Phoenix Maplewood well, now what

Easy looked away, feeling a little guilty for adding to Aditya's burden when he was so clearly messed up over whatever had gone on between him and Dawn. And as much as Easy hated being second-best to Dawn, she didn't want the pair to break up over whatever dumb thing Adi had done, or something lame that Dawn had said. She certainly didn't want them breaking up because Easy had said or done something to push one of them past their breaking point.

"You haven't been that bad," Easy muttered. And it was true. It was just different without her whole family around. Aditya's priority was Dawn, and Easy was no one's priority. It was a hard pill to swallow, and a big change compared to life at the plateau. She missed Daddy and Burr and Dauntless and Lavender and Pema and Catori - and none of this was helping. Aditya's babying least of all.

"How about we don't," she said to her brother-in-law, eyeing him dubiously. Was he going to play peek-a-boo with her? "You're obviously feeling shitty. We don't have to talk about it, but you don't have to pretend."