Stacia shrugs and gives him a wry smile. "Yeah, I hope you do, too. And hey, maybe I'll redevelop a proper sense of self-preservation while we're here and decide to stay." Then she heaves a sigh and sobers, because this is a serious conversation, and she wants him to know that she's taking it -- and his feelings -- seriously. "I appreciate that you respect it, even if it's not what you wanted to hear. It's not really something I've been focusing on, because there's other things to keep busy with, but it is something I'm aware of."

She sighs again.

"I just don't want my dad and brother to never know what happened to me, you know? My mom and sister know about the werewolf weirdness, even if they'd never know that I fell out of the world, but my dad and brother? I don't want to just leave them with an empty hole where I was."