why? Well, Raven picked up a feather pendant from off the ground this morning when she wandered out into the field. At first, I thought there’s no way it could be the same one we gave that girl. But then I looked at it just barely and … it has that indent in it that Zay accidentally made with his knife when he was trying to carve our initials into it but then gave up because it was too complicated to put them on such a small object.”
Silence stretches between us, and my stomach starts to churn.
What if I’m right?
What if it is the pendant?
Memories start to trickle through my mind.
People are watching us, and a fire burns in the background, a song playing from the stereo …
“What if this has to do with the game?” I say quietly after Jax says nothing.
He doesn’t seem as shocked as I expect him to me. “Raven’s uncle is from here,” he says, surprising the hell out of me.
I gape at him. “When did you figure this out?”
He shrugs. “Like five minutes ago after one of my connections sent me a file about him.”
My chest feels really tight. “If he’s from here, then Raven’s dad could be too, which means…”
“I know.”
“Which means she has a connection to this town.”
“I know.”
“Which means she could’ve been here the last time our fathers had that stupid game going.”
“I know all of this already,” Jax says, briefly growing quiet. “There was something else in that file too… Apparently, Raven’s uncle was part of this group that ran experiments here in Honeyton and one of those experiments had to do with hypnosis. It didn’t list who else was part of the experiment, but I can’t help thinking it might be our fathers, which would mean…” He trails off, not finishing.
I feel like invisible fingers have wrapped around my throat. “When did this take place?”
“I’m not sure… a lot of information on the documents were blacked out… but if we were somehow part of this experiment and so was Raven then I really doubt it’s a coincidence we all ended up together again. I just don’t know why or how. I mean, I know we ended up with her because Zay was pissed at her, but I thought it was kind of weird how he acted so obsessed with her straight from the beginning.”
“Me too,” I agree. “But if we know Raven from our past, now it sort of makes sense.”
“Yeah… maybe…” Jax mulls something over. “But what’s the point of all of this? Why bring us all back together after so many years have gone by? And why would my dad have me look into Raven and her uncle and his family if he already knows them? And wouldn’t they expect us to find out about this experiment thing?” He sighs. “Unless I’m wrong about all of this.”
“But what if you’re not?” I mutter. When he frowns, I add, “Do you think… Do you think our little bird knows?”
He shakes his head. “I doubt it… If she did know, she wouldn’t be here with us. Not after what we did.” He presses his lips together, trying to keep himself under control. “And besides, I’m still not one-hundred percent positive she is the girl.”
I hope he’s right, but doubt weighs in my mind. Like Jax said, coincidences in Honeyton don’t exist. The families control everything, have for a very long time, which more than likely means they’re at least aware of the experiment that went on.
“I’ll look into this more, but let’s keep this between us for now,” Jax says, reaching for his flask, his hands noticeably shaky. “I don’t even want Zay knowing about it until I know what’s going on.”
I nod in agreement. Yeah, we’re supposed to tell each other everything, but this might not be something Zay can handle. In fact, I know it isn’t, or else his mind wouldn’t have made him forget.
Honestly, we’ve all tried to forget those days when our fathers made us play what they called “the game,” although what happened was far from a game. There are still triggers that occasionally appear that tug at what little memories I have, like the sound of a certain song, the flapping of a bird’s wings, feathers …
That’s when I can see the people who were there, watching what we did, but their faces are blurry and misshapen. Sometimes, I swear I can even feel them still watching me … can hear that song