By the time Sofia stumbled back into the apartment that night, her head was pounding hard enough to make the hallway blur. Every step felt heavy, like she was wading through wet cement. She kicked the door shut behind her, dropped her bag onto the couch with a pathetic flop, and collapsed beside it. Her limbs felt disconnected from her body, the kind of exhaustion that went deeper than muscle and sat heavy in her bones.
Lani was the first to notice. She leaned over from her usual corner of the sofa, eyes narrowing with the precision of a cat assessing prey. “Well? How did it go, Mole Woman?”
Sofia let out a groan that came from the very bottom of her soul. “Do not start.”
“I will start, middle, and end,” Lani declared proudly, folding her arms like a queen ready to scold her court. “You
