“He’s super cute,” Eve said with a waggle of her eyebrows. “You guys…you know, do it yet?”

She was such a child sometimes. “Finish packing, Eve, and grow up!”

She laughed as she pulled more clothes out of her dresser drawer and stuffed them into her bag. “Best part of being here?” she asked over her shoulder. “I haven’t had to wash any of my clothes in weeks since all I get to wear are these stupid white robes.”

I sat there cross-legged on the bed, watching her work. The room they’d given her was about average-sized, with a double bed in the middle, a dresser off to one side, and a small writing desk with a chair tucked beneath it. She’d used Jasmine to get in close to the reverend right away, to convince him that she had insight on the world, and was willing to grow further in the community. On her word, she hadn’t slept with him or anything like that. In fact, he almost treated her like a daughter.

“I just can’t believe you’ve been able to fake being into this stuff for so long,” I said as she stuffed a handful of folded panties into her backpack.

“Hasn’t been too hard,” she said with a shrug. “Mom wasn’t exactly normal, or anything, and these guys aren’t the weirdest I’ve encountered I mean, at least they eat meat. Ever heard of Breatharians?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Is that as bad as it sounds?”

She grinned. “They believe they can survive on water and air alone. They all look anorexic.”

“Please don’t say you considered joining up with them.”

She laughed her good old Eve laugh, where she stuck the tip of her tongue out a little between her front teeth. Even with her hair gone, that sent me right back to us being teenagers together. “No! I’m not that crazy! Besides, these guys were closer; Breatharians are all the way in North Cali.” She went over to her nightstand and pulled a little journal out and stuffed it away in her backpack. “Hey, Elise, about me leaving and all. I’m really sorry. You know that, right?”

She was, and I could tell. Eve, for all her carefree, careless nature, was sensitive. More sensitive than me, I guess. I guess it was one more thing she took after Mom on. No way could she have stood being in that house with Pops. “I know.” I sighed. “I know you are, I know it better than anyone.”

“I just couldn’t handle seeing him that way anymore, Sis. I know that’s bad. And I’m sorry I wasn’t there when he passed.”

“Believe me, it was hard. But you know, he stayed Pops the whole time. Even when he was puking his guts out. Wouldn’t even let me get him weed or medication or anything to deal with the side effects of the treatments.”

“Straightedge to the end.”

“Yeah,” I said, smiling a little. “That was Pops, alright.”

“Did he say anything? About me?”

“Told me he wished you’d come back. And that he loved you even though you left. That you were just like Mom. Too empathic.”

She frowned a little and went back to her packing. “Yeah…I should have gone home.”

“Yeah, you should have. But he knew you loved him. He just couldn’t stand to see us fight, didn’t want me to go hunting after you while he was still alive. I think he liked that his last days were peaceful, even if they were just with me.”

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “Again. I’m so sorry.”

“Saying it over and over isn’t going to fix anything. I mean, I haven’t necessarily forgiven you for it, but repeating yourself won’t make that happen any faster.”

“Still mad?”

“The fuck I am. I’m pissed, Eve. I mean, you left me high and dry with a dying man—our dad. How can I not be?”

“Happy to see me?” she asked hopefully.

I sighed. “Yeah, I mean, of course I’m happy to see you. I still love you, even if you are the world’s biggest flake.”

“That’s the sister I missed.”

“Bullshit,” I replied, grinning. “You didn’t miss me.”

She laughed again. “Well, no, not really. I did think of you a couple times, at least.”

“I know, I heard about the gift shop and your sticky fingers. Still haven’t gotten past the whole shoplifting thing, have you?”

“Yeah,” she said slowly, “about that. At least it was for you, right?”

“And Pops. Heard you were over by the belt buckles.”

She shrugged. “Wanted to get him something nice for Christmas.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Oh, Eve. It’s not getting someone something nice when you’re trying to steal it. It’s just stealing.”

“Whatever, Elise. You’re just a buzz kill.”

“Right.”

