"Come on, then," Devi replied impatiently. All the pausing, all the questions, she thought it was completely needless. She wasn't a baby anymore. She was 16! She was practically an adult. She could take anything, and that included reunions. Before she could have second thoughts about it, she rapped on the door. It didn't occur to her to simply go in, because it didn't feel like her house. Sure, her parents lived there, but this whole place was new and different, about as far from home as she could ever go. So was the situation, come to think of it.
"Daddy!" she called, hoping that might make him hurry up a bit. She didn't want to wait. Waiting might make her nervous or something. She could feel it creeping up slowly, starting from her stomach, and it was stupid.