The cottage was quiet, almost painfully so, the kind of quiet that pressed against the ears and made every breath feel louder than it should have been. Nina sat on the edge of the narrow bed, her hands resting loosely on her lap, her eyes unfocused as she stared at the wooden floor beneath her feet. She had been released. They had told her that clearly. She was free to go.
Yet she hadn't moved.
The girl dressed in white stood near the door, arms crossed, watching her closely, while the girl dressed in black paced slowly across the room, her footsteps sharp and impatient.
"You're free," the one in white said again, her tone calm but questioning. "Why are you still here."
Nina didn't answer immediately. Her silence stretched longer than it should have, heavy enough to shift the mood of the room completely.
The girl in black stopped pacing and turned sharply. "That silence is suspicious," she said coldly. "That gives us a reason to believe you have a plan against us."
