Dear Risa,

  I want to spend an hour writing about hair and eye colors and other fun things. I know you’ll be reading this after the earthquakes are all over, and I don’t want to just bring up a bunch of trauma. I’d much rather gossip about how Echo told me about “fingernail paint”, and how people get detailed pictures on their hands, and for the first time I kinda wish I didn’t have claws.

  It’s a lot more… unemotional than what I need to talk about.

  And yeah. I do need to talk about it.

  Innsnose… isn’t a town any more. It’s just a big pile of rubble, and with each passing day the rubble spreads out a bit more. We got an earthquake scale thing, but during the earthquake today it fell over and broke. People were understandably upset about that.

  In a way, we’re lucky that we’re part of the Traveler’s Guild. We had all the gear and equipment necessary for surviving without a roof over our heads. Everyone else in town… is just glad it isn’t raining. They’ve salvaged what they can from their houses, but it isn’t a lot.

  I can’t even imagine what Goldvale looks like right now. I don’t want to think about what your house is like. Every time I think about Mas, I start to panic. He’s in a three-story dorm building that probably isn’t standing any more. The academy building was, like, mostly glass. What if he was in class when all the windows shattered?

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  And then I wonder what Fish looks like. The town I grew up in. It’s a lot like Innsnose in a lot of ways. I’m sure the house I lived in for the first sixteen years of my life just doesn’t exist any more. Cali’s home was above her mom’s diner, and I spent a huge part of my childhood in there. It’s probably just a pancake.

  At least in the city, there’s enough people who can strengthen walls and rebuild buildings with magic. My town has zero of those people.

  Today, I realized I’m regressing. If anything happens, I immediately grab Maki. There was a tremor that happened while I was holding Luke’s hand, and I let go to run to my brother. The person who always protected me growing up. Not the person who should protect me now, as an adult. That’s just… not good. I shouldn’t be acting like a little kit.

  I’m just scared. And everyone around me is scared, too. And I can’t get in touch with the people I love, to make sure they’re ok. You know me, Risa, you know I act calmer the more freaked out everyone around me is. It’s just reached the point where everyone else has been stressed for so long, staying calm is starting to break me.

  At least there is an end date. One more week, and we’ll be able to start rebuilding. One more week, and no more big earthquakes. One more week, and the houses will all be put up again. People will be able to pick their lives back up and continue on.

  And when they’re back up and running, I’ll be passing through Goldvale to see you. We can talk about anything and everything that isn’t earthquake-related.

  Ok.

  Sorry about this.

  Next page I’ll be back to normal, I promise.

  Regards,

  Maeve Zee