Chapter 2

This wasn' t new, this constant, insidious undermining.

Lily remembered the fourth-grade science fair, her volcano model meticulously built, ready to erupt baking soda lava.

The night before, it was "accidentally" knocked off the table, smashed beyond repair.

Her father' s thoughts then: The prophet warned her intelligence would be a tool for darkness. Better this way.

Then there was the playground, Chloe tripping and scraping her knee.

Lily had been ten feet away, but somehow it was her fault.

Mary, to Chloe' s mom: Lily' s always a bit too rough. You have to watch her around Chloe. She' s a danger.

Chloe, bless her loyal heart, had always seen through it.

"Lily didn' t do anything!" she' d cried, defending her.

Just last year, when Mary had "accidentally" spilled a full glass of soda over Lily' s final history essay, Chloe had stayed up half the night, secretly retyping every word on her own computer while Lily despaired.

Now, Lily' s flat refusal of Jake' s proposal hung in the air.

"You can' t be serious, Lily," her mother said, her voice tight. "Jake is offering you a good life, a stable life."

Mary: A life where you can' t hurt Chloe.

"My life is my own to decide," Lily stated, clutching the Yale packet. "And I' m going to college."

The pressure in the room thickened, almost visible.

Jake, stung by the rejection and egged on by the silent, intense stares of her family, suddenly lashed out.

"You just want to go off to some fancy school so you can look down on us!" he sneered. "And what about Chloe? You' re probably just jealous of her and Noah, trying to break them up!"

Jake: They said she' d try to isolate Chloe. Maybe they' re right.

The accusation, so baseless, so perfectly aligned with her family' s narrative, hit Lily like a physical blow.

She heard her father' s satisfied thought: See? The boy understands the danger.

Before Lily could even form a defense, the front door opened.