"After I made another kid at the group home cry, the director, Mrs. Gable, sighed and led me to a young couple.

“If you’re looking for a companion for your nonverbal son,” she said, her voice heavy with exhaustion, “this one’s your best bet. She’s the most… spirited child in the entire facility.” She leaned in and whispered, “My only request is that once you take her, you don’t bring her back. Please.”

The young couple didn’t seem to hear that last part. Their eyes lit up. “She’s exactly what we’re looking for!”

I didn’t know what “nonverbal” meant, but my new mom explained it to me on the car ride home. “It just means you can talk to him as much as you want,” she said with a warm smile, “and he’ll never, ever tell you to be quiet.”

My own eyes lit up.

He sounded like the perfect friend for me.

1

My new parents, Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood, led me to a closed bedroom door, their faces filled with nervous hope.

“Go on in, sweetheart,” my new mom said softly. “Your new brother, Leo, just doesn’t like to talk. He’s very sweet once you get to know him.”

“If you can get him to say even one word to you,” my new dad added, “we will give you anything you want.”

My eyes widened. I pushed the door open.

“Hey, Le—”

SLAM.

I stared at the closed door, completely baffled.

My parents sighed from behind me. “It’s okay, Luna,” my mom said, her voice laced with a familiar disappointment I’d heard a million times. “He’s just like this. Why don’t you try again tomorrow? Your room is just down the hall.”

They walked away, their shoulders slumped. I had to fix this. It was obviously just a matter of finding the right approach.

I tried again. “Heeeey, Leo…”

SLAM.

Okay, a different tactic.

“My dearest brother…”

SLAM.

“O brother, my brother, handsome and strong…”

SLAM.

“Oppa?”

SLAM.

“Dude?”

SLAM.

Forget it. That door was welded shut for the day.

The next morning, I came downstairs with a screwdriver.

My parents, standing at the top of the stairs, just gave me a subtle, encouraging nod. I could practically hear them thinking, With a sister like this, how can he stay silent? She’s a little wrecking ball of an angel.

I wedged the screwdriver in, gave it a twist, and the doorknob came off.

I braced myself, gave a mighty heave, and the entire door popped off its hinges.

And there he was. A boy so beautiful he looked like he’d been painted, sitting on his bed and staring at nothing.

“Hi, Leo! I’m Luna. I’m your new sister—”

CRASH.

He threw the book he was holding against a bookshelf, his only sign of protest against my invasion.

I just grinned at him, then dove straight into his bed, burrowing under the covers. My parents exchanged a look and quietly slipped away.

I reached for his hand. He pulled it back.

I reached again. He dodged.

We played this game for a solid five minutes. Finally, I gave up on physical contact and went back to what I do best.

I snatched the stuffed alligator he was clutching and hugged it to my chest. “Okay, Leo, listen up. Back at the home, I used to tell stories to my stuffed animals every morning. So now, I’m gonna tell you one.”

He didn’t say a word, his gaze fixed on a loose thread on his comforter.

Honestly, this was already an improvement. At least he wasn’t calling me a freak or trying to kick me out.

I beamed at him. “I’m gonna tell you about my life. The group home was actually pretty interesting. For my third birthday, the director found me with a broken arm. She said if she hadn’t, I’d have grown up to be a disabled chatterbox instead of just a regular one. Pretty lucky, right?”

“Anyway, all the kids there were drama queens. There was this one older boy who made all us little kids pretend he was an emperor. We had to bow and tie his shoes and clean his corner of the room. I told him my arm was broken and I couldn’t, and you know what he said?”

“He said even the crippled had to serve the emperor. So I ‘accidentally’ spilled a bucket of dirty mop water all over him and told him he wasn’t a real emperor, he was just a big baby with no friends.”

Leo’s fingers twitched. I saw his eyes flick toward me for a split second.

I was on a roll. “Mrs. Gable saw the whole thing and heard me cuss him out, so she made me clean all the bathrooms as punishment. So I went into the bathroom, locked the door, and took a nap. See? I’m pretty smart, hehe.”

“Oh, and the other kids used to call me Short Stack. So every time they did, I’d grab the plastic ladle from the kitchen and whack ‘em on the head. They stopped calling me that pretty quick. You gotta stand up for yourself, you know? So if anyone ever bullies you, you just look them right in the eye and call them a psycho. That’s the magic word. It freaks them out.”

“Come on, say it with me. Psy-cho…”

I giggled and reached for his hand again. He immediately snatched it away. So we started our little game again, me reaching, him dodging, until he got so fed up he threw off the covers, jumped out of bed, and ran for the living room.

I scrambled after him, my hand outstretched. “Wait, Leo, I’m not done with the story!”

