Chapter 216

• Fifteen-year-old Ivy's feet wobbled, drained from all the running, as she pushed through the door of her home. She panted heavily, catching her breath and meeting the stunned silence in the house.
• It was odd; she had expected to see her mother standing in the doorway, ready to scold her for running off like that, or perhaps to be welcomed by her sister's taunts, but there was nothing.
• She raised her head only to find the living room empty.