Katherine had been missing for over 24 hours when the search party found her at the top of the hill where the landslide had started. She was digging with her bare hands in the space between two fallen trees, shouting a name over and over, “Ammy! Ammy! Ammy!”
She had to be sedated.
Amethyst Camden never existed, the doctors told her. Her injuries were caused by a fall, followed by a day of delirious wandering. Anything she had experienced — or thought she had — was her mind trying to protect itself from the reality of a traumatic event.
They told her these things, yet had no explanation for the bright stone bead she’d been clutching.