Nana
Her elbow hurt more than she admitted.
Mio had been gone for maybe ten minutes. The bruise was already forming—turning purple under the skin from when they fought over the key and Mio shoved too hard.
"I'm fine," Nana had said. "I win."
She wasn't fine. But Mio was weird this morning. So Nana smiled and pocketed the potion instead.
Fair trade.
Now the room was quiet. Bureau quarters. Mio's phone on the pillow, no messages.
OG was supposed to come. Hadn't shown up.
Stay here. Stay inside. Stay scared.
Mio always said that like Nana was going to listen.
But she had a potion of invisibility, and Can wasn't here to build ramen towers with her. A smile stretched across her face. She wiped her cheese-crusted fingers on the bedsheet. The orange stayed.
Nana took out the tiny vial.
Mio was falling apart. The way her hands shook when she grabbed the key. The way she flinched at knocking that wasn't there. The way she kept staring at the door like something was coming through.
