Chapter 169

[Clark]

"What do you mean you don't know where she went?"

Atlas is distraught. He had expected to find Cordelia here only to discover that somehow, while we weren't paying attention, she left the studio without a note.

"She's a grown adult, Atlas," Tilly says as she moves from the back of the studio to the front. She doesn't look well, and I wonder if she was sick again this morning. She won't let me tell anyone yet, but I want to so badly. I'm over the moon with excitement.

"Tilly, he's just worried," I try to explain. "She's been very fragile lately."

"No," Tilly shakes her head as she wraps up and puts away some extra pancakes. "She's just tired of being treated like your little doll. She's an adult. She has been for a while. You two are just too stubborn to see it."

Something in her tone is making me bristle. She's usually a much more positive person.

"She's fine," Tilly insists. "She'll call if anything comes up."

I don't like the way she dismisses Atlas' concerns. Til