But here was Junie in my arms, so lovely, wriggling and weird and already wanting to tell me about that doll, the demon doll that spit fire that she had to have because she had seen a picture of it in some old children’s book that she had discovered at the library. And I let her tell me. I would buy her that doll. I hoped it was as hideous as I had imagined in my mind. I hoped that Junie kept it for her entire life. Aaron hugged me as we walked up to the porch. “It’s okay?” he asked, and he trusted me. I know that he trusted me.

And even though the story I told Mazzy wouldn’t include it, I would tell him about Zeke, about that whole summer. I’d tell him what it felt like to be alone in that little place, things I wouldn’t be able to say in the article, things no one would really care about. How I never knew how I’d get to the place where I was okay. I’d tell him about that weird boy, and how I was going to hide him away, and I hoped Aaron would understand.

“It’s okay,” I told him. “Really. It is. I’m okay.”

We went into the house, the three of us, and we left the front door wide open, completely unprotected, because nothing would hurt us. Forever and forever and forever.

THAT NIGHT, PUTTING JUNIE TO SLEEP, I LAY BESIDE HER AND WE read from a chapter book about a pack of wolves chasing these two girls on a train. And after, when I’d turned off the light, Junie said, “Where have you been?”

“To see Nana,” I told her. “Remember?”

“But why?” she asked. “What’s going on?”

“When I was a girl—”

“My age? My age right now?” Junie interrupted.

“Older. When I was a teenager, I made this thing. And it was a secret. And people really were wild about it, and they got crazy over it.”

“Why was it a secret?” she asked. “Was it bad?”

“No,” I said. “I don’t think so.”

“But you kept it a secret?” she asked.

“I did. For a long time. Until just now, really. And now I’m going to reveal the secret. And I guess we’ll see what happens.”

“What will happen?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I really don’t. But nothing bad. Probably something good. Something amazing.”

“I hope so,” she said. I could hear her breathing. “Can you tell me the secret right now?”

“I could. It’s just this line. It goes: The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law—”

“—is skinny with hunger for us,” Junie said, finishing it.

“Why do you know that?” I asked, though I kind of knew. But it was still a surprise.