Page 152 of Wonderstruck

I squeezed Finn’s hand a little tighter. “She should’ve been here,” I said softly, not even sure who I was talking to.

His eyes found mine. Gentle. “I know.”

The celebration faded around me, blurring into something quieter, sadder. Somewhere in the crowd, my coach was waiting. Somewhere back home, my next chapter was waiting.

But before any of that, I needed to know one thing.

I looked at Daisy. “Heard anything?”

Her face shifted. A flicker of something—hesitation, maybe. Worry.

She shook her head. “Still nothing.”

My heart sank for a beat, and I hated it.

Notjust because I missed her. But because I knew what she looked like when she was fighting to stay above water. I knew what it meant when someone like her disappeared.

But with every other emotion swimming around my heart, the only one that wasn’t, was fear.

I wasn’t scared for Cora.

I was scared for the asshole who’d made her hide.

Because if there was one thing people ought to know by now, it was that Cora Holland didn’t stay quiet for long.

And when she comes back, she won’t come back soft.

No.

She’ll come back swinging.

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