d this pattern, yet it always found its way back without warning. There was no p
it would end. It alwa
n to help me, not even if I were bleeding out in the yard. Still, everything shifted the m
hrew me forward. My hands shook as I reached for my keys, dshed me forward. I
legs barely holding me up. The keys rattled against my fi
more steps.
inst my side. The air around me
een my fingers like a weapon. My chest
strange shine. Its lips curled back, and saliva slipped past teeth sharp enou
had always been h
amusement, while my hand searched behind me for the handle. Th
was more than willing t
mind already drifting to the damage on my car. The cracked windshield would cost m
n i
Get in
und. I straightened and made m
im, it didn't exist. He sat stiffly in his armchair, exactly as always. Behind him, my mother stood watching me, her expressi
ed it on his boots, the d
xpected from me anyway. Someone li
s I shifted it slightly, un
will attend the Lunar Gala. Make sure your... job doesn't stop you fr
. My fingers tingled as my t
It had been two years since I
hoping to meet their mates. Officially, it served as a break after the Council meetings, but everyo
d never been invited before. They always blamed it on co
stayed fixed somewhere above me, as if even looking at me was
ed away. That was all I got. An order th
flickered inside me. A quiet thought. A chanc
It carried the promise of stepping outside this invisible cage. St
and her smooth voice s
ry not to look like somethi
y, stirring memories I wished would stay buried. There was a time she held
ed out. I would do wh
ith Phoenix and Jes
re than decoration. S
and rose toward my shoulder, then halted just short, lingering in t
Make sure your hair is done. And get rid
er spend a sin
s,
ned as she gro
carry our name. And cover those marks. I w
cent lingering in the air along with
erously close to excitement. The Lunar Gala felt like a crack in the walls around m
I could leave this place behind. May
to hold on
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