KAEL
“I… I h-have… to… go b-back…” she said, her voice, barely a whisper, each word dragged out like it cost her something precious. “G-Ginny w-would… would b-be… mad if… if I d-didn’t.”
The name hit me like a fist to the sternum. I couldn’t help it when my voice came out sharper than I meant, almost a shout. “Okay, who the hell is Ginny?”
She flinched, but then impossibly, a tiny huff escaped her, something perilously close to a laugh. It was gone in an instant, swallowed by fear, but it lit something warm and fierce in my chest all the same.
“M-mother,” she said, eyes dropping to her trembling hands. “Sh-she’s… my m-mom. And… and M-Mary is… my s-sister. I… I h-have to b-be… home… b-before… before they r-return.”
The words mother and sister felt obscene in her mouth, like she was nam
