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
AvaThe hallway was a nightmare.The first step outside the dorm room and every fluorescent bulb overhead buzzed like an insect inside my skull. The sound was so sharp I could feel it in my teeth, each flicker and stutter of the lights slicing into my head.Sofia’s footsteps on the tile were complet
HildaI paced the hallway outside the dorm for what felt like hours. In reality, it was probably twenty minutes, maybe less, but time warped out here—six steps forward, six back, and always the same stain on the wall, the same worn patch in the tile under my heel.I stopped knocking after the first
SofiaFor a while, I didn’t say anything. I checked Maya’s monitors, made sure the fluid line wasn’t crimped, and cleaned the residue off her mouth with a damp gauze pad. It was all routine now.When I looked up, Ava hadn’t moved. She was still pressed to the desk, her knuckles bone-white.“You don’
AvaAbove me, a bird landed in the sycamore tree. I could hear its heartbeat, the quick flutter, the scratch of its claws on the bark. I heard it swallow.I heard the feather ruffle as it shook out a wing. Somewhere underground, water rushed through a pipe, so loud I thought the earth itself was goi







