It wasn’t the howling that woke him, though it should have, but the keening wail that was coming from his father’s room. Askel knew that wail. He’d heard it when Nell had died the night after the accident. That wail meant his sister was with their father, not in bed where she should have been, and he was dying. Despite the sleep still weighing his limbs down, he rolled out of bed and raced to his father’s room.

By the time he got there, his father was already gone and Akira was curled in a ball wailing. She was rocking back and forth shaking her head, as if she couldn’t believe he was gone. Levi’s mournful howl mixed with Kira’s wail created cacaphony of sadness.