"Um," I said, because I didn't want to lie, but I was starting to like Eddie and I didn't want him to stop liking me. Peter was a liar, though. Peter told people what he thought they wanted to hear so they would like him, so long as it served him, too. I didn't want to be that person.

"A long time," I settled on saying, because that much was the truth. I could even tell Eddie how old I was when Peter brought me there and that wouldn't be a lie either. I just didn't have to tell him that I had been there for as many years as I was. "I was brought there when I was eight. It was... I'm not sure, it was some sort of magic. I was bought there by a boy named Peter."

I swallowed and looked down for a second, then looked up at Eddie. "He killed my mother. He convinced me the police would blame me, so I ran away with him."