Secrets That Glow

The flames began behind her eyes.

Twelve-year-old Lena Whitaker jolted upright in bed, fingers clawing at her pajama top as golden light bled through the cotton. The glow pulsed in time with her panicked breaths—once, twice—before her bedroom mirror shattered from the heat.

Downstairs, her father's whiskey glass hit the floor.

"Lena?" Heavy footsteps on the stairs. The doorknob rattled. "Open this door