“Tai, she’s Daria Grendl. She has to be.”

I freeze. I haven’t heard the name said in years, and hearing it now sends prickling needles up my spine. Daria, who leaked those bits of White Fox. Daria, who swore Mama ran away from us.

“Saxim,” I say patiently. “There was no shortage of bitches who controlled and used Mama. And Daria’s a lifelong redhead.” When I was twelve, I crafted a sad excuse for a voodoo doll with red hair just like hers, using a disgusting holiday sweater I found in Noni’s closet.

“Box redhead,” she says, rummaging for her phone. “She was just on local news talking up an article she’s writing for the retrospective and ranting about refugees using up Viloki resources. The station showed an ancient clip of her with your mom, where she had premature gray hair. I swear.”

I must look distant, because she rattles my hands in hers, as if to wake me up. “I actually taped it and was going to show you, because she teased some kind of big announcement. Nonsense, I’m sure, but I thought you should know. Since Daria always claimed to have insider knowledge.”

“Show me the clip.” I tie my greasy hair into a rapid-fire bun. “I’m going to find her.”

BOY

Transcript of Viloki News Video Interview with Daria Grendl May 7, 2019

Interviewer: You’ve been the hottest source for details about Mireille Foix’s life ever since she disappeared. Mount Vilox-hot. And rumor has it, you’re putting together an anniversary piece for the magazine hosting the event—with a secret inside.

Daria Grendl: An explosive secret. I won’t say anything more. Not yet.

Interviewer: Do you stand by your assertion that Mireille ran away?

[Daria pauses, smiles]

Daria: Who am I to disagree with the police commissioner of our fair island? [mumbling] Now if only he’d focus on deporting the rabble polluting Limatra.

Interviewer: What makes you believe with such certainty that Mireille ran away?

[Daria lights a cigarette, inhales, and blows a smoke ring]

Daria: She’s Mrs. Foix Hammick to you. And I know Mireille better than anyone roaming the surface of this godforsaken planet.

Interviewer: And yet you divulge secrets about her to the public?

Daria: I do this all for Mireille. She would never want people to stop talking about her; to stop thinking about her.

Interviewer: Do you have anything to say about this week’s news that the director who worked on Mireille’s first feature film has died by suicide?

Daria: He should’ve held out a little longer.

Interviewer: What exactly are you suggesting?

[Daria blows smoke at the camera and shrugs, a smile spreading across her face]

Daria: She’ll be back.

NONI