“It went perfectly.” She leaned in, clasping his hands. “Thanks for not telling her I checked out last night.”

“She would’ve had all kinds of questions,” Cade said, his violet hair sweeping into his eyes. “And I know exactly where you were last night. But you can’t come back here again, pretending you’re still a patient.”

“I can’t visit you?” Lily teased, poking him in the cheek. Siblings did that, didn’t they? They tickled each other without feeling danger. They slept side by side without fear.

“You’ve earned your freedom,” Cade said after a minute, pinching her arm. “Don’t waste it on me.”

Lily nodded, then walked to the doors. She didn’t wait for her stepfather to come pick her up. As the doors whooshed open, bringing with them the scent of flowers, she turned back to the boy at the front desk. “I’m not going to waste a second.”

5 Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick

Jack entered her bedroom through the window. It was less likely to creak than the doors, and her brothers would come running if they heard someone entering the house after dark. Their ears were finely tuned to the near-silent comings and goings of their mother. Bobbi McClain had a tendency to sneak out at odd hours to meet some boyfriend or another, returning days or even weeks later. Once, Jack had come home from a double shift at the local convenience store only to find her youngest brothers lined up in front of the door, their eyes brimming with hope. Then, when they’d realized their sister was creeping into the house at two a.m., they’d tried to mask their disappointment.

After that, Jack had started entering through her window, determined to let them sleep through the night. This night, however, she had an ulterior motive. She hurried to her closet, flinging open the doors. The smell hit her, soft as a feather trailing across her skin, and her stomach clenched at the thought of destroying the only connection to him she had left. Then, after plucking two pillowcases from the floor, she began yanking clothes from their hangers, stuffing them inside.

It took about ten minutes. Ten minutes to eliminate all traces of him from her closet. Ten minutes to empty her dresser drawers. Even the floor had been strewn with Raven’s pajamas, and her room looked oddly clean without them. Emptied. Stripping the clothes from her back, Jack stuffed his T-shirt and jeans into the second pillowcase before knotting it closed.