Ankyra Sound There are times that walk from you like some passing afternoon

What wasn't meant as an accusation nevertheless slapped Ephraim across the face with the full force of one. Physically, his reaction was a long, slow blink of his pale eyes, but mentally, he was reeling. One of them?! Indignation swelled in him and lifted the hair of his hackles. One of them?!

I was never one of them, he seethed from between tightly gritted teeth. He'd thought he was. He'd cared deeply for a lot of them: Etoille, Antumbra, Vercingetorix, Tux. When the latter's family left, Ephraim was there to witness his hurt. He was there to watch Tux shut them out and denounce them the way the rest of Drageda did... but still Ephraim thought he was one of them, never realizing how many red flags he'd overlooked. Now? Now he belonged to no one, to nothing, but himself.

He hated it. He hated them. He hated all of them.

Looking for mom, she said, sending a shadow across his face. Who was mom? He blanked out for a second while Caiaphas swam across his vision, diving into the sudden, unwanted sheen of tears that swept across his bottom lid. Mom was gone. Mom was dead. What could she possibly want with her?

A piece of seaweed slapping him in the face; a shriek of laugher as she yelled, "CATCH!" and fled up the beach. Of course. Only a Rusalka wolf would say such a thing about Drageda, and now he recognized her.

Ephraim shook his head violently and glared down at the cold sand. You can't be here. You can't see her, you can't find out what I did, you can't know, you can't, you can't, you can't.