Chapter 4

Mom's face flushed red, shifting from caught-in-the-act guilt to furious indignation.

"What do you mean, stole?" she snapped.

"You live under my roof! I feed you, I clothe you, and you're throwing a tantrum over a little cash? How ungrateful can you be?"

It wasn't the same. If the family were facing an actual financial crisis, I would have handed over that money to help cover the mortgage without hesitation.

But Mom had raided my savings just to buy Lumina a redundant piece of luxury jewelry.

"Taking money without asking is stealing," I said, my voice rising to a tremble. "It's illegal."

Kael lunged out of the guest room, pointing a finger inches from my face.

"Watch your mouth, Sorrel! That's our mother you're talking to!"

Cove stood behind Lumina, his brow furrowed in that familiar, condescending way.

"Sorrel, you're taking this way out of proportion. Nobody stole from you. It's family. Thalyn probably just thought it wasn't safe for a teenager to hoard thousands in cash."

He crossed his arms and continued, "Besides, Lumi just got into Columbia. As her sister, pitching in for a congratulatory gift is the least you could do."

Pitching in.

That wasn't just spare change.

It was eighteen years of hoarded birthday cash and hundreds of hours spent tutoring spoiled high schoolers.

It was every thrift-store sweater I settled for, every iced latte I denied myself, traded for an empty sense of security.

"Give it back," I demanded, my eyes burning as I stared directly at Mom. "I want my money back."

Mom flinched, but she quickly masked it with righteous anger.

"I already spent it! And custom jewelry boutiques don't do returns! Besides, with your miserable SAT score, you don't even deserve that kind of money."

Lumina's eyes welled with tears. She tugged at Mom's sleeve.

"Mom, please don't fight with her. It's my fault... I can take it to a pawn shop. I'll pay Sorrel back from my own trust fund."

She offered the words, but her fingers clamped protectively over the band on her wrist.

Mom immediately pulled Lumina behind her like a shield.

"You really think you're untouchable now, Sorrel? Go to your room and reflect on your attitude. Don't come out until I say so!"

Kael stepped forward. Before I could back away, he clamped a hand around my bicep like a vice and dragged me backward.

"Let go! I didn't do anything wrong!" I yelled, fighting against his grip.

But I was eighteen and slight; he was a twenty-two-year-old gym obsessive. He shoved me into my bedroom and forcefully yanked the door shut.

I leaned against the wood, sliding down until I hit the carpet.

Through the drywall, I could hear them coddling Lumina. They told her Mom did nothing wrong. They told her I was just being selfish and difficult.

Lumina had thousands in her bank account. I had thirty-two dollars.

Why did they always have to force me into bleeding for her? I pulled my knees to my chest and cried entirely in silence.

To punish my supposed outburst, my family instituted a massive freeze-out for the next week.

No one called me down for dinner. No one told me when they left the house. They thought the absolute isolation would break me, forcing me to crawl out and beg for forgiveness.

They forgot that I had spent eighteen years being invisible. The quiet didn't break me; it liberated me.

With the days ticking down until college move-in, I picked up extra shifts at the local library tutoring center.

No one noticed what time I left or when I came back. More importantly, no one noticed me systematically erasing my existence from the house.

I dumped my AP prep books and old schoolwork into a paper recycling bin. The cheap souvenirs Cove had bought me, his old handwritten study notes—everything went straight into a gas-station dumpster.

Finally, the day arrived.

I stood in the hallway holding a single small duffel bag.

When I was eight, I was evicted from the spacious guest bedroom and moved into an un-insulated storage nook so Lumina could have a music studio for her cello.

The hallway walls were plastered with Lumina's recital certificates and equestrian ribbons. My district science fair medals had been folded up and used to stabilize a wobbly kitchen table leg.

I had checked out of this family a long time ago.

I ordered an Uber to the interstate transit center.

Halfway through the ride, my phone started vibrating furiously. The graduation dinner was starting at the country club. Mom, Kael, Dad—they were all calling.

They didn't actually want me there to celebrate.

They just wanted the required background prop for Lumina's big night, someone they could point to so relatives could murmur, "Oh, it's nice that Sorrel got accepted somewhere, too."

I watched Cove's name flash on my screen. I hit Decline.

Then, I blocked their numbers.

I bought a one-way ticket on the cross-country long-haul coach, stepped onto the bus, and headed deep into the South.

Miles and mountains away.

I was never coming back.