This time, she did cringe, no doubt to his satisfaction. It'd been awhile before she felt his oily darkness on her skin. That was the only explanation why she felt hot tears spring up now. She blinked them away before they could fall, jerking her head up and to the side. Meg desperately tried to recall some biting retort, a scathing remark to salvage at least some of her dignity, but nothing came to mind. The ruin of the hope she'd carefully built up was too much right now.

Instead she turned away, hugging herself tightly, hating herself with a whole new level of loathing. "I don't know," she finally replied, her voice a low, sullen monotone. "I've been gone."