Alice's arms came around her and the dull pressure on her hand shifted to a grounding weight around her chest. Finally moving, she reached out, her hands curling up to clutch Alice's robes - mindless of the dirt she was now getting on the other girl's clothing - like she was gripping onto a lifeline. Calla's weight shifted and she crashed into Alice, trembling but unable to cry.

"Stay," she croaked, "Please don't go."

How could she ever let anyone go again when she'd let Sloane go for the last time and had been so clueless.