Riley's POV

"You've gone mad, Riley. You're not yourself."

Wendy spoke first. Her voice carried more force than before, but it wasn't steady. She tried to sound firm, yet the tension in her shoulders and the tightness in her jaw gave her away. Her eyes stayed locked on me, searching for something familiar, something she could still get at.

I nodded once.

"You're right," I said. There was no hesitation in my voice, no attempt to deny it.

That response unsettled her. I saw it in the way her expression shifted, in the way she adjusted her stance without realizing it.

I didn't give her time to recover. I turned...