Chloe’s shine faded a little. “Yeah, well, more than I do in my own house . . . my housemates are pretty hard to be around at the moment.”

“I know what you mean,” Daisy tried to empathize. “One of the people on my corridor plays really loud heavy metal when I’m trying to study.”

“I’d take that over obnoxiously loud sex and finding chocolate body paint in with the Nutella.”

“Oh.” Daisy backpedaled. “Yours sounds much worse.”

“Winning the nightmare-accommodation lottery!” A comment Chloe accompanied with a tight-lipped smile and a thumbs-up.

Daisy wondered why it was that she’d felt a need to grumble about Esther, when really, she quite liked listening to her angry music through the walls. There was something reassuring about Esther’s undying allegiance to her own tastes in spite of all the ways in which university life could tempt you into something new. She hoped her friend’s sense-of-humor failure in the hospital the other day had just been a blip, not a sign of changes to come. Daisy liked Esther exactly the way she was.

As always on initiation night, there were a couple of people looking distinctly uncertain about being in a room full of robed yoga fans. Grace had been the same when she’d come here last week, but when Daisy scanned the room, she saw her slouched back in the beanbags by the windows, a plate of cookies balanced on her tummy, wearing what looked suspiciously like the same clothes she’d been wearing when the two of them had dropped in for an afternoon session two days ago.

A sunburst of pride waxed in Daisy’s chest at the thought of being the one to introduce Grace to the family, and she wondered whether she knew anyone else who might benefit from joining the Brethren . . .

Moving among the groups of people, taking the fresh cups to where Elise was reading chakras and dispensing infusions, Daisy smiled, uttering words of welcome to fellow Brethren, enjoying the alien sensation of being the one to reassure the newcomers, to feel that quiet confidence that comes from knowing you belong.

The sound of a gong washed over the gathered crowd, and they turned to face the front. Jasper was standing there, robe hanging open, hands resting casually in the pockets of his jogging bottoms. As when he’d opened the door to Daisy, he gave off an air of bemusement, as if he weren’t quite sure how everyone had gotten there. There was something disarmingly charming about it.

“Welcome, Brethren, and friends of the family.” Seeing the nervous glances on the newcomers’ faces, he laughed, flapping a casual hand in their direction. “Ah, don’t worry about it. You’ll get used to it. It’s just the way we talk.”