Chapter 1


IT’S A GRAY SUNDAY as Dad drives along a road shaded by curving leafy branches that form a tunnel. It feels oddly familiar even though I’ve never been to upstate New York.

“It’s so pretty,” Dad exclaims. “Isn’t this nice?”

“Hmm.” Nice would be not being shipped off to Leland Chase Academy that’s over four hours away from our home in Connecticut.

The road curves, and still no school comes into view. We’ve been driving for at least ten minutes past the big iron gates. But okay, yeah, it’s pretty.

“You know what?” Dad says, his voice a bit too perky. “These woods look like the park by our house where you and Mom used to have treasure hunts. Remember?”

I remember. From the time I was five until just two years ago, Mom hid little gifts for me to find on special days: my birthday; Valentine’s; New Year’s; and our favorite day, the Japanese celebration of Girl’s Day. In tree hollows, under bushes, behind rocks—a yellow plastic dinosaur, a small wooden box, an iridescent shell, a ten-sided die. I reach into my pocket and run my finger against the snout of an origami fox.

Dad smiles at me, thinking I’m reminiscing happily, but there’s one thing I know for sure now. There are no treasures at the end of the rainbow. There’s only dirt and disappointment.

“This is a really prestigious school. You’re lucky they accepted you,” Dad says as he pulls into a parking lot shaded by old-growth trees, the leaves just starting to change colors.

Right. Dad already told me several times how selective this school is. Special.

I turn to Dad and smile for his benefit. His face is lined with the same road map of grief I have etched onto my heart. He’s hurting as much as I am, and now probably feeling some guilt, so I give him a break and try to make conversation.

“This is where we say goodbye.” He turns off the engine.

“Wait, what?” I blink and look around. “You’re dumping me off in a parking lot? Aren’t you meeting the teacher? Or the principal? Or whatever?”

“Dr. Ward, the head of school, will meet with you and give you an orientation since you missed the first three weeks of the semester.”

A sleek black limo with the Leland Chase Academy crest on it pulls into the lot.

“Listen carefully, Megumi,” Dad says, using that corporate-executive voice that no one ever dares question. “If you can’t stay out of trouble, if you can’t make this work, you’re going back to Aunt Vivian’s, and you’ll have to be homeschooled.”

“No!” I shout, making my dad flinch. “She’s a monster.”

“Megumi. She’s my sister.”

That doesn’t mean anything. Living with her the past year was the worst. She didn’t make a secret of never having liked my mom. In fact, she even had the nerve to say to me that maybe Dad was better off now that Mom was dead. I will never go back there. Ever.

The limo pulls up next to us, and the driver’s door opens. A white woman with blond hair pulled back into a ponytail steps out of the car. She’s wearing a gray wool coat and a blue-and-gray plaid scarf wrapped around her neck.

“You need to do everything to make this work,” Dad continues as he pushes the button to open the trunk of his Audi. “There are no other options. I know you want to move back home, but I’m traveling too much. It’s here or Vivian’s. Your choice.”

It really isn’t much of a choice. As the driver transfers my two suitcases and a duffel bag from Dad’s trunk to the limo, Dad leans toward me and, in a rare show of emotion, wraps his arms around me, hugging me tight. “I love you,” he whispers.

I know better than to let anger get the best of me. I know what it feels like not to be able to say a proper goodbye. So even though I’m upset at being sent off to a boarding school, I return his hug and say, “Love you too, Dad.”