Eighteen SIL TELLS ME TO COME DOWNSTAIRS. I make Lucien promise to stay with Raven, who falls asleep almost immediately. I watch the rise and fall of her chest until I’m sure it won’t stop, until I can truly believe she is alive. Ash and Garnet stay with her, too. They look at me differently now, wide-eyed and wary, confused. I walk silently past them, following Sil, and wonder what it looked like to them, whatever it was that just happened. I wonder what destroyed the room. Sil sets a kettle on to boil. I sink into one of the chairs at the dining table. My hands are shaking. “So,” she says. “Now you know.” I nod. “How are you feeling?” I shake my head. I don’t have an answer to that. It’s like I’m feeling everything all at once, a jumble of emotions mixed with something strange and unfamiliar that doesn’t quite feel human. “That’s exactly how Azalea looked when it happened to her. Except she didn’t have to bring her friend back from the dead.” Sil scratches her ear.
