I LEFT THE EXAMINATION room to discover we were all on lockdown pending an investigation of my allegations against Nicole. That didn't explain why all the others would be confined. I suspect Nast was just happy for the excuse.
At least they let me keep Kenjii. Antone's orders, apparently. They'd brought in her dishes and bedding. I supposed he thought I'd be grateful. I wasn't. Or, at least, I didn't want to be.
I'd only been in my room for a few minutes when Antone himself arrived with lunch. I considered rejecting it, on principle, but if I was stuck here I needed allies, and at this point Antone seemed my most promising option.
"I want to talk to you about your brother," he said as he pulled a chair over to where I sat cross-legged on the bed.
"I don't know where Ash--"
"I just want to talk about him." He popped open an energy drink and took a few slugs.
"You know that stuff is all marketing," I said. "You're better off having a Coke and some vitamins. Cheaper, too."
He smiled. "I'll remember that."
I squirmed, as if giving him advice was an olive branch I hadn't meant to extend.
"I'm not the enemy, Maya."
"Yeah, you keep saying that. Funny, because
I could swear it was you I saw during the forest fire, pointing a gun at me."
"A tranquilizer gun. Because you were about to run back into a burning forest."
I took a bite of my sandwich.
"About Ashton," he said.
"Ash. He hates Ashton."
"Ash." He pondered. "All right, then. Ash."
Again he smiled and I realized he took this as another sign I was opening up. Helping him get to know us better.
"How much has Ash told you about his life, Maya?"
I shrugged.
"In other words, he's told you some, but you aren't going to share it with me in case you'd be telling me things I don't know. I can assure you that's very unlikely, and not why I was asking. I just don't want to tell you anything you already know."
Still I said nothing. He waited a moment, then nodded. "All right. From the top then. Your mother kept him when she gave you up. It seems she thought she'd call less attention to herself with him."
I bristled. "Why? Did I cry too much? Was I causing trouble already? I was only a few months old."
"That's not it, Maya. I'm sure you wonder what you did to make her choose him. The answer, as far as I can tell, is nothing. But your mother is only half Navajo and she doesn't look it. She can pass for Caucasian easily. You can't. Your brother?" He shrugged. "He can't pass for white, but he could clearly be her son. With you . . . ? People would have noticed. They can pretend they don't, but they do. If the St. Clouds went looking for a white woman with a Native American baby, they'd have had a lot easier time finding you. She knew that. So when she made her choice . . ."
"She kept Ash." I turned the pop can around in my hands. "But that only made it easier for you to find me, didn't it? An abandoned Native baby."
He nodded.
"So she basically tossed me to you and the St. Clouds so she could escape."
Antone rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't want to malign your mother. What she did to you was wrong. But I have to admit it was for the best. At least compared to what she did to Ash."
"She dumped him."
He sucked in breath and seemed to be struggling to put a better slant on it. Finally, he said, "Yes, she dumped him," and in his voice I heard all the bitterness I'd seen on Ash's face.