"Did you finish it?"

There was a wisp of shadow and a pressure around Allie's ankles as she stood at the tiny counter of her tiny kitchen, having just chopped vegetables to go with the rice in the little cooker she'd only just remembered to turn on.

"I did," Allie said as the wisp grew and began to take form.

"Was the ending good?"

"It was very good," Allie said as she was surrounded with shadow and pressure. "Not the end I was expecting, either, but even better."

"Tell me?" The shadow around her was shaped almost human and felt almost human, but it certainly wasn't. Not at all.

Allie shook her head before reaching to touch the shadow, her hands finding warmth and form. "No, it's too good for that. Why don't I read it to you, instead?"

"But I wouldn't be able to protect you."

"You wouldn't need to. We'd do it here." There, in the tiny apartment that Allie escaped whenever the weather was nice. "Nobody will bother us in here."

It had been a problem, for so long. Whenever Allie would find a nice cafe or park bench to settle with a book, it was seen as an invitation somehow.

But that had changed, oh had it changed. Nobody else had ever noticed the wisp or the pressure or just why suddenly bothering Allie seemed like a bad idea and it was best to leave quickly, but Allie had figured it out.

And she'd invited her protector home.

"But..."

Shadow and pressure like hands holding her, and Allie leaned into it. She was still learning; they both were.

"It's supposed to rain tomorrow," she said quietly. "Tomorrow and the day after that."

"Read to me."

Allie smiled and nodded. "I will."

"The ending will be good."