Page 126 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

Reuben: I can hear him saying that.

Reuben: It’s weird not having you here.

Alice: You miss me already? Don’t worry you’ll be tired of me in a few weeks.

Reuben: Doubtful. But I was thinking about next week. I’ll be going up to DC and spending almost a solid 2 months up there... I’ll miss you then.

Alice: Maybe I can come up for a little while and see you.

Reuben: Maybe you can.

Alice: For reals?

Reuben: It would be nice not to be alone in an empty house.And... I wouldn’t mind a little help, if you would like to try your hand at some new things.

Alice: I wanna help. *happy dance*

Reuben: And I’d like to have you by my side.

The next day I wokeup early, dressed in one of my professional office dresses that Reuben had rescued from Woodrow, fixed my hair and makeup super fancy, and even put on a necklace. I generally avoided them because I didn’t like things on my neck, but the dress looked better with one than without, so I wore my planet necklace.

Reuben and his friends arrived a little after eleven, and I welcomed them and gave them the full tour. They weren’t what I expected. I was expecting his rescued girls, but instead, the group was mostly made up of white middle-aged businessmen and a few of their young pretty assistants.

They toured the facility, asked a lot of good questions about finances and security, then thanked me and got back in their chauffeured van.Everly hitched a ride with me and I followed them up the mountain to his house for the reception.

The inside of Reuben’s house looked completely different. He had opened all the windows, moved some of the furniture, and set up tables with drinks and snacks in the front room. The room in the back with the tv and all the chairs was full of people, and there were photos scrolling on the large tv.

One photo showed a group of three girls standing in front of a university, holding up peace signs and looking excited. Another was of a tall thin blonde girl, her husband by her side, holding a baby in her arms, and Mike Black beside her, smiling into the camera. Another was a screenshot of a news article about a young girl who had just graduated with a doctorate, started a nonprofit organization in her local community, and won an award for influential people under the age of thirty.

“That’s Kayla Black,” Everly said. “Doctor Mike adopted her. I think she still calls him every Sunday.”

“It’s cool to see how well they’re all doing,” I said. “I can’t imagine what it must be like.”

“It’s like waking up from a bad dream.” Everly smiled softly, watching the photos flick through. “A dream you know happened, but that doesn’t feel real. Because this feels real instead.” She smiled at me and waved to a man I didn’t recognize, going over to him and hugging him tightly. He smiled and hugged her back, kissing the top of her head affectionately. I looked away, feeling like I was intruding on a private moment.

I walked around and listened to a few conversations here and there, looking for someone I recognized. Finally, I found Becca. She was in the corner talking to a few of the businessmen who looked concerned.

Becca was animated as she spoke, using her hands to gesture, her bright amber eyes glowing passionately. She looked so beautiful and excited.

“I know it seems that way, but hear me out. There’s a very clear moment that always represents a turning point. When a slave is passed around, back and forth between owners for years, they eventually take whatever is thrown at them. They give up the hope that maybe this time, this new master might not be as bad. Maybe this time, if they do everything right, they won’t be beaten. But it never works out that way, so they stop fighting. It’s a state of learned helplessness where they take whatever is thrown at them, because nothing has ever helped keep them safe before, why would it now?Thoseare the girls we take. When we get them, it’s almost impossible to convince them they’re safe.

“But this moment happens, inevitably. Every one of our guardians are trained to see it. A dominant can innately sense it. It’s that first moment of pushback. That moment when she decides to resist, even just a little, either by accident, on instinct, or in an effort to regain control. It might be me setting a hand on their shoulder and them shrugging away. It might be me offering them more food on their plate, and they shake their head. Those first few times they get up the guts to resist, to push back, to say “no,”that’swhen things turn around for them.

“After that moment, when someone accepts and bends to their nonconsent, we see a complete turnaround in their behavior. They start responding to therapy, they start communicating... they start trusting. They realize they have power. Everything we do is about giving back the power that has been stolen from them. And we use people who know how to exchange power safely. That’s why it’s safer and more effective than any other program, even many rehab centers.”

I stayed out of her way while she finished her monologue to the gentlemen. They did look less concerned when she had finished her explanation, and I realized that the room had fallen quiet, and that others around us had stopped to listen to her speech.

She glanced at me, and winked.

An older woman in a suit spoke up, attempting to challenge Becca’s statements. “The presentation that Mister Weston gave this morning implied that some girls are sent back to their families after months or years of treatment. Are the families privy to their children’s therapy?”

“Mike, do you want to take that one?” Becca looked over to Mike Black.

I recognized him but didn’t know him well. Doctor Black was one of those offensively handsome men who shouldn’t exist in real life but was actually a decent person on top of it.

“My first daughter, Olena. When she came to me, she didn’t speak English. After about six months, I could tell she was trying to understand me, not just trying to keep me happy out of fear. I taught her English, and she was able to communicate to me about her family.

“She grew up in a very small town on the outskirts of the mountains of Russia. Her town had a population ofeight hundredand didn’t even have electricity. The only reason she’d been trafficked in the first place was because her family had traveled to a big city to see her brother’s graduation from university. She went to the restroom by herself and never came out.

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