Viktoria lifted herself from the floor and stood waiting at the peephole. If that was truly Eszter on her way up, Viktoria would be able to tell at a glance even though they hadn’t seen one another in five years.
Eszter was Viktoria’s twin sister.
The walls and door of the apartment were well insulated and the hall carpeted. All was silent until the woman appeared before the peephole.
Even though she recognized Eszter, Viktoria squinted into the peephole, trying to improve the view. The face was unmistakeably Viktoria’s duplicate, but the straw-coloured, shoulder-length bob was that of the woman whose image had flashed into her mind before.
With trembling hands and icy fingers, Viktoria unlocked the deadbolt and threw open the door. She stepped back, ushering Eszter inside, unsure whether they should hug or stand and stare at each other. Viktoria chose the latter, but Eszter chose the former.
Her body shuddering with sobs, Eszter grabbed Viktoria in a squeeze.
“Oh, my God. I can’t believe I’m here. Viki, I’m so sorry. Please, you have to tell me if Mamma and Daddy are okay.” Eszter pressed her face onto Viktoria’s shoulder.
“Yes. We never stopped searching for you, Ess, but they’re okay.” Unaware she was doing it, Viktoria wrapped her arms around Eszter and kissed the top of her head. Tears streamed down Viktoria’s face, but she wept quietly, holding back while Eszter let loose.
After a moment, they released one another, and Viktoria stepped back to study Eszter.
She appeared uninjured and well fed, and her long nails were the same blood red as her lips. The dress she wore, light and gauzy for the steamy July evening, screamed designer.
Wherever she’d been, she’d taken care of herself.
Anger worked its way through Viktoria.
The family had endured Eszter’s sudden disappearance, a fruitless search by police and the local community, and five years of agony. Viktoria and her parents had continued to hunt long after the police had made it a cold case.
Voice choked with emotion, Viktoria said, “What happened? Why haven’t you contacted us?” She forced herself not to scream accusingly, not to spew out all the hurt and rage churning inside her. Her sister had run away after all, leaving the family twisting in the wind.
Our lives went on hold, damn it. You had no right.
Best to leave that unspoken. For now. Let Eszter explain, and then Viktoria could unleash the tirade.
Eszter kicked off the high heels she wore—real leather from the look of them—and strode into the living room. She glanced around as she moved to the couch and curled up on it, her long, shapely legs tucking under her.
“I didn’t run away, Viki. At least, I don’t think I did.” She dug through her purse. “I need a tissue.” Eszter sniffled.
“Yes, of course. I’m sorry. I’m in shock.” Viktoria inhaled deeply, three times, hoping to stop the tears that wanted to keep flowing and ease the pain in her chest. She grabbed a box of tissues from an end table and passed it to Eszter.
Viktoria sank into the armchair across from Eszter. “Searching for you became ingrained, you understand? I never go anywhere without hoping I’ll spot you. God, Eszter.”
Eszter blew her nose and nodded at Viktoria. “I don’t remember leaving. I can’t remember that day, or many days after. It’s all a blank. My first recollection is of Niko.” She paused and shook her head. “He’s the man who found me. I was living in the streets. At least, he says I was.”
Viktoria wanted to be patient, but Eszter’s pauses and rambling narrative chafed her nerves. “Who’s Niko? Why should you believe what he says?”
“He took me in.” Eszter’s gaze met Viktoria’s. “He didn’t kidnap me, Vik. He saved me. I was wandering around, nameless, homeless. I was on drugs. Two assholes attacked me. Niko caught them and intervened. He took me home and cleaned me up. I had no ID on me. He gave me a name, called me Talitha—someone he used to know. I remind him of her, he says. I think he loved her once. Still does, I guess.”
“What happened to her?” The digression helped calm Viktoria’s frazzled emotions. Nothing was more important right now than the answer to that question.
“I think she died. He doesn’t talk to me much about his past.”
“How did you remember?”
Fear, and then sorrow, flashed across Eszter’s face. “It’s bad, Vik. Bad for all of us.”
The anxiety pouring from Eszter flowed into Viktoria.
Her voice a whisper, Viktoria said, “What is it? Just tell me.”
Eszter hung her head. “I’m dying. Breast cancer. When I got the diagnosis, I remembered. The news hit me deep down, and I remembered Gramma had died at my age of breast cancer, and Auntie Joanna. It was like a dam burst then, and my name, you, where I came from—everything came back.” She raised her head and met Viktoria’s horrified gaze.
“Oh, God, Eszter.” Viktoria rushed to Eszter, hugged her, and held her. Both were crying again, Viktoria silently, Eszter in heart-wrenching sobs.
