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“It’s just hair,” I wail. “I know this. I’m not really vain, so why does this bother me so much?”

“It’s traumatic,” Cassidy whispers. “I can’t even imagine.”

Silas curses as he slams on his brakes, throwing us all forward.

“Sorry,” he rasps. “Fuck, I really want to turn around and snap her scrawny fucking neck.”

Cassidy’s breaths are coming fast as she nods. “Can we?” sheasks. “There are very few reasons to kill someone, but this is one.”

I don’t know if they’re serious enough. People don’t just talk like this, do they?

“The hospital was meant to rehabilitate me and my behavior,” I remind them. “All individuality had to be removed from me, and I…”

“You what?” Cassidy asks.

“I think I lost a lot of myself there,” I whisper. “The therapy is closer to torture, which is why I tend to flinch easily and I’m not used to touch. If someone was touching me, it was because they were going to hurt me. Electrical shock, water boarding?—”

“You’re this tiny fucking thing, are you kidding me?” Silas yells, making me jump. “I’m sorry. Fuck. They could have easily killed you.”

They’re going to kill you.Whispers seem to echo in my mind before I banish it with a ragged breath. I’m not there anymore, even though I kept dreaming that I was the last few nights.

Nightmares have been intruding into my dreams, which has made my sleep even worse. I’m sure the adrenaline of Silas picking me up will drain soon, and I’ll need a nap.

“They almost did,” I say, lifting a shoulder. “If you were to look up war torture, I feel like that’s where they may have taken their therapy practices. There’s nothing keeping her from doing this to me again, Silas.”

“Yes, well that’s not completely true,” he says. “If you have a pack, the burden of your health under the law would fall to them, and your mother wouldn’t have any rights. They would be sure to dissolve her proxy.”

They. Whoever “they” are.

“Nina,” Cassidy says.

“What did I say?” Silas asks. “Your scent…”

“Ignore it,” I snap, looking out the window. “I’m being oversensitive. I’ll get over it.”

“No,” Silas says, pulling the car to the side of the road. Webump along a bit, and my head turns to glare at him as he twists his body to face me. “Now, you’re being a brat. I wouldn’t dream of stifling that, but we’re going to fucking talk about it.”

Pulling my hand from Cassidy’s, I wrap my arms around myself with a sigh.

“I feel like the ugly duckling,” I say. “It’s ridiculous?—”

“Is it because we haven’t chosen yet?” Silas asks.

“Yes, and I shouldn’t feel like this.”

“Your mother made it very clear that we’re responsible for your absence the last five days,” Cassidy growls. “Just because she pretended it was related to a fake heat and not the fact that she chose to beat you for something outside of your control makes no difference.”

“I promise to have answers for you about that during this trip,” Silas says, taking a deep breath.

Without thinking, I breathe with him, and the faintest scent of fresh cookies slips through. It smells really nice, but it isn’t earth shattering or anything.

“Who smells like cookies?” I blurt out.

Silas grins. “Huh. You can smell me?”

“I usually can’t smell anything,” I admit. “Food sometimes can taste odd because of it, and it throws off my appetite. I thought my sinuses were all messed up from my, ah, treatments.”

“Torture,” Silas says, his smile dropping. It’s a shame because it cuts into his grumpiness when he smiles. “Please call it for what it is. Your body worked really hard to heal the last five days. It’s possible other parts of you are also healing as well. That’s really good.”