Chapter One

I’m not crazy. But I couldn’t deny that I’d gotten close. I’d say I had a solid year left before I started making tinfoil hats and yelling at mushrooms in my backyard. Yeah. Twenty years locked in that house would do it.

I had several months before my twentieth birthday, but that mattered little to me. Nineteen years of being a prisoner in my own home had made my brain go cuckoo bananas. I only ever interacted with my parents, my brother Phin, and his girlfriend, Juliet. And I only saw her when he happened to bring Juliet by.

My parents loved me. I knew they did. Why else would they have done all of this? I had been homeschooled my whole life while my little brother had been allowed to go to public school, leave the house, and have freedoms that I hadn’t had.

They only let me out of the house once in a blue moon. Like now, for Phin and Juliet’s high school graduation. The happy couple wanted to do something small, so we went out to eat.

I tried to distance myself from my brother and his girlfriend, but mostly Juliet. It made me twitchy when she looked my way. Something about the smile she flashed felt off. Too bright. Too perfect. Too much like she’d gotten to grow up in the way she wanted. Maybe I shouldn’t have begrudged her that.

“More cake, babe?” she asked my brother.

Juliet held her fork to Phin’s mouth and he ate right out of her hand. Maybe it was better that I’d never had a boyfriend if people found stuff like that cute.

“Thank you.” My brother smiled with a full mouth.

Juliet shamelessly had her feet up on his lap and he had his hand on her legs. She didn’t have much shame on a normal day. She looked stunning and she knew it. She wore short shorts and a loose tank top. Her dark blonde hair hung down to the middle of her back, and her blue eyes popped against her almost sun-kissed skin. She stood two inches taller than me and six shorter than my brother, putting her at five-five.

I had dark, reddish-black and wavy— almost curly— hair that fell to my hips. My eyes were such a dark blue that they looked black in some lights. I hung on to seven pounds of baby fat. Maybe ten. Fifteen… I blamed never getting to leave the house. Being heavier gave me curves and a round face. My skin was a ghostly white, like my dad’s. I took after him and Phin took after Mom. They had both grown up as orphans, so we didn’t know their exact lineage. Dad had Chinese features, though, and Mom had Latina blood.

If someone didn’t know any better, they wouldn’t have been able to tell Phin and I were siblings. His medium brown mop-top and lanky body had apparently pulled Juliet in. That and the evergreen eyes.

I finished off the last of my cake and shrank back into my seat as the waiter returned.

“Can I get you anything else?” he asked my father.

“Just the check.” He smiled and the man left.

I sat back up when the waiter had left. As a general rule, I didn’t make eye contact with people. I couldn’t really talk to anyone but my family. Phin had had to order for me the first time the waiter had come around.

“You excited about ASU in the fall?” Mom asked Juliet while we waited for the check.

“Yup.” She smiled. “Phin and I are gonna go apartment hunting next week. You wanna come, Willow?”

Mom tensed. “I don’t think Willow would like being in the city. She would probably rather stay home.”

“Will?” My brother’s eyebrow went up. “Maybe you want to give an opinion.” He ignored the icy glare from our parents.

“I’ll go.”

My dad leaned forward. “I think it would be better if you stayed home, kiddo. You, me, and Mom can watch a movie. I’m sure your brother and Juliet want to do this together. First apartments are a big deal.”

Code for: Not happening. Don’t push it.

“I don’t mind, Mr. Warren.” Juliet flashed her perfect smile. “I think it’s a good idea for her to go. She’ll probably wanna be moving out soon, too. Maybe she can come with us. Get a job or go to college.”

Dad held back the angry comment I knew he wanted to make.

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not?” someone asked. It took me a second to realize it had been me.

Dad’s pale green eyes met mine. “Willow. You know why.”

“I know why you kept me in when I was a kid. You let Phin go have a life. I never said anything about it to you. I figured you wanted me safe. I’m nineteen. I should be allowed to have a life now, too.”

“You don’t understand, Willow. This is for the be—”

“Is it for the best? I literally cannot understand how someone who lives in a tiny town can be this paranoid I’ll get hurt. I’m small, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself. I’m stronger than Phin and you guys.” As long as I could remember, I’d always been a bit stronger and faster than I should have been. Mom always said I had good genetics— not that I would ever know for sure.

“It doesn’t matter. There are things in this world that you don’t need to deal with. When you’re older, maybe you will.”

Anger burned in my chest, but I couldn’t do much about it. I didn’t have a penny to my name, and I couldn’t leave. My parents only owned one car other than my brother’s, so even if I got a job, I couldn’t get there. They’d decided to get a house in the middle of nowhere— ten miles out from the closest store.

My parents had grown up fast, learning young to be afraid of the world. As if being orphaned hadn’t been enough, Mom had gotten pregnant with me at sixteen. The group home she had been in kicked her out. Dad wouldn’t stay without her and he’d been almost eighteen anyway. They’d gotten married, had me, and then had Phina couple years later. They’d had a hard life and they wanted better for me. The bubble they kept me in felt more harmful than it used to.

The check came and we left while I quietly fumed. We got into the car and Dad drove us home.

