Kyra glanced to the other side of the bed, surprised that the older girl wasn’t comforting her sister, only to see that no one was there. She sat down and stroked Lettie’s hair, whispering comforting words much as Bella used to. The child opened a sleepy eye and closed it again. Her breathing steadied, and she relaxed.

Kyra tucked the blankets around Lettie and took care not to jostle the mattress when she stood. Was Idalee gone because Kyra had snapped at her earlier? She doubted it. It wasn’t like Idalee to run out like that. Kyra searched the hallways of the upper floor, then the lower floors. She was beginning to worry when, finally, she found Idalee sitting outside the back door with a blanket wound tight around her shoulders. The girl gave a self-conscious smile as Kyra approached.

“It’s late,” said Kyra gently.

“I know. I should go back in.”

Kyra sat down beside her. “Any reason you’re out here? Was it because I snapped at you today?”

For a moment, Idalee looked confused. Then she shook her head. “Oh no, not that.”

“I’m sorry, by the way,” said Kyra.

Idalee shrugged her scrawny shoulders. The girl seemed preoccupied with other thoughts.

“So why aren’t you in bed?”

Again, that self-conscious smile. “It’s silly,” Idalee said.

Kyra nudged Idalee with her hip. “Well, I already know you’re silly, so you don’t have to be embarrassed.”

There was a long pause. “I just like to sleep out here sometimes,” Idalee said.

“Why?”

Idalee scrunched up her face, still hesitating, until she finally let out a breath. “I don’t want to get used to sleeping in a bed. In case I have to go back out there.”

Kyra knew the fear deeply, the worry that getting off the streets had been a fluke, that she would somehow lose everything and end up back where she started. She’d grown better at suppressing it over the years, but it had never completely disappeared.

“We won’t let that happen.”

The words felt empty, weightless even as they left Kyra’s lips. Kyra could tell from Idalee’s expression that the girl didn’t believe her. Idalee had seen too much of life to be comforted by a trite remark.

Kyra sighed. “Sorry. I’m not sure why I said that. I know you’re not a child anymore.”

Idalee tucked her bare feet farther under her blanket. Bella had given her shoes, but the child never wore them. “No, I understand,” she said. “Sometimes it’s better to pretend we can control things.”

Kyra put an arm around Idalee and pulled her close. “When I first started living here,” she said, “I squirreled away a roll from every meal. I always kept at least six rolls in my room. Fruits and meat pies too, sometimes. For a while, Laman couldn’t figure out why there were so many rats around.”