CHAPTER 18 : CLAIRE’S SECOND KEY
Ethan wanted Sophie removed from California immediately.
He called a private security team and prepared a house in Arizona under another name.
Sophie listened without interrupting.
Then she walked to her bedroom and packed one small backpack.
Inside, she placed a stuffed rabbit, three shirts, Claire’s photograph and a box of crayons.
When Ethan entered, she was sitting beside the open bag.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Somewhere safer.”
“Is the center not safe?”
“It is.”
“Then why are we leaving?”
Ethan struggled to answer.
Sophie’s voice remained calm.
“Are we leaving because I told you about the woman?”
“No.”
“Because I remembered something?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Ethan sat beside her.
“Because I’m afraid.”
Sophie considered this.
“You told me being afraid doesn’t mean someone else gets to decide everything.”
He had said those words during one of her therapy sessions.
Now they returned to him.
He closed the backpack.
“We’re not leaving tonight.”
Sophie nodded.
“But you still need to tell me when something is dangerous.”
“I will.”
“No pretending.”
“No pretending.”
That evening, Reyes examined Ava’s drawing under ultraviolet light.
Several lines had been drawn with a substance invisible beneath normal lighting.
They formed numbers.
Ethan recognized them as coordinates.
The location pointed toward an abandoned lighthouse north of Big Sur.
Before they left, Sophie brought Ethan a small music box that had belonged to Claire.
“I found something inside.”
The music box had been stored unopened since Claire’s death.
Beneath the rotating figure was a hidden compartment.
Inside rested a brass key and a folded note written in Claire’s handwriting.
Ethan—
If you are reading this, I failed to stop them.
Margaret was not the beginning.
She was the gatekeeper.
Harbor existed before Rosehaven.
Do not trust anyone who tells you all the children were found.
The brass key carried a number.
The same numbers Ava had hidden in her drawing.
Reyes looked toward the dark ocean beyond the windows.
“Claire knew about the lighthouse.”
Ethan placed the note in an evidence bag.
“She knew more than she ever told me.”
At 2:13 the following morning, Ethan’s phone rang.
The caller ID showed Claire Bennett.
He answered without breathing.
For several seconds, there was only static.
May you like
Then a child whispered:
“Please find us before the tide comes in.”
