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, d

shed 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

nd for this family. Make su

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