West

Someone had gone to great lengths to erase real-Josie's existence, down to rebuilding her bedroom from the ground up in a different place. There could be no good story behind the room identical to mine.

"Except for you. You don't fit in." I crossed to the sheet covering a piece of furniture the size of my full-body mirror but in the wrong location. I tugged the white sheet off and stood back. The beautiful wedding gown made of white brocade highlighted with silver threads and handmade lace on the stand was pristine. It appeared to have been recently pressed. There was no dust or sign of wear on it. "Wow. Lucky Josie."

My room. The wedding dress. Nell's tale about real-Josie leaving the night before she married.

A chill went down my spine. I looked around for other anomalies without spotting any. I began to dread learning the truth about real-Josie. The level of effort that went into the reinvention of her room wasn't possible without her father and governess knowing.

If I lost faith in them, too …

Swallowing hard, I knelt, prepared for a longer session than normal, and closed my eyes. "Show me what happened here," I whispered.