Hazel
She had left the house by nine.
Not for class — class was not until the afternoon and she knew that. She left because she had sat in her room eating dry cereal and decided she was not going to spend the next four hours in a building where she might turn a corner and come face to face with Silas. Not today. Not in her current state. He could have the whole house to himself and she would take herself somewhere she could breathe without doing a threat assessment before leaving a room.
Maya's house was twenty minutes on foot. Hazel showed up at the door at nine twenty-three and Maya's mother let her in without question and offered tea before she had even taken her shoes off. That was the kind of welcome that explained a lot about Maya.
She was lying on Maya's bed by nine thirty, star
