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It started, of course, the morning that Sandra realized that Rob had disarmed all of the alarm sensors in the house. Nina had had her suspicions before - for months, if she was willing to be honest with herself - but denial was a sick creature; Nina didn't want it to be true, so it wasn't, until Sandra noticed something was wrong that made Nina's heart sink. Sandra was quick to assume the culprit and quicker to act, leaving Nina in the office where they'd just reviewed the security footage and storming Rob's room without a backward glance. But as much as it would be easier for Nina to follow suit and blame the new caregiver, she felt a creeping certainty that he wasn't as responsible as the recordings suggested.
What if he'd just been doing what he was told?
Nina knew that she only had a brief window before Sandra returned. She pulled herself to her feet and made her way over to the particular bookcase she needed. Her eyes skimmed the shelves in search of the correct volume, hidden among a number of dull reference books just in case anyone - who? - came looking. It only took a moment to find what she was looking for and she pulled her childhood diary off the shelf.
She'd once prided herself on the years it had been since opening that diary. Had that pride been arrogance? Hubris? With dread Nina flipped through the pages of mismatched handwriting until she reached the last used page. She knew what she was going to find but it still made her ill to see it.
A fresh entry dated the day before.
Hello, Darling.
Nina turned sharply, stumbling, and returned to her desk. She grabbed the closest pen and jotted down a hasty response underneath Rachel's missive.
Go away.
She slammed the diary shut, seething. She had to save that poor boy's job.
--
Rachel didn't go away, of course. While Nina had been ignoring and justifying her lost time for weeks, blaming her medication or the pain of her injury instead of the obvious cause, it was impossible to keep lying to herself now. Rachel was back, and she was chatty, apparently.
I think he can handle himself quite nicely, was the message Nina found the morning after her chess match with Rob. Or, not just hers, as it turned out.
"Goddammit, keep the boy out of this," Nina said, and quickly left a reply.
If you won't leave me alone, at least stay away from Rob. He doesn't deserve this.
It was only a few hours later that Nina had the opportunity to check the diary again. She expected little more than a taunt in response, but what she actually found gave her pause.
Oh, but I'd much rather do it the other way around.
Nina stared at the words on the page for longer than necessary. She glanced up the page, rereading the last few entries just to make sure she understood the context.
What?
What?
Rachel impatiently surged to the front to leave her response immediately.
Haven't you ever wished I'd go bother someone else?
The note left Nina reeling, and after reading it she retired to her bed without adding her own message to the page - because the truth was that she hadn't. In the decades since her grandfather's death, even in her youth when Rachel had run rampant over her life, Nina had wished for Rachel's death many times over but never, not once, wished her affliction on someone else. Nina had always assumed her curse was an inheritance, after all, passed to her through no more reason than the luck of her blood; she'd never entertained the idea of having children for that very reason. Rob had no claim to Henry Jekyll's legacy. How would that even work?
A night of restless sleep left Nina drained and on edge when she awoke but - according to her diary at least - that was no one's fault but her own. The same hypothetical stared back at her from the page, teasing a possibility Nina had resigned herself to never considering. But, what if?
There was one more thing she needed to know before she could make a decision.
Why him?
There's something special about that boy, was the answer that Rachel left her. He and I could do greater things together than you Jekylls could ever dream of.
Nina had seen Rachel as nothing but a rival for the bulk of her life. Something that took from her, that ate her life and left the dregs behind for Nina to clean up. Now, though . . .
Maybe they could help each other.
Tell me how.