After bettering each other through the magic of nitpickery, we listened to Adrienne give a pep talk about the qualities of a successful young woman.

It was fine, I guess, if you wanted to spend every waking hour at constant attention, never relaxing, never letting down your guard. But how could a group of teenage girls keep it up? By the end of the hour, I felt like we’d been through a self-help seminar at a religious cult.

The thing was, for the time being, Aralt only seemed to want his Sunshine Club girls to be pretty, fashionable, thoughtful, and well-spoken.

It was kind of twisted—but was it evil?

“All right, everybody, that’s it,” Adrienne said, closing the book and setting it on the dresser. “Stay sunny!”

With the meeting over, all of the girls wanted to welcome Megan and me personally. There would have been no way for us to grab the book without being noticed. They held our hands and looked into our eyes and said sweet and encouraging things, like something out of a sorority in the 1950s.

“I can’t wait to see you…after,” Emily said, giving my hands a squeeze.

“After what?” I asked.

Her smile faltered. “Well…after…”

“Remember: the only people we’re called to judge are ourselves,” Lydia said. “Except during Betterment, obviously.”

Emily hurried away, leaving me alone with Lydia.

“Welcome, Alexis,” she said, touching my shoulder.

“Thanks.” I tried to act like the other girls were acting, a peculiar blend of eyes-down modesty and utter self-consciousness about the way they held themselves and moved.

“I know you don’t totally get it yet,” she said. “But it’s only your first meeting. Let me tell you—I didn’t even really want to join.” She lowered her voice to a stage whisper. “I thought the whole thing was a joke.”

“No kidding.”

“Then I took the oath, and suddenly it all made sense.”

I was starting to feel like I’d had enough of this for one day. “I’m so glad for you.”

“Anyway, you have to let me do your hair.”

I’d been drifting, but that snapped me back to attention. “Do what to it?”

She laughed. “Fix it. You can’t leave it all…pink and…unfinished. A real lady doesn’t need flashy clothes or dyed hair.”

“Or eyebrow rings?” I asked.

“Exactly!” Lydia grinned like I’d finally gotten it. “She has poise, charm, and intelligence.”

“I think…I’ll just wait a few days,” I said.

Lydia’s joy evaporated. “Why would you do that?”

Obviously I couldn’t tell her that I intended to destroy the book that night, thereby removing any need to try to impress Aralt.

“You represent us now, Alexis,” Lydia said. “You’re not a single person anymore. You’re one of many.”

“Good point,” I said. “I just can’t tonight. I have a huge project to finish.” I smiled apologetically. “Gotta keep those grades up!”

“I guess.” She tried to hide her displeasure but did a pretty bad job. “Well, I’m around, as soon as you’re ready.”

Over by the bed, Megan and Kasey were busily talking to Adrienne. I edged closer to listen to them.

“And I’m excited about all the meetings and the improving and the—Alexis!” Megan said, turning to me. “I’m telling Adrienne and Kasey how much I look forward to growing and improving!”

It was totally obvious to me that she was acting. And Kasey was just as manic. But Adrienne was so delighted by their gushing enthusiasm that she just looked from one to the other while they fluttered around her like a couple of hyperactive fruit flies.

Then I saw what Megan and Kasey were doing as they talked: packing up their book bags.

Megan kept pushing. “I’m just so elated! Aren’t you, Alexis? I’m, like, beyond…”

Beyond sanity, I thought. But I had to pull my own weight. “Yeah,” I said. “Totally. I’m totally, I mean…I can imagine that this is going to be a great opportunity to…uh…grow. And, like, improve.”

“Yes!” Adrienne said, practically glowing. “Totally!”

“Okay, that’s everything!” Kasey said. “Let’s go.”

“Oh—” Adrienne said, looking around. “My bag.”

“I packed it for you,” Megan said. “I wanted to help! I love helping! I love being part of a sisterhood!”

Adrienne blinked a couple of times. There might have been a tear glinting in her eye. “Wow…thanks, Megan.”

“Yay!” Megan said, giving Adrienne a hug. I thought she was kind of laying it on a little thick, but Adrienne was loving it. She “yayed” back and stared dazedly at Megan, like a little kid presented with the most magnificent birthday cake in the world.

“We should drive Adrienne home,” Kasey said. “It’s a long walk.”

Adrienne blushed and self-consciously adjusted the hem of her pink blouse. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Oh my gosh, of course we do!” Megan squealed. “We’re sisters!”

As soon as Adrienne disappeared inside her house, Megan flopped back against her seat.

“Holy buckets,” she said. “I feel like my eyes are about to pop out of my skull.”

“‘I love helping?’” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

Megan shot me an annoyed glance. “We got the book, didn’t we?”

I turned to see Kasey sitting in the backseat, staring out the window. “Thanks a lot, by the way,” I said. “Love the thing with the oath. Really appreciate you mentioning that. It was great. Just marvelous.”

Her face contorted with indignance. “You said you’d let me take care of it!”

“You should have told us the whole truth!”

She sat up. “You didn’t even tell part of the truth, Lexi!”

“Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t,” I said. “If you didn’t know enough to know that the oath was, like, the most important detail of the whole thing, you could never have figured it out on your own any-way.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Megan said. “We’re going to trash the book, and it’ll be a nonissue.”

My sister leaned forward, her face between the two front seats. “Maybe I didn’t bring it up because I knew you guys would butt in if I did!”

“Hey!” Megan snapped. “Stay sunny!”

Kasey folded her arms and slumped back.

I distracted myself by switching on the radio and searching for something good. Or at least loud.

I briefly considered telling them about how I’d foiled the oath with my left-hand switcheroo, but what would be the point?

A wave of foreboding passed through me, almost like a premonition of danger.

But danger was what we were avoiding, by destroying Aralt’s power center. We’d be getting rid of him before he could come collecting on whatever promises the Sunshine Club had made.

“So let’s make an actual plan for destroying the book,” I said, as Megan made the turn into Silver Sage Acres.

“If it’s not waterproof ink,” Kasey said, “we could dump it in the hot tub by the community pool.”

“That would ruin the hot tub.” Frankly, I was more afraid of the homeowners’ association than of Aralt. “We need an incinerator.”

“A grill?” Megan asked.

“Yeah, that would work,” I said. “We can use the one near the playground.”

We sent Kasey inside to make a snack tray—really, we just needed her out of the way—while Megan and I looked for grilling supplies in the garage.

I hoisted the bag of briquettes over my shoulder and turned to go. “I’ll carry the charcoal and the book,” I said. “Can you bring the lighter fluid and ask Kasey for matches?”

I walked across the street to the tiny park and spread the charcoal out in the grill. Then I delicately set the book, velvet wrapper and all, on the metal surface.

Staring at it, a beautiful piece of handcrafted artistry, I felt a sudden twinge at the thought of dousing it in lighter fluid and setting it on fire.

But then I remembered the way, the previous year, Kasey’s evil doll almost convinced me to hide it and kill my family to keep it safe.

“Sorry, Aralt,” I said. No question—the book had to burn.