My parents looked up from the sofa as we stormed past.

“Honey, look,” my dad whispered. “Our son looks so much more… alert. We definitely picked the right girl.”

Leo just kept running.

My parents decided that getting Leo to leave his room made me a certified genius. They rewarded me by buying me a mountain of gifts.

I immediately hauled all of it into Leo’s now-doorless bedroom.

“Don’t be jealous,” I announced. “What’s mine is yours. I’m very generous!”

I started unpacking. “Ooh, a Louis Vuitton backpack! Okay, this one’s mine, you can’t have it.”

“Wow! Cute underwear! Definitely mine.”

“Sparkly hair clips! Mine.”

“Fluffy pink bunny slippers! Mine.”

“Pink dress, mine. Patent leather shoes, mine. All mine.”

I looked at the sea of pink gifts and then at Leo. A thought occurred to me.

“Hey, maybe you like pink?”

I grabbed his hand before he could react, successfully capturing it, and shoved a small pink purse into his palm. “Here, this one’s for you!”

He recoiled as if he’d been burned, dropping the purse and frantically wiping his hand on his shirt.

I looked at my own palm, then back at him. “Your hands are really soft, you know that?”

He started wiping his hand even harder.

My parents, thinking I didn’t like the gifts, decided to take me to the mall to pick out my own things.

“Is Leo coming?” I asked, glancing toward his room.

They both got that sad look on their faces again. “Leo… doesn’t like the mall, honey.”

“But who doesn’t like shopping?” I said. “Maybe you just haven’t tried—”

“He doesn’t like crowds,” my mom interrupted gently. “It makes him feel scared and unsafe. He can… lose control.”

They took my hands to lead me outside. As we walked, I glanced back and saw him standing on the second-floor balcony, his expression as blank as ever, watching us leave.

He looked so lonely.

He probably wanted to be a normal kid, just like everyone else.

I stopped and let go of their hands. “I’m not going,” I announced. “I’m gonna stay here with Leo. I’ll love whatever you bring back!”

Before they could protest, I sprinted back up the stairs. I knew he was waiting for me.

Behind me, I heard my parents start to cry. “She’s an angel, a literal angel!”

I burst through the empty doorway and grabbed Leo’s hand. “I’m staying. I’ll tell you more stories.”

To my complete shock, he didn’t pull away this time. He just let me lead him over to the sofa.

My eyes lit up. I had a captive audience. “Okay, Leo! Have you ever heard the story of the Little Match Girl? Well, this is the story of the Little Grenade Girl!”

Leo just stared at me.

“Once upon a time, there was a poor little girl who had a whole house full of grenades. She went out on the street to sell them, but no one wanted any. She was so cold and hungry, and she missed her grandma, so she pulled the pin on a grenade to keep warm. And that night, the whole village got to see her grandma, too.”

Leo blinked.

“Oh! And the story of Little Red Riding Hood! Hey, don't cover your ears…”

The gifts kept coming. My room was overflowing. I was starting to feel guilty, because I still hadn’t gotten their son to say a single word to me.

One day, my parents sat me down. “We’ve enrolled you in school, Luna. We adopted you, and that means we have a responsibility to make sure you get a proper education.”

I looked toward Leo’s room. “Can I go to school with him?”

They shook their heads. “Leo is older than you, sweetie. Even if he went, you wouldn’t be in the same classes. A private tutor is better for him.”

“But maybe he should try being around kids his own age,” I argued. “I read online that it can help. You want him to talk, right? If he goes to school and makes new friends, maybe he’ll have a reason to.”

They looked at each other, and after a moment of silent debate, they nodded. “Okay. We can try.”

I shot up and ran to Leo’s room. “Guess what! Now we can have matching backpacks!”

Leo just kept reading his book.

I was right. Going to school definitely produced an emotional reaction in Leo.

Pure terror.

His face was pale, his palms were sweating, and a vein was throbbing in his forehead. He looked like he was about to shatter.

I immediately grabbed his hand. “It’s okay, Leo.”

He didn’t pull away. Instead, he squeezed my hand so tightly I thought my bones would crack. I winced but held on.

Then came the whispers from the other students.

“Why is that psycho back? People with brain damage shouldn’t be allowed in normal schools.”

“Look at the way he walks. Total weirdo.”

“Aww, the mute got himself a little babysitter. How cute.”

“Hey, look at his hands! He’s doing that weird butterfly thing. That’s what crazy people do.”

And in that moment, I understood everything.

I spun around, my teeth bared. “Say one more word and I will punch you in the face!” I yelled. “You want to make fun of someone? Go look in a mirror, you bunch of jerks! You think you’re so cool? He’s ten times smarter than any of you!”

