Empire of Nothing

Nova hadn't smiled this much in weeks.

Zane's mom — Rina — was already fussing over her like she was family. Not fake-nice or polite. Real warmth. Real laughter. Real affection.

"You didn't eat dinner last night, did you?" Rina scolded as she scooped rice into Nova's bowl.

"I—"

"Nope, no excuses. You've got those dark circles like you fought the moon."

Nova chuckled under her breath. "I don't even know what that means."

"It means you're staying for dinner and breakfast. And if I like you enough, lunch too."

Zane rolled his eyes. "She's always like this. Just say thank you and let her adopt you."

Nova smiled.

She didn't say it aloud, but she liked it.

Later that evening, the door burst open with loud voices and the sound of boots.

"We're back! And starving!" a voice yelled from the hallway.

Nova looked up from the couch as Zane's older siblings walked in — a tall, muscular guy with windblown hair and a girl in a leather jacket and combat boots.

"Nova," Zane said, grinning. "Meet my brother Kieran, and my sister Sasha. They live upstate. Show up when they want. Eat everything."

"Rude but true," Sasha said, tossing her bag down and eyeing Nova. "This the girl you mentioned?"

"Wow," Kieran added, looking at Nova with raised eyebrows. "You didn't tell us she was this pretty. Or this serious."

Nova blinked. "I'm not usually—"

"You don't have to explain anything," Sasha said, waving a hand. "Zane's friends are family. That's the rule."

Kieran leaned back on the arm of the couch. "You run away from your rich-people castle?"

"…Sort of."

"Good," he said. "They sound boring."

Nova laughed. Really laughed.

That night, after board games and a chaotic dinner and a conversation about ghost stories that made Nova's stomach hurt from laughing, she sat curled up in a blanket on the living room floor.

Zane walked in with an extra pillow and tossed it beside her.

"You okay?"

Nova nodded slowly. "More than okay."

He watched her for a moment. "You know you don't have to go back, right? Not if it's hurting you."

Nova swallowed. "That's the scary part. I think I want to stay. Like… I actually feel normal here."

"Because you are normal," he said softly. "You just ended up in a house full of people who couldn't see that."

Nova glanced at the pictures on the wall — real smiles, inside jokes, a life that looked lived.

And for the first time since her parents died, she felt something settle in her chest.

Maybe she didn't need the house she came from.

Maybe she was finally building a new one