“They could be wrong.” Viktoria released her twin and, for a moment, let hope replace despair. “They get false positives all the time.”
But Eszter shook her head, crushing the glimmer of light in Viktoria’s heart. Eszter gripped Viktoria’s hand, squeezing the fingers to the point of pain, but Viktoria ignored that.
“I’ve already gone for a second opinion. Besides, I discovered the lump myself. Even before I found it, I suspected something was wrong. I knew, Vik.”
“There must be treatments. Breast cancer isn’t a death sentence anymore. I know women who’ve survived it. You’re not dying.”
Again, Eszter shook her head, an almost imperceptible back and forth that had Viktoria’s throat closing.
“It’s metastasized. By the time they diagnosed me, it had already spread to the lymph nodes, and that’s the kiss of death.”
“So now what?” Viktoria steeled her heart for more horrible news.
“I’ve rejected treatment.”
“What? Why?”
“What for? To destroy my body and endure pain and suffering just to prolong the inevitable? No, Vik.” For the first time, anger replaced the grief in Eszter’s voice.
This must have been an argument she’d had with others, probably that Niko person.
“Okay. What about alternative treatments? They’re not as invasive, and if what you say is true, it can’t hurt.”
Eszter waved the suggestion away with a flick of a hand. “I’ve investigated. It’s nonsense. I won’t give myself false hope just to line some snake oil salesman’s pockets.”
“Don’t think like that. It might work. People have cured themselves before.” Perhaps one of the ladies at The Green Witch could help. They had a wealth of information on alternative therapies and numerous contacts with natural health practitioners.
Eszter’s eyes narrowed and flashed with anger. “Name one person you know personally who cured their own cancer.” She released Viktoria’s hand.
Viktoria hung her head and flexed the numbness out of her fingers. “I can’t, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.”
“Forget it. Don’t talk to me about voodoo crap. It’s for gullible people who have more money than brains.”
Viktoria’s head snapped up, and she locked her gaze on Eszter’s. “Stop it, Eszter. What a horrible thing to say.”
How could Eszter believe that, when their family was the latest in a long line of witches and psychics? Herbal remedies had been the norm in their household when they were growing up, and most of them helped or even cured what ailed them.
An image of a grave popped into Viktoria’s head, the headstone displaying Eszter’s name. But the date on it was two weeks after Eszter had disappeared. Not wanting to deal with it right now, Viktoria pushed it aside. It didn’t make sense, as was often the case with clairvoyant messages.
“Where’s Niko now?” Viktoria lightened her tone, not wanting to argue. They’d been apart so long, fighting over anything, even something as important as Eszter’s health, seemed self-indulgent.
“At our home. I wanted to meet with you alone before introducing him to the family. He offered to accompany me, for moral support, but I refused.” She closed her eyes and gave a small sigh. “I wasn’t sure how you’d take it, Vik. I was afraid you wouldn’t recognize me.”
“Wouldn’t it have been easier on you if Niko were here?” A flutter of unease brushed Viktoria, and the headstone image flickered back into her head. Unable to push it aside this time, she struggled to sense the meaning. When she couldn’t, she sent a request to her guides: I don’t understand. Please clarify.
She opened herself up to receive another message, but Eszter leaped from the sofa. The image faded with the distraction, and Viktoria rose, panic striking her at the alarm on Eszter’s face.
“What is it, Ess?”
“Nothing. It’s okay. I’m sorry.” Eszter sank back onto the edge of the sofa, back straight, feet planted on the floor, hands folded primly in her lap. She cleared her throat and raised her chin as though she’d made an important decision.
“I’d like you to meet me at Mom and Dad’s tomorrow. You get there first and tell them I’m back. I’ll bring Niko with me, but I don’t want you all swooping down on him. He’s done nothing wrong. He saved my life. I don’t want anyone grilling him as though he’s responsible for my disappearance.”
“Do you expect us to jump to that conclusion even after explaining everything to me?” Viktoria sat again.
She shrugged. “I don’t want anyone to make him think he’s a suspect.”
That would be up to the police. Viktoria kept the comment to herself. She didn’t want to upset Eszter, but Viktoria would make sure the investigating officers on the cold case would get updated. Let them figure out if Niko was responsible for what had happened to Eszter. If he’d had anything at all to do with the disappearance, they’d uncover it.
“Don’t worry,” Viktoria replied. “No one in the family will make him feel like a suspect.” She averted her gaze as the image of Eszter’s grave popped back into her head.
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