“Jeb Bauer. Call me Jeb.” He led her and Dog through the house and out into a large backyard with a stone grotto among palm trees. The water cascaded over the rocks into the pool, cooling the air. A few people soaked in a hot tub. Under the palm trees nestled chicken coops, a vegetable garden, and a pen with a miniature black, pink-snouted pot-bellied pig. The pig snuffled wetly at Izzy’s hand through the slats of the pen, the ring in its ear catching the light like a small crescent moon, and Dog whined.

“You’re just in time for yoga class,” Jeb said. “Go grab a mat.”

Oh, great. Just what I felt like doing. But she didn’t want to draw attention to herself by refusing.

Under a white canopy, a table draped in white linen held a crystal pitcher of water and a stack of towels. More guests stretched on yoga mats. Izzy reluctantly took a mat and placed it in the back of the class. Dog sat down beside her.

“Done this before, Down Dog?” she asked him.

Jeb stood under a palm tree, hands clasped in front of his groin, face eerily serene. A woman with long black hair cut in bangs came out of the house and walked toward him. The woman Izzy had seen online. She was tall, her soft curves and long limbs clothed in blue gauze. Her eyes dark, with a hint of green, glittered unnaturally like the rings on her fingers when she removed her oversized sunglasses. At least she didn’t have a forehead tattoo, Izzy thought.

“Welcome to this Kundalini class,” she said. “Please get settled on your mats. Sit up straight and tall with your legs crossed.” Everyone took their places and the woman went on. “Put one hand on your belly. Breathe in through your nostrils, into your belly, expanding it, then contract it and release with a gust of air back through your nostrils. This is called Breath of Fire or Skull-luster. Let’s all try it.”

Izzy tried to breathe in, but her breath felt shallow, the air catching inside between her collarbones. What was she doing? Why was she even here?

The woman walked among the guests, lightly trailing her fingers across their shoulders and backs. Izzy saw the silver chains that connected the woman’s many rings to the bracelets on her wrists, and another thin chain strung from nostril to ear. When she reached Izzy, she put her hand on Izzy’s abdomen and Izzy flinched. Get your hands off. But she couldn’t say anything in front of all these people.

“Fill your belly up like a balloon. Just follow along.” The woman continued to walk up and down between the mats. “According to the Kundalini system, our bodies contain seven sacred centers, or chakras, traveling from our groins, or root chakra, up along our spine to just above our heads—the crown chakra.”

She touched herself with the side of her hand, a flat blade pressed below her navel, then moving upward as she spoke. “The first, or root chakra. The second chakra, the chakra of emotion, sensuality, creativity, and sexuality. The third, or solar plexus chakra. All three of these chakras relate to our animal nature.