Daria's POV

The woods were almost silent until the soldier-man had disappeared. I waited until their smell disappeared, counting every beat of my heart and hearing whether there was any strange sound, not that of the trees. It was when the wind was blowing free again that I sent the glam away. I had weak legs, as though they did not know the way to stand.

"Okay, it's over," I whispered.

Harriet gradually withdrew her head from my breast. Her eyes were too bright to be of a child her age and full of things that she should not even feel at all. They are gone, she thought to herself,...