Chapter 66

But before the metal shrieked against metal, before the world splintered into a kaleidoscope of pain, Elodie wrenched herself awake. She shot upright on the sofa, disoriented, the dying scream still trapped in her throat. Her lungs clawed for air, sweat clinging to her skin like cold paint. She blinked away the last vestiges of the dream: Dad’s face white with panicked effort, Mom’s eyes wide with disbelief, the windshield a gaping maw ready to swallow them whole. It took a second for the room to refocus – the familiar mess of her study, the first sliver of dawn peeking through the curtains, the echo of her own ragged breaths. Elodie rose, her legs shaky, and stretched the kinks out of her neck. The nightmares had lessened, from nightly terrors to once-a-week gut punches. But instead of dreading them, she found herself...waiting. It was a twisted craving, a desperate bid to hear her parents’ voices again, even if it meant reliving their final moments. She wished she’d inherited Dad’s p