We had a small house. Our parents had started with nothing and had never really made it to a comfortable place. I didn’t remember a time when we didn’t have to worry about money.

The five of us walked into our one-story house and sat in the living room. I tugged at the fraying hem of my shirt and stared at the floor.

We all sat, pretending to watch TV. I could tell Phin and Juliet wanted to leave, but Phin wouldn’t ditch me. Not when he could feel a fight coming.

Then Juliet opened her mouth. “I think we should have a girls’ day, Willow. We can get our hair or nails done. I really wanna go out, but you’re my only other friend. Would you be up for a day of primping?”

My parents waited as if expecting me to turn her down.

Instead, I said, “Sounds fun. Maybe tomorrow.”

She smiled and opened her mouth to talk. My mom cut her off.

“No.” She sounded firm and angry. “She’s not going anywhere. Juliet, honey, I know you mean well, but Willow isn’t like you. She—”

“Hey.” I stood. “You’re the reason I can’t go out and talk to people. Maybe, if you actually let me out once in a while, I could be a real person.”

My mother stood, too. “We’re doing what’s best for you.”

Phin joined in. “Mom, you’ve gotta cut the cord. I get that she’s the oldest and you don’t wanna let go, but she’s going to move out one day. She’ll have a family and maybe move out of state—”

“This has nothing to do with you, Phineas,” Dad snapped.

“It does,” he bit back. “She’s right. You guys have a fit every time she tries to leave. Does she have a bomb in her brain that’ll blow if she goes more than a hundred feet from the house? You’re being insane.”

Mom looked to Dad for help. “What are we supposed to do about this?”

“Let her leave,” Phin said in a tone that made it sound obvious. “Let her feel the sun on her face. Maybe she can lose her transparent skin tone.”

“Phin,” Dad cut in. “Even letting you out is a risk. Letting Willow go is just too much—”

“Leonard!” Mom whispered. “What are you doing?”

He took a long breath. “I think we need to have a family talk. Juliet, sweetheart, can you let us have the night?”

She started to stand, but Mom held a hand out to her. “No. We’re not doing this now.”

“Then when, Jemma? The kids are—”

“Still kids,” she said. “They’re still kids.”

Juliet inched to the door. “I think I should let you guys talk. Phin.” She looked to my upset brother. “Call me as soon as you can. Okay?”

“I will.”

“No.” Her eyes looked serious. “Don’t do anything without calling me.”

His forehead wrinkled. “What would I do?”

I started walking to the door. “Juliet, can you take me with you?”

“No!” my mother shouted.

Juliet squirmed. “Um…”

“Let’s all go,” Phin decided. He took my hand. “I’m taking you out of this house. We can go to Jules’s place.”

Juliet nodded sheepishly. “Yeah. Come on.” She rushed us out the door and toward Phin’s car.

My parents chased us outside. Mom called after me, trying to get me to come back, but Phin pushed me into the car, and we took off.

Juliet had a small place on the bottom floor of an apartment complex. When her dad had died, he left her everything. She had more than enough money to buy a better place to live, but she liked it there for whatever reason. She unlocked the door and we went in.

“That was awkward…” she said as she stalked over to the couch.

“My family crumbling? Yeah, super awkward.”

“Willow,” my brother said with a sigh, “it’s not her fault our parents are crazy.”

“Sorry,” I said. “I’m a little pissed off. I’m sure you understand.”

“Yeah. I don’t know what makes them so uptight. If you wanna go out, then you should. And if something happens, you defend yourself or don’t. That’s life.”

I arched a dark eyebrow at her. “Yeah. Totally.”

Phin tried to change the subject to something happier, but I stayed quiet as they talked. They chatted about ASU, but Juliet seemed bored with the idea— as if she had been playing it up for my parents.

She seemed fake at even the best of times, but I believed how obsessed she was with my brother. It meant she had good taste because he was the kindest person I knew. While they talked, I stood and crossed the room into the kitchen. I opened the fridge and looked for a bottle of water.

“Jeez, Juliet.” I popped my head over the door. “You got anything other than cherry soda?” I grabbed a bottle, prepared for disappointment.

Juliet appeared at my side in a second. She pulled it from my hands. “You can’t have this.” She sounded almost frantic. “They’re my energy diet mixes. Here.” She grabbed a water that I hadn’t seen and handed it to me. She put her bottle back and scurried to the couch.

I dragged my feet over to her and Phin, listening to more of their couple talk. It bored me as much as it hurt. I attempted not to fall into a black hole of negativity. The one where I lost time thinking about all the things I had never done and wouldn’t get to do unless I found a way out of my prison.

I stared at the ceiling, going in circles in a rolling chair when my phone rang. I answered it, knowing it would be one of my angry parents— probably calling to yell at me.

“Yeah?” I said into the cell.

My mother’s ragged breathing filled the line. “Willow! Thank god you answered.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Listen to me, honey. You need to take your brother and you need to run. Don’t come home.”

“What?” I got to my feet. “What’s going on? Why can’t I come home?”

Phin and Juliet turned to me with wide eyes.

“Because,” Mom said through heavy breaths, “they found us.”