Nathan . . . no one knows what happened to Nathan.”
Finn bit into her sandwich even as her stomach convulsed.
“Finn, the Fatas are like earth, fire, water, and air. They can either help or harm—and Reiko’s Fatas seemed intent on harm.”
“You allowed her to get away with so much.”
“We didn’t allow it.” Jane’s voice was filled with sorrow. “We couldn’t stop it.”
“How did you find out about the Fatas? I mean, you, personally?”
“Each of us encountered them in our teens—not Reiko’s Fatas, but others. And we kept our memories of them even after we got older. That’s not common. It was Rowan Cruithnear and Sophia Avaline who found each of us and organized us, and Rowan Cruithnear who gave us jobs in this very haunted town.”
“So there are probably others like you? In the country? The world?”
“It would be nice if we knew that. Rowan had to stop searching after a while. But you asked how I found out about the Fatas.” Jane chose a sandwich. “I was eighteen. In Virginia Beach, at dusk, I met a boy on the seashore. He was lovely and charming and he had hair as red as reef coral. No one else ever saw him. He was my secret.”
Finn wished she hadn’t guessed where this story was going.
Jane stirred cream into her tea. “I began to get sick. I was tired all the time.”
“You weren’t . . . ?”
“No, I wasn’t pregnant. But I learned, after my parents took me to a doctor, that I’d lost a lot of blood.”
“Oh.” Finn sat back.
“He was what they call, in Irish mythology, a ganconer, a love-talker. In Greece, he would be an incubus. He was bleeding me and taking away the memory of it. He was also a creature of the sea tribes, the water Fatas, who are in no way friendly to us.”
“How did you know it was him? The red-haired boy?”
“I did some research. I wrapped up an old iron spoon and went to meet him. But it’s as if he knew. He never showed up. I never saw him again. After that, though, I could tell . . . I noticed others.”
“So he was like a mermaid love-talker?”
“He didn’t have a tail.” Jane smiled wryly.
“My sister once did a drawing of a mermaid, with starfish and crabs in her hair. She looked like a shark. It was creepy—it wasn’t a nice mermaid. Then Lily started to read about mermaids, a lot. Whenever we went to the beach, she wouldn’t go in the water. I knew something was wrong. Like she was going crazy. But it wasn’t that . . . someone had told her about mermaids.”
“Before she met Leander Cyrus?”
“She had an imaginary friend she called Norn.”
“Did she?” Jane sounded troubled. Delicately, she continued, “Finn, do you think Jack knew about Lil—”
“No.”
“I understand how you feel about him. But he’s been badly hurt—manipulated, traumatized. I can’t even imagine what he’s seen—”
“And I’m only an eighteen-year-old girl who can’t possibly understand those things.”
“Don’t get defensive. Just be careful.”
Finn ruthlessly changed the subject. “I’ve seen Sophia Avaline’s sister. Eve.”
Jane became startled and wary.
“Her name was Eve, right? She’s dead. I mean, well, she’s a spirit, I think. And I think Professor Avaline knows. I think she blames Jack.”
“Finn.” Jane sat back in her chair. “Did he . . . ?”
“Jack didn’t kill Eve. It was Reiko.” Finn gazed down into her tea. “Jack thought he loved Eve.”
Jane was quiet, so Finn filled in the silence: “My sister might be alive, Jane.”
Jane lifted her head, her eyes widening, and Finn told her about Moth, Seth Lot, Lily’s charm bracelet, and Leander Cyrus. Jane looked dumbfounded, then horrified, as Finn told her that she needed the key to the Ghostlands. “Finn, you can’t.”
“If you don’t help me, I’ll find another way.”
“Your father—”
“Won’t know. And have you heard him when he talks about my sister? No. Because he still can’t. Phouka told me no time will pass here while we’re gone, as long as we return the way we came.”
“Damn her.”
Finn leaned forward and calmly said, “My sister, Lily Rose, is a monster’s prisoner. If you don’t help me—”
“You don’t know this is true, Finn.”
“Leander loved her and he’s a Jack. He bleeds. Jane, you have to—”
“Stop.” Jane’s voice was strained. “I know what I have to do.”
AS JACK ENTERED MURRAY’S ARCADE, he surveyed the throngs of teenagers until he saw Absalom disguised as one of them, standing with a plastic gun and shooting at monsters on a