Inheritance Of Secrets

Casey's always win

Ethan looks full of pure joy. He always liked to prove people wrong.

I smile back at him, "You are incredibly smart and talented. I'm glad you know it."

His face flashes a sad look. It's barely even there. His smile is still displayed but I see it in his eyes and the the way he bites the inside of his mouth.

"Ethan, what's wrong?"

I feel the energy shift. He looks as if he is trying to make an effort to put on an even happier face, "Nothing."

"Please tell me," It's about me. Something about leaving him alone. I know it, "I'm here and I want to help."

His eyes drop to his feet, "Are you going to go back and tell everyone the answer now?"

"No," I reply bluntly.

He looks up at me. The sadness is there but with added confusion, "You should. Don't just stay here for me."

I roll my eyes and stare at him giving him a look, "You don't even know why I left."

"So, you should solve it."

My head tips back slowly changing mylinen of sight to the pitch black sky, "Her birthday is the 18th of October," I look back towards him, "Avery's birthday is the 18th of October."

He looks stunned and even more interested, "Avery was born on the 18th of October."

"Yep."

"Is she cursed," He asks, "Because if your name is an anagram and you're born on the scariest day of the year you must be cursed?"

A small laugh slips out from my lips, "Probably. That was the day Emily died remember."

He nods slowly, his brain going through any bad thing that has happened on that day.

Ehtan knows most of it. He doesn't really know what happened but he knows the basics. He was too little to understand what I went through.

"Well, anyway the number that we found was Avery's birthday."

His mouth drops, "No way. Their grandfather actually did that."

I nod continuing the story, "Jameson stormed off basically going off the rails, Gryaosn looked as if he was going to crack in half, and Avery was just very confused."

"Wait," he stares at me with a worrisome look, "What did you do?"

I pause, "I left."

His face freezes trying to process the information, "Your best friend went off the rails and another close person looked like he was going to break so you left."

I nodded once.

"Anna," his face turns serious with little lines of worry and hurt, "I mean this with love. You need serious help."

"I know."

—------------------------------

Avery's POV

Grayson was harder to find. Eventually, I tried the kitchen and found Nash

Instead.

"Have you seen Grayson?" I asked him.

Nash's expression was guarded. "I don't think he wants to see you, kid."

The night before, Grayson hadn't blamed me. He hadn't lashed out. But after he'd told me about Emily, he'd walked away.

He'd left me alone.

"I need to see him," I said.

"Give it some time," Nash advised. "Sometimes, you gotta excise a wound before it can heal."

"What about Annabelle? Where did she go?" I ask feeling stupid. She has shown me absolutely nothing but last night she clearly knew something. Or she just knew where everyone else was.

"Last time things went bad Anna was gone for a lot longer than a night," I could hear the warning in his voice.

"Where is she?" I asked again hopefully.

"She won't help you, kid. It's best to leave her alone for a while."

—----------------------------------

(Skip to right before they solve the final mystery)

"He wanted to make damn sure," Jameson said, "that I never forgot."

"No," Xander blurted out. The others turned to look at him. "That's not what this is," he swore. "He wasn't making a point. He wanted us together. Here."

Nash put a hand on Xander's shoulder. "The old man could be a real bastard, Xan."

"That's not what this is," Xander said again, his voice more intense than I'd ever heard it—like he wasn't speculating. Like he knew.

Grayson, who hadn't said a word since Jameson's confession, spoke up now.

"What precisely are you saying, Alexander?"

"The two of you were walking around like ghosts. You were a robot, Gray." Xander was speaking quickly now—almost too quickly for the rest of us to follow. "Jamie was a ticking time bomb. You hated each other."

"We hated ourselves more," Grayson said, his voice like sandpaper.

"The old man knew he was sick," Xander admitted. "He told me, right before he died. He asked me to do something for him."

Nash's eyes narrowed. "And what was that?"

Xander didn't answer. Grayson's eyes narrowed. "You had to make sure we all played."

"It was my job to make sure you saw this to the end." Xander looked from Grayson to Jameson. "Both of you. If either of you stopped playing, it was my job to draw you back."

"You knew?" I said. "All this time, you knew where the clues led?"

Xander was the one who'd helped me find the tunnel. He was the one who'd solved the Black Wood. Even back at the very beginning...

He told me that his grandfather didn't have a middle name.

"You helped me," I said. He'd manipulated me. Moved me around, like a lure.

"I told you that I am a living, breathing Rube Goldberg machine." Xander looked down. "I warned you. Kind of." I thought of the moment he'd taken me to see the machine he'd built. I'd asked him what it had to do with Thea, and his response had been Who said this had anything to do with Thea?

I stared at Xander—the youngest, tallest, and arguably most brilliant Hawthorne. Where you go, he'd told me back at the gala, they'll follow. All this time, I'd thought that Jameson was the one who was using me. I'd thought that he'd kept me close for a reason.

It had never once occurred to me that Xander had his reasons, too.

"Do you know why your grandfather chose me?" I demanded. "Have you known the answer all this time?"

Xander held his hands up in front of his body like he thought I might throttle him. "I only know what he wanted me to know. I have no idea what's on the other side of that door. I was only supposed to get Jamie, Gray and Anna here. Together."

I watched as everyone's eyes wandered to the exit. It felt as though Annabelle would now just appear out of thin air.

Nothing.

"She's not coming. Anna won't come back," Jameson's eyes never left the exit. He wanted her to come back.

I turned back to Xander who looked very unsure, "She never responded. I even called Ethan who just said she was unavailable. I think I know what she is doing."

"Where is she?" Grayson's glare was less cold.

"I have no clue."

Jameson looked even angrier for a second, "Anna left."

Grayson continued, "She went to Ethan."

"You both should find her, " Xander said almost too quickly. Was this another thing he thought would happen?

"Or not."

It was a girl's voice.

Standing at the end of the tunnel was Annabelle.