Esther’s POV
Sofia’s handwriting was a battlefield of backwards letters and overexcited loops. The little envelope landed on our kitchen table like a spark from another world.
“Look!” she chirped, cheeks flushed from the late-summer heat. “I wrote it all by myself. No help from Carl!”
She shoved the folded card into my hands. A glitter-pen drawing of a wolf and two stick-figure kids beamed up at me from the cover. Inside, under a lopsided rainbow, she’d scrawled:
Dear Mr. Nicholas,
It’s our birthday on Saturday. Carl says you’re scary but I like you. Please come.
Love, Sofia.
My stomach twisted. “Sofia…”
“Will you put it in the mail?” she said quickly, eyes sparkling. “Dan gave me the address! He said it would get there fast.”
Carl scowled from his seat, hunched over a math worksh
