Megan screamed again as the boy ripped the snake apart.
I was paralyzed for a second, not quite believing what I’d seen. The cat last night, and now this—anger rushed in and I seized it. It was better than fear. I couldn’t do anything about the cat, but I could do something about this.
I pushed past the people in line as the boy, who more accurately resembled a Cro-Magnon man, dropped the mangled pieces on the white carpet with a satisfied look.
He towered over me but I looked him in the eye. “What is wrong with you?”
“You seem upset,” he said evenly. “It’s just a snake.”
“And you’re just a douchebag.”
Jamie appeared by my side and looked down at the mess. “I see you’ve met Adam, our resident sadist.”
Adam pushed Jamie into the wall with one arm. “At least I’m not the resident fag.”
There was cheering and chanting of the “Fight! Fight! Fight!” variety, which mingled with a counselor’s high, hoarse voice shouting, “Break it up!”
But Jamie wasn’t remotely fazed. He was smiling, actually, and stared directly at Adam, who had pinned him against the wall. “Hit me,” he said. His voice was low. Compelling.
And Adam looked all too happy to oblige. He pulled back his fist, but a heavyset counselor in a wrinkled, too-tight dress shirt reached him first and wrestled his arms back. The veins in Adam’s arms and neck bulged, making the tattoos on his forearms appear to twitch. He had a short, military buzz cut and his scalp was completely red beneath it. It was kind of comical, honestly.
“Wayne,” Brooke said, waving to the counselor, “help Adam calm down. Jamie, you and I are going to discuss this later.”
“Discuss what?” Jamie asked innocently. “I wasn’t doing anything.”
Another adult, a guy with a ponytail, said to Brooke, “He instigated it.”
Jamie turned to him. “I did not instigate anything, dear Patrick. I was calmly but indignantly standing here as Adam needlessly ended a reptilian life.”
“Two o’clock,” Brooke said sharply. “You’ll miss drama therapy.”
“Shucks.”
I snorted. People whispered around us, stealing looks. Jamie seemed to enjoy it.
“That was ballsy,” I said to him as we moved up in line.
“Which part?”
“The part where you acted like you wanted him to hit you.”
Jamie looked thoughtful. “I think I actually did. Funny thing: It’s like coming here has made me more combative.”
“Hmm,” I murmured.
“What?”
“You just made me think of something my dad sometimes says.”
He raised his eyebrows in question.
“Put a petty criminal in maximum security prison and he’ll come out knowing how to rape and pillage.”
“Precisely,” Jamie said, nodding. “My urge to hit things is directly proportional to the cheeriness of the staff. And I find everything ultra-annoying lately. And everyone.” As we neared the end of the line, I watched Wayne hand little paper cups to each of our peers in front of us. I glanced at Jamie.
“Meds first, then food,” he explained.
“For all of us?”
“Part of the package,” Jamie said as the line moved forward. “Drug therapy in conjunction with talk therapy, yadda yadda yadda.” And then it was his turn. He took two little paper Dixie cups from the counselor, the one who broke up the almost-fight.
“Hi, Wayne,” Jamie said cheerfully.
“Hello, Jamie.”
“Bottoms up.” Jamie tossed the contents of one cup back, then the other.
Wayne glanced at me then. “You’re next.”
“I’m new—”
“Mara Dyer,” he said, handing me two cups. I peered into them. One was filled with water, the other with pills. Unfamiliar pills; I recognized only one.
“What are these?” I asked him.
“Your meds.”
“But I’m not on all of these.”
“You can talk to Dr. Kells about that later, but for now, you gotta take ’em.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Rules are rules,” he said, shrugging. “Go on, now.”
I tossed them back and swallowed.
“Open your mouth,” he said.
I did as I was told.
“Good work.”
Do I get a gold star? I didn’t say it, but I wished I had. Instead, I trudged after Jamie and we ate together. Miraculously, I even laughed.
Just as I was beginning to think this place might not be so terrible, Dr. Kells appeared in the corner of the room and called my name.
“Good luck,” Jamie said as I rose from our table.
But I didn’t need luck. Despite my bad night and worse morning, I knew the script well. I could pull this off.
As I left the dining room, though, fingers tightened around my wrist and pulled me into a niche. My eyes followed them up to Phoebe’s face. I glanced behind me; we were out of view.
“You’re welcome,” she said tonelessly.
I wrenched my arm away. “For what?”
Phoebe’s face was a blank mask. “For fixing your eyes.”
15
SO PHOEBE THE PSYCHO SCRATCHED MY EYES OUT. Not Jude.
I was relieved and angry at once. Jude took the pictures and made sure I found them today, and that was terrifying and awful, yes.
But I was glad he hadn’t scratched out my eyes. I didn’t know quite why, but I was.
Phoebe drifted away before I could say anything else. I took a deep breath and followed Dr. Kells down the long corridor, but it felt like the walls were closing in. Phoebe had unbalanced me, and I had to get control.
After what seemed like a ten-mile walk, I reached an open door near the end of the hall. Dr. Kells had already gone inside.
The room was white like all the others, and the only furniture in it was a blond wood desk and two white chairs dwarfed by the open space. Dr. Kells stood behind the desk, and a man was by her side.
She smiled at me and gestured to one of the chairs. I obediently went to sit but almost missed it. Weird.
“How did your tour go?” she asked me.
“Fine,” I lied again.
“Wonderful. I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Vargas.” The man next to her smiled. He was young—in his twenties, probably, with curly hair and glasses. He looked sort of like Daniel, actually.