Who cared if it made a mess? None of them caught on, but it’d been close enough that I’d moved slowly through the rest of my shift, even if it pained me to do so. I wasn’t messing up again.

After thirteen years, I was on the verge of actually having some freedom. All of the waiting for someone to find us was done. All of the hiding and pretending and lying was almost over. Almost over. But not yet. I wasn’t quite there yet. This last little bit of waiting and pretending felt more intense than what I’d felt the last thirteen years combined. The stress of staying hidden was eating me up inside, devouring me.

Mom had been trying to keep me calm during my shift, but she was too busy cooking in the diner’s kitchen to handle my freak-out. We’d been slammed. As soon as my shift was over, I waved goodbye to her and sprinted straight to the warehouse gym. When my last student was gone, and all my classes were done, I decided to take a second for myself. Instead of rushing home, I’d set up some equipment to work out. It was just me and my thoughts, but once I started thinking, my skin started glowing. I’d been moving nonstop since then.

Sweat coated me, but the workout hadn’t been enough to stop the glow. At this point, I wasn’t sure it’d ever be enough.

I’d turned on some music an hour ago because the silence was too much, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t dampen the glow. It was almost as if working out was making it worse, but I didn’t know how that was possible. Usually working out calmed me down and the glow would slowly start to fade until I’d snuffed it out entirely.

A whistle cut through the warehouse, and I stopped moving. Roan.

I spun to see him walking through the door, slamming it behind him. His shirt looked wrinkled, and his thick, tightly curled hair was sticking out even poofier than normal. He waved a dark finger through the air, and the music instantly turned off. “Have you been here since your last class?”

“Yeah.” My words sounded hollow as I tried to catch my breath. “Just trying to get in a good workout.”

“It’s three in the morning. I’d say you should be done, but looking at you tells me otherwise.”

“Is it really that late?” I’d only planned to stay until my mind and nerves settled, but that hadn’t happened yet. I wasn’t paying attention to the time.

“Liz is losing her mind.”

My mom. Damn it. I’d forgotten to call my mother, and it was totally understandable that she was upset. Especially since I’d turned off all my message and call notifications. “I’ll call her.”