From the front, the pink-walled house appears deserted, which is as it should be. The purpose of the safe house is to give us a place to go to ground. No one knows of this place apart from us and Eulalie. But what if something happened to the girls and they didn’t make it here? What if by spending time without me, they realized they don’t need me after all? That they are better off without me? What if Taraana got so angry he left? What will I do without them? How will I get him back? Should I even want to? Perhaps it is better for me to be alone.

The front door swings inward at my touch. Breathe, I need to breathe. They will be inside and they will be safe. They will still love me. There is nothing to it.

When I step through the door and into the house, I see no one for a second and my heart cracks like a nutshell in a nutcracker. The next minute there is a scream, and suddenly I am besieged. I manage to extricate myself after a minute only to be immediately subjected to Valentina’s glare.

“What took you so long?” she demands. Her eyes are suspiciously bright. She might actually be glad to see me. Wow. My eyes sting in response. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.

I don’t know how to answer her. What do I say? I had to take care of business? My hands aren’t bloody, but they may as well be? I don’t regret what I did. I just don’t like how I feel afterward.

“Taraana?” I ask instead.

Daraja nods at the staircase. “He disappeared into one of the bedrooms when we got here and hasn’t come out.” She gives me a long look. “He’s… Well, just be prepared.”

“What happened to those men?” Ghufran asks, her hands holding mine tightly.

“They were taken care of,” I tell her. She smiles and lets go.

“Go talk to Taraana,” Widad says. “He has been slowly going out of his mind every minute you weren’t here.”

“I don’t envy you,” Kamboja says, taking a bite of a very red apple.

“Neither do I,” Areum says, her lips red from tteokbokki. Where did they get the food from? Weren’t they supposed to stay inside?

“The anger this time isn’t going to be solved easily,” Daraja warns. “Want to take him chocolate?”

“I don’t think a tub full of chocolate will help. Not this time,” Ligaya tells me with her unkind smile.

“You deserve whatever he says to you,” Etsuko says.

I look at Talei. “You have nothing to say?”

“I’m sure Taraana will say it for me,” she says serenely.

I look reluctantly at the stairs, but I have no other choice. I will have to dare the dragon’s den.

II.