“Like we said, we’re visiting our cousin,” Mercedes says.

“Oh, really? And what’s her name?”

Ten, nine, eight, seven.

“Samantha,” Mercedes says

“Betty?” I say at the same time.

Maybe if we were full sisters, not half sisters, we would have made up the same fake name.

“Listen,” Darryl says. He crouches down in front of us so we’re eye to eye. “Two little girls should not be wandering around a college campus.” He looks back and forth. Me, Mercedes, me. “It could be dangerous.”

He’s right. Anything could be a risk. Or life changing. You don’t know by just looking. The maze at the apple orchard didn’t seem scary until I got lost. When my mom first met Bob, I had no idea that everything I knew would transform completely. What will change because Mercedes and I decided to sneak away and look for our father? Maybe Darryl is a sign that we should just go back to the planetarium, slip in next to November and Sunny, pretend like this never happened. Pretend we never tried to find Francisco Gómez. Pretend we don’t know who that is. Why did I listen to Mercedes? Five, four, three. I try to slow my breathing.

“We’re not little.” Mercedes’s voice is more firm now.

“I just want to make sure you get where you belong.”

I wish Darryl—or anyone—could tell us where that was.

“We know where we’re going,” Mercedes insists. “We’re visiting our sister. Honest.”

“You said cousin.”

“We did?” Mercedes looks at me and laughs like she doesn’t have a care in the world. “How silly. We’re visiting our sister.”

“And your sister has two different names?”

“Yeah,” Mercedes says quickly. Like she’s relearning how to tell a good story. “She does, actually. I mean, we call her Betty, but everyone else calls her Sarah.”

I nudge Mercedes. “Or Samantha.”

“Is she a child prodigy?” the security guard says.

“Oh, no,” I say, “she’s a lot older than us.”

“She’s finishing a test,” Mercedes continues, “in quantum physics.” How does she even know that word?

“Not many Mexicans in physics.”

“We’re not Mexican.” Her cheeks are turning red and she clenches her fists. I can feel the anger radiating off of her like she’s one of those stars in the planetarium, shining extra bright so you can see her.

“Is that so?” he says.

Mercedes squints at him. Her eyes are lasers.