I had arrived at the address Braden had given me. The driver had been skeptical when we arrived at the old, weather-beaten barn, but I told him I would be all right. At first, I thought it was a joke; I became furious and kicked a tree stump in anger. I had packed a lot of my things, called my mother, told her I had made friends and had been invited to stay with them over the winter holidays. Now I stood here, in the bleak middle of Riven, under looming, gray clouds, with my scarf barely keeping