried. Not about that.”
Thora took another long shuddering breath. A few seconds passed and she pasted on a smile. Thora gently tapped the large cardboard box on the floor with her bare toes.
“So...you liked your dragons Deacon made you?” Thora asked.
“Loved them. They’re perfect.”
“He worked so hard on them. I’m glad you love them. He told me he was trying to make up for all the Christmases and birthdays you missed here.”
“Deacon’s so sweet,” Allison said. “My own personal dragons.”
“You know, in China, dragons are considered lucky, not scary,” Thora said. “And they bring rain. You’re either going to have a ton of luck in your life or a ton of rain now.”
“I’ll be happy with either,” Allison said.
“You won’t tell them, will you?” Thora asked suddenly, panic in her eyes. “Everything I mean? About what they really are? About the other kids?”
It was a hard thing Thora asked of her. Dr. Capello had asked her the very same thing. To keep the secret would break her heart, Allison knew. To lie and lie to the man she loved... And yet to tell him the truth about his father, what he’d done to them, what he’d done to Kendra and Antonio and Oliver, and what he’d done to her, would hurt even more. It wasn’t fair. As a kid she’d thought evil people had glowing red eyes and sinister smiles. She didn’t want to believe that evil could look like a kindly old man with soft brown eyes and a snowy white beard who gave the best hugs in the world.
Allison started to answer, “I don’t know,” but before she could say it, a soft knock sounded on the door.
“Come in,” Thora said. It was Roland. He stood, as he usually did, right on the threshold, not quite in, not quite out. His jaw was set and his lips were tight.
“What’s up?” Thora said.
“It’s time,” Roland said. “If we’re going to do it today, we need to go now. Sun’s almost gone and weather says the temperature is dropping tomorrow.”
Thora climbed off the bed.
“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll get Deacon. You’re with us, right?” Thora said to Allison.
“For what?” Allison asked.
“The ashes,” Roland said. “You’ll come with us to spread them?”
The man had tried to kill her and now his mortal remains sat in jars in the sunroom. Time to empty the jars. Time to let it all go for good.
“Yes,” Allison said. “I’m coming.”
Chapter 29
Allison went downstairs with Roland to the sunroom to wait for the others. They didn’t speak, but they did lean on each other. Allison leaned into Roland and he leaned into her. Between the two of them, maybe they could hold each other up just a little bit longer.
Deacon joined them and Thora arrived shortly after, holding something red in her arms.
“What’s that?” Roland asked.
“I know it’s dumb, but I thought Dad would like it,” Thora said. She held up red hooded sweatshirts.
“What? No way,” Deacon said, laughing. “He used to make us wear red on the beach so he could spot us easier. He was such a nag. I hope this fits.”
“I got them yesterday,” Thora said. “It’ll fit.”
Deacon pulled on the sweatshirt and Thora put on hers. Roland wormed his way into the sweatshirt. Thora put the hood up on his and nodded. “Now you’re a red monk,” she said.
Thora held out one last sweatshirt, a size small. Allison looked at it a second before taking it from Thora and pulling it on.
“We’re wearing these in the picture I have of us,” Allison said. “The one with the sparklers.”
“That was a good day,” Deacon said. “Any day when I get to play with fireworks is a good day.”
“It was a very good day,” Allison said. “Any day when I got to play with you all was a good day.”