“Wel, that went wel,” I sighed, plucking a black flower from my hair as we went down the hal.

“Realy?” Tove asked. “Because I thought that went horribly.”

“I was being sarcastic.”

“Oh.” He shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked beside me. “It could’ve been worse, I guess.”

“You should’ve drunk more,” Wila said. “That’s how I made it through that thing. And you’re lucky you’re my best friend, or I wouldn’t have gone at al.”

“You need to start doing more stuff like that, Wila,” I told her.

“You’re so good at handling people, and someday you might need to do it.”

“Nope, that’s your job,” she smiled. “I lucked out. I’m free to be the naughty drunk friend.”

I tried to argue with Wila about the merits of being a good Tryle citizen. She schmoozed much better than I ever could, and she was a great aly, when she put her mind to it. But right now, she was too tipsy to see reason in anything.

She was giggling at something I’d said when we reached the rotunda. Garrett was coming down the stairs, but he stopped halfway when he saw us. His hair was a mess, his shirt was untucked, and his eyes were red-rimmed.

As soon as his eyes met mine, I knew.

“Elora,” I breathed.

“Wendy, I’m sorry,” Garrett said, his voice thick with tears, and he shook his head.

I knew he wasn’t lying, but I had to see it for myself. I puled my arm from Wila’s and lifted my black gown so I could race up the stairs. Garrett tried to reach out for me, but I ran past him. I didn’t slow at al, not until I got to my mother’s room.

She lay in bed, her body more of a skeleton. The sheets were puled up to her chest, and her hands were folded neatly over her stomach. Even her hair had been brushed and smoothed, shimmering silver around her. Garrett had arranged her the way she would’ve wanted him to.

I knelt down next to her bed. I’m not sure why, except I felt compeled to be near her. I took her hand, cold and stiff in my own, and that’s when it hit me. Like a wave of despair I hadn’t even known I was capable of, I began to sob, burying my face in the blankets beside her.

I hadn’t expected to feel this much. Her death felt as if the ground had been puled out from under me. Epic blackness stretched on forever to catch me.

There were things her death would signify, consequences I wasn’t ready for, but I didn’t even think about that. Not at first.