“Inside,” I say.
She steps in immediately.
I close the door behind her, flip the deadbolt, and lean back against it for half a second so I don’t say something I’ll regret.
Talon hovers a few feet back. Silas is to my right, arms folded, gaze locked on her like he is scanning for visible wounds.
No one talks.
She licks her lips once, that nervous little swipe of tongue I’ve already learned means she’s about to say something either very brave or very stupid.
“Hi,” she says weakly.
Not a great start.
“Where.” My voice comes out low, almost calm, which is worse, even to my own ears. “Were you?” I ask even though I know the answer.
Her spine stiffens instinctively. “At my dress fitting.”
“You turned your phone off,” I say.
“I turned it on silent,” she corrects. “They didn’t want notifications going off while I was pinned with straight pins.”
“Semantics,” I snap. “You didn’t check it once.”
She flinches.
Good.
I push off the door and step closer. “Our group chat has been blowing up for forty minutes, Penelope.”
Her gaze drops to the floor. “I know.”
Talon’s voice cracks in. “You scared the shit out of me. And you lied to me. You said you had a study group.”
She winces. “Yeah. I knew you guys wouldn’t want me going. Sorry, Talon.”
Silas hasn’t said a word yet. He just watches her, unreadable, which I know from experience is its own kind of danger.
I drag in a slow breath. “Tell us what happened. All of it. From the minute you walked in.”
She nods, swallows, nods again, like she’s resetting herself, then starts.
“Gilbert’s was…” She lets out a humorless laugh. “Too much satin, too much perfume, too many mirrors, not enough oxygen.”
“Abi,” Silas prompts.
Her jaw tightens. “Fake as hell. Happy to see me. Very ‘we’re going to be a perfect family’ energy.”
Talon swears under his breath.
Penelope keeps going. “I pushed a little and brought up Minxy again.”
“What did she say?” I ask.
Penelope’s voice drops lower. “At first? That Minxy’s ‘making progress.’ She said Minxy’s almost done. And that once the school decides she’s made ‘enough progress,’ they’ll ‘discuss next steps.’”
“Progress,” Silas repeats, voice flat.
