MasukAvaThe 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
ColeThe infirmary was too quiet for a place with so many dying children. Nurses moved between beds, their faces blank the way medical staff got when they'd seen too much death. White sheets covered small bodies on stretchers. Six in the last hour. I counted them as they wheeled past—one, two, three
ColeI left the room.Not walked. Not stepped out. Left. The kind of leaving where you know you're abandoning something that needs you, but you do it anyway because staying would break you.The scary part wasn't hearing Susan say "Help me" through that destroyed mouth. It was what came after."Cole.
I rubbed my face. Exhaustion made everything feel distant and unreal."She slapped my boy."I remembered him. Tommy's father. Of course. He stood near his son's room, finger already pointed at me like a weapon."A child, and she hit him hard enough to leave a mark." His voice shook with rage. "I kne
EvelynIt all came down to one single moment where grief was only a reason to push forward. Nothing mattered. If it wasn't Ava, there was no greater reason. Call me selfish. I'd take that title to my grave. Once again, I blame Hilda. She had planted the idea in my head. I was carrying around a dead—







