Keirce registered my complaint that very afternoon. Kellis called Ambrea and filled her and the rest of my sisters in on what had happened. They left Alleah with Dari, our cousin who lives next door. Dari was Julea’s age and her closest friend. Alleah had stayed with her many times before. 

Ambrea wrapped her arms around me and just rocked. Like she had when I was a little girl and a bully had knocked me down on the playground and teased me for the way I struggled to talk.

I’ll admit it: I needed that mothering right then. 

I broke down and cried. 

For all of it. Everything that had happened. Everything that I didn’t know would happen next. 

Here I am, going against the Jareth House. I won’t win, but I want to be heard. 

When I was finally back in control of myself, I looked at the five females surrounding me. I saw bits and pieces of my parents in all of them. The curls were from an ancient ancestress—but the rest was my parents all over again. 

My parents would have spoken out about what Cahum and the rest of them did. 

They would expect that of their daughters. 

I squared my shoulders—I will never do anything that would not make them proud if they were here to see me. 

“I am going to do this. But you need to know, Kierce said there may be fallout. They are powerful Jareth warriors. And I am—”

“You are one of the strongest females I know,” Riv said emphatically. She had been pacing the room for several long moments. 

She was far more agitated than I had seen her since the day we lost our parents. 

It was more than just what had happened to me hurting this sister. 

“You will get through this. We will all get through all of this,” Ambrea said. “No matter what we have to do. We’re Woalds. And Woalds make do.”

“What is going on?” I asked. I just know looking at my sisters that there is something far more going on between them. “What else has happened?”