Growing up in a dark and dangerous world where the dead walk and the other survivors can pose even worse threats, Ginny (Mahina Napoleon) has already had to overcome seemingly insurmountable difficulties throughout her short life in The Walking Dead: Dead City.

Following the trauma of seeing her father dead and turned into a Walker, she became nonverbal and was taken in by Negan Smith (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) who allowed her to travel with him on the road – but that too had dangers around every corner and a heartbreaking betrayal when she learned that the man that she’d trusted and looked up to as a father figure was responsible for her real dad’s death.

Ginny has since regained her ability to speak and has set out on a new chapter in life – a journey to find and kill Negan – but she still seems to choose her few words very carefully.

Mahina exclusively tells In Touch that while Ginny has learned that her voice “does have a lot of power too,” she believes that “silence is definitely her super power” this season.

“I think Ginny choosing a selective amount of words is very powerful because she knows what she wants to say and she says it with confidence and then she’s done,” the actress, 15, explains. “Like, she gets across her point and then it’s just, ‘I said what I said.’”

Mahina also reflects on the changes her character has gone through between season 1 and season 2 of The Walking Dead: Dead City, particularly how she is dealing with processing the new details of her father’s death and her broken relationship with Negan.

“I feel like you can definitely see the turn in how Ginny’s emotions have altered, like, completely,” she shares with In Touch. “We can see how she’s accepted the fact that she really has nobody and she needs to figure out how to take on this world on her own.”

The NCIS: Hawaiʻi alum notes that Ginny is “expressing a lot more” with her words than in the first season, but she’s also continuing to express herself with her actions – such as when she insisted on joining the New Babylon military.

“Like that fight scene,” she adds, referring to the Walker ring brawl with Maggie in “Power Equals Power,” the premiere episode of season 2. “She is letting out so much anger, and toward not only the Walkers, but to Maggie too.”

As the season rockets closer and closer to the finale, Mahina has to be tight-lipped on spoilers, but when asked to describe the remainder of Ginny’s journey this season in three words, she offers In Touch, “Suffering in silence.’”

Fans can watch The Walking Dead: Dead City on AMC on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT or catch it streaming on AMC+.