I pointed at each one of them. “Leave him alone!”

They scattered like cockroaches. “The mute’s got a psycho bodyguard now. Let’s go.”

I rushed back to Leo, who was staring at the floor. I took his hand. “Don’t listen to them. They’re the psychos. From now on, I’m here. No one will ever mess with you again.”

I pulled out a pair of matching GPS tracker watches our parents had bought us and snapped one onto his delicate wrist. I put the other on my own.

“If anyone ever gives you trouble, you press this button,” I said, pointing to the call function. “I’ll find you. I promise.”

He didn’t say anything, but he kept staring down at the watch on his wrist.

My little speech at the front gate had worked. No one bothered us in class. But during the last period of the day, my watch vibrated.

I answered it, and all I could hear were muffled shouts.

“What’s the matter, freak? Your little girlfriend isn’t here to save you now, is she? Get out of our school!”

I didn’t even ask for permission. I just ran. I found him on the playground, surrounded by a group of older boys. They were kicking and shoving him, but Leo wasn’t fighting back. He was just standing there, his right arm wrapped protectively around the watch on his left wrist.

I went feral. I launched myself into the group, tackling two of them to the ground. “You want to fight someone? Fight me, you cowards!”

The leader of the group sneered. “You really think you can take all of us?”

Before I could answer, I felt a hand on my arm. It was Leo. He was gently shaking his head. I saw then that he already had a bruise forming on his cheek.

“It’s okay, Leo,” I whispered. “Don’t forget, I was the toughest kid at the group home. I can handle these guys.”

I dropped my backpack, unzipped it, and pulled out a broken hockey stick I’d found.

One of the boys gasped. “Holy crap, she’s actually insane.”

By the time our parents arrived, Leo and I were sitting alone in the principal’s office.

I smiled and picked a piece of grass out of his hair. “You even look good with grass in your hair.”

He turned his face away.

“What happened?!” our parents demanded as they rushed in. I knew I was in for it now. They were probably going to send me back. I nervously squeezed Leo’s hand.

He didn’t let go. He squeezed back.

I was so surprised I automatically wiggled my fingers between his, lacing them together.

“This girl,” the principal said sternly, “took a weapon and sent six of our students to the nurse’s office. Their parents are demanding a full expulsion.”

Our parents looked at me. I shrank down in my seat, my heart sinking. But before I gave up, I was taking those jerks down with me.

Just as I was about to make my case, my parents knelt down in front of me. “Luna, don’t be scared,” my mom said. “Just tell us the truth. We’ll handle it.”

I stared at them. I wasn’t going to be yelled at? Or sent away?

I held up my watch and played the recording of the call. “They started it,” I said. “They were hurting Leo. I wasn’t fighting people. I was fighting monsters.”

As the recording played—the taunts, the slurs, the sound of punches—the faces of the school administrators went pale. My parents were shaking with rage.

“This is your idea of a safe learning environment?” my dad said, his voice dangerously low. “I think the Blackwood Foundation may need to reconsider its donation for the new library.”

That night, I was back in my usual spot, burrowed under Leo’s covers, my cold feet resting on his for warmth. He didn’t pull away.

“You’re a hero, you know that?” I told him. “Mom and Dad got those kids expelled. And their parents got in trouble, too. Serves them right.”

“You’re so warm, Leo,” I mused. “I was always cold at the group home. See? We’re a perfect match.”

I looked at his blank expression and decided it was time for another lesson. “Okay, next time someone bullies you, you have to cuss them out. You need a bigger vocabulary. For now, we’ll stick to the classic. Repeat after me: Psy-cho.”

He just stared.

I spent the rest of the night teaching him, until my throat was sore. I looked at his silent face, and my heart ached for him. “You know,” I said softly, “your classes get out before mine. Could you… maybe wait for me after school? You could read in the car until I’m done.”

He didn’t say anything.

“Silence means yes!” I chirped.

He still didn’t say anything.

The next day, when my classes ended, I saw the familiar black SUV waiting by the curb, and my heart did a little flip. He had listened.

“Le—”

Before I could finish his name, a hand clamped over my mouth, and the world went dark.

No one ever tells you that when you get adopted by a rich family, you also get a complimentary kidnapping.

I woke up in the back of a filthy van. Leo was next to me, bound and gagged. He looked terrified, his eyes wide with a horror that felt old and deep.

“This kid’s family ruined our lives,” one of the masked men in the front seat growled. “Eight years ago, he saw us during a job. We had to grab him. Nearly got caught. Had to use the ransom money to disappear. Now it’s time for a little payback.”

The other man glanced at me. “So they got a new model after the first one broke. Rich people.”

