“What’s wrong with the air that’s already in here?” Daisy asked, breathing in the familiar waxy scent of the candles, the warm, toasty infusion of freshly baked cookies. The next moment, Esther was pulling on her arm, because Daisy had drifted back down onto her mat, halfway into assuming Pretending It’s Nighttime.

“There are some things a home-based educational system doesn’t cater to, and one of them is learning what weed smells like,” Susan said. “Everyone in this room is totally baked.”

“No, that’s just the cookies.”

“Yes—it’s the cookies,” Esther hissed, shoving the open bag of crisps right under Daisy’s nose and muttering, “Let’s see how strong the munchies are . . .”

Overwhelmed by need, Daisy let out a desperate groan and fell on the bag of crisps. Esther opened the back doors and pushed them wide. The fresh air and mouth-shriveling properties of a pickled onion crisp had an immediate impact on Daisy’s cognitive functions.

“How did you get in here?”

“Long story.” Esther wrestled with supporting Daisy, who was swaying about and feverishly tearing through the packet of crisps. “Susan?”

But Susan was standing very still, body tensed as if tuning in to a signal only she could receive.

You don’t spend a summer working as a private investigator without honing your instincts, and Susan’s told her that there was more to Zoise than stoner yoga. The operation was too slick for that. Besides, drugs cost money, so why would you give them away for free?

Unless you could make more money by doing so.

“Tell me, Daisy. Exactly what sacrifices have you been making to the Brethren?”

They’d gotten her as far as the bench outside the back of the house, the doors pushed wide in the hopes of rousing some of the others to consciousness.

“You can bring a friend. I introduced Grace and Reggie to the group.” She looked over her shoulder to where Reggie was sprawled on a settee inside, robe open to expose a T-shirt with a T-rex holding a hacksaw and the word Dino-saw. He looked peaceful, but that peace had come as a direct result of avoiding thinking about his problems. Jasper and Elise preached about leaving the world behind, but now that the world had hurried to catch up with her, Daisy realized that “leaving it behind” was nothing more than running away—and since when was that a solution?

“Anything else?” Susan prompted, dragging Daisy’s attention back to the matter at hand.

“You’re supposed to share worldly possessions.”

A dark look passed between her friends.

“Like your Anglepoise and glitter lamps and your photo frames and your speakers?” Susan asked.

Daisy nodded, remembering the way she’d snuck those items out of her room when she was sure neither of the others would see, knowing on some level that it wasn’t something she should be doing.