Meeting Maria, the stra kind goth girl, and Derrick, the like-minded ultra nerd, had started to fill some of the new void in Leona’s heart left behind by Sarah, but she still couldn’t fully shake her funk.

  Outside school, she tio mope, and even the pany of her new friends couldn’t fill the emptiness she still felt. Maria, however, wasn’t oo let Leona off easy. She refused to let her "half-heartedly" practice her art and would call her out whenever Leona pretehat everything was okay. Maria pushed her to face what she was going through, which made Leona both grateful and frustrated.

  Eventually, Quinn had enough of watg her sister suffer and decided to step in too. A few days ter, Leona found herself shaken awake from her restless sleep.

  “Ugh, what… what time is it?” Leona groggily muttered, her voice thick with sleep.

  “Hey kiddo, it’s only 10 PM. Wanna go on a little ride?” Quinn asked with a pyful grin, dressed head to toe in bck clothes. “’t have you running around outside in your jammies, though. I think you should put on something a little more fitting for the trip—lots and lots of dark colors, and maybe cover your head if you want to blend in. You know, just a thought.” Quinn gave her a teasing look, the picture of casual mischief.

  Leona blinked sleepily, her brain sluggish. “What do you have in mily?” This wasn’t the first time Quinn had taken her on a te-night adventure around the city or the suburbs. Quinn would sometimes want pany on a random errand, like an ice cream run or taking a friend home from a te-night party. It wasn’t out of character, and Leona never really minded helping—especially now, when she weled the distra.

  “Oh, you know,” Quinn said, her grin widening. “I’ve got a very important errand to run—and I need you to e with me. Now, shut up and do as y sis says.” She raised an eyebrow, her expression feigning annoya full of mischief.

  Leona groggily eyed Quinn, theantly rolled out of bed. “An?” she asked, rubbing her eyes as she walked toward her dresser to find something dark to wear.

  “Nope,” Quinn said, winking at her. “You’ll see.”

  After driving ich-dark night for more than an hour, the stant drone of Quinn’s favorite dubstep music almost lulled Leona into a trance. “ we put something else on?” Leona pined, reag for the radio dials.

  “No!” Quinn spped Leona’s hand away. “It’s how I stay focused te at night. So just NO!” she groused, her voice sharp. Leona flinched and pouted at the abruptness, but the sting of Quinn’s hand and her irritated shout did more to keep her awake than the music did.

  Leona wasn’t sure when, but at some point, she must have dozed off. The hing she knew, Quinn was turning the music down. Looking at the clock, Leona realized they’d been on the road for over two and a half hours.

  “Okay—we’re almost there—” Quinn fshed Leona a grin.

  “Almost where? We’ve never driven this far at night,” Leona yawned, still ahe city lights had long since faded from the rearview mirror, and the highway had disappeared into the darkness of back roads.

  “Where? To Jesus Camp, of course!” Quinn whispered, her tone almost mischievous. “You wanna see Sarah, don’t you? You told me everything I o know in those billions of rants.” She rolled her eyes. “Turns out a friend of a friend knows a guy who has some family who works at this pce, and I scored us dires. It’s called Padua Realig Camp. How the heck their marketing team lets that name slide, I’ll never know. Anyway, we roll up, you hop the fence, and then all you gotta do is sneak in and say hello! Easy-peasy.”

  “SNEAK IN?” Leona asked incredulously. “ME?”

  “Or I could crash through the gate with the car, but then I’d definitely make you work off the repair costs and the bail money. It’d only take a few years, I suppose,” Quinn shrugged casually.

  “Point being, you’re a minor—the worst they’ll do to you is hold you ht for trespassing. Call me on your cell if that happens. They’ll release you to my custody with a fine, but who cares? This is food cause.”

  “What?” Leona raised an eyebrow.

  “In my case, I never got more than a sp on the wrist when I got busted for trespassing,” Quinn said almost nostalgically.

  “Anyway, we’re here.” Quinn turned off the lights, and the car coasted in semi-darkness. After a while, she pulled over and stopped.

  “This is it! This is the rand of the camp, so it’ll probably be nid quiet. Go for it. Your mission: Find Sarah in there—quietly.” Quinn winked.

  “Do you have any idea where to find her once I’m inside?” Leona tilted her head, unsure.

  “How would I know?” Quinn quipped. “I dunno, use the power of love or something cheesy like that.” She chuckled. “I’ll at least wait to see if you make it over the fence.”

