Prologue

PROLOGUE

CARLA

Carla’s feet swung off the back of the car’s trunk. The night was cold, the sky was clear, the stars were out, and the ice cream sandwich was calling her name.

Too bad about everything else.

Rent was going up next month, and the landlord wanted a ridiculous amount for a one-bedroom apartment built in the sixties and renovated exactly never. The blue toilet in the bathroom had to be original. Good luck finding anyone gullible enough to pay.

The rent didn’t matter because Carla was likely out of a job. For the last week, upper management had hush-hush meetings that left everyone grim. The supply closet was bare because the money people were playing games paying vendors, and, more relevant to her interests, the coffee station hadn’t been restocked in months. The company wasn’t doing well, and layoffs were coming.

Carla didn’t kid herself that she’d survive a round of layoffs. Her supervisor didn’t like her. He was probably frothing at the mouth to share the news.

She spent the afternoon scrolling through apartment listings, her stomach sinking further and further. It’d be smart to get a new place lined up while she still had a paycheck, but she failed to find a single affordable apartment in her current neighborhood. Not that it was such a great place, but it was familiar.

Anyway, she had a lot of big feelings and needed to shove ice cream in her face about it. Then her car battery decided to die on the coldest night of the year so far, and that was why she sat in her car, wrapped in her grandmother’s battered old quilt, and ate an ice cream sandwich while she waited for roadside assistance.

The stars moved. Carla nearly dropped her ice cream sandwich.

One star in particular grew larger, coming closer until it was apparent it wasn’t a star at all.

Carla raised her arm to shield her eyes from the bright light.

Then darkness.