“Everyone works at their own pace here. There isn’t a teacher for every subject like in public school—we let the books teach you and you decide how much you want to learn. We had someone graduate high school at sixteen last year.”

Summer’s head darted up from the desk she’d been eyeing. It belonged to a boy named Jonah. She’d seen him around. He stared at her a lot with unblinking blue eyes, but he never spoke to her or pulled her into games like the other kids did.

Jonah had a jar full of colorful pens and pencils sitting on his desk, and a drawing he’d made himself of a hummingbird flying above a lion’s head. Summer liked it. She liked the sunny schoolroom, and the tropical Snack Shack, and the three colored walls in the dormitory. She liked the swing the most. She wondered how they took turns on it.

“This building was just used for storage before. It’s amazing what a little paint can do.”

“It’s a lot nicer over here than it is there.” Summer jerked her head toward the main building.

“Kids are the future, and we believe in investing in our future.” Summer couldn’t think to do anything but nod. No one had ever said anything like that to her before.

“So, Summertime, what do you think? You want to try out Kids’ Camp or what?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said.

It didn’t feel quite right, but she did it, anyway, the promise of a ceiling swing and snacks bought from a tiki hut fresh in her mind. Also, there was the promise of friends, and she wanted those more than anything. She’d seen everyone as they left Kids’ Camp and walked back to the main building. They were outside for some sort of field day, leaping and climbing through an obstacle course. They were on teams, judging by their red and blue shirts, and for a moment, Summer stopped to watch them, letting Taured get ahead.

They were having a pizza party that very night in Kids’ Camp, he’d told her, and after ice-cream sandwiches, they were going to watch a movie about Moses. It felt rushed, the way she was instructed to pack up her things and join them that night, but when she’d protested, Taured told her that they had planned to surprise her with a cake to welcome her and to not show up would be rude. Because she wanted to please her mother and to make friends, Summer agreed. As Taured watched from the door, she said goodbye to her mother. It felt silly, sure, because she was only going to be sleeping a few hundred feet away, but at the same time, it hurt so much she could barely breathe.