“You’re the one who broke him,” the driver snapped. “He was seven years old. You peeled a man’s skin off right in front of him. What kid wouldn’t be messed up after that?”

The other man chuckled. “Yeah, well, it worked, didn’t it? Gave him a nice case of mutism. His parents have been protecting him like a Faberge egg ever since. But they couldn’t protect him from us.”

I gritted my teeth. So these were the monsters who had hurt my Leo.

When they threw us into an abandoned warehouse, my fingers fumbled for the watch on my wrist.

“The little girl’s a cutie,” one of the men said, taking a step toward me.

Suddenly, Leo launched himself in front of me, his eyes blazing with a fire I’d never seen before.

“Psy… cho!” he snarled.

My eyes lit up. He spoke!

I leaned in and whispered in his ear, “Don’t worry, Leo. I already called for help.” I tapped his watch, and I saw a flicker of understanding in his eyes, but he didn't move from his spot in front of me.

My heart nearly burst. He was protecting me.

“A little mute playing hero? That’s rich,” the man sneered, and kicked Leo hard in the stomach. As he stumbled, I launched myself forward and bit down on the man’s ear, tearing a piece of it clean off.

I spit out blood and grinned.

But a grown man’s strength is no match for a kid’s. He threw me aside. Leo scrambled back to his feet and put himself between us again, taking a full-force slap to the face that sent him crumpling to the ground.

Seeing him lying there, I saw red. He wasn’t a freak. He wasn’t broken. He was my Leo.

“Police! Don’t move!”

I rushed to Leo, who was trembling uncontrollably, and held him tight. “It’s okay,” I whispered. “It’s over. I’ve got you.”

The GPS watches led the police right to us. We both had minor injuries, but we were safe.

My parents rushed into the hospital room and threw their arms around me, sobbing with relief. “Luna, our brave girl, you’re safe…”

I looked over their shoulders at Leo, who was being tended to by a nurse. “What about Leo? Are you going to check on your son?”

But they were too focused on me. I worried he would be hurt by their seeming neglect, but when I caught his eye, I saw something astonishing.

A tiny, fleeting smile.

He was… happy? Happy to be lying in a hospital bed with a busted lip?

Weirdo. He was perfect for me.

After that, my parents treated me like I was made of glass.

“We got you both a gift,” my dad announced one day, handing us two identical, plain-looking pairs of glasses. I wasn’t nearsighted, so I was a little confused.

“Each pair is worth two hundred thousand dollars,” he explained.

I slapped them on my face so fast I nearly poked my eye out. I put the other pair on Leo. Anything that expensive had to be magical.

From then on, we both wore glasses. It was a little inconvenient when I was burrowing into his bed for my nightly storytelling, but I managed.

Tonight, though, when I climbed in, he caught my hand.

I grinned. “Finally falling for my charms, huh?”

“Okay, Leo, what’ll it be tonight? How about Little Red Riding Hood? She goes to her grandma’s house, but when she gets there, she sees her grandma has a long tail and a big snout. So she pulls out a shotgun and BAM! End of story.”

Leo swallowed hard.

“Or,” I continued, “Snow White. She marries the prince, gets pregnant, then finds out he’s cheating on her with Cinderella. So she gives him the poison apple, he falls into an eternal sleep, and she becomes the sole ruler of the kingdom.”

Leo just stared.

“Beauty and the Beast! Beauty meets the Beast, realizes he’s a monster, and leads the village to his castle with torches and pitchforks. Then she marries the hot guy from the next town over.”

“Psycho,” Leo finally said.

I froze. “What did you say?”

“Psycho.”

“Yes! Say it again!”

“…Psycho!”

I was so happy I started bouncing on the bed. He just looked at me and said it again.

“Psycho.”

Downstairs, our parents heard the commotion. “The kidnapping must have really traumatized poor Luna,” my mom said sadly. “Now she’s talking to herself in two different voices.”

I was addicted to the sound of his voice. Every night, I’d tell him my weirdest stories, and every night, I’d be rewarded with his deadpan, one-word review: “Psycho.”

I was so proud. “Next, I’m gonna teach you a new word,” I announced. “Repeat after me: Jerk-face.”

Leo looked at me. “…Psycho.”

Just then, my watch buzzed. It was Mrs. Gable from the group home.

“Luna, have they kicked you out yet?”

I immediately hung up.

She called back. “Don’t hang up on me, you little brat! Listen, I know you’d never admit it if they threw you out. Just send me your location. I’ll come get you.”

“I’m fine!” I insisted. “What do you want?”

“Well,” she said, her voice turning strangely cheerful, “you’re not going to believe this, but your birth parents came looking for you. They found you, honey. You’re going home.”"