Chapter 81

Avery

I woke before dawn, my body stiff from a fitful sleep. The house was silent except for the creak of old wood settling. I lay still, listening for any sign that my parents were awake.

Nothing.

Moving carefully, I stood and pressed my ear to the door. The furniture Mother had shoved against it—my desk chair, from the sound of it—scraped slightly when I tested the door. She'd wedged it under