He also hadn’t forgotten about the notebooks. There was no way her uncle would turn them over now and he had no reason to. Not unless Sang revealed who she was. He wasn’t sure she wanted to.

  Her grandmother never said anything about knowing about Sang, so maybe the doctor or her husband didn’t mention her.

  Which meant maybe Sang never could now. Would it be too strange to do so after the funeral? To suddenly reveal she was a lost Sorenson, the only granddaughter? Like Anastasia trying to come back to Russia to gain a royal heritage.

  Sang didn’t seem too eager to come forward and present herself, and she’d had several days of opportunity. Gabriel didn’t ask her. Maybe she thought it wasn’t the right time. Or simply didn’t want to.

  There was a lot said at the funeral, although Gabriel zoned through it. Not that he wasn’t interested. He was simply studying the people there.

  For a brief moment, he tried to picture what his own would be like. Would it be more like his father’s? Or would it be more like Brian Sorenson’s? And did it matter to him that he lived a life that ended up in either direction?

  In a way, it did. He didn’t want to surround himself with people like Uncle Steve. He hadn’t been back to see Uncle Steve, but the more he thought about what Pam said about him, and what he saw himself at Steve’s house, the more the pieces were coming together. His life wouldn’t have been that great with him. His younger brain wouldn’t have understood that until it was too late.

  The Academy process of selecting people to adopt, even from a distance, now made sense to him. It was giving you a choice of who you surrounded yourself with, and that determined your ability to progress in the Academy. How you made that choice made a difference.

  North, Silas, Luke, Nathan and Dr. Green were all there. Even Kota drove up just in time to joined the others for this day.

  Mr. Blackbourne and Victor were going to, until the funeral fell on a day Victor needed to go see the family lawyer and he had no chance to escape and come back in time. Mr. Blackbourne remained with him to have one person nearby for their families and to take over for Victor when Victor couldn’t be available.

  Each one of the guys had bought new black funeral clothes appropriate for the event. Gabriel had helped a little when he could get a spare moment to head to the RV.

  Sang was wearing all black, too. A simple dress with dark hose and flats. Gabriel did her hair up like she usually liked it with the black hair clip.

  Still beautiful. Just pale and dreadfully silent.

  She stood with them in the back, though she shifted herself from one foot to the other, like she was a little uncomfortable.

  Gabriel reached for her hand.

  She held it back, but she didn’t look at him. She kept her focus on what was going on ahead of them.

  When the coffin was closed and then hoisted by family, with London leading, to be put into the hearse, it felt like the rest of the funeral happened in an instant. They were in one of the last cars.

  Gabriel didn’t tell Sang she should have been in the first car. Instead, she sat near Kota, whom she hadn’t seen in so long. They held hands the whole way and she rested her head against his shoulder.

  North drove. They’d all packed into the Tahoe together. But it was a silent car ride. Gabriel pressed a palm against his face, gazing out the passenger side window.

  At the graveyard, after her grandfather was in the ground and most people had walked away, including Charlotte, who had gone back to the house to prepare for the gathering there, Sang had remained at the grave.

  And so they all waited.

  The gravestone had been picked out and paid for long ago. Her grandmother’s plot was near his. Sang stood silently over it after everyone was gone. Quietly, Gabriel and the others waited. She stood for so long, a couple of them drifted, but not far. Just to look at the other headstones.

  There was no grave for her mother. No Lyric Sorenson nearby.

  Until Gabriel noticed one small, unmarked grave.

  “Sang,” he called to her.

  It was strange to call her name. No one else was around, and it had been so long since he’d said it out loud.

  She turned slowly, and he motioned, walking closer to it himself.

  It wasn’t far from the Sorenson plots. In fact, there were other Sorensons around it.

  Just one smooth patch of stone without a name.

  But there was a fresh bunch of roses. Roses that seemed to match the ones on her grandfather’s grave now. Like it had been picked out of Brian’s collection of flowers and presented here.

  Gabriel hadn’t witnessed who had done it. Maybe because with so many people attending, it was difficult to monitor everyone.

  Sang met his gaze, her lips pursed, but she nodded.

  It was too much of a coincidence.

  And unmarked grave, for a lost daughter and a death they seemed to keep secret.

  And it suddenly made sense why. If they’d had a funeral publicly, look at what the turnout would have been. They would have been asked questions.

  Questions no one wanted to answer.

  Made Life Worth Living Out

  The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Sorenson farmhouse. The food was plenty, with people having brought even more for the event, and the church filling in supplies. Gabriel ate a lot of it. Mostly to help pass the time.

  When they weren’t eating, Sang and Gabriel stood by in the kitchen, tidying a buffet area that had been set up along the counters, replacing empty pans with fresh offerings, and refilling paper cups and plates, and taking out garbage as needed. Occasionally Sang took out the dog to walk around when Chica got a bit too riled up.

  It kept their hands busy, at least until they were shooed off by a group of women.

  “You’ve been here for hours,” one of the attendants said to them. “You’ve done enough. Let us take over.”

