Damage Control Jason Groves had taken up residence in Atlanta before Jessica had even left for school, but the house still felt new. Jessica imagined she could still smell fresh paint, new furniture, the rubbery backs of new carpet. It was giving her a slight headache.
Maybe. It was also possible that it was all the racket from Uncle Jason and Aunt Carolyn's brood of over-excited, over-sugared small children giving her a headache. Or maybe it was just having to deal with Rhapsody.
Rhapsody was not her cousin. Rhapsody had been born before Aunt Carolyn even met Uncle Jason. Jessica was profoundly glad about that, because if she had been related to Rhapsody, Jessica thought she might have never overcome the shame.
If, she thought idly, she could just cast a freezing charm on Rhapsody, it might be all right. She would have enjoyed just sitting and studying Rhapsody's face like a work of art, admiring the job the older girl had done with her make-up. The trouble came when Rhapsody opened her mouth. Which she did, constantly.
"What exactly is supposed to be wrong with you, anyway?" asked Rhapsody.
"I have an energy processing disorder," said Jessica, going with the official excuse through gritted teeth.
"But what's that even mean?"
"That I can't process energy the way normal people do."
"And that's why you can't live at home? What the heck. You don't look like there's anything wrong with you - "
"Rhapsody!" Aunt Carolyn appeared, a squalling toddler trapped against her hip. "Don't interrogate your cousin."
Aunt Carolyn knew the truth, of course. Mommy and Daddy had decided that her grandparents and aunts and uncles on Mommy's side of the family needed to know the truth about her condition - they were politicians, and anything that came out about her could have repercussions for them all - but none of the cousins knew. In a way, this wasn't the worst thing that had happened - some of the others treated her as though she were actually dying, and whispered around her and avoided speaking to her, so that she wondered sometimes if she was actually with them at all when she was allowed out of her own house. However, she was still grateful for the interruption...at first.
"It's Jessica's business what she wants to tell you about her condition," Aunt Carolyn continued. "It's not your place to bother someone about their problems."
Because of course Jessica had problems. Of course Jessica was a problem. Something to manage. She suppressed a flash of resentment.