that may resolve in time
I send it.
Her reply comes quickly.
Lyn
maybe, but i’m not holding my breath
Then—before I can reply, there’s a soft knock on the door.
No. Shewouldn’t.
I give it a moment, waiting to see if the knock was real or just my imagination. But then it comes again—a little louder—and I hear Flicker stir in Solvi’s room with a soft grumble.
I move quickly toward the door and open it.
And she’s right there…waiting.
Lyn stands in the light of the hallway, her face set in a resolute stare, her fists clenched at her sides. She’s wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled up over her curls, a different scarf—a purple one—tied around her head beneath it. Otherwise, she’s only in a pair of running shoes and leggings.
“I was out for a jog and I came over,” she says.
I frown.
“Okay,” she breathes. “I…wasn’t out for a jog. I don’t jog. I just—I came here. I don’t know why.”
My frown deepens and I open my mouth to say something?—
“Okay, that was also a lie,” she says. “I know exactly why I’m here. I’m here because I want to come, and I know you’re going to do it, and I don’t want it to be in the lab this time and…I know you want it, please, I know?—”
I reach out to pull her inside, shutting the door behind her with a muted thud. I don’t touch her skin—that’s too risky here in the open—but she shudders all the same.
Then…a little raspy growl from the end of the hall.
Flicker.
“Come with me,” I mutter, taking her by the arm and leading her to my bedroom.
This is a very bad idea. I should send her away. But…that was never a possibility, was it? She’s here, and she’s inside, and now I’m taking her to my bedroom.
Flicker growls as we move past her.
“Baba?” Solvi’s voice comes from her room. “Is someone here?”
“Stay here,” I hiss to Lyn before closing her in my bedroom.
I turn around to move to Solvi’s room, finding my daughter sitting up and blinking her eyes in the shifting glow of her nightlight.
“Sorry, blossom,” I say gently, stepping into her room. “You just heard the door. A colleague stopped by to drop something off.”
Solvi rubs her eyes, tendrils rising like she cansensethat I’m lying. Flicker has hopped up beside her and plopped her head in her lap like a suspicious chaperone, blinking neon green eyes at me as she tracks my every move.
Traitor. She’s supposed to bemydrakon, and now she’s acting like I’m a serious threat to her true person—Solvi.
Solvi’s voice is small but direct. “Is it Lyn?”
I suppress the urge to groan in frustration. I don’t want to have this conversation right now.
