Tim was beaming. This was the kind of question he lived for—if they were going to get the word out to the world, it had to start right here, at home. He tipped back his glass, looked round the table. “It’s all in the family,” he said.

Ultimately it was decided that the following Saturday the entire household would trip together, with the exception of her and Fitz, who volunteered to act as guides, and Bobby, who was deemed too young to process the experience, even if he was limited to so small a dose it was barely viable. She saw the sense in that—what was the rush? Give him time to grow into his body. And his mind. With the other kids, it was different—they were all in their teens, and she half-suspected Tim had dosed Suzie and Jackie at some point, though the subject hadn’t come up and nobody had seemed eager to ask about it.

Whether that had ever happened or not didn’t really matter—all that mattered to her was Corey. He’d been sleeping in his own room again, as far as she knew, and he was doing fine in school—no complaints there—but he felt excluded, she could see that. Every time she thought of the way he’d reacted when she’d confronted him over Nancy she felt as if she were being attacked all over again. He was an adolescent, yes, growing away from her and Fitz, testing the limits, but the depth of his bitterness had shocked her—and the way he’d judged her too, as if she’d done something to be ashamed of, as if giving herself over to the experience had somehow diminished her love for him and Fitz, when nothing could be further from the truth. But then how could he understand what this was all about if they kept him from it? And that was true of the other kids too. It was time. Past time. But still, still—and this was why she and Fitz had volunteered to abstain and guide him through the process—she was worried about him. How could she not be? She was his mother. She’d always be his mother. And as much as she gave of herself to all of them, to everybody at Millbrook, adults and children alike, that would never change.