Over the next couple of weeks, Kenna burned through her worksheets with ease. Once Dakota grew accustomed to her handwriting, which was a little sloppy, he found that she rarely made mistakes, and she typically wrote long, thoughtful responses when the question called for it. If he left her alone too long, she occasionally did more than what was asked of her.
Or she would doodle in the margins next to reading assignments. Swirls, cartoon gusts of wind or waves on a beach, mountains, flowers, trees—nice things.
At first.
After a while, the drawings changed. Nature scenes gave way to realistic-looking eyes, angry and snarling dogs, and fire. The first time the flames showed up, Dakota told himself it was no big deal. Perhaps this was her way of dealing with her fears. After all, she seeme
