Before I take you into the beating heart of the story, let’s get one thing out of the way. I know from experience that when it comes up later, it will distract you so much that you won’t be able to concentrate on anything else I will tell you. My name is Jubilee Dougal. Take a moment and let it sink in.

I am a mass of contradictions.

The locker at the end of her bed had no lock, and one of the hinges was busted. She opened it up. There was a thing in it. The thing might have been a sandwich at some point, or an animal, or a human hand...but what it was now was fuzzy and putrid. A minute later, Ginny was down the stairs, out the door, and gone.

The kids I talk to are readers, and the craziest, the most dedicated readers you will ever see.

A pause while my mother made high-pitched sisterly devotions of gratitude.

No sausage?" he asked. Apparently my pork consumption habits were a matter of public record.

Tell me what you want, what you really, really want," he said. "Braiiinnnnssss," we said in unison.