Laurel leaned on her bow. “Here’s the thing about Janet,” she said. “Her father used to test her all the time. Make her prove herself. I mean, I think at the beginning it was supposed to be good for her. Like, you want an ice cream? Beat your brother to the end of the block. You need new clothes? Win them from me in a card game. You want to go to the doctor today? Fight your brother until one of you hits the floor. You need me to sign something? Hold your hand in the fire for thirty seconds without screaming.”

“You can’t be serious,” I said. But: Janet, who hated to lose at anything. Janet, who was always pushing herself, always better, faster, stronger.

“It’s different now,” Laurel said. “He can barely hold down a job, much less give her anything she needs. Wet brain, you know.” She tapped her temple with one finger. “She’s the one keeping that family going. Though honestly I don’t know why she even bothers.”

“What about her brothers?” I asked. “They must be old enough to help out.”

“They’re old enough,” she said. “But they grew up mean.”

I knew she was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. When I didn’t say anything, she rolled her eyes. “She’s just doing what she has to do,” she said. “Wherever she goes, whatever she does, it’s not about you, so don’t get in the way.”

I leaned my head back, and as I did, I noticed that Harriet was staring at me again, her expression inscrutable, while Nisha inspected her bowstring. I felt a small stab. I did like Harriet, despite the fact that I had ignored her warnings. I did wish, sometimes, that I could stand next to her and laugh at her jokes, and not be concerned with anything else, not levitation or Luke or my father or where my friends secretly snuck away to in the middle of the night. I smiled at her, and as I did, I realized she wasn’t looking at me at all. She was looking at Laurel.

Laurel followed my gaze. “Classic,” she said, and slipped her fingers around my wrist. I waited for her to say something else, but then Sarah came and stood beside us, and we both turned back to the cleared range. Not, in Laurel’s case, without flashing Harriet the brightest of smiles and running her tongue along her red red lips.