y

he corridor wh

her mind, she

been sick the whole time I've been here

o n

Ada is already o

happened, what I'm going to do. Her nails catch my left wrist. Four thin lines. I fe

king and just holding on

ay to get Thom

s over and

nce I was a child. She holds on and says nothing and that's the only rea

, when I've stopped. "You alre

kno

ther yet. She can't

of my hand. I've been carrying this

own th

open. She looks up and smiles at me, the real

me. My coat. The go

says. "You're doing a

ow about any of it. She's looking at me like

the silver. Not the contract.

t a show. The neighbors' dog. I li

takes up more space in her face now. She can't know how bad

silver I've saved isn't enough on its own. That's why I w

e lower quarter, fif

esk. The owner goes quiet. He looks at t

e yours,"

and studies the upper corner where t

ber that's higher

very

again,"

d

cket and stop on the front step. The cold hi

is.' Not hop

wo landscapes I painted alone and gave me more than I asked for. That's mine. Nobody han

tight and sta

days. The money is enough.

me. That's all th

my elbow. I let myself think: maybe to

ing it when the

ey split, and my body knows before my brain catches up

of

n front b

he says. "No pack sc

omach

time I'm alone, forty minutes from the pack hous

Against five I can't shift fast eno

away,"

tep. The others clos

all. The only move left is to mak

n my

ing rough drops over my head and everything goes dark. I can't see. I

use me to bargain with Julian for money. Any way th

th something solid. It doesn't

verything

I've ever felt. It presses down on everything. The hands on my arms drop away. I hear something I've nev

ice.

gain, there won't be a

Scramblin

e air and it's pressing o

ts the sack

er e

me. After the dark and the rot-smell and the certainty that nobo

l, even like this. Patient and sti

at the shoulder. He says nothing, just t

ll warm. I didn

g. I press them fla

e. Just waiting, like this is th

obody waited f

top of a letter and pressed it into the courier's hands in the dark, not knowing if it would ever a

say. "You're Si

s. "You won't be followed.

time. Long enough that I

ave until I s

ever asked him about the

ar. I'm still wearing it

omething to me I wasn't ready for. Three years in this pack and nobody ever walked behind me to make sure I got home.

inking about th

y Sylvi

low in my chest and stop

The way he didn't ask before he put his coat over me. That long look before

mething that comes from somewhere much older than ei

st tig

ver heard it before and I

' I

ike if I get through the gate before Sy

is righ

op a

nce the alley. Since the coat. Since he stood

ckwood is