The door opened and little Stephen’s small, sweet face stared up at me. Their youngest son was just five years of age, with lighter skin tones and reddish hair. The tiny boy embodied joy itself.

I smiled as he gave me a little wave. “Hi, Stephen.”

“Hi, Grace!”

Rose entered the hallway behind him. “Stephen, what are you doing?”

“Grace is here.”

Rose pulled her son back and stepped in front of him. She eyed me for a moment and opened the door wider for me to enter. Then she turned back to Stephen, dropped to his level, and spoke firmly. “You know the rules about opening the front door. Only an adult can answer when someone knocks. Are you an adult?”

“No, I’m a boy,” Stephen answered proudly, as if he’d solved a riddle.

“It’s dangerous,” Rose continued. “You never know who will be on the other side. Okay? Do you understand?”

Having heard Rose issue similar warnings to her children in the past, I’d always wondered how anyone in Haven Valley could be dangerous. Now I knew.

Anyone, Bobbie had said.

Little Stephen nodded and waited patiently to be released. Rose sighed and nodded for him to go, and he rushed back down the hallway.

“No running!” Rose shouted after him. “You’ll trip and fall.”

I stepped into the house and shut the door slowly behind me. Rose stood and, without looking at me, headed to the kitchen. Her coldness was unpleasant, but I followed quickly.

The Pierce twins, Evelyn and Levi, sat at the dining table. The ten-year-olds both had light brown hair and light brown eyes, unlike their mother. Both had finished breakfast and were working through their required daily reading, a curriculum designed for the young children growing up in Haven Valley.

Evelyn sat on the right, her shoulders pulled back, eyes on the book. She paid me no mind. Even she was shunning me.

Levi sat on the left, book propped on the table, chin resting in his hand, legs swinging back and forth gently. The moment he saw me, his face brightened. “Hi, Grace. Can I show you how my airplane model is coming?”

“You haven’t finished your reading,” his sister snapped without removing her eyes from her book.

“How do you know if you can’t read my mind?” Levi said.

“Have you finished your reading?” Rose asked from where she stood at the sink.

Levi hesitated. “Almost.”

A small, satisfied grin pulled at the corner of Evelyn’s mouth.

A knock sounded at the front door and Rose glanced at me for the first time. “Can you get that?”

I nodded and returned to the door. It was Megan Rifle, a quirky girl with hair nearly orange as a carrot.

“Hi, Megan. Is everything alright?”

“I was called for.”

I eyed her curiously and opened the door so she could step inside.

She offered me a forced smile. “Thank you.”