LOGINAvaThe first thing I heard was a low, tired voice, reading words I couldn't quite catch yet. My body felt heavy under the sheets, pinning me to the bed. I could hear the steady rasp of my own breathing. My open eyes blinked dryly in the dim light.I opened my eyes wider. A small, pale room with a c
AvaDad let go of the shackle and sat back, his face relaxing from the concentration. He was quiet for a long moment. Then his eyes met mine."Baby," he said gently, "do you want to know what happened?"Something in his tone made my chest tighten. I had a feeling that this was a truth I wasn't ready
AvaHe stepped out of the blackness, edging closer, until I could finally see him. Unbelievable. He was so young, the age he was when...when he died. His warm brown eyes, both of them, looked at me with a fond smile.I stared, my mouth hanging open, unable to make a sound. My dad. Standing in front
LeviI settled into the chair by her bed and took her hand in mine, rubbing my thumb over the back of it. "Hey, Ava. It's Levi," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "I just talked to Sofia. We had some things to say to each other."I sat there, rubbing her hand, trying to find the words Maya and
LeviI sat with my father in his room, a week after Hilda's funeral. Some families had already packed up and left the pack after becoming human. Others had stayed, unsure of where else to go.My father wheezed beside me, the hiss of his oxygen tank an ever-present sound now. He was thinner, frail, h
MayaI zipped Sofia's dress as best I could with my good hand. The collar was tricky. I fiddled clumsily with the small metal fastening. "There, perfect," I said, releasing the dress and stepping back.Sofia blinked hard at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was pulled back in a neat bun. The dr
Sofia just shrugged, floating back to the racks for her own dress. “He’s not that subtle.”I was still adjusting to the feeling of my own skin exposed, the slight chill of the air through the cutouts, the way my nipples puckered against the thin lining. It was like wearing armor made of Saran Wrap a
AvaI woke up wrong. Not the “wrong side of the bed” kind, but wrong in the bones and wrong in the skin and wrong in the head, like the molecules had all moved around in my sleep and no one had put them back in the right order.The first sensation was pain—a blunt, absolute ache that ran from my toe
AvaI hit the ground hard. My knees must have given out first, but I didn’t feel anything—not at first. Just a rush of heat behind my ears, then a thick wave of nausea as my face smacked into Maya’s arm.She caught me before I could eat glass, her hands like vices on my shoulders. “Whoa, whoa—Ava, h
MayaThe second I demanded an answer, the whole room went radioactive with awkward. It wasn’t even like anyone tried to talk over me. Sofia did a speedrun of her text notifications, which didn’t even light up. Levi just kept his eyes on the far wall, like he was doing a deep meditative breath in the







