Lahat ng Kabanata ng Second chance luna: Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

Zinnia’s POVThe stranger came to the market in the morning.I was at the grocery helping Mr. Hale stack bags of flour. The door opened and a man stepped inside. He was tall and thin. His clothes were clean but plain. He did not look like a farmer or a local worker. His eyes moved slowly across the room and stopped on me.I felt it at once. Wolf. The scent was faint under soap, but it was there.Mr. Hale spoke first. “Can I help you?”The man smiled in a polite way. “I am looking for someone. People in the last town said there is a woman here who heals with light. They called her the silver healer. I have a message for her.”My hands still went on the flour bag. Mr. Hale glanced at me and then back at the stranger.“I do not know any silver healer,” Mr. Hale said. “We have a normal clinic down the street.”The man kept smiling. “All the same. If you see her, tell her the message is from the Frost Pack. It is important.”He set a small folded paper on the counter. Then he bought a bott

Zinnia’s POVI walked June to school the next morning the same as always.The air was cold. Snow still lay along the edges of the street. June held my hand until we reached the gate. He did not talk much. He had grown quiet again in the last days. I hated seeing that quiet return to him.“I will be here when the day ends,” I told him.He nodded and went inside. I waited until the door closed. Then I turned toward home.Joseph was waiting near the corner. His face was serious.“He is back,” he said in a low voice.My heart dropped. “The stranger?”“Yes. He is standing under the trees past the school yard. He watches the children when they go inside. He was careful, but I saw him.”Fear rose fast in my chest. “Did he see June?”“I do not know. But he is close enough to see faces.”We walked back to the boarding house without speaking. My mind ran through every worst path. The man had come to the market with a message. Now he stood near the school. That was not a soft warning anymore.Jo

Zinnia’s POVI thought June was asleep.Joseph and I had kept our voices low in the common room. We talked about the message and the ten days and the choice to leave. We did not shout. We did not use hard words. Still, some of the talk must have carried through the thin wall.I found him sitting up in bed when I went to check on him. His wooden wolf was pressed tight against his chest. His eyes were wide in the dark.“Mama,” he said in a small voice. “Are the bad people from the old pack coming?”My heart sank. I closed the door softly behind me and sat on the edge of his bed.“Why do you ask that?”“I heard you and Joseph. You said the Frost Pack. You said they watched the school. You said we might have to leave.”I took a slow breath. I did not want to lie to him. I also did not want to fill him with more fear than he already carried.“There are people who still remember us,” I said carefully. “They sent a message. We do not like the message. So we are being very careful. That is al

Zinnia’s POVI was packing a small bag when the knock came.It was hard and fast. Joseph moved to the door at once and looked through the side window. He glanced back at me with a tight face and then opened the door a little.A man and a woman stood outside. I knew them from the market. They lived near the south edge of town. Their little girl was about June’s age. The woman held the child in her arms. The girl’s face was pale. Her breathing sounded wrong, short and wet.“Please,” the woman said. Her voice shook. “We know you stopped. We know you do not want people to talk. But she is getting worse. The clinic could not help. The fever will not break. We have no one else.”Joseph looked at me. I could see the warning in his eyes. We were supposed to stay quiet. We were supposed to leave soon. Any use of the gift could draw the wrong attention.I looked at the child. Her small chest rose and fell too fast. Her lips had a faint blue edge. The gift under my skin woke me at once and pushe

Zinnia’s POVWe drove until the sky turned gray.Joseph found a hidden track that led into a thick group of trees. He stopped the truck and turned off the engine. The sudden quiet felt loud after the long night of road noise.June woke when the truck stopped. He looked around at the trees and the cold morning light. His face was still full of sleep, but the questions came fast.“Are we going back to the boarding house later?”I took a breath. “No. We cannot go back.”He sat up straight. The wooden wolf fell from his lap onto the seat. “What about school? What about Sam? I told him I would play ball when the snow melts.”The pain in his voice cut me. I reached for his hand. He pulled it back.“I know this hurts,” I said. “I know you liked it there. But the men asking questions made it unsafe. We had to leave.”June’s eyes filled with tears. He did not cry out loud. He turned his face toward the window and watched the trees. His small shoulders shook once.Joseph spoke in a low, careful