Bravery had a way of finding Aria, where mercy would not. They say a woman can’t be until a girl dies, and the girl inside Aria was dying. Either that or she was retreating into the dark recesses beyond her reach. Her innocence was not welcome in this new life. Like all women on the streets, she had been forced to accept that there were people who found beauty only in broken things, people who hid their secrets behind the voiceless. But these people did not admire what was already broken; instead, they broke things to create that pleasure for themselves. They did not confide in people who would keep the shame of their demons safe because of vulnerability. They placed the stains on their conscience inside those who could not speak for themselves, instead of cleansing them.

Aria was learning the hard way that life for anyone on the streets was not as free as she had once imagined because life on the streets was not safe. It was even less safe if you were a woman. Hypothermia, heatstroke, rape, violence, infection, sunburn, arrest, insanity, injuries with nowhere to go to treat them, hunger and malnutrition seemed to follow you when you lived out on the street, like an invisible vulture, simply waiting for you to take a fall. And choosing a companion who was as out of place and flamboyant a target as Taylor made it even less safe.

They decided to spend their day at the closest library they could find to seek a safe refuge. Upon arriving, they went their separate ways inside the building. Taylor went to look for jobs online at the computer lab and Aria found a corner with a collection of chairs. She picked up a large cookbook with which she intended to conceal the fact that she was napping. She weighed her exhaustion against the chances that doing so would get her in trouble and decided that she still looked more like a student who was not preoccupied with her appearance than someone who had come in off the street. She hoped that anyone who saw her there would find the fact that she had fallen asleep more endearing than offensive. She drifted off into a dreamless sleep that was far deeper than she had intended.