"There was a lot of macaroni and cheese in the Mars household," Veronica laughed. "Out of the box. It's the only way to live." Her dad had been the cook, out of the two of them, though she imagined it was probably a relief for him not to have to do that on top of everything else he'd had to juggle to keep them afloat. "The secret to cookies is... they're too short to come out lopsided."

That, and a year spent doing pep squad had meant learning how to put together a proper spirit box, but that was as much a part of her past as the murder and the rape and Neptune itself.