Chapter 2

Dad went rigid, and Mom immediately turned toward Chloe. "Really? Where did you see her? Was she hurt?" Dad grabbed Chloe's shoulders, his voice tight with urgency.

Startled by his reaction, Chloe shrank back. "She left with a woman."

"What woman? What did she look like? Which way did they go?" Dad fired the questions at her.

Guilt flickered through Chloe's eyes, but Mom and Dad were too focused on finding me to notice.

"I think it was the woman from the chocolate stall. Ella was always crazy about chocolate."

Chloe lowered her head, making her voice sound increasingly hurt. "She ignored me. She didn't even ask whether you had made it out. That woman took her away, and Ella just went with her."

The urgency slowly disappeared from Dad's face. He released Chloe and stood there, gray and stricken.

That was not what happened. I had not abandoned them. I ran back into the fire because Chloe told me they were still inside. I circled them desperately, trying to explain, but no matter how loudly I shouted, they could not hear me.

Mom trembled with anger. "She left without even asking whether we made it out?" Mom held Chloe tighter. "After we went back inside looking for her?"

Dad stared at the smoke pouring from the mall entrance. His wolf remained restless, urging him to find his missing pup, but he could no longer pick my scent out of the chaos.

Across the chaotic street, I saw the woman who had rescued me. Firefighters had stopped her behind another barricade. She sat on the ground, sobbing. "That little girl… I got her out. I carried her all the way outside! But when she heard that her parents might still be in there, she ran back inside! She was so young. She could have lived."

I floated to her side. "I'm sorry. Thank you for saving me. But I couldn't leave Mom and Dad in there."

Dad seemed to hear her cries. He took two steps toward the sound and narrowed his eyes, trying to see the woman behind the crowd. Hope rose inside me again. Dad would recognize her. Once he found the woman from the chocolate stall, he would know Chloe had lied. He would know I had gone back into the fire.

But the space between the two barricades was crowded with firefighters and injured survivors. Smoke obscured his view, and paramedics soon helped the woman toward the emergency treatment area. Dad never saw her clearly. He stopped and turned back to Mom, looking devastated.

"Did you hear that? A child had already been rescued, but when she heard her parents might still be inside, she went back for them." Dad sighed softly. "I wonder whose pup she was. She must have loved her parents very much."

He hadn't recognized her. He didn't know that child was me.

Chloe quietly relaxed. Mom gave a cold laugh. "You said it yourself. That was someone else's child." Mom looked away from the mall. "Ella chose a stranger over her own family."

I stood beside them, wounded and confused. I was not someone else's child. That little girl was me. I was their Ella.

Dad rubbed his face wearily. "Maybe she really did leave with that woman. Let's go home. She knows where we live. She may come back later."

Mom told a nearby pack officer that her missing daughter had left with a vendor she knew and that no search was necessary. The officer asked her to confirm this several times, but Mom insisted it was a family matter. In the end, they took Chloe and left.

My spirit followed them home without my willing it. Everything looked exactly as it had that morning. The colored lights on the Christmas tree glowed quietly. Paper snowflakes I had cut out still clung to the windows. Four stockings hung beside the fireplace, and the smallest had my name embroidered across it.

Dad opened the refrigerator and took out the turkey he had bought for Christmas dinner. Mom saw it and frowned. “Why are you taking that out? None of the three of us likes turkey.” Mom glanced toward the empty doorway. “She isn't coming home for it.”

Dad sighed and returned the turkey to the refrigerator. After hesitating, he took it out again. "I'll cook it anyway. Maybe she only went off to play with that vendor. She might come home tonight."

Dad spent a long time preparing dinner. The roasted turkey came out golden brown, surrounded by potatoes, carrots, and cranberry sauce. It looked exactly like the ones I had seen on television.

But I could no longer taste it. I floated around the table, trying to touch the turkey. My fingers passed through the plate again and again.

Mom suddenly lifted her head and looked in my direction. Startled, I waved at her. "Mommy, can you see me?"