Summer woke. She’d fallen asleep on her mother’s bed, her arm trailing the rug. Disoriented, she sat up. She thought she’d heard a scream. Glancing at the digital wall clock, she saw that it was 3:36 in the morning. Had she been dreaming? The room was the same it had been before she fell asleep, with the bedside lamp on and the door closed. She listened for some other sound to confirm she hadn’t been dreaming, but nothing came. It was hot, she realized, really freaking hot. Scooting off the edge of the bed, she slipped into her shoes; if the Airbus hadn’t left yet, she could catch her mother there. And then what? You’re going to get her alone somehow and tell her what you heard.

Summer stalled halfway to the door as a realization slipped like ice into her head: Taured. What would he do if he knew she’d been hiding under the Chevy, listening to his conversation? Had they noticed she wasn’t in her own bed, or had Sara covered for her? She reached for the door, determined to find her mother one way or another, and found it locked.

Locked? She tried again, yanking at the handle. Had there been a key? She tried to remember the first day, if Taured had given her mother a key, but there was no such memory. No, no one in the compound had a key to their room; she’d been watching people open and close their doors for years without keys. And besides, the door was locked from the outside. Mama installed a lock after you moved to Kids’ Camp, she told herself. That was it. And she probably left for her trip and locked up without coming inside. She pounded until her fists were numb.

Wherever her mother was, she didn’t know this was happening. Summer screamed until it felt like she’d swallowed broken glass. Her mother kept bottled water under the bed, so she crawled forward on her hands and knees, pulled out a bottle and, unscrewing the cap, gulped down the whole thing. The room was hot, too, like the air-conditioning wasn’t working. But someone would find her. They had to.

No one came for Summer until hours later. By that time, she was cried out, hungry and defeated. Sara’s mother, Ama, heard her pounding and had gone to get Taured, who came back with the master key.

“My God, Summer,” he said, looking at her in amazement. “How long have you been in here?” He looked rested, fresh, like he’d just gotten out of the shower.

Summer stood by the bed in socks, shorts and a T-shirt and asked in a half daze, “Where is my mother?”

“She’s gone, left on mission trip to Florida. Didn’t she tell you?”

“No,” Summer said numbly.

“She’s known about it for a while, Summer. I’m so sorry.”