  Stepping out of the car, Leona walked in the dire Quinn had pointed. It wasn’t long before she came across a tall -link fence blog her path. And not just any fehis one had curled barbed wire mounted on top, like something straight out of a prison or an inter camp. Leona frow the obstacle. Getting over that fence would surely leave her bloodied.

  She stomped back to Quinn, whispering, “There’s a lot of freaking barbed wire up top! If I show up bleeding, I wouldn’t be able to pass as anyone in there, right?”

  “Huh—damn… I guess they’re serious. Don’t worry… I’ve got a solution.” Quinn reached into the back seat, digging around in the pouch behind the passenger seat. She pulled out what looked like a massive pair of pliers, grinning wickedly.

  “Huh? You wanhem?” Leona asked, incredulous.

  “No, dumbass. Wire cutters!” Quinn stated proudly. “Just clip a hole in the fend sneak in.”

  Leona eyed the tool, then gnced back at Quinn. “Why do you even have these? These are going to cut through fence wire? Really?”

  “Yeah! I use them to cut thick A.F. audio cables all the time… How different could it be?” Quinn purred, handing the wire cutters to Leona. “Now git!”

  Leona stared at her, her head spinning. “What if it’s electrified, and I get fried?”

  “Nah—if that was the case, they’d have crispy kids on the menu. Don’t you think they’d touch the fence when they’re let out to py?”

  “Maybe they turn the fence off when the kids are out and then—ba at night,” Leoed, grindieeth.

  Quinn pointed imperiously at the fence. “Fine, whatever. Just do it.”

  Leona huffed but relutly trudged back to the fence. She struggled with the cutters for a while, but eventually mao snip through a single link. Just as she felt a small sense of triumph, a blinding light from a massive spotlight lit up her face, freezing her in pce.

  “Alright, enough of that. Get up slowly.” A man’s voice barked at her from the darkness.

  Leona gulped and shot a gre at Quinn, her mind screaming at her sister fing her into this mess. With a resigned sigh, she raised her arms ahe wire cutters drop to the grass. There went her perfect record and sterliation.

  “e along,” the man ordered, shining the fshlight in her face as he marched her back to the car. There, Quinn stood, already cuffed, by another man holding a fshlight. Leona’s eyes squinted as she adjusted to the light, and she finally took a good look at the man who had apprehended her. He wore a fake-looking badge and had a firearm slung at his side.

  “I found this oting the fehe man said, motioning to Leona.

  “Hey, I don’t know her,” Quinn said ftly. “I was just here to tip a cow or two. Who knows what nefarioushis one’s been up to?”

  Leona’s gre could have melted steel as she shot her sister a betrayed look.

  “Yeah, right? That’s quite enough. The local PD are on their way, so sit down and shut up,” the sed guard growled, his at thid strao Leona’s ears. It wasn’t quite southern, but it definitely wasn’t local either. She wondered what kind of out-of-state security pany these guys were from. The whole thi off.

  Quinn shot Leona an apologetic look, but it didn’t make Leona feel aer. At least they hadn’t cuffed her, so she didn’t have to deal with that added humiliation. The sisters slumped into the grass, awkwardly waiting for the authorities to show up.

  When the police finally arrived, the fshing lights of the patrol car lit up the night, but there were no sirens, thankfully. Leo a knot iomach as they were cuffed and stuffed into the backseat of the patrol car. The separation of the front and back was a stant remihat this was real, and they weren’t getting out anytime soon.

  The sisters exged a look. Leona’s face icture of terror. Quinn, ever the calming influence, leaned her head against Leona’s, whispering, “Hey, chill. It’s not that big a deal.”

  The police car rumbled to life, leaving Quinn’s car behind with the two guards. The short drive to the local police statio endless, and ohey arrived, the officers processed them for trespassing and vandalism. They were fingerprinted and, after a while, pced in a holding cell.

  An officer came by to offer them their free phone call. Naturally, the sisters called Laguna, who picked up with an immediate sense of .

  “Did they hurt you? Thank goodness you’re alright… I was worried when I noticed you gone—”

  “Nah, they never id a finger on Leona,” Quinn said into the phone.

  “You fool!” Goonie seethed, her voice rising. “Dragging your sister into this kind of mischief! What the hell were you thinking?”

  Quinn chuckled mely. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  Hours passed, and finally, Goonie appeared at the station, looking more than a little disheveled. Her eyes zeroed in on Quinn with an iy that could have burned a hole through her.

