Chapter 26
Eve

Nyetta takes us into the family room. She settles in a leather recliner shaped like the letter C. The walls are lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled with academic texts about antiquities and archaeology. It’s the only family room I’ve ever seen without a TV. On the side table next to her, strands of rust-colored beads hang in a clear plastic box.

“They’re mummy beads,” she says “My mother bought them when she was still in college.” She gestures toward the other display boxes encasing bronze and stone objects. “It was the first thing in her collection.”

“Whoa!” says Ian. “They must be worth a lot of money!”

“Not really,” says Nyetta. “They’re not as rare as you’d think.”

She’s quiet and composed, undisturbed by silence, content to answer my questions in a few words without asking any of her own.

“So . . .” I try again. “Do you play any sports? Take any lessons?”

“No,” she says, staring back. Her eyes are dark shiny brown like espresso beans. “I don’t even go to school anymore.”

“Why not?” I ask.

Nyetta sighs. “My mother teaches me better. Besides, I’m too tired. I can never get enough sleep.”

Ian opens the pastry box and sends a shower of sprinkles to the floor. Nyetta jumps out of her chair

“Why did you do that?” she demands. “We can’t eat those here! We never eat in this room!”

Ian picks up the sprinkles one by one, then we follow Nyetta to the breakfast room, where we pass around the box of cupcakes and begin to eat. Nyetta’s mom pours tall glasses of milk and leaves. We sit at a yellow Formica table, silently eating. Nyetta chooses the chocolate truffle cupcake. She licks at the frosting like a cat. I choose the cupcake with the lost sprinkles. Ian makes half of his red velvet cupcake disappear in one bite.

“I’ve been thinking about what you told me at Lark’s house. About how she used to visit you because she wanted you to see . . .”

“I can’t talk about that here,” whispers Nyetta.

“Why not?” I ask.

“My mother,” she mouths, and twirls an index finger at the side of her temple. “She’ll go crazy.”

“Can we talk somewhere else?” whispers Ian.

Nyetta nods.

“Is there anyplace you want to go?” I ask.

“The Hello Kitty store,” she says.

Between aisles of shelves filled with Hello Kitty pillows, alarm clocks, and stationery, Nyetta tells Ian how Lark used to visit her and now she doesn’t anymore because she got fed up with her cowardice.

“Plus, she’s almost a tree,” she says. She talks about how girls can turn into trees if no one finds out what happened to them. “And it’s not what they want. They hate being trees. All of them do. And there isn’t much time before it happens to Lark. But I couldn’t do it. So you and Eve have to. You got to see where the knife went in.” She points to her left. “It went in here.”

A giant plush Hello Kitty sits in the corner of the store. She’s dressed in a flowered kimono, surrounded by dozens of tiny clones. Nyetta sits in the huge white cat’s lap and throws her arms around it. Ian takes a picture with his phone. “I’ll email it to you,” he says.

The jewelry counter glitters with Hello Kitty lockets, charm bracelets, and rings. I help Nyetta try on a pink watch. It blazes with crystals and has Hello Kitty faces instead of numbers. Tiny cats bob to and fro nodding yes.

“Twelve happy cats,” says Ian.

Nyetta puts it up to her ear. “It has a good tick,” she says.

She opens her purse, pulls out the different bills stuffed inside, and counts.

“Do you have enough?” I ask. “If not, I can lend you some.”

She takes off the watch and gives it back to the salesperson.

“That’s okay,” she says, looking down at her clasped hands.

“I’m sure your mom would pay me back,” I say.

“Let’s go,” she says. “I don’t really want it.”