She pulled a couple shirts from her dresser and began to fold them. “You know, you still haven’t told me if you’ve screwed Jake yet.”

I rolled my eyes. “No, I haven’t screwed him yet. I just barely met the guy.”

“Really?” she asked, making a face. “Seemed like you guys have known each other for a while.”

I shook my head and began to recount the story of how I met Jake.

“Whoa!” Eve said. “And you’ve always given me shit for hooking up with guys too quickly. You really care about him that much?”

“You know what?” I asked, cocking my head to the side a little. “I think so. I don’t know what it is, but he’s just perfect.”

She laughed. “You sound all lovesick.”

I grinned. “Maybe. He’s got his flaws and all, that’s for sure, but I don’t know, I like him.”

“Uh-huh. I think you more than like him.”

“Oh, shut–”

“You looooooooooove him.”

“Dammit, Eve!”

Worst part? I think she might have been right. Everything from his hands, to the way his eyes seemed to sparkle in the sun. To how he nervously scratched his beard, or could take down any man who tried to pick a fight with him. No, there was no might. She was right. I did love him.

Not that loving him was bad. No, it was just the part where I was being teased by my baby sister about it.

She gave me a wicked grin, her eyes filled with delight at my torture. She flopped down next to me, wrapped her arms around me in an unexpected hug, and pressed her face right against mine. “You know, Sis, I just wanted to say thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied, hugging her back. I turned and kissed her on the cheek. “You know, I still can’t get past this hair thing. Maybe we need to buy you a wig when we leave. Make me feel like I actually have my sister back and not some random club girl?”

“Yeah, no,” she replied as she got up from the bed. “I kind of like the look.”

“It’s not always going to be like that, you know. It’s going to grow back, it’s going to get curly again, and it’ll be black just like mine.”

“Well, I’ll just cut and straighten it again.”

I rolled my eyes as I let her return to her work.

 “So I was wondering,” I started as she was zipping up the last of her items in her backpack. “Do you have a plan for doing this? For, you know, getting the drugs?” I asked, dropping my voice on the last sentence.

She shrugged as she pulled the chair over from her small writing desk. “Well, there’s more than just drugs in there, you know? It’s all the things people felt were holding them back in there. Like pornography, money, real estate deeds. Things people think were destroying their lives, filling them with negative energy.”

“Okay.”

“Well, we have to go after the devotional, because that’s one of the only times it gets cleaned out. All the small things, the papers and drugs and alcohol and stuff, get taken to the center stage, so the reverend and all of us can offer them up to the Great Alpha.”

“Seriously? You offer drugs to a wolf? That doesn’t strike you as ludicrous?”

She sighed. “Look, Elise, I don’t believe this shit any more than you do. But what was I going to do? Trigger was coming for me, and what better place to hide than with a bunch of nutjobs on their compound? Besides, it’s not that we’re offering drugs, it’s that we’re offering negative things from our lives.”

“What did you give them?”

She held back a little grin. “My hair.”

I laughed, clapping my hands. “Your hair?”

“Proof of my vanity,” Eve continued, still grinning from ear to ear. “Said it was my greatest weakness, then flopped down a Ziploc full of it.”

“Oh, my God, that’s too perfect.”

“Jasmine told me I’d need to offer up something, and it was really the only thing I could spare.”

“Should’ve offered up your little black book full of guys’ numbers. Slut.”

“Oh, shut up,” she squealed, sending us both into a fit of laughter.

With our peels of laughter still ringing in the air, though, footsteps sounded on the stairs leading up to the second floor. A knock on the door followed soon after.

“Who is it?” Eve called, still a little breathless from laughing so hard.

“Sister Veronica. Just letting you know that both Jake and I are downstairs.”

I nodded to Eve.

“We’ll be down in just a moment, Sister Veronica. Thank you for coming up in person!”

As I wiped a laughter-induced tear from my eye, though, I began to put together an idea of how we could pull this off without hurting anyone.

Maybe we wouldn’t have to rob them, after all. Instead, maybe we could convince them to just give it to us.