Kiki’s stick fell from her hand. She didn’t understand, only that her mother’s fear was thick like the honey she sometimes put on her toast. The air itself seemed to shrink around them.
Her mother burst through the door, rushing up the narrow stairwell as fast as her legs could go. Kiki clung to her neck, bumping against the chipped plaster wall, too scared to breathe.
“Mama, what?—”
“Quiet, Kiki!” Her mother’s whisper cracked.
Kiki could feel her slipping. Her small body slid down her mother’s hip as they reached the top landing. The door to the roof slammed open, and a blinding glare of white light flooded over them.
“Mama?”
Her mother’s breath caught, and then everything exploded.
Hands. Hands grabbing her—another set pulling her mother away as she fought and screamed.
Voices. Growling out threats. Horrible, mean voices.
Yelling. Her mother told her to run.
One man grabbed her mother’s arm. Another yanked Kiki in the opposite direction.
“MAMA!” Kiki cried.
Her mother twisted, yelled her name, reached back—but the men were too strong.
“Don’t let them see, Kiki! Don’t?—”
The words vanished in a sob.
Kiki fought wildly, kicking, biting, but the man’s grip on her wrist was iron. Tears streamed down her face. She wanted to stop him. She could stop him. But Mama had said no one must know.
Her heart pounded so loudly it drownedeverything.
Then she heard her mother cry out—a short, terrible sound that made the world go still.
“Mama?”
The man jerked her arm, and something inside her snapped.
She turned her head and pressed her tiny palm against the man’s arm. A pulse—soft, invisible—rushed from her skin into his.
He froze. His mouth opened in shock, then his fingers went slack, and he collapsed.
Kiki stumbled backward as she gazed down at the man’s vacant eyes, her chest heaving. Her gaze darted toward the sound of her mother’s voice. She ran—bare feet slapping the hot concrete—and rounded the corner.
Her mother was on her knees, one hand clutching a wound blooming red across her chest. A knife jutted from her ribs. The man beside her looked startled—like he didn’t understand what he’d done.
Kiki’s knees buckled. “Mama!”
Her mother’s eyes found hers. So full of love. Of sorrow.
“Run,” she rasped. “Go to Father Bishop.”
Kiki shook her head violently, sobbing.
The man turned toward her.
She lifted her hand, trembling. Her small fingers curled into a fist.
