Chapter 60

I shake my head at him, so consumed with mistrust, my mind a flurry of conflicting emotions, backing into a corner until I hit the edge of the bed. It startles me, and I seem to snap out of my intense focus on him and look around for the first time, really seeing the room. There has been an epic battle in this room. It’s complete devastation. Worse than the carnage at the orphanage, I gasp as my eyes follow the gouges and claw marks running not just across the floor and walls but ceilings too. Furniture splayed or tipped over, trashed, or just balancing precariously. The pictures on the wall either smashed to the floor or hanging lopsided. Some clawed through where they hang. All the bedsheets are strewn across the floor, most ripped and slashed, and feathers float in the air from pillows that no longer exist. Destruction everywhere. I crouch quickly to grab the nearest sheet to wrap it around myself and conceal my body fast. “There’s one problem with that little ‘hope.’ I don’t want