Free The Lost Sister by Megan Kelley Hall Page B

than menacing. He knew that people used to carve gargoyles onto buildings to keep away evil spirits—they were used for protection. But he knew that these women—the ones whose faces were on the wall—were the ones who really needed protection.
    The Pickering sisters, his great-aunts, were hunted as witches during the Salem witch trials. And Cordelia was persecuted for being different—for being too beautiful, too wild, untamed. Finn chuckled. Cordelia was definitely a modern day version of a witch and what those girls did to her…He stopped because he couldn’t bring himself to think about that terrible night that he had witnessed out on Misery Island. It was a night that most strong and able-bodied men wouldn’t have been able to withstand, let alone a teenaged girl.
    He wondered about her, as he always did. More times than he’d ever admit to anyone. Was she out there with his child? What did she use the money for? Was she pregnant, or was she just using that as an excuse to get out of Hawthorne? Had she ever really loved him, the way that he loved her? He hated pining for her, and was quite sure that if she had the same feelings for him, he would have heard from her by now. He knew it was time to move on, and in many ways he had. But now Maddie was back in town and all the old feelings inside him were starting to come back to life. The constant ache he felt whenever he looked out at Misery Island, or visited the beach where they first kissed, or caught a scent of lavender and jasmine that reminded him of Cordelia’s perfume.
    He moved closer to the face of Cordelia that was carved into the stone and noticed something a little off. As he peered closer, he saw something crumpled up and shoved into the space that was her mouth.
    It was a card or a note.
    He gently pulled the note from the stone wall, taking care to make sure that no one was watching him. Did anyone know that he came here each night to take care of these carvings? The only person he’d ever told was Maddie.
    The card was folded down to a quarter of its size. Once it was unfolded, Finn held it up to the streetlight to get a better look. It was a tarot card. He wondered if this was intended for him as some kind of a cruel joke, or if this was actually a message from Cordelia.
    It was the Lovers card. And the name FINN was scratched hastily across the back in what looked frighteningly like blood.

Chapter 6
THE DEVIL
    Addiction or obsession. Uncontrolled energy. A situation better avoided. A powerful man who is hard to resist. This card is also synonymous with temptation and addiction. Lack of control, excess, obsession, and raw ambition. It is a card that revels in extremity.
    SIXTEEN MONTHS EARLIER
    C ordelia boated out to Reed Campbell’s ship as she had done many times since they’d made a connection in class. He knew how hard it was for her to sit and think about her father—something that would anger Rebecca. Whenever she’d try to lose herself in a memory of her father, Simon LeClaire, Rebecca would come at her like a mind reader, as if she could actually look into Cordelia’s brain and see the memories gathering and swirling about, and reprimand her for living in the past.
    “Every time you think of him, you are only tying him to this plane of existence,” Rebecca would scold. “He’s seeking eternal peace and you keep tugging him back with all of your memories. Let him rest in peace.”
    Cordelia knew that her mother was trying to be helpful, trying to help her move past the death of her father, but there was something in the back of her mind, a nagging thought, that wondered if Rebecca was jealous of the bond that Cordelia had with her father. It was like an invisible cord that kept them tethered together in life—and now in death. When Cordelia crawled out onto the rooftop—sometimes even joined by Tess—and looked up at the stars and listened to the ocean, she felt closer to her father than ever. On the nights that Tess would