"There. Done."

"Can I see?"

"Of course." I help Ila to her feet and we walk to her mirror together. For a second, she just stares at her reflection and I'm scared she doesn't like her new hairstyle.

"Wow," she mutters, "I look great." Her hair isn't anything spectacular, at least I don't think so. Her hair is parted so drastically that almost all of her hair falls on the right side of her head. I managed to put a little curl in the bottom of her hair to add volume, but it's starting to lose the curl. Still, I unravel the small braids I wove, leaving waves in the little girl's hair. It creates the illusion that the waves never end or begin. 

"I'm gonna go grab my makeup for you!" She lets go of my hand and jumps up to the small opening at the top of one of the walls. It's the only way she can freely go in between our rooms, as long as she doesn't get caught.

"That girl is really something," Ghost murmurs. 

I spin around, and he's watching me intently from his bed. "You always say that as if it's a bad thing."

"I don't mean it like that. Actually, it's pretty good. Out of the three of us, she's gonna get picked first." He twirls one of the loose strands of his light hair around his fingers. 

"Stop it! We don't talk about that. And if we do, don't call it 'picked'. Makes us sound like we're--" I abruptly cut off my own sentence as I watch Ila appear at the window again.

"Less than human. I know. But come on, Violet," Ghost goes on as he jumps down, walking toward me. He doesn't notice Ila. "We have to face the facts one day. We have to do something. You might think that we're going to be alright here, but eventually, something bad will happen to us. If Ila gets pick--adopted, that's great! Then we just have to focus on--"

"I'm not going anywhere without you two."

Ila's words echo throughout the room.

Ghost flinches.