“Might need to get some medication for them. I’m afraid you’re not going to avoid being outside to get to my brothers’ homes.”

When she had been told she would be cleaning his brothers’ homes, she had nearly refused the job. She hated being outside with a passion.

“It’s not a big deal unless the wind is blowing.”

“That’s unfortunate. I prefer being outside than being inside, but then I don’t have any allergies.”

“I’ll be fine once my medication kicks in,” she said absently with her mind on them passing the spot where she had been arrested. The house sitting on a hill above the parking lot was where she had jerked the steering wheel out of the trucker’s hand, who had forced her to accompany him to the tiny town she had never heard of before; where she had found herself landed in their jail. It was a stark reminder of how she had failed to find Elizabeth before it escalated to her being accused of the crime that Kate had devised. Alanna was sure Kate was behind the plan to extort Arin, Elizabeth’s boss. Owen couldn’t tie his own shoes without Kate’s help.

Preoccupied by her thoughts, she reached into her jacket pocket to reaffirm the medication Mrs. Bates had filled for her was still safely inside. Once she was back on her medication, the wind talking to her would be muted, and she wouldn’t have to be worried she would slip up and talk to someone who wasn’t there. She had been on the medication when she confided to Sam that she could talk to the wind, and he talked back. He had told his mother, who had grown concerned enough to take her to a psychiatrist.

Her psychiatrist had prescribed her pills to block out of the voice. She learned quickly that while taking the pills made her feel as if she was living on Mars, it was better than having Mrs. Fields reconsidering being her foster mom. Alanna had seen the worry in her eyes whenever Sam was in the room with her. Terrified of being sent back to the group home, she had taken them.