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She didn't look at hiain, she couldn't With a tiny nod, she stumbled backward and turned to Elliot

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He stood in the shadows, his scarred, wrinkled face hidden beneath the brim of his hat

She held out her hand to her husband "I am done, Elliot You may take me home now"

"Let's go," he said, leading her toward the door

Selena didn't turn back around She couldn't Instead, she tilted her chin up and followed Elliot from the house

The big door slammed shut behind her, the porch steps creaked beneath her feet She placed her ser one, and clion

She keptto look back, as Elliot clicked his teeth and snapped the reins, as the wheels creaked forward and crunched through the gravel As the drive gave way to the iron gates, and the gates gave way to the forest As they turned away froreens

Yes, she keptto look back But somehow she never did

For a long time, Selena didn't say a word, and neither did Elliot The horse plodded onward, the wheels bounced through the pock faed into the dark shadows of the forest Night drizzled across the treetops and puddled along the tree trunks An owl hooted as they passed

Selena hugged herself tightly and rested her chin in the vee of her bent knees With every creaking turn of the wheels, she cracked her chin on the bony huht knee, but she didn't care, could barely feel it

Her thoughts drifted back to Lethe House, to the faces of her faet theone one day like all the other memories

"Lara does the best somersaults," she said in a rush,

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clinging to the memory "And Maeve does the best cartwheels"