"One day the tables will be turned, dears-all these old farts will be needing our help," Bebe said. "We'll let them rot while we get pedicures."

A week after my field trip to Henley's, V pulled a little escape trip of her own, showing up in the quarry one afternoon and walking right up to us.

"Hey cowgirl, how'd you get sprung?" Ca.s.sie asked.

V looked at me and smiled. "I have my ways," she said.

"Always with the mystery, this one," Bebe said.

"Ca.s.sie's the real Houdini. What do you have, a month left?"

"Nah, three and a half weeks," Ca.s.sie said, her head bowed.

"Don't tell me," Bebe said, "you're sad to be going?"

"Not quite sad, but a dash mixed up. It's just, I'm goin' home." Ca.s.sie paused. I had never seen her look so defeated. "You gotta understand," she continued, "where I come from, they invented redneck there. And if you're so much as suspected of being different, it's like you're always in danger of getting found out, just waitin' for the 'Gotcha!'"

"That sounds like here," I said.

"Nah, it ain't the same. Here we're surrounded by so many people that don't fit in that we all fit in. Like when y'all met me." Ca.s.sie smiled. "None of y'all even flinched knowin' I might be gay. The punch line is that messin' with some girl got me sent here, to be fixed. And now that I'm here, my secret's out and I don't feel so alone."

"You willing to risk one final breakout?" I asked. "We want to send you off in style."

"Sure, why not? My parents have already booked my flight home, so there's no backpedaling now."

"There's supposed to be a big meteor shower in two nights. I thought we could sneak out, watch it. It might be a while before we'll all be together again."

"That sounds like a nice way to say farewell," Ca.s.sie said.

"Good, then it's settled. Two o'clock by the infirmary door. We won't go far. Just outside, away from the lights."

As we drifted apart, V called to me.

"I heard what you did," she said.

"Fat lot of good it did."

"Huge lot of good it did. You were seizing your destiny."

"Thanks. Are you seizing yours? Is that how you escaped Level Two?"

"I told Clayton that I was planning on checking myself out soon. Not right away. I need to work up to it. But I told her I'd walk out today if they didn't quit with the penal c.r.a.p. And you know them, anything to keep collecting the cash. I'm on permanent Level Six until I leave."

"That's a step, I guess."

"That's all we can do, Brit. Take steps. Take enough of them and suddenly, you're somewhere."

Chapter 27.

It was a beautiful night, the sky black as a patch of velvet, the stars like diamonds, with meteors exploding and fishtailing across the heavens. We sat out on a rock, me, V, Bebe, and Ca.s.sie. Although V began our meeting with a call to order of the Divinely Fabulous Ultra-exclusive Club of the Cuckoos, it didn't feel like that anymore. Maybe it was the air of finality. Martha was home. Ca.s.sie was leaving soon. V would be, too. There was no date yet, but it was going to happen. That night, V told the Sisters her secret. And I told them mine.

It wasn't over yet. Bebe and I were still stuck at Red Rock, still had to find a way out of the level gauntlet, but for one night at least, under a hail of flaming stars shooting across the galaxy zillions of miles away, none of that mattered. We weren't Sisters in Sanity. We were just sisters.

Chapter 28.

There were two daydreams I used to nurse when things got really bleak. In the first, Jed was here. He'd come back to get me, to take me away. And in the second, the world finally wised up to Red Rock-and the powers of good came and shut it down.

Let me tell you, the powers of good, when they finally show, can look an awful lot like scary storm troopers.

"This is a raid. Girls, please get your clothes and leave the building. I repeat: Please take your belongings, go to the parking lot, and give your name to Agent Jenkins."

"Huh?" I rubbed my eyes. It wasn't light out yet, wasn't time for roll call. What was going on? I sat up in my bed, and two guys with identical buzz cuts and mirrored gla.s.ses were in the doorway. I yanked my blankets around me.

"Please get dressed, take your personal effects, and move to the parking lot."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"FBI. This is a raid. No need to be frightened. You're all safe."

"What the...?" Missy asked.

I hopped out of bed and looked out the window. There were twenty or more cars lined up, lights flashing. My heart started thumping.

"What's happening?" Missy asked. For the first time, she didn't act like my master. She looked scared.

"I don't know. I think they're raiding the school."

"Who is?"

"Federal agents."

"Why would they do that?" she asked tearfully. She looked so upset that for a second I felt bad. Only for a second.

I got dressed and scrambled outside. V, Ca.s.sie, and Laurel were already congregated in a circle, huddling against the early-morning chill.

"Did you know about this?" I asked V.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing."

Five minutes later, Bebe came bounding out, a huge grin on her face. "Oh my G.o.d, Brit. Did you make this happen?"

"I have no idea what's happening, let alone who made it happen."

We all just stood there and watched as 187 sleepy-eyed girls in matching Red Rock polo shirts filed out of the building. About fifty agents coated the place like ants on jam. After about an hour, a lady came around and checked all our names off on a list. "Please remain here. We will have breakfast coming for you shortly. Please do not leave the premises."

