Paul Mosier

Traveling from California to Chicago after her mother dies of a drug overdose and her grandmother of lung cancer, thirteen-year-old Rydr meets other passengers on the train and attempts to accept her own situation.

"Twelve-year-old El has planned on making her first week at a new school fantastic. She won't go by her given name, Laughter. She'll sit in the back of the classroom where she can make new friends. She won't even have time to think about all the fun her old friends are having without her. Everything will be great. But when her dad picks her up after school and tells her that her younger sister, Echo, has a life-threatening illness, her world is suddenly...