  He stood beside Sang a lot in the kitchen after that, ready to assist and unsure about leaving. It had kept them from needing to talk to too many people. They’d been familiar faces all week to all the guests, but they weren’t from around here, so very few talked to them for very long.

  This time, the others could be in the house, too. So Gabriel and Sang occasional spoke with North, Silas, Luke, Dr. Green, Nathan and Kota as they got food and chatted with some of the locals. There were so many people, they could blend in as part of the community.

  Sang had been quiet all day. Gabriel didn’t blame her. He imagined she was just waiting for an opportunity to go back to the bedroom and wait it all out, but she didn’t want to be rude and abandon him, or the event.

  It’s what he did at funerals. Hide and wait for it to be over. Only then it felt like he had a chance to recover.

  And eventually, she had her chance. The number of people had thinned out when the sun just started going down. Church members collected tables and chairs and took with them back. The food was left at the house but a lot of people were taking plates home by Charlotte’s insistence.

  “Now’s your chance,” Gabriel said. “Head to the back room. Take a break. They’ll understand if you’re not here. I’ll let you know if I need you.”

  She shared an appreciative smile with him. She left him, disappearing around the corner.

  He thought to go with her. They weren’t really needed any more, but he thought he could give her a chance to be alone for now.

  Gabriel remained in the kitchen for a while, but when fifteen minutes had passed and everyone seemed to be in the living room, he took the opportunity to go outside. A little fresh air would help.

  And it did. The moment he was outside, it was like a weight lifted off of him. It was over.

  Gabriel took the long way around toward the tree line, tempted to take a walk in the woods. He followed the fence that ran parallel with the field out to his left, the trees to his right. There was a trail here. He imagined Brian Sorenson walked the property this way around the horse field.

  He was just clearing the first corner far out on the other side of the field when his phone rang. He was surprised he could get a good signal out here.

  Mild annoyance creeped in, wondering if Pam was calling to yell at him again. He wouldn’t have minded except Gabriel had enough of people for the moment and just needed a break.

  He answered though.

  To his surprise, it was Mr. Blackbourne.

  “How was it?” Mr. Blackbourne asked him.

  Gabriel sighed. He did want to update him but also, it was hard to feel up to talking to him. “Big turnout. Most people are leaving the farmhouse now. So it’s almost over I think.”

  “Is Miss Sorenson doing well?”

  “As much as she can be, I think.” What was there to say? Her grandfather died. But Gabriel did manage to make her smile a little last night when he played for her. That was a good sign. “I think she’ll be okay.”

  “Do you suspect her grandmother knows about her?” he asked.

  Mr. Blackbourne was more up to date than Gabriel realized. He was really getting to the point with his questions. “Hard to tell, but I don’t think so. We’ve been here for more than a week and she never said a word.”

  Mr. Blackbourne’s voice became a bit tight when he then asked, “How are you doing, Mr. Coleman?”

  Gabriel considered the question. “I’ll be great when we can get back home. But Sang’s ghost bird thing... I don’t know if that’s happening. She may not be revealing herself to her grandmother and her uncle, but... without doing that, I don’t know if we could take away evidence of Sang if they have anything on her. We probably could have broken into the safe, and into their homes, but... I don’t know. It doesn’t feel right. Even for what we’ve done so far, it feels terrible.”

  “I wouldn’t expect anyone to take things other people would want to keep,” Mr. Blackbourne said softly. “Not like that. And it isn’t important.”

  “Isn’t it?” Gabriel asked him. “That’s what we came here for.”

  “Her ghost bird status was only a small portion of what she’s there for. And for what you’re there for.”

  “The Academy?”

  “No. Not for the Academy.”

  It’s what they’d focused on while on this trip, but Gabriel realized if that had been the case, they would have just sent in Luke and never gone in themselves. “You knew this was all about seeing if we connected with our families?”

  “We always have to ask those questions, to present those options. And for her sake, for her own sanity, to answer the questions she would have been living with forever. From what it sounds like, her family would want to know she was alive and well.”

  Gabriel raised an eyebrow as he spoke, pressing the phone toward his ear, needing to hear Mr. Blackbourne clearly. “So you’re not asking me if Sang will ever show herself to her grandmother. You’re waiting for when she does.”

  “Could she ever get answers without it? Could we ever dare to take from her grandmother evidence of a granddaughter she thought she lost? We’re not monsters. While Miss Sorenson has every right to that information, she has even more right to be around people who wanted to know her, to be a family. It sounds like the family has suffered enough. And for reasons we can’t imagine. But it doesn’t have to happen anymore.”

  “Then we can’t go home.” Gabriel’s voice trailed off for a moment and then he continued, “There’s no chance of us coming back. If she reveals herself, her grandmother might want her to stay here. Maybe in this house.” He pushed a palm against his eyes. They were stuck here. He and North had come to the right conclusion before. This was where it was heading. If they had been absolute monsters, it would have been different. If they hadn’t been sad about getting rid of Sang, it all would have been over by now. But it wasn’t. “It’s hopeless. It’s over.”

  “Hopeless isn’t an ending,” Mr. Blackbourne said in a gentle tone.