A while later, a truck showed up and a couple of agents went around distributing donuts, orange juice, and coffee. Coffee. It was like nectar, the taste of freedom. None of us knew what was going on, but to me coffee signified our return to the real world.

We kept asking what had happened, but no one would tell us much. Just that it was a raid. Red Rock was under investigation.

The morning wore on, and we stayed outside. We all sat in a big clump under the trees, drinking the bottles of water the agents had pa.s.sed out to us. The lady with the clipboard came around again, telling us to stick around, that our parents had been notified, and those of us who were not picked up by nightfall would be bused into town until arrangements could be made.

"Oh my G.o.d, darling. We are getting out of here," Bebe gushed.

Ca.s.sie laughed. "Just my typical luck when I was a week shy of leavin' on my own steam. Still, I'm glad for y'all, for all us girls."

None of us could talk much. We just watched, riveted to the spectacle, unsure if it was really happening. Around lunchtime, parents started to arrive, hysterically racing to their kids, grabbing them in big hugs, like you always see parents do on the TV news after a school shooting.

It was Pam, whose dad lived in Vegas, who showed us the article. A three-page piece in the national newsweekly American Times magazine t.i.tled "Disturbing Behavior." Written by none other than veteran journalist Skip Henley. It was all in there and so much more: our stories, the insurance fraud, the stuff about Sheriff, quotes from former students, as well as commentary from psychiatrists on how ineffective and damaging Red Rock's brand of therapy could be. Bebe, V, and Ca.s.sie read over my shoulder.

After we'd finished, Ca.s.sie looked at me and whistled. "Well, would ya look at that?" she said.

"Darling," Bebe said. "I. Am. Speechless."

So was V. She just looked at me, her expression saying it all: Did you do this? Did we do this? How did we do this?

Only later would we find out the whole story, about how Martha's family had filed a complaint with their congresswoman, who had spearheaded a separate investigation. That investigation had been working toward a bust. That bust had been jump-started once Henley's article appeared. Sheriff was already being investigated for mail fraud. Only later would I hear that Henley had run after me, not to chase me out of his house, not to shoot me, but to slow me down so we could talk. When I'd beaten him to the truck, he'd gone back into his house, picked up the file, and gotten to work.

Only later would I find out what was to happen to my sisters: V, Bebe, Ca.s.sie, and Martha. Because at that exact moment, coming through the crowd was Dad.

He looked like h.e.l.l warmed over-his eyes bloodshot, his skin pale, his hair greasy and unwashed. He held a twisted copy of American Times in his hand.

"Good article?" I joked, hoping to lighten the moment.

Dad didn't smile. He just shook his head. "I couldn't bear to read the whole thing," he said in a choked voice. "I couldn't bear to know what I'd done to you."

I felt a flash of anger, but unlike when he'd come in for his surprise visit, this time the anger was mixed with sympathy. "Don't you think it's time to stop doing that?" I asked.

Dad held his face in his hands. "Stop doing what, honey?" he asked wearily.

"Hiding from the truth."

He looked up at me and shook his head again, but his expression gave him away. It was that same mask of exhaustion, sadness, and fear he'd worn for a year straight as Mom had slipped away from us. Seeing Dad fall apart had always melted any anger I felt toward him, and looking at him so lost right now, part of me wanted to shield him from any more pain. But that wasn't doing either of us any favors. I took a deep breath and continued. "You're scared because you lost Mom, and you're scared that you'll lose me," I said. My voice started to break. "You're scared I'm going to end up crazy too. And that's why you sent me away."

Dad just kept shaking his head. "No, honey. I didn't send you away because of that. I sent you to the wrong place, but it was for the right reason."

"Don't you dare!" I cried. "Don't you dare lie to me. Don't you dare lie to yourself anymore. I love you and I always will, but I won't allow you to do this to us anymore. You sent me away because you think I'm damaged goods. Well, I'm not damaged goods. I'm her daughter. I'm Mom's daughter. And I loved her, and I lost her too."

Dad just stared at me. Then he pulled me into a hug. I could feel him shaking, and suddenly I was calm. It was weird because as he cried, my fear, anger, and sadness fell away. When Dad regained his composure, he held me at arm's length, looking at me as though he were meeting someone for the first time. He brushed a lock of hair out of my eyes and smiled. "When did my little girl become so wise?" he asked.

I laughed, feeling lighter than I had in years. "Come on, there's some people I want you to meet," I said. I motioned toward the Sisters and was about to turn in their direction when I saw something-or someone-out of the corner of my eye. I did a double take. The sun was glaring down now, and my eyes were kind of misty, so I figured it was an optical illusion. Either that or my wishful brain playing tricks on me. Except then the optical illusion started talking too. It was calling my name. "Brit," it called. "Brit Hemphill."

"Jed." I tried to shout, but it came out a whisper.

Jed seemed to hear me anyway, because he was striding toward me now, his gaze focused on me like a laser beam. Dad, still holding my hand, looked at me and then at Jed. He seemed baffled for a second, and then his expression changed to one of recognition as he sized up the situation. For a moment, he looked worried and strained again, but I squeezed his hand and smiled at him, letting him know everything was going to be okay. That I was okay. Dad held on to my hand for a moment longer, squeezing back. And then he let go.

