Chapter 48

Maren

The walls of my childhood home felt too close, like they were pressing in on me.

The couch where I used to curl up with storybooks, the table where I’d eaten a thousand dinners, the photographs smiling down from the walls—they were supposed to mean safety, family, normalcy.

Now they felt like lies.

My mother’s words echoed in my skull. I’m not human. I’m a siren.

I squeezed my eyes shut, try