Chapter 42

The longer Zara lives in the penthouse, the more I notice quirks in her personality and behavior. Like when she put carrots in a vase as if they were a bouquet, but when I asked her about it, she didn’t remember doing it. One afternoon, she laid pens out all over the floor in arrow patterns. She said it was so she wouldn’t get lost. I thought it had something to do with studying, so I didn’t move them. In the morning, she picked up her pens, annoyed that I left them lying around.

One night, though, things got really weird. I came out into the kitchen to grab my keys and found Zara standing still in the kitchen with no lights on. I flipped on the light but it didn’t phase her. She froze on the spot and had her hand near her ear, pinched into the shape of a hand puppet. Her eyes were glazed over like she was mind linking someone, but I still don’t know who it could have been.

“Zara, what are you doing?