ARIA

It's getting late and Ryder still isn't back.

I'm so nervous that I can hardly breathe. The Nocturn—a woman, I've now decided—is watching me patiently with her hands on her lap. She's seated directly across from me, watching me in a way that I find totally unnerving. Never saying a word.

Impatiently, I stand up. This waiting is going to kill me. The harder I think about it, the worse I feel. I realized a long time ago that something was wrong, yet, I didn't act on it.

"I can't take ...