The silence stretched around Aria as she followed Rose through the confusing arrangement of the human cottages. No humans moved as they did. Everyone averted their gaze the moment Aria’s eyes happened to wander across them.

There it was again. Aria frowned as she realized that she could see fear in the eyes of humans. That was the emotion she hated most. It reminded her of herself. She knew she couldn’t order them to stop feeling. So she decided to do the only thing she could.

She ...