Pen knew that if her older sister found out what she was doing, she’d probably be busted for the rest of her life. Or at least her legal childhood. Pen had issues with the definition of legal childhood. Some people—like Zoey—were just born old. Born knowing what to do. And Zoey always figured out just what exactly it was Pen was up to. She’d done that for the eight years Pen had lived solely with her.

Zoey had mind-reading powers or something. Pen was almost convinced of it.

Still, she’d traveled four counties by herself to get to where she was today. No use stopping.

She couldn’t turn back now.

Pen had one objective at the moment, thank you very much. And it was to check on her older sister.

Not Zoey, the sister who had raised her. But the other one she had just found. Pen had to know all she could about Ari, and Simon, and the other brothers and sister Ari had told them they had. She had google alerts set up on Simon’s name and Ari’s. Just because.

Ari had been in a bomb the night before. She’d been all over the news sites, and she’d been bloody. Pen needed to check. She’d just found this sister, she didn’t want to lose her.

She and Zoey had been alone for a really long time. All of Pen’s life—all of Zoey’s, too. Once Pen graduated college next year—she’d skipped a handful of grades in middle school and high school once Zoey had had her—Zoey would be on her own again. Her life would finally be hers again.

Her sister had fought for what Pen needed.

Fought hard. Pen would never forget that. But what was going to happen to Zoey once Pen did graduate?

Her sister tended to be a hermit all the time. Pen understood—Zoey didn’t like to get close to anyone, ever.

She definitely wasn’t too happy with finding more brothers and sisters. Not like Pen was. She winced remembering the argument after the first time she’d snuck away to Finley Creek.

Pen had known the moment the Snotty Garlic had shown photos months ago of the governor dancing with a woman that she and Zoey were related to that woman.

Ari had looked so much like Zoey it had been uncanny. At first Pen had thought Zoey had been hiding something from her, or that the Snotty Garlic had gotten Ari’s name wrong—that it really was Zoey dancing with one of the most gorgeous men in Texas—but then she’d googled Ari even more.

And saw the pictures of her with that guy Luc.

Pen had known in her gut that they were her and Zoey’s family.

And families needed each other. Definitely.

She still had to find her sister first, though. Ari, not Zoey. She knew exactly where Zoey was, and a stab of guilt went through her.

Garrity was about to change. The TSP, Zoey’s bosses, were about to merge the Caxter post with the Garrity one in two months. That would put Zoey working under the Caxter chief of the TSP instead of the Finley Creek one. That guy was far enough away that Zoey hadn’t even met him. Her sister liked things that way; she didn’t want some boss up in her grill like that. Her sister wasn’t happy about the change at all.

Zoey was going to be seriously distracted for a while. She needed that.

She gave Tommy, the neighbor boy she’d bribed to drive her to Finley Creek, the thirty bucks she’d promised him. He’d wanted something more, but she wasn’t stupid. She wasn’t about to give it to him—even if she’d liked him that way. Which she didn’t. Tommy was just a friend.

But that didn’t mean she trusted him. He had that look in his eyes she’d seen from guys before. That look that told her to be careful.

She took a look around the Finley Creek General Hospital parking lot. There was a sign she recognized with the Barratt-Handley logo and another company that sounded familiar, with a big green L and I on it. W4HAV was the charity her sister headed up, but after what happened, she didn’t think Ari would be there, but they might know where she was at least.

There first. Then the hospital. Where Ariella’s friends worked, according to the Snotty Garlic, anyway. Someone there would know how to find her new sister.

She thought so, anyway.

She fought back the nerves filling her. Now wasn’t the time to be a big wimp. She had a plan, a purpose, in being here.

It was for Zoey’s own good. Zoey needed a family. A bigger family than just Pen. And Pen needed more than just Zoey, although she’d never tell her sister that. Pen was tired of being so alone. Both of them.

Why should they be? She’d googled Ari and Luc and both of them seemed like really awesome people. They weren’t in jail, like she and Zoey had always thought had happened to their mother. They were actually really successful. Luc was bringing his company to Texas, too. Making a difference with green technologies. How could she not like him for that?

But what if he didn’t like her? It was a very real possibility. She’d had older people, authority figures, not like her before. It was the blue hair and the piercings and the way she talked, she guessed. Sometimes, they just didn’t like it that she knew the answers.

A blonde woman looked up from the reception desk with Pen walked in. She stood. “Can I help you? My name is Fin.”

“Hi. I’m Pen-Penelope. And...I’m looking for my sister. Do you know where she is?” She squared her shoulders and looked the woman straight on, just like Zoey had taught her. Be confident in how you stand, and people will think you are confident. That was what Zoey had said. Plus, with her being so tall, people usually thought she was older than what she was. Pen used it to her advantage most of the time. “Her name is Ariella.”

The woman’s blue eyes widened, and then she smiled even wider. “Yes, I can see that. You look quite a bit alike. Ari headed over to the hospital ER to meet with her friends Lacy and...Jillian. You can probably still catch her if you hurry.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. And it’s nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, you, too.” Pen’s attention was already focused on the hospital. She had a sister to find. After that, who knows who she’d find next.