Summer and Sara had turned to each other at that point and rolled their eyes. They usually sat somewhere in the middle of the room.

Taured spoke directly to the boy. “If you focus on fear, you’ll live a life of fear. Do you understand that?”

Ginger nodded enthusiastically. He was sitting in the front row of the chapel, in the seat directly in front of Taured. When they worked the orchard, he tried to outpick everyone by double and he was always trying to get Taured to notice him. The other boys would chant, Ginger has a finger up Taured’s ass!

“He thinks Taured is his daddy,” Sara would say, shaking her head. Summer had to agree, but wasn’t that what Taured wanted them to think? Most of the kids here were missing one parent or the other, and the ones who had both were a little cocky about it—Sara included.

“So rather than worrying about being in the isolation rooms, worry about doing the right thing so you don’t get there.” Taured ruffled his hair and Ginger looked pleased.

“Think about it,” he’d told them. “I’m an adult and I can tell you that I don’t know how to trust. But you guys aren’t jaded by the world. You know how to trust. And by giving me your trust, by allowing me to make healthy decisions for you—well, you guys are ahead of the game. Your parents don’t even know how to do that. Will you guys trust me when the time comes?”

She didn’t know how everyone else reacted, hadn’t looked around to see, but when he asked them to trust him, she had. At least back then.

14

Now

Rainy forgot her earlier desire to go to bed. When she danced, it felt good. When Braithe chose her over Tara, it felt good. Maybe it was the alcohol working her limbs into a frenzy of dancing. She was almost acting like a normal person, and in that moment, as she lifted onto the balls of her feet to hit one of the clear orbs that was bouncing around, she couldn’t remember who she’d been before now, or who she’d be tomorrow. Only now.

As they were leaving the bar, Braithe stopped midstep; it was sudden, and they all stopped with her.

“We should find somewhere to have our cards read.” Her voice was breathy and excited.

The adrenaline that had pushed Rainy through most of the night drained at Braithe’s words, and suddenly she felt gross, and sweaty and tired. But more than that, she felt empty, and all she wanted to do was curl up in bed and talk to Grant.

“I’m in,” Ursa said. “This one time, a psychic told me I’d meet a guy named Oscar while fishing and I did. I was in Miami and he was just right there.”