Hearing her own voice, Aria could hardly believe what she was doing. Some part inside her was bellowing that she was making a serious mistake. But the part of her that was louder was the part that had dialed the number to the Department of Children and Family Services. Though the woman on the phone pressured Aria to reveal her identity, Aria refused and insisted on reporting anonymously. She gave her Ciarra’s and Aston’s names and explained their whereabouts, only hanging up once she was certain that someone could find them.

On top of the guilt that Aria felt for reporting them, she felt guilty that she had revealed the whereabouts of the car lot. Though fairly certain that the police would escort a social worker there – someone who would only be concerned with the welfare of the child – she had no way of knowing if she had just put herself and everyone else there out of the closest place any of them had to a home. But Aston was a child. It was a risk she had to take. Though Aria already knew all too well the agony that Aston was about to face, she knew she could not live with herself for standing by and watching.

Knowing that the authorities would have to decide whether her report indicated child abuse before initiating an investigation, Aria walked back to the lot to wait for Omkar to show up after his classes were over for the day. The words she had spoken into the phone were a eulogy of her innocence and youth. Aria played through possible scenarios of the cops showing up to look for Aston. She practiced how to go undetected and escape in each one of them.

The atmosphere when she got back to the lot was a warring absence. Despite the loss of her youth, her decision had left her like a child standing alone in the desert. She had sucked the stone of humanity’s indifference as dry as she could. Now there was nothing more to do but wait … Wait for the priest that followed the beast of mankind’s cruelty, looking to clean up after him.

Doubt whispered that her life was a room full of errors; that the proud pyramid of her virtue would fall. But it was a call she had already made.

CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER 26

Omkar ran the smooth tips of his fingers over the cuts on Aria’s face and, reclining the driver’s side seat, held her against him. The air conditioner of the car blew an unnatural wintergreen chill across their faces.