"And I know better than to try faking it with you," Maggie finished. She picked up her mug and blew warmth back into the coffee. "The point wasn't ever that you took the bullies down, Levi, it was that you tried at all."

He'd been the only one to do so against the kids that blamed her for their parents disappearing, for them being pulled here, for everything she was, and everything she wasn't. Levi'd been the only one to stand by her side when her mother left, when her father's grief consumed him, when she'd found escape from the torment in her mind through her body.

She shook that off and sipped at her coffee, touching his hand with her free one. "I'll be okay. I promise."