House of Salt and Sorrows

Annaleigh hears screaming the next morning. Lenore is distraught, and Camille and Hanna try to calm her, but she yells that Rosalie and Ligeia are dead: “I’m them. They’re me. And they’re gone. I just feel it!” (249). Annaleigh calms her and pulls twigs and berries from her hair. Camille promises they didn’t go dancing last night. Ortun also rushes in to calm Lenore, who screams about the family’s curse and her triplet sisters being missing.

The family puts together a search party, with Annaleigh and Cassius looking for Rosalie and Ligeia together. Cassius suggests the triplets may be playing a trick, but Annaleigh denies it. He sees a painting of the 12 sisters, and Annaleigh shares her family’s many deaths. She recalls the twigs in Lenore’s hair, realizing they’re from berries in a forest nearby. She rushes outside into the snow.

Annaleigh and Cassius trudge through the deep snow into the forest until they find Lenore’s red berries. Cassius goes ahead and stops, trying to hold Annaleigh back from the sight of Rosalie and Ligeia frozen to death. Annaleigh drops to her knees and crawls to them. Cassius holds her as she sobs.