ZORA'S POVFreya tugged on my sleeve. "Come on, mum. Say something," she urged. After a few seconds, I nodded. "Okay. We are going out."The kids let out a whoop of delight, hugged themselves. They came down from my lap, jumped up and down excitedly."We are going out! Out! Out!" Finn chanted excitedly, and began dancing in circles around Freya, who giggled and kept turning to keep him in sight until she began getting a little dizzy. "Alright. You two-" I said after a while in which they had indulged in unrestrained merriment. "-go and get dressed. I've laid out your clothes on your bed. Make sure you dress properly."They darted off at once to obey. It felt good to see them so happy, happier than they had been in a very long time. After a while, I went after them. They had already gotten dressed, or at least attempted to. Finn had put his shoes on wrong and Freya had somehow gotten her hair into a mess. I rolled my eyes. "You call this getting properly dressed?" I told them as I

ZORA'S POVThe room was silent for a long moment. The tension in it was thick enough to be cut with a knife. I could feel strain rolling in waves all over me. Trey was muttering under his breath, his eyes darting here and there. "How the hell did we get here?" he ground out. He looked from me to Cheryl and back again. "In the past, things have been bad, no doubt, but not this bad, damnit! Not like this."He banged his fist on the table so hard that the things on it rattled. He seemed to realize what he had just done, and snatched his hand back. He sighed tiredly. "How does this all get to go away?" he said, half to himself. He looked to Cheryl again. She looked clueless, probably the exact same way I looked. Her shoulders were hunched and she kept mussing up her perfect beauty shop curls in her agitation. Now that things had gone out of hand, I had to inform Cheryl and Trey about what was happening with the CSP. Cheryl had known that something was afoot, of course, but had beensho

ZORA'S POV"Hey, Finn. Is there anything you want to talk about?"Finn looked up at Katherine, slowly shook his head. His head once more bent over the action figure he was listlessly moving about on his lap.Katherine clapped a hand to her chest. "Ouch. That hurt, Finn." Katherine turned to Freya. "What about you, Freya? Don't you have anything to tell me about school-" Katherine bit her lip, remembering what I had told her about the kids having a hard time at school. She went on quickly. "-or your favourite cartoons or... I'm pretty sure your brother here got up something while I was gone. How about you tell me about that. Huh?" Freya glanced at Katherine, then away. She was like a mirror of her brother. She had a doll in her hand and was engaged in fixing and removing the limbs of the doll. Katherine sighed exasperatedly. "Okay. If you don't want to talk, do you want us to play dress up with your dolly? You'll spoil her legs if you carry on like that. I bet she really wants to try

ZORA'S POVI glanced at my wristwatch and saw that we were almost running late. Well, not running late, exactly, but I wanted to be there as soon as I could. I once more focused on what I was doing, dishing the food into a foodflask. I listened, but I could not hear Finn. I left the kitchen, moved to the living room, but he wasn't there either. That meant he was still getting ready in his room. "Finn," I shouted. "What are you still doing? I thought you would be ready by now.""I'm just tying my shoelaces, mum," he shouted back. "I will be done in a minute.""Alright. Hurry up."Just as I put the lid on the food flask, Finn ran in. "I'm all done," he announced, grinning from ear to ear. I looked him over. "I can see that. And you are wearing your new pair of sneakers too.""Uh huh. I want her to see it. I think I will even let her wear it. Let's go, mum.""Hold your horses, kiddo. I'm yet to pack up the food.""Oh, what food are you packing?"For answer, I took the lid off the food

ZORA'S POV I checked the content of my handbag to be sure that I had not forgotten anything. It would be damned inconvenient if I had. Satisfied that everything I needed was in there, I made my way back to my room and put the finishing touches to the light make up I was going wearing this morning. I returned to the living room, expecting to see Finn there, but he was nowhere to be found. Just as l was about to call him, his voice came floating from the direction of his room. "Mum," he called. "Have you seen my school bag?" "Now, why on earth will you be searching for your school bag on a school day, Finn?" I said when I got to his room. He was moving about, searching for his bag with one sock on, and his shirt half buttoned. "I kept it right here," Finn said, looking around vaguely. "When last did you see it?... Aha! There it is."While talking, I had gotten on all fours beside the bed and had seen the bag thrust a little way under the bed."Yay! Thanks, mum."I glanced at the cl