“I mean, how could I raise such a shallow, vengeful, destructive person?”

Dr. Westerly didn’t answer for a minute. Then she said, “But she’s still a person, isn’t she? We need to help Maisy realize that. Her mother is a person. A very flawed person, granted. One who’s done terrible, terrible things, but still just a person.” I heard some papers moving around. “I think we’ll discover Maisy is much stronger than we think.”

I closed my eyes and put my hand on my throat. My heart was going tak-tak-tak. That old woodpecker was back in there, making a lot of noise in my neck.

—

A police lady opened a metal door to a big room. Another girl walked right past me, but my feet didn’t want to move. The room had too many people talking and laughing and smoking and having snacks. It had tables and chairs and those machines with jelly beans and gumballs inside. There was a high-up counter and two police people stood on the other side of it. They were frowning like Shar always did when she was bored.

The lady put her hand on my shoulder. “You need to go in, sweetheart, else the door might close on us.” She said it in a friendly way. “I’ll help you find your mom, okay?”

I took a step.

“My daughter!”

I blinked. Then I saw her. Gloria was rushing across the room to me. Her sneakers squeaked on the shiny floor. Her hair was shorter and turned back to brown and her face was covered in powder. She was wearing blue-green pants and a blue-green sweatshirt, just like all the other ladies who lived there.

“My daughter!” she said again.

“That your mom?” the lady said.

Before I could nod Gloria said “I sure am,” and she grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a table. I sat on one of the chairs. She sat next to me. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” she said. “What took you so long?”

I chewed my lip.

“I’m sure I already know the answer. You’d come see me first thing if you had a choice.”

My teeth pulled off some skin, and a bad taste went on my tongue.

“Well, no matter. You’re here now. You’re here with Gloria.”

I nodded and looked around the room. There was someone in blue-green at almost every table. One wall was big windows and the other walls were yellow like our happy, happy door. I wondered if Gloria noticed, and if she liked the color or if it made her sad.

A lady passed our table and slapped it hard. I jumped and so did the black plastic ashtray that was in front of me. The lady had a heart tattoo on her arm that was jabbed through with a sword and pretend blood drops were falling out.