wice before the

ing instantly, hot and furious. "You

urn pulled the phone away from her ear. The shrill sound of her daugh

es and pinched the

ce a smooth, practiced monotone that c

me in front of everyone! And she knows about Europe, Mom. She told me I was going to b

n. The headache flared i

uire international exposure," Dione star

peaker. "I'm staying here! I'm taking a gap year and rete

xhale. The muscles in her nec

l discuss a gap year when you

her massive glass desk. It slid and hit a s

olled in, adjusting the cuffs of his custom Italian suit

time?" Warren asked, wa

vibrating with suppressed anger. "Because of th

up. "She's a teenager from a trailer park, Dione.

Dione hissed, her fingernails diggi

ted shocks of the county bus gr

husks of abandoned steel mills roll past. The oppressive

pulled out a plastic bottle of generic

whispered, her eyes darting nervously around the

e. She turned to look at Brenda. Her

f we don't need them,

stop at the dirt cro

riveway to the farmhouse. The roof sagged in t

the front door. Th

amped kitchen, pulling a bag of

ing. She dropped to her knees and pulled a hea

button. The internal fan roared to life, soun

She opened the browser. Her fingers flew across the sticky keyboard, pulling up the cu

ty dollars a pound. Chantere

began sketching the wireframe for a Shopify storefr

nda called fr

itchen and sat at the wobbly wooden table. A b

oon, staring at the

ment about an old, reclusive hunter who had stumbled upon a massive patch of wild fungi in a specific, hidden ravine of the South Ridge woods. Bac

her bowl. "No. Absolutely not. The bears are active

She grabbed Brenda's rough, call

n said, her voice flat, le

le steel in Haven's eyes that hadn't been there this morni

I'm comin

under cold water. She looked out the window at the pitch-black tree line o