Glancing across the room at my sister, I notice she’s almost half done with her book. I swing off the hammock and drop to the ground, being as stealthy as I can. I keep to the sides of the room, making sure my dress isn’t shuffling along the floor. When I finally get behind her, I creep as softly as I can, managing to get close enough to touch before letting myself breathe normally. “Boo.” I say, giggling a bit. She doesn’t jump though, she heard my breathing once I started breathing normally. I don’t think I’ve ever snuck up on her successfully, but I don’t think I’ve ever completely tried.

“I’m almost done,” she murmurs, not turning her head.

“I know.” I say, leaning on her. “Better than the last one?”

“I wouldn’t say better…” She turns the page, her fingertip slipping underneath the next page. I can always tell if she’s read a book by the pages that are slightly curved from her finger. “I would say that the main character got… more boring. But the supporting characters got more interesting, so we’ll see.”

“Didn’t you like the… what was it…”

“The spunky one.” She says, her voice calm. When she’s absorbed in a book like this, she’s so calm and unshakable. If you didn’t know her, you wouldn’t know the terror she’s capable of feeling at night. “She reminds me of you and Ashe, when we were kids.”

“Both of us? This character must be entirely reckless. Do they have an Ever to keep them in check?” I miss when we were kids. Ashe and Ever and Rae and I… we were quite the team. I’m not sure why she decided that Ashe and Rae were better than Ever and I… Barring Ever, we were all equally insane.

“They have… a less adventurous character. More like Rae than me.” She said, sighing a bit. I carefully put my arm around her, and sit down with one foot tucked underneath me. “Rina, you’re gonna get your dress all dirty” she says, slightly scolding.

“It’s the only way I can be tall enough to put my arm around you!” I say, patting her head with my other hand. I’m not short, she’s just tall! It’s only two inches, so it’s perfect if I just sit on my leg. Taking note of her expression, and the book on her lap, I saw she had removed her finger from her spot in the book. “One day you’ll get your story Ever. And when that day comes, I’ll be right here with you.”