She tried to think of how to word it in a way that would get through to Coraline. Because no matter what, she knew that she would have to abandon Coraline at some point in the next twenty-four hours, because this wasn't something that a kid (which Coraline definitely was, the gap between the two of them even greater than the sheer difference in their ages, Claire thought) should have been exposed to. The only thing that held Claire back at all was the fact that she didn't want to disappear without an explanation. If at all possible, she wanted Coraline to know, to hide somewhere safe, rather than try to do anything stupid. Not everyone had the luxury Claire did, of being invincible and healing from every scar.

"Coraline, you have to listen to me," Claire said firmly. "I can't... I can't do this if I think that I need to be watching out for someone else the entire time. I'm only brave when I know that I have nothing to lose, so you can't just follow me the whole time, okay? Because I've watched... I've seen so many people die because of this, I'm not even sure if my biological father and uncle are going to survive this. I'm not brave, but when it's just me out there, I've got nothing to lose. And I need that, to try and keep my family out of trouble. You, too."