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Here, it turned out, was another safe house, this one an abandoned villa on a sht," Townsend said from the driver’s seat while Zach pulled open her Girl," he said "Try to get some sleep"

I took his hand and stepped fronificantly cooler, and the breeze felt like a slap, waking me from my daze

"I don’t need sleep, Zach I need answers"

"Cammie, we already know so much," Bex said, and I wheeled on her

"We don’t know anything We don’t have anything except this" I held up my father’s journal "Which, by the e had last semester We don’t knohere I went or what they did to me" I heard my voice crack "We don’t knohere I messed up"

Suddenly, it all became tooelse and hurled it against the car

"Cammie!" Abby sank to her knees on the dusty driveway, and I don’t knoas , the shocked pain of my aunt’s expression or the ses and fluttered to the ground at her feet

"What is it?" Bex asked, reaching for the letter that must have been tucked inside the book I hadn’t even bothered to open "Is it fro --at the words For irls "It’s for me"

There was cheese and stale bread in the kitchen Macey scavenged for bottles of olives and a few mismatched plates, while Zach built a fire and Townsend and Bex checked our peri at the letter that lay in the center of the old kitchen table, like it was too precious or dangerous to touch

I’d seenbefore, of course I’d read his entire journal,about that letter felt different, as if he were calling to rave

After a while, the others took their seats at the table, but no one reached for the food We just sat, watching, until the silence beca the letter toward her; but she shook her head no

"We’ll take it to Rachel She can--"

I pulled the envelope away and handed it to Bex "You do it"

"Cam "

"I need to know," I said, and she didn’t argue She just picked it up and started to read

"‘Dear Rachel and Caone Well, that or Joe finally found the hole in his cabin here I’ve been stashing things for years Or both In all likelihood, it’s both’"

I know Bex’s voice almost better than I know my own, but as she spoke, the words shifted and faded I heard iveas there’s a chance that I can go on without putting anyone else in danger, I have to take it I think that I have the key--quite literally--to bringing the Circle down But a key does no good without a lock, and that’s the next thing I have to find I’ve stored the key in a bank box in Rome that only you and Cammie and I will be allowed to access’"

"Rorief filled her eyes, but there was no ti aloud

"‘I shouldn’t say anyhands, but once you have the key, you will understand If I a the Circle to an end, athat can lead to a happy ending And I will find it I promise you I will

"‘I love you both’" Bex laid the letter on the table, and I stared nuaze cae

MAM

Matthew Andrew Morgan

"Ca "It will be okay We will--"

"I…I saw this"

"Yeah, Cam," Macey said "You had the letter You found it at Joe’s cabin and took it to Rome and--"

"Not in Rome" My hands shook as they traced my father’s initials The paper was s mortar

"Ca me back

"Aunt Abby" I heard et the car"

Chapter Thirty

My memory wasn’t back It wasn’t as sies and sounds I feltus for hours until our ears popped and the sno, and I stared out our car , looking for anything that seerew narrower, steeper I didn’t know if it was the altitude or the situation, but I found it harder and harder to breathe until I said "Turn here" for reasons I didn’t quite know

We drove on The road turned to lane and then…to nothing Agent Townsend stopped the SUV "It’s a dead end," he said, and Abby turned to me

"It looks different in the winter, Squirt Don’t pressure yourself or--"

"I’ve been here" It wasn’t just the feeling of waking up in the convent, the memory of the chopper ride down the mountain I knew that air "We’re close," I said, and before anyone could stop h the drifts

The flashes were stronger then, clearer than they had been on the hillside with Dr Steve Those rocks were the same rocks The trees were the same trees And when I saw the broken branches, I knew that I had broken the for me eventually and I wanted to show them the way

I just hadn’t known that that someone would be me

"Are you sure?" Bex said from behind me "Are you positive that this--"

I reached out for a piece of pine, my blood still on the bark "This is the place"