it up, then dropped it. Dawn's name filled the screen. Missed calls stacking like worry. She

ground. "Tell your friend not to bother coming here

n worry folded itself into the lines around her mouth. Dawn wasn't just late, she'd va

*

old, Daphne's heels clicking like a metronome of panic. They asked everyone they could: cab dri

an embrace that looked like desperation disguised as relief. Tears cut tracks down her face. Dawn c

e you planning on doing? Leaving me alone in this world?" Her voice c

ocked room for too long. Dawn could see it: the man's spirit wasn't where his body sat

him?" Dawn asked, quieti

Daphne snapped, and s

d her hand back, unsure how to reach a man wh

, the greeting

ce an

"This isn't your fault.

his room, leaving Dawn with the weight of quest

afternoon. Dawn slipped out the door without a co

* *

door jingled and Dawn sho

e is it?" she dema

ds. She could see it in the man

t was the adrenaline, or the way scaled-up wealth felt like borrowe

about me. I

of the apron between her

e. I'm fine." She hugged Alex, a brief, hone

* *

ll on the counter, a knock came shar

professional, names clipped into their

re of the children in this household," t

ry. Peige. The thought wa

said, shoulders straighten

ocumentation?"

at the landlord's office. She'd planned to fetch them,

-truth stretched thin at th

lism returned. "Without documentation we can't verify gu

added bluntly. "How are yo

Manchester arrangement-what could she tell them about

ice steady. "But unless we receive proof of guardianship and stabl

words struck

ce appeared, wide and frightened.

d a crumb of hair from Amy's forehea

e, fear h

*

at vigil by Ava's bed. Daphne's ha

whispered, though even her whisper sh

on? There's no life without Ava." The word

for New Year's together, that nothing and no one would take them apart. The vows were

*

er. She huffed and kept going, Peige, next. Her f

g smile and a wineglass still in her

r, exhaustion braided into a single rope of sound. "You

Pipe down, Dawn. You're beginning to

ere my mother, I'd have ended things long ago," she spat.

ir. She felt small and dangerous at once-the kind of

g to the city breathe around her. Ten days