Spoiler Level: Neverseen
Linh took a deep breath.
She was leaving everything behind.
She was the Girl of Many Floods.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t fix this.
So it was time to accept her new identity.
She watched the chunks of metal in the gray pot swirl and combine, until they formed a silvery puddle. She gave it one last stir—with the shoes her parents had given her as a parting gift—and set the heavy pot on the table.
It was time.
Linh had never thought of herself as a rebel. Maybe she’d disobeyed her parents at times. Maybe she’d ignored Imparter calls from them. Maybe she’d thrown away things they had given her.
But it was time to be something new. She would leave her parents behind and start a new life. She would never lose control again. Her parents would never ignore her or neglect her or pretend she wasn’t who she was again. Ever again.
She leaned back until the tips of her hair were immersed in the metal.
Her registry pendant could never track her again. She was free. Free to be someone that her parents were not.
And she would be.