Morgan doesn’t look up from his Arsène Lupin. She knows he doesn’t want to talk about it. She doesn’t much either.

“Morgan? You listening?”

“Yeah,” he says, in exasperation. “You want to get us out of here.”

“Put your book away and listen.”

She takes his comic book and sits on it.

“Okay. I’m listening,” he says.

“I want to take us to live somewhere else. I don’t think we should be living anywhere Thierry has the right to show up.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“I’m not sure yet. We might go down to my grandmother’s in Collioure for a while.”

“Is that a long way away?”

“Pretty long.”

“How would I get to school?”

Rat reflects. “I don’t think you’d be going to school for a bit.”

Morgan looks at her. “I can’t do that.”

“There’s only six weeks left in the year, it’s not such a big deal. I don’t know about you, I’m not learning shit at my school, I could really take it or leave it. How about you? You like Sandrine, don’t you?”

“Mmmm,” he says. It’s true, it’s been his best year yet, with a teacher who thinks he’s smart and capable. “It is a big deal. I have all my football tournaments coming up. And exams.”

“I know, I know. Me too. But we got to get out of here, Morgan. I don’t get what’s going on with Vanessa. It’s like nobody’s reactions are normal. Something like this happens, it kind of wakes you up. I don’t think Vanessa can protect us anymore. I think she’s losing it. She’s more concerned about the dog than about her own children.”

Morgan grunts. “Why can’t we keep on staying with Jean-Luc and Marielle?”

“That’d be nice, wouldn’t it, but—it’s too close. I feel like I can’t breathe, I’m always looking around, listening out for Thierry’s car. I want to put a million miles between him and us.”

“Collioure isn’t a million miles.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Why don’t we just kill him? Then we can keep on living here.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” says Rat, before realizing Morgan means it.

“He’s big. But there are lots of ways to kill him.”

She blows out her breath. “Nah, then we’d just go to jail forever. He’s not worth it.”

“To me, it is,” says Morgan.

“Well, I’m not willing.”

“I don’t want to go into Care,” says Morgan, suddenly, and Rat feels her breath disappear. Of course—that’s what happens when people find out a kid’s been abused at home; he goes into Care.