Adan has a sister, and she is here with us. She has been caring for Eloy, for he has been beaten by el Jefe’s gang. She says she used to work at the school, and so she is good with children, especially children who have been mistreated (common in this world.) Her name is Alida. It means little winged one, although she is small, she has a grand heart. She is very pretty and I like to spend the nights on shift with her. I like to stick around after meals when she teaches mis hermanas new languages and facts about the other worlds, where our fathers went, etc. Often, Adan finds me watching her and says, “You need to be at our evening meeting and then you can stare at mi hermana.”

Eloy, on the other hand, has changed. He barely talks and gets easily angered. He does not like to work on the drug, although he has a very steady hand at it, like me. I tell him this and he only shrugs. Adan says that he will come around, and he is only in shock. The others sometimes describe the things that el Jefe has done to the new boys to keep them in line. Torture, verbal abuse, they are made to steal and be violent against others. Adan tells me that you change your face when you join el Jefe, you forget where your morals are. Mi madre has no patience for when Eloy acts out, and it is good to know that he will still listen to her when she gives him a look.