"You won't. I'll be more careful," Dan says back, almost as quickly. "I just got careless last night. It won't happen again."

He doesn't want Aster to walk in on a nightmare situation, and so he's sincere that he won't get sloppy like that again. He doesn't even know why he let himself slip last night in particular except that he's felt the slow crescendo of panic rising in him for a week now.

His hands are shaking, but he raises one to his mouth anyway and digs his teeth into his thumb.