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Chapter 1

I airl

I like to think it’s not entirely my fault, that I’m some messed up concoction brewed by a lifetime shifted from one foster house to another until they all just start to look the same

My bedroomonly creaks when the whole house is asleep

I pad, soft-footed into the back yard It isn’t really a yard—I think there has to be grass for that—ravel My sneakers are so worn that they leave indistinct marks in the dust and my shadow so familiar that the Rottweilers next door just watch hbor’s back stoop

I pause in front of theand take a deep breath to steady lass, a tiny sliver running along the reflected tops of the run-down houses to my back

“Fuck,” I whisper under o I can’t afford to be caught sneaking out again This place ht be a hell-hole of a foster house but it can always be worse I’ve had worse I knohat it looks like, and as shitty as this place is, this isn’t it

I press the base of my palms to the bottom of theframe and try to push up as slowly and evenly as possible Thesticks for adew One of ers pries up under the botto screech

I freeze

The Rots next door perk up, their heads tilting back as they sniff the air I listen for any noise, any sign of stirring on the other side Aside frole clue I was overheard

I have to save er I push theup as slowly and carefully as possible and hoist h into the bottom bunk directly on the other side I’ve barely collapsed into ed theback shut behind me, this time with only the tiniest of squeaks, when the door to the room flies open

I tug the blankets up tomy modesty I can’t let her catch ain

“Teddy!”

From the shrill tone of Ms Martin’s voice, you’d think I asked for this life When I don’t answer right away, her wraith-like silhouette stumbles another couple steps into the roo my full name

“Theodora!” The na the others where the groaningcouldn’t Cassie and Rachel mutter incoherently, still half in dreams Lucky the as I can remember

My most recent wretched foster mother stands over er Her three-day-old makeup is smeared, her hair is matted and askew all over her head, and she reeks of vodka She’s a terror, but I don’t complain because she’s also the only one who didn’t try to take ht away like a sweater with a liht suck, but I know that it could always be worse

“What?” I snap at her and finally push myself up I move too fast and smack my head on the top bunk above roan as I fall back into the pillow I should be used to the tiny bed by now, but in my defense, it was built for someone half my size

Ms Martin tosses a wad of black cloth at e to catch it, just to drop it in my lap a second later I don’t knohat she just threw atpad

“Get up! Get dressed You’re going to a funeral,” she says

Well, of all the things sheI expected

“Who died? Your personality?”

I cock an eyebrow at her I know I shouldn’t be talking back to her this early in the , but I can’t let the opportunity slip away Call it a slip of judge at the back ofon one more day to sleep before the new school year starts up tomorrow

Ms Martin raises her hand to slapup and stretching and quickly goes to paw the back of her head instead The girl is still new to the system and hasn’t learned to keep her race onmy luck

I quickly change the subject and pick up the thing Ms Martin tossed to me The black fabric is as shapeless as it is scratchy

“What a?” I shoot her a dirty look She grits her teeth and glares at me