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Polly in the stomach. She hadn't said
anything, but she'd thought it: with Bree gone, maybe her dad would stay. It wasn't so improbable. The day her dad had moved out, he'd told Polly he would always love her mother, but people change, lives head in different directions. Sometimes love isn't enough, he'd said, which to Polly seemed like the worst thing of all.
    Still, if people could grow apart, then Polly thought they should also be able to grow back together. For the last week, her dad had made the coffee again and checked all the locks before going to bed. He had looked at her mother like he wanted her to ask him to stay; the problem was that her mother had never looked back.
    Now, her mother sat on the edge of the bed, stiff and untouchable. She hadn't let anyone comfort her, not even Polly.
    "I'm not ready," Polly said.
    Her mother turned away. "Believe me," she said, "neither am I."

7 GOLDENROD
(Solidago)
Goldenrod grows by rivers and in meadows and fields; the Latin name,
Solidago,
means to make whole or heal. Goldenrod's leaves can be cooked and eaten like spinach, the seeds are a thickening agent, and the flowers can be used as salad garnishes. Goldenrod tea is an effective flu and cold remedy, and the dried leaves and flowers help stem bleeding.
    On a good day, seventh grade at Laramie Junior High was merely unpleasant. After Bree disappeared, it qualified as a sick joke.
    Kids Polly had known all her life gawked at her, while others whispered Bree's name along with words like
kidnapped
and
hacked up.
Her first-period teacher cried whenever she looked at Polly and ended class early just to wrap her in a hug.
    "Oh, you poor, poor thing," Mrs. Ivie said as Mason
Halberton, one of Polly's classmates, walked by pretending to play a violin.
    Polly tried to make a dash for it, but the principal was waiting in the hall with his condolences, along with the school secretary, who said she prayed for Polly's sister every night. Then Mandy Aloman and Bridget Stork showed up.
    "Oh my God," Mandy said between bites of her Mars Bar. "Everybody's talking about it."
    "Everyone needs to get a grip," Bridget said. "I'm
sure
she'll be back."
    "Unless she was crushed by one of the giant troll people," Mason Halberton cut in. He had appeared behind them and hopped around as if he couldn't see past Mandy's backside. "Move it, troll."
    Mandy's cheeks reddened, and Bridget whirled around. "What are you?" she said to Mason. "Blind, deaf,
and
dumb?"
    Mason shrugged. "Yeah, well, at least I'm not a freak of nature. All brains and no beauty."
    He plugged his nose, but when Bridget stepped toward him, he took off running down the hall.
    "Idiot," Bridget said.
    The girls walked together to debate class, but Polly held back at the door. She still hadn't worked out what she wanted to say to Olivia, but she needn't have worried. Her former best friend didn't even look at her. Olivia had moved her desk beside Carly Leyland's, and, worse than that, she'd cut her
long brown hair into an exact replica of Carry's stylish chin-length bob.
    Carly smiled like the cat who'd swallowed the canary. She leaned over to Olivia and said something that made the traitor laugh while Polly stumbled to her seat.
    Mrs. Finch wrote the topic of the day's debate on the board, but Polly had trouble making sense of it. The floor was newly mopped, and more A papers had been pinned to the wall. She wanted to silence the students noisily taking out sheets of paper, but it appeared that no one had skipped a beat since she'd been gone. The PA speaker crackled to life, and Miss Galloway's disembodied voice burst into the room announcing an outdoor assembly. Mrs. Finch sighed and told them to follow her onto the soccer field.
    Miss Galloway was already there, encouraging everyone to form a circle and hold hands. She was twenty-eight, Miss Galloway, a lover of wooden-bead necklaces and ponchos, rumored to be from Southern California.
    Only the cheerleaders held hands. "Well,