“And you’re not taking the pills she gives you, right? You’re faking it?”
Iris nodded.
“I have a plan,” Vi told her. “A plan to help you. To undo everything Gran has done.”
“How?”
“I’m going back to B West. I’ll get your charts. Remember what I told you? A whole file cabinet full of notes was practically all about you and about this Mayflower Project. We’ll study them and learn everything that was done to you, then figure out how to undo it.”
Iris was shaking her head.
Vi continued, “We’ll take all the notes—the important ones, at least—and bring them to that journalist, Julia.”
“But you said no to that, to her. You told me she couldn’t really help us.”
“We’ve gotta try. She says if we bring her proof, she can tell the police what Gran has been doing here. Everyone’s gonna find out what’s going on here: the cops, the papers, the TV news, Governor Snelling, maybe even President Carter! It’s the only way to stop Gran. To not let her ever do this to anyone else ever again.”
Iris nodded, but she looked like she was being told a story she didn’t dare to believe.
“Now, go on downstairs and tell Gran how scared you’ve been—how much you love us and how happy you are here.”
“Will you come with me?”
“No. You have to do it on your own. I’ve gotta go figure out a way to get back into the Inn to get those files.”
* * *
GETTING THE KEYS hadn’t been difficult, really. As soon as Gran and Iris went down to the basement, Vi found Gran’s purse in its usual place on her desk. She took just the keys she needed off the ring—the one to Gran’s office, the one to the Inn’s back door, and the one to the basement—put the big ring back into Gran’s purse, and pedaled her bike into town as fast as she could. Eric was cage-cleaning today, so he was occupied.
“My grandmother needs some spare keys made,” she told the clerk at the hardware store. She passed them over, and he cut them without question, making perfect matches. Vi hurried back home—Gran was still downstairs with Iris. She put the originals back on the key ring.
Now, with the duplicate keys tucked into her pocket, she was setting her alarm for one a.m. Gran was usually in bed by eleven. She read for a while and was asleep by midnight.
Iris had showered and was in clean, right-side-out pajamas. She’d told Vi that she and Gran had just played cards down in the basement. And they’d taken out some of the mice and played with them. She told Vi that Gran had hugged her. Afterward, Iris had promised Gran that she was going to try hard to be a normal girl.
“I’m coming with you to the Inn,” Iris said.
“No way,” Vi told her. “It’s too dangerous. Me trying to get in and out of there is hard enough, but two of us? Forget it.”
“I need to come with you,” Iris said. “To see it for myself.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’ll go in, get all the files I can grab, and come right back.”
“If I go with you, we’ll be faster. And we can carry more. I need to go, Vi. I need to see where I came from. And maybe being back there, seeing it, maybe it’ll help me remember.”
Vi sighed and turned out the light.
Iris came and got into bed beside her. “Please,” she said. “I did what you asked. I pretended for Gran. Can’t you do what I’m asking?”
Vi didn’t answer.
“Vi?”