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“We’ve lived in Grimbaud all our lives and we’ve never gotten love fortunes. Zita’s cronies won’t find us in her database. We remain blissfully ignorant of our romantic futures.”
    Nico gasped. “How can you stand not knowing?”
    Femke shrugged. “Because that’s the way love’s supposed to be.”
    â€œAnd personally, it pisses us off that Zita had driven other love charm-makers away. Once the accuracy of her fortunes was established, the other love charm-makers lost business and had to leave,” Mirthe added. “That’s a lot of history and competition gone. Terrible. So we think of our boycott as a nod to those whose love charms are gone now.”
    But Zita had done more than chase other love charm-makers out of town; she owned other properties in Grimbaud. Fallon’s guidebooks stated that Zita founded the Spinster and Bachelor Villas, and the shops in Verbeke Square paid rent to her. She turned her attention back to Hijiri as they continued sharing their fortunes.
    Hijiri smoothed the fortune on her lap, stalling, until fat tears rolled down her cheeks. Her chin dimpled as she fought for words. After Femke handed her a tissue, Hijiri took a few gasping breaths. “‘You can’t inspire love in others if you don’t change yourself.’”
    Fallon flinched. Robbie had told her about those fortunes. The boys and girls who usually received that message were the ones already attracting bullies. Their clothes were stolen in the locker rooms, their desks carved with foul language. Invisible but noticed.
    Each fortune was worse than the last. Fallon didn’t know how they would be able to leave the room when the air was so thick with sorrow.
    â€œI don’t know what to do,” Hijiri cried, touching her oily hair. “I’ve always looked like this. Why can’t someone love me like this?”
    Femke set the notebook down, her face as quiet as Mirthe’s was stormy. “Why shouldn’t you be loved?”
    Like a hook sinking into a fish’s mouth, the pain of her words startled them. A different kind of pain.
    â€œThat’s right.” Mirthe said. She tossed the eraser in her hands, getting ink all over them. “That’s exactly the point. Zita will win, just like she always does, if you don’t ask yourselves questions.”
    Hijiri blew her nose. Nico perked up, his eyes blazing. Sebastian kept his cool gaze on the twins. Fallon drew a breath, waiting.
    â€œThe five of us are starting a rebellion,” Mirthe said.
    Rebellion. The word made Fallon shiver. She would make a terrible rebel and she knew it. How did the twins look so confident, so sure that all of them could do this?
    The twins explained that their grand plan for putting a stop to Zita involved three phases, however, they promised only to reveal one phase at a time, since overwhelming a group of “depressed, heartsick teens” would not be smart. “The less you know, the better,” Femke said with a pleasing smile. “But it’ll make perfect sense the further along we get.”
    â€œThe first phase has to do with love charms,” Mirthe said, writing on the board again. She drew a giant heart. “As I said before, Zita’s shop has been around since our grandparents were in school. She’s had years to wipe our town clean of the love charms that others have left behind. This is bad for us. We need love charms, and we can’t use Zita’s. Do you know of anyone else selling love charms in Grimbaud right now?”
    Everyone shook their heads.
    â€œHow about books and magazines?”
    Nico said, “Not one.”
    â€œYou can’t even buy them from Zita if you get a bad fortune,” Fallon said, remembering what had happened after she ran into Camille in the shop.
    â€œExactly! So if Zita won’t give you charms to fight the fortune she gave you, what chance do you have of