"It's 1981 in Sacramento, and thirteen-year-old Lorena Saenz has just been paired with Jenny Stallworth for the science fair by a teacher hoping to unite two girls from starkly different worlds. Lorena begins to spend time at the Stallworth residence and finds herself seduced, not just by Jenny but her parents: Rosemary, her glamorous, needy mother, and Marcus, a scorpiologist who recognizes Lorena's passion for learning and her confused desires....

"Seventeen-year-old Santos Ramos is a curandero--Latinx shaman--living in a desolate West Texas. When a mute boy crosses the border through a sinister smuggler, Santos finds himself fascinated by the voiceless teen. Santos craves a more traditional high school life of parties, studying for the SATs, and writing for the school blog, but he was born with el don--the gift. People come to him for spiritual healing. Like his past Aztec roots, though, asking...