Part 1 – And You Fight Back 

Lennon Rose has a boy locked in the trunk of her car. I feel like I should be more surprised, honestly. I’m understandably horrified, of course, but not entirely shocked considering how she has changed since leaving Innovations Academy. How we’ve all changed. 

The sun beats down on my arms, my skin growing hot while beads of sweat dot my hairline. Lennon Rose and I stand in the driveway of the small cottage while Rosemarie and Leandra wait inside—eating cookies. I brush away a bead of sweat as it drips down my temple. 

Outside the cottage, I’m surrounded by a garden of exotic and poisonous flowers—surrounded by their intoxicating scent, their threat of danger. But right now, nothing in this world feels more dangerous than the girl in front of me. 

I swallow, and the sweet taste in the air tickles my tongue, numbs my lips. I focus again on Lennon Rose. 

“Lennon Rose,” I say. “What have you done?” 

She smiles brightly. “It’s what he deserves,” she replies. 

“Even so, you can’t keep him in the trunk,” I murmur. “What are you going to do with him? Kill him?” 

Lennon Rose gasps. “No,” she says. “There’s no need for that kind of violence. I’m not a man.” She flattens her palm against the trunk. “We’re going to show him a better way. But first he has to stop being hysterical.” 

She leans close to the car to say the last part, and at first, Garrett quiets. But then there is a series of loud bangs as he beats on the hood of the trunk, telling Lennon Rose that he’ll rip her apart the first chance he gets. She giggles and shakes her head, her blond hair swiping over her shoulders. 

“No offense,” I tell Lennon Rose, “but I don’t think he’s searching for a better way. The current system seems to benefit him just fine.” I pause. “Aside from you locking him in the trunk, of course.” 

“He’ll be convinced,” she says, without missing a beat. “You’ll see.”