Damsel In Distress

Sera

After my mother’s foreboding warnings and giving me a little more backstory on Mattia, who seemed like an entirely different person than I remembered, we did little fashion shows for each other with the new clothes we bought. Then she had to excuse herself to run an errand.

“An errand?” I repeated in confusion.

Mom laughed wryly. “What, I can’t have things to do around this place?”

“Well, no—I mean, you can, but I just didn’t know…” I cut my embarrassed rambling off before I dug myself into a hole. “It’s just, I don’t want to be alone.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Mom hugged me fiercely. “I’ll still be around. Call for me whenever you need me. But there’s something I need to take care of. Why don’t we watch a movie with your brother when I’m done?”

I brightened. “Okay. That sounds nice. Speaking of, have you seen him lately?”

Sounding a little less happy, she said, “I saw him sneak out with the men. He wants to be involved in the search. I told him it’s too dangerous, and he said that he l