When Warren was still learning to walk, not long after Solma’s parents had died and Kobi had been exiled into the wilderness, a yawning emptiness opened inside Solma that sucked the light from her. She remembers little from back then. But there’s one thing she can recall with terrifying clarity.
With her best friend gone, and her parents no longer around, some of the village kids started being unkind. The unkindness became cruelty and the cruelty became violence. No one stopped them—no one had time for parenting—so it persisted. One day, four village boys chased her out of the planting fields, towards the managed forest. They laughed when she fell, grazing her knees and cutting her hands. They hurled stones at her, screaming with delight when one struck her in the shoulder and sent her s
