Chapter 2

The light in the room stung my eyes into a haze, and three sets of probing stares fixed on my face.

I got to my feet slowly, my fingers curling tight into a fist.

I drew a deep breath, steadied it, and pointed at the dog wagging its tail behind me.

"I heard what Aiden was thinking, so I came out to check on him."

Now wasn't the time to tear the mask off.

An allergy-pill wrapper fished out of the trash wasn't enough to prove anything.

Even if I called the police, Mom and Dad would side with my sister.

It would get written off as a family dispute and end in mediation.

And most of all, the bank card with the streaming income was in my father's hands.

Right now, I needed money.

The house was so quiet all you could hear was Aiden panting, until my sister suddenly clapped her hands and gasped.

"Sis, I almost forgot, you didn't take Aiden out for his walk today. Go now, quick."

"He's the dog you brought home. Take him yourself. I'm going to sleep."

I turned to go, but my mother caught my wrist.

"Where do you think you're running off to? Go walk the dog, or he'll fuss to go out tonight and keep your sister from resting."

"You do nothing all break at home, and walking one dog is too much for you now? Quit being so dramatic."

I'd come home for summer break and streamed three days straight, sleeping less than four hours a night.

But my sister, out shopping with her friends every day, was the one Mom worried was overtired.

I shook off her hand and said coldly,

"Right, and when I'm being dramatic, I'm spending my own money doing it."

"You've lost your mind, talking back now."

Furious, my mother raised her hand high, but my father caught it.

His eyes searched my face, and he said mildly,

"Tessa's been busy streaming lately. It's hard work. Go on to bed."

My mother started to say something more, but the warning in his eyes stopped her.

The next day, I came back from the gym, and the moment I opened the door I heard a commotion in the living room.

I walked in and found my childhood friend Lee Gilbert messing around with my sister.

A few days earlier, Lee had asked me if I could listen in on what his dog was thinking.

"Tessa, whatever happens in a minute, promise you won't get mad, okay?"

The sudden line out of Lee gave me a bad feeling.

I looked past him on instinct, and for a second my breath stopped.

"Where are my books? Why is everything in the study gone?"

Lee shielded my sister behind him.

"Tessa, calm down and hear me out first."

"Your sister's amazing. She can hear what animals are thinking too."

I stared at him, not following.

"What does that have to do with me?"

Lee choked on that, and my sister arched an eyebrow.

"Aiden said he wants to live in the study, so I cleared out the junk in there."

I grabbed her wrist and looked her dead in the eye.

"Junk? You knew perfectly well Grandma Gilbert's letter to me was in those books, and you cleared it all out anyway!"

"Tell me. Where did you throw it?"

She couldn't break free, and with reddened eyes she turned to Lee for help.

Lee shoved me back hard, pulled her into his arms, and snapped,

"Tessa, it's just one letter. Do you really have to treat your sister like this?"

I fell to the floor, and the Lee in front of me felt like a stranger.

Back then, when his stepmother threw him out in the dead of winter, he'd huddled in a corner with his feet split open from the cold.

I brought him home to Grandma's, and Grandma heated water for him and boiled him dumplings.

Now here he was, standing between me and my sister, asking if I really had to.

My vision blurred, and I lowered my head, as if I could see that little old woman with her unsteady steps all over again.

My mother came at the noise, fussing over my sister, and shot me a glare.

"A dead person's things, so what if they're thrown out? Keeping them just brings bad luck."

I rose slowly and said, one word at a time,

"If Grandma's letter doesn't turn up, I'm done streaming."