I ran to Jed, ran so fast that everything else seemed to blur around me. I flung myself into his arms and kissed him. Then I nuzzled my head into his neck as he planted kisses me all over my face. Behind me, I could hear the sounds of my Sisters cheering, applauding like it was the end of a really great movie. It was then that I understood that the ordeal of the last few years was finally over-and that something else was about to begin.

Five Months Later...

Eight cities, eleven days, thirteen hundred miles, ten motel rooms, and twenty-seven Burrito Supremes later, I should have been ready to sleep for a month at the end of my first Clod tour, but in truth, I'd never felt more exhilarated. I loved playing live, and I was having a total blast test-driving my new songs-short, fast tracks with t.i.tles like "The Cinder Pile," and "Clayton's Soul Is a Black Hole"-not to mention spending every waking and sleeping hour with Jed. Being on the road made me feel like life's possibilities were endless. I felt free.

Which is kind of funny considering how recently I'd been anything but free. Part of me still can't believe I was allowed to go on tour. When I asked Dad if I could spend winter break on tour, I'd expected a knee-jerk no. But he listened, and then he admitted that his fears about my being in Clod were based on his own experience. He knows what lengths seventeen-year-old girls will go to just to meet the band. So I had to remind him that I'm not some groupie; I am the band.

A week later, Dad came to his first Clod show. Backstage afterward, I caught him staring at me-and not with his usual sad-scared look, either. In its place was this dreamy expression I recognized from times when I'd done something to make him proud. The next morning he told me I could go on tour-provided, among other things, I called him every day to check in. Our tour conversations were much better than our Red Rock calls were. Dad asked about the details of every show, and he even told me stories from when he was a roadie, a part of his life he hadn't mentioned in years.

Mom. Well, she's a different story. I went to see her and Grandma a few weeks after I left Red Rock, and she was, frankly, a mess. When she wasn't rambling on about radio signals being beamed in through her cavity fillings, she was staring into s.p.a.ce. She didn't seem to know who I was, either. I paid her a second visit the day we played in Spokane. Jed insisted on coming along. Thankfully, there were no paranoid rants this time. Mom was sort of quiet and childlike; she smiled and even held my hand. After we left, part of me wanted to ask Jed if he was scared I might end up like my mom. But later at the show, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirrored wall and finally realized that maybe the only way to answer that question was to stop asking it.

It probably sounds like a plot for some cinematic moment of musical closure, but the last stop on Clod's tour was Cafenomica, and not because of me. The cafe's booker had been after us for an encore ever since our gig in March. It was as if the entire under-twenty-five population of St. George came out to hear us play our second Cafenomica show. Beth and Ansley were there, jumping around like crazy. We rocked the place so hard that the windows vibrated.

The next day the rest of the band drove back to Oregon, and Ansley and Beth drove me out to Red Rock. I don't know why I wanted to see it again. For closure? To stare down my monsters once and for all? But when I stood in what had been the quarry, with tumbleweeds and cinder blocks all around me, all I felt was...over it. The place held no power over me anymore.

I thought about the rest of the Sisters. It was like we'd all slain our dragons. Martha, now a healthy size 14, had taught her parents to accept her as is and was planning on competing in a plus-size beauty contest. Ca.s.sie started a gay-straight-bi alliance at her school (though she still claimed to be undecided on where she fell in that spectrum). And cynical, why-settle-for-a-boyfriend Bebe had fallen head over heels in love with some guy at her new co-ed boarding school. Even V, who'd barricaded herself in a Utah h.e.l.lhole just to feel safe, was planning on traveling around the world solo. V liked to joke that we were the brochure girls now. Except Red Rock hadn't helped us. We'd helped us.

Ansley and Beth dropped me at the bus station, where I caught a sputtering Greyhound to Grand Canyon Village. As I walked down the path toward our agreed-upon meeting point, I got lost in the view: layer upon layer of brown, red, and pink-hued cliffs leading down the gaping canyon to the jade ribbon of the Colorado River. It beat anything I'd seen in pictures, and I felt goose b.u.mps tickle my arms. It was then that I spotted them at one of the lookouts, silhouetted by the afternoon sun: Amazonian V, surveying the grounds as if she owned the place. Stylish Bebe, leaning up against the rail like she was on a photo shoot. Smiling Ca.s.sie, pointing out something down in the canyon. And wide-eyed Martha, camera in hand, taking in all the sights. I paused for a second to watch my Sisters there on the precipice. And then I joined them.

Author's Note.

Sisters in Sanity is a work of fiction. When I worked at Seventeen magazine, I wrote a story about behavior modification boot camps-places that were not quite as harsh as the fictionalized Red Rock Academy Brit attends, but that did share a lot of its more unfortunate characteristics. I met all sorts of teenagers who'd gone to these inst.i.tutions. Some had been "escorted" from their homes in the middle of the night by strangers; others had been tricked into going by their well-meaning parents. I also talked to moms and dads who truly believed they were helping their children, although after hearing what had gone down at these boot camps-from their kids, from media reports, or from government investigations-some parents weren't so sure they'd made the best choice.