I called Mylene first.
She picked up on the second ring, voice already breaking.
“Hello? Catherine?!”
“We got them,” I said. “All of them. Safe. A little cold, a little tired… but safe.”
There was a long pause. Then the sound of pure, raw sobbing.
“Oh my God—oh my God, Cathy—thank you… thank you…”
I heard the phone being passed. Jhing Jhing came on next, her voice already trembling with joy and disbelief.
“Is Ivy—”
“She’s sleeping beside MJ right now,” I said softly. “Aliya’s holding her hand.”
More crying. Softer this time. The kind of crying that only happens when the nightmare finally ends.
“We’ll be there in a few hours,” I promised.
“Drive safe,” Jhing Jhing said. “We’ll wait.”
The sun was out when we reached the city. Slush gathered at the curbs. Life moved again—cars, do
