If she could just explain her side, Victoria would see, and then things could go back to normal.

Just like going to see Keith at work had been a way to just show him he cared, to reconnect, and then have things be like they’d used to be.

Or how saying just the right things to the therapist would make that whole incident go away.

Kenzie smiled.

“Is that the end of the slides?”

Kenzie clicked, even though she didn’t want to see. She smiled at the scene.

It was Keith and Antonio. Antonio had given her a gift. A bag with pink on it, because he hated that she, like so many other foster kids, were packing her things up in black garbage bags.

A goodbye, before she left for San Diego.

“They—” she started. Her voice cracked. “Um. They have two kids now. A boy and a girl, nine and thirteen. Foster kids that they adopted. They made it through Gold Morning. They’re out there somewhere, and I don’t look too hard.”

“Oh, Kenz.”

Kenzie’s legs kicked. She smiled at Victoria.

Victoria froze, staring.

Had she slipped? Kenzie tried to think if she’d said or done the wrong thing.

“Kenzie—” Victoria said. “Kenz, that’s got to be the worst thing in the world.”

“There are lots of horrible things in the world,” Kenzie said. She looked down, smiling. “It’s not my favorite thing, though.”

“Then why are you smiling when you’re talking about something so upsetting?”

Kenzie started to answer, then stopped. Too easy to be flippant.

She needed Victoria on her side. That meant being honest.

“I always smile when I’m upset or bothered,” Kenzie answered. She swallowed hard. “That’s just how I am. It’s easier than crying, it doesn’t bother people as much.”

“What do you do when you’re happy?”

“I don’t smile, I guess,” Kenzie said.

Victoria seemed momentarily lost for words. She was, no doubt, recalling a hundred past events.

“But!” Kenzie bounced a bit in on her stool. “But I have my parents back! And I know you’re going to say stuff. I get it. It’s weird. They’re a little messed up.”

“It’s a lot messed up.”

“Okay,” Kenzie said. “Yes, but—but—I have this entirely under control.”

“I have a hard time believing that.”

“I’ve had it under control for over a year now. I went looking for family and I found them. They pretended at first that they didn’t know who I was, but the people in charge of the gates had some good ways to quickly check stuff.”

“Powers?”