Chapter 1

She read the letter a third time, as if the words might rearrange themselves into something kinder.

Nobody had told him the road would be this long, or that it would be this quiet.

Somewhere below, a door closed, and the whole building seemed to hold its breath.

It was not the first time the plan had failed. It was, however, the first time it had failed this loudly.

The morning bell rang twice before anyone in the courtyard moved.

She read the letter a third time, as if the words might rearrange themselves into something kinder.