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Wistfully, Sara smiled back at her, and she looked down at her lap for a moment "It’s justyou’re the first person Rafe has even coain "You’re the first friend he’s made since he’s been here"

"That’s kind of what I’ve heard, but I don’t really get it"

Sara frowned, lifting her blue eyes as she tried to explain "You’re different, Violet He’s different when he’s around you" Violet recoiled against Sara’s words

She supposed she hadn’t really believed Sa it froer deny it was true, even to herself

"What about you?" Violet asked "He has you, and you’re hissister" The word sounded strange on her tongue, unfarinned slowly, knowingly "Yes, he has me And I’ll always be there for him He’s the reason I formed the team in the first place When he first told mewell, you knohat he could do, it causedproblems for him" She winced, and Violet wondered if she’d even realized she’d done it "He got into soo I offered to take him in"

"Does everyone elseI mean, do the others on the teaed, re Violet so ine they know, or at least suspect They are psychics, after all But Rafe prefers it this ith no one talking about it He doesn’t want anyone to think he gets special treatment And I think he feels like the less they know about him, the less they’ll think he’s one of the, Sara answered, "Just don’t tell him that He likes to think of himself as a loner He doesn’t like to think he needs anyone" She leaned back "He’s wrong, though He needs us, he just won’t admit it"

"What about your parents? Where are they?" Violet asked, wondering if she was prying

But Sara didn’t see in Boise Rafe’s dad--" She sighed "He’s never been around He took off after he found out our nant No one’s heard from him since My parents were divorced when I was four, and Rafe wasn’t born until I was already a teenager Honestly, I barely noticed hiet my attention" She squeezed her eyes shut, as if theall those times he asked me if he could I wish I’d been a better sister"

Violet felt bad for her She didn’t have siblings, but she knehat it was like to have her little cousins following her around, wanting her attention She couldn’t i her back on them "And your mother? Does she live around here?"

Sara frowned "Our edy is, she wasn’t even a sot it" Her voice cracked, and Violet felt guilty for asking such personal questions But Sara continued, blinking against unseen tears "Rafe went to live with my mom’s sister--our aunt Jenny--after that I came back for the funeral, but even then, I was so busyoverworkedand I didn’t realize how" She shrugged, struggling for the right word "how lonely Rafe was I mean, I kneas sad; we both were But nohen I look back, Rafe had coh "I chalked it up to his age Aren’t all teens withdrawn and mopeyespecially the ones who just lost their mother?"