He’d been on the receiving end of Skye’s right arm, just like her. At the time, she’d only heard the rumors about what had happened to him; it hadn’t been out in the open, in front of most of the compound, like with her. Some of the boys had seen it, and then there was Sara, who, when taking her father his dinner tray, had seen Ginger in the infirmary.

“But why?” Summer had asked. Sara hadn’t wanted to tell her, but Summer had pressed her, so she had: Taured caught Ginger touching his thing. Looking at something bad and touching his thing. Taured said it was a terrible sin. So he had Skye hit him so hard his jaw dislocated.

That had been a few weeks before Skye had launched the baseball at her own face. After that, everything had snowballed, and Ginger had receded to the back of her mind with everything else that happened at the compound. To be happy was to forget, but something had changed in Rainy. Remembering hadn’t felt painful when she went back to Friendship. That had surprised her. She’d expected to feel depleted being there and, instead, felt energized, furious. She’d stayed away for so long to protect Summer, not realizing that it wasn’t Summer who’d be going back: it would be Rainy.

She had just disfigured his face further by breaking his nose. Ginger wasn’t going to poison her anymore, she realized. She’d changed the course of her punishment.

“Skye got you, too,” she said, and his smile dropped. “Do you remember when he broke my nose?”

“He didn’t break your nose,” Ginger said quickly. “Taured broke your nose.”

“He was too much of a coward to do it himself.” Rainy laughed. It was a genuine sound, and Ginger looked startled. “He used kids to do his dirty work.”

Ginger was visibly upset now. “He was the coach—the one in control.”

“And now what? You’re the one in control?”

“Looks like it.”

He was still drunk, she realized, swishy on his feet. He took a step toward her and thought better of it. Turning his back to her, he opened the bag. The zipper was loud. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Braithe move. Ginger saw it, too, and his head snapped sideways. She saw the twisted side of his face where his jaw had never quite healed properly, more visible now. He’d used his beard to hide it, like wearing a mask, but today he wanted her to see. Why?