"I love them too," Maddy said, clumsily wrapping her good hand around the glass. "At least, I know I do beneath the knee-jerk reaction of terror."

She took a few swallows before answering. "She let me go," she said at last. "She kept complaining that I was too boring, that I didn't put up enough of a fight. So she ditched me in an alley. But she was sort of right," she added, looking down at her hands, unconsciously picking at the bandages. "I didn't put up much of a fight. I folded like a cheap lawn chair. She'd cut and I'd scream, or she'd stab, and I'd just keep crying." She had started to cry a little again, and she angrily wiped them away. "I felt so helpless," she whispered.