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forward and caught her hand on the door, gripping her wrist so tightly that it hurt. Ember glared at her. She was shaking her head. “Mom said no. Don’t go out. Just go back upstairs…”
    But Gina had stepped forward, also shaking her head, and pried Thalia’s hand off of Ember’s, shooting each a look of severe disappointment. Thalia was looking to her mother for guidance as she let her grasp go. Gina was looking at Ember with her jaw clenched, but didn’t say a thing. She wasn’t going to stop her.
    Ember had a sneaking suspicion that she knew what Gina was up to, and it made her lip curl in disgust. Gina didn’t want her to go out, but even more, she didn’t want her to stay in. She wanted Ember out of her house.
    “No.” Gina repeated in a low whisper. “Stay in.”
    Ember closed her eyes as her sweaty palm threw the door all the way open, and she bolted. Her feet pounded the dirt pathway and her heart was no longer ticking the rhythm of a nursery rhyme, but pounding like a heavy bass. When she cleared the property line, she turned and looked back; the door was still open, but Gina and Thalia were nowhere to be seen.
    The boys were laughing again. Ember could hear their voices drifting towards her as she stared at the gaping hole in the house the open door left. It was like she had ripped a piece out of it.
    The blond boy, whose name Ember didn’t know yet, clapped a hand around her shoulder, and she could feel his cold, stony grip through her jacket. “Well done, Ember! I see you have a problem with front doors as well…”
    Ember finally tore her gaze from the house and turned to look at the people standing in a circle around her. Isaac was taller than she had expected. He had deep brown hair and a gangly, casual composure, made even more casual by the worn and scraggly red sweater with bits of yarn pulled out at odd angles. His face was angular in a way that made his eyes peak like he was nervous about everything, and the way he pushed his hands down into his pockets made his shoulders hunch up and he looked even taller.
    He had a habit of staring mostly at the ground, but he would look up anxiously every few words, as if he wanted to be sure Ember was listening to him.
    He introduced the other two boys as his brothers; Asher was the shorter, sturdy, blond one with perfect teeth, and Acton was almost as tall as Isaac, with dark, almost black hair and deep set eyes. He wasn’t gangly like Isaac, but still thinner than average; he was wearing his black suede jacket but Ember could tell he was more muscular than Isaac. He looked decidedly younger than the other two, but there was something in the way he offered his hand, the enigmatic, tight smile curling on his lips, and the way he was wearing newer, neater clothes, that made her think he was the oldest.
    “Ember.” He had said, taking her hand and lightly kissing it, his eyes always on her face. “Our lady of the shattered window.”
    “Um, yeah…” She stuttered, trying to think of something equally clever to say back at him. The feel of his lips against her hand was new, and both frightening and exciting. It made her feel adult beyond her years. “Acton. It’s…it’s nice to meet you too.”
    Acton smiled politely before turning back to the group, releasing his grasp, but not removing his hand, so that Ember’s still rested lightly atop it. It was as though he was presenting her as a debutante.
    He used his free hand to gesture. “And this is Kaylee, Asher’s girlfriend—“
    “Vindictive harpy.” Isaac muttered at the ground. He glanced up, first at Kaylee and then at Acton, and then used one hand to cover his mouth as he went back to studying the forest floor.
    Kaylee was wearing black leggings and a pink puffy jacket, and she was built like a cheerleader: short, muscular, and perky. She smiled a lot. Standing next to her, Asher’s own muscular build seemed much more graceful; he could have been a dancer.
    “Thanks Isaac.” Kaylee