12
ELLISANDRA RAN into her room and slammed the door behind her. She stopped a few paces into the room, her chest heaving with deep breaths.
Why was everybody in her life so infuriating? Why did they talk about her behind her back? Why did they act like she was stupid?
She strode over to the window and yanked the curtains shut, then stuck her head between them to look outside. The glow from the shelter behind the wall was clearer from here. It was a greenish kind of light, a puddle in the darkness.
She thought of how she’d met the stranger there this morning—Vayra, she should call him by his name. He turned out to be pretty smart, and yes, he would probably tell her more than he’d tell the guards if she turned on a pretty smile.
But you know what? She wasn’t going to do that. She was
