LILY
The airport looked different from the last time I’d been in one.
Maybe it was the tinted window of the luxury car making everything feel distant and unreal.
Maybe it was because this day felt like a line drawn in my life, everything behind me was dimming, everything ahead too bright to look at.
When Franklin pulled into the departure lane, I tensed. People rushed past with suitcases, children, coffee cups. Normal people. People who belonged here. Meanwhile, I stepped out of a car that felt borrowed from another universe.
A woman in a neat uniform approached immediately.
“Miss Lily?” she asked.
My breath hitched. “Yes.”
She smiled professionally. “Right this way, please.”
Franklin gave me a small bow of his head. “You will be met in Newark by another driver. Safe travels, Miss
