The little sister with the headless bear looked at me for a long moment, deciding.

Then she reached out and took a fistful of my sleeve — that grip, that same grip — and I understood I’d just been handed the most important job of my life, and I have never once wanted to put it down.

Chapter 11 — From the Ashes

I would like to tell you it was easy after that.

It was not easy.

It was the hardest and best thing I have ever done, and those two facts never once canceled each other out.