l of dim yellow light. It looked like it had not been properly c

phone to see a ghost. I walked through the front door with salt-

ter did not make eye contact

at and empty as the road outside. He dropped the heavy pl

re the smell of stale bleach was strongest. I am a wet a

kered every few seconds. I stood in front of the glass for a

ike a heavy, suffocating shroud. I pulled the small knife

a thick handful of wet strands. I started cutting at the

n in my shaking hand. I kept going because stopping wou

bout me because it matched my mother's. I cut it all the way

or in a wet, tangled heap. I am cutting away every part o

t. There was nothing soft about her face to remind anyone of the invisible girl in the h

he kind of wolf the bloodlines pretend does not exist in their polite circles. He

ver written down on paper. It rang four times before a

ull trail and scent masking,

r?" the man asked after

it for you," I replied, watchi

rs and needed a place tonight. He told me to be at a blu

astic receiver against my ear. I bought the cheapest dry

fe into my new waistband. I walked back out into t

eporting my death to my father. Corvino was older and sm

stillness of the very cautious. He watched me for a

tle of dead leaves on stone. "Not anymore," I replied,

and his expression shifted to

e asked, folding his hands

g," I told him. I want to be someone who has been movi

hing for a set of blank ide

d when we were alone. It is the one thing I am keep

ory that was undeniably real. He explained how the scent m

ad to my certain execution. When he was finished, he named

o, walk carefully," Corvino w

the early morning air. I sat in the back of a bus

ike a second layer of armor. I watched the dark road

e in the grand hall. This sensation started behind my

e armrest with both hands. I felt a cold, hunting

d find what it was looking for. It rolled through me like th

ed entirely to him. Bastian Valdemar is awake somewhere

hrough the foreign pressure. Through the bond, I fel

k car following the bus. The car accelerated and swerved