  “WHY?!” Goonie’s voice cracked with frustration, and her gaze ierg. Quinn winced, already knowing she was in for it.

  “It was just a little joyride, y’know—” Quinn shrugged, trying to py it off like it was no big deal.

  Goonie, however, wasn’t having any of it. She shook her head in disbelief, her voice thick with frustration as she admohem both, “The both of you march your sorry butts to the car this instant and sit!” She wasn’t even looking at Quinn when she spoke; her gaze was fixed firmly on Leona, disappoi radiating from her eyes. The officer apanying Goonie unlocked the cell door with a g, and two other officers escorted them out. Leo her head down, feeling chastised, but Quinn’s uant smirk remained firmly in pce.

  Goonie didn’t mince words as she began to y into them. “Do you realize that I just paid a thousand-dolr fine for vandalism? Do you think we afford this? I talked them into letting you off with a fine since you two are still kids, but this won’t be the end. Who knows what could have happened if they weren’t willing to cut you a break?”

  “I’m sorry, Mom,” Quinn muttered, though her tone was casual. “I mean, not for what I did, but taking Leona retty bone-headed idea.”

  Goonie shot Quinn a sharp gn the rearview mirror, her lips tight. “Leona, you should have said no! You knew you should have.”

  Leona winced under her maze, her eyes downcast. She nodded quietly in agreement, guilt gnawing at her. She had knower.

  Quinn, ever the troublemaker, decided to make things worse. “I basically kidnapped her, and I know that Leona’d attest to that,” she said with a zy grin.

  “ENOUGH!” Goonie’s voice rose, and Leona flinched. “I’m more angry you got caught than I am about what you did in the first pce! It was brave, but stupid. You should have thought this through. What about college? Quihey might revoke your application if they catch wind of this!” Her voice was full of worry now, even if it was tinged with anger.

  “College isn’t what matters most here,” Quinn shrugged nontly. “That one wasn’t my first choiyway. I don’t care if it goes south.” She lied, her words heavy with the fake nonce she always used when trying to avoid responsibility.

  Goonie just shook her head, muttering, “I quit. I officially quit. You’re both grounded until we figure out if I still send you to college before I murder you for doing this.” It was a desperate statement, one Leona could see was her mother’s st-ditch attempt tain trol.

  When they finally arrived bae, Goonie didn’t hesitate—straight to their rooms, no dinner, no expnation, no fort. Leona k was her fault. Her choices had caused this.

  Alone in her room, Leona y on her bed, her body restlessly tossing and turning. The weight of the mistake pressed down on her chest, and the guilt g like a shadow. She felt it deep in her bohe wrongness of what she had dohe way she had let herself be swept up in Quinn’s reckless pn, even when she knew better.

  It was so stupid. She was so stupid.

  Her mind raced in circles, trying to make sense of everything. “No,” she thought, “I was dumber than anyone else for not thinking things through.”

  But what g her the most was the reason behind it all. She had goo such lengths—stupid, dangerous lengths—for Sarah. And where was Sarah now? What had been aplished?

  Leona curled her hands into fists, frustration bubbling in her chest. She was still powerless. Nothing had ged. Although she had ged oside, but inside, she was still the same. Still weak. Still stuck. She wasn’t any closer to Sarah, to fixing the things that were wrong in her life. The whole world felt like it was falling apart.

  After what felt like hours of restless turning, Leona finally reached for the gift Sarah had givehe small gss globe. She picked it up gently, her fingers brushing over the smooth surface, and the weight of everything she had do her all at once. A tear slipped down her cheek, falling silently onto the globe.

  As her hand lingered on the orb, the tear seemed to stir something within it. For a moment, it was as though the world ihe globe had e alive. The tiny dowhers, the ones she’d hardly noticed before, fluttered slightly, as if it had been moved by a sudden breeze—aional current, unseen but felt.

  Leona stared, wide-eyed, as the globe’s inner glow seemed to pulse, soft and faint, but undeniable. The sensation was almost like the universe itself was aowledging her grief, her love, and her helplessness. It was as though the globe was trying to fort her, or perhaps remihat even in her powerless state, something—someone—was still there.

  She carefully set the globe ba its shelf, her heart ag as she did so. The glow faded slowly, leaving her room in darkness. But in that moment, as she y back down, she realized something—maybe there was more to her e with Sarah than she had realized. The thought was enough t a little fort in the dark.