Chapter Six: Chain Reaction

“Dad!” Molly shouted as she burst through the door, her eyes hunting wildly for her parents. The cafe was a mess. All the boxes they’d stacked that morning had tumbled to the floor, along with most of the chairs. A broken light flickered over the debris. “Dad! Clarissa!”

“Back here!” Clarissa’s voice.

Heart leaping, Molly had to climb through the room—over boxes, broken glass, and overturned chairs, and past the counter—before she found her dad, lying on the floor with one bloody leg stretched in front of him. Clarissa knelt beside him, her skirt and heels smeared red. A ladder lay crookedly between them, one rung dented where it had hit the counter hard.

Molly jolted to a halt, her stomach in her throat.

Chapter Four: Echoes

Aaron was still watching her.

Glowering at her, to be honest, although it was hard to tell with the glare off his glasses. Besides, Aaron’s face was kind of stuck in a permanent glower anyway, so how was she even supposed to tell?

Brennan’s departure had left an intensely uncomfortable silence behind. Selena knew if she said anything, they’d just argue, and Aaron had apparently come to the same conclusion. He’d been half a breath away from starting in on her again, but had stalked off instead, cleaning his glasses on his shirt and muttering under his breath. She did her best to pretend she didn’t notice, and busied herself playing with the map on the screen.