***Ella***
“Thank you for coming,” I announce with a steely edge to my voice, raised just enough to cut across the sea of jostling heads. “Ophelia has had a very trying week, so we would appreciate some privacy, just for now.”
It is not often I address them this way, but if I don’t, things may well begin to unravel around us. Austin is still trying to come to terms with what has happened to him, and Ophelia’s two sides are now in a silent war; thankfully a contained one — for the moment. That could easily change, however, and the last thing any of us need is a violent thunderstorm breaking over our heads.
Please get your younger sisters to bed, I tell Joshua, and he nods, immediately beginning to shepherd the girls back towards the house.
Austin steps into the space between Ophelia and
