***
Peony marched across the stable yard and slapped her hard across the face. Tulip cried out and stumbled back. Peony had never, ever hit her before. She looked up and was stunned to see tears running down her mother’s face.
“You promised me,” Peony whispered. “You promised me you would ignore the clouds.”
Tulip felt her bottom lip tremble. She wiped at her stinging cheek. Why did Peony look so scared? She didn’t understand.
“They will kill you, Tulip.” Peony stepped closer and took her hand. “If anyone finds out what you can do, they will kill you.”
“I’m sorry,” Tulip whispered.
“You must ignore the clouds. It is the only way for you to stay safe. Do you understand?”
Tulip nodded. She stood there in the night, holding her mother’s hand and feeling the cloud song pulse through her. She tried to pretend it wasn’t there. She needed to be a good girl and pretend it wasn’t there. But what was it? Why didn’t anyone else feel it? And why was it so dangerous?
She wanted to ask these questions but knew they would upset her mother. She stayed quiet. She didn’t want Peony to hit her ever again. It was much worse than when Mistress Wang beat her, even if it didn’t hurt as much.
“I’m sorry I struck you,” Peony said. “You scared me.”
“I’m sorry,” Tulip said again, because she didn’t know what else to say.
“Let’s go back inside. Mistress Wang will beat us both if she finds us out here.”
Hand in hand, they walked toward the House of Flowers. Just outside the door, Peony dropped Tulip’s hand and smoothed out her dress.
“How does my hair look?” she asked.
“A few of your pins are coming loose.”
Peony knelt. Tulip fixed her hair, pushing the pins into place and tucking back a few stray hairs. Then they went inside, Tulip walking behind Peony and trying to pretend she did not feel the cloud song thrumming inside her.