Ava took a deep breath to calm herself. She had chosen to sit with her feet in the pool while she thought of what to tell her family. She didn’t want to lie to them, but she also didn’t want them to know the full horrors of what she had gone through. She had tried to go home to them and failed.
And in the process, something had changed. She could feel it. She would never be the same again.
Trying to escape had been selfish, and yet she knew she would try again somehow. But she didn’t want her family to come and get her; she wanted all the blame to go on her. Maybe then she could plead for the Council to leave them alone, and she could suffer the consequences by herself.
With another breath, she dialled the number. Like the last time she had called, someone picked up straight away.
“Ava