  Gabriel blew out a quick breath, annoyed. He could say that so simply. “It sure feels like an ending.”

  “Your path is hopeless, not the goal. Our original plan would never have worked because we didn’t know enough. There are other ways. And it’s not completely over.” He paused. “And maybe her ghost bird status is not that important of a goal.”

  “Let me ask you something,” Gabriel said in a hurry. “What if Sang says she wants to tell her grandmother? What happens then?” The more he spoke, the louder he got, and a little angry too. It surprised him. Maybe because he avoided dwelling on the idea and now here it was, presented to him as the most likely possibility. All of their lives were suddenly changing because of what they had discovered. “What if she wants to stay? This house should be hers, after all. She’s every right to the house and property as her grandmother and her uncle. And maybe she wants to stay.”

  “I don’t get what you’re asking,” Mr. Blackbourne said gently.

  It was the same argument that he had with North, and he needed to know. Gabriel wasn’t sure why he was angry. Maybe it was just the frustration of being here, the day, having felt he worked so hard while he was here, and everything had turned into a complete mess. “North said you wouldn’t come up here if she wanted to stay. I call bullshit—”

  “Because it is,” Mr. Blackbourne said with a sharpness that was very familiar to Gabriel. “North was wrong.”

  He didn’t continue. He didn’t explain himself.

  That stopped Gabriel’s anger completely, shut off the second he confirmed it.

  This wasn’t their team splitting up. Their goals might change. They might lose the Ashely Waters job. They might even restructure within the Academy.

  He’d be moving away from Pam.

  The others... they’d move, too. Eventually.

  Silence filled the line and Gabriel wondered if he was still even there.

  Mr. Blackbourne spoke, “Let me know if she stays. We’ll make arrangements.”

  It was that simple. Mr. Blackbourne wasn’t swayed one bit. “You were the one worried she would stay,” Gabriel said.

  “It puts us in a predicament,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “Not all of us could come up quickly, but it would happen. I was wrong about the divide. I’ve spoken to everyone. Every one of us would stay if she wished. We’d trade the house for staying with her there if she wanted, or nearby.” Mr. Blackbourne paused on the line for a moment and then continued in a softer tone. “To the ends of the earth, I believe that’s the sentiment from everyone.”

  Mr. Blackbourne didn’t have to say more. It was the argument Gabriel had been sure about with North, the bit that North tried to deny for a moment, or maybe he’d been worried that they wouldn’t have agreed to it. And maybe that was why he walked away. North knew the answer. It might be a bit difficult, but they would. For her.

  And Gabriel had little doubt she’d do the same for them.

  ♥♥♥

  Gabriel got off the phone with Mr. Blackbourne, but he continued his walk, not ready to go back inside just yet. Snow had fallen off and on, and only collected in small drifts at the edges of patches of grass.

  He might have to get used to the place.

  He followed the fence all the way around, until he got to the road at the end of the gravel lane. From there, he headed to the barn.

  He hadn’t realized people had gathered out here. Near the stump, people were sitting, and a small fire had been built to keep everyone warm.

  At the heart of the small gathering, London was stoking the fire. He looked up at Gabriel as he approached. London had a beer in one hand, watery eyes, and a grave look on his face.

  “Hey, man,” London said, nodding to him.

  Gabriel came closer to stand with him, staring into the fire. The people out here were more London’s age and Gabriel understood perhaps these were his friends, here to show support. “Hey,” Gabriel said. It was only a little awkward. The last time they’d really spoken was the day his father died. “How’s it going?”

  London sniffed hard. His friends were pulling away to wander into the barn, talking to each other. There were only a handful. All of them drinking and a little distracted, leaving London alone for a minute.

  “I hate to say it,” London said, “but maybe it was all for the better.”

  Gabriel frowned. “I’m sorry, man. Really...”

  London waved his beer a little to ward him off. “No, no. It really is fine. He was old. And stubborn. He wanted to die here. He got his wish. Now the last of us can let it go.” London gazed toward the farmhouse. “Got to figure out what to do with it.”

  “Are you wanting to sell it?” Gabriel asked, a little concerned.

  “No, not really,” he said. “Maybe my kids will want it. If I ever have any. And the land that gets leased out, it’s a bit of income. No, I might not want to sell it. My mom... she might though. Might be a fight for it. She gets a kick out of letting go.”

  There was a bitterness in his tone, and Gabriel suspected he knew the reason. For Lyric... but he didn’t want to be the one to bring it up. Not now. Not while he was drinking.

  “I’m sorry,” Gabriel said, at a loss for anything else to say.

  “Getting real tired of hearing that,” London mumbled to himself.

  Drunk. And tired. And probably angry. Gabriel wanted to leave him alone, but his friends had walked away and Gabriel didn’t want to leave him like this. So he remained, standing beside him, he’d stay until those friends came back, but he was willing to do so quietly if that needed to be the case.

  London eventually stood up, emptied his beer bottle and threw it at the flames hard enough that the glass shattered. The flames burst upward but settled shortly. “By the way,” London said, “I found some of those notebooks.”