Part 1, Common Thistle, Chapters 1-7 Summary

Chapter 1 introduces the main character of the story. She wakes up on her 18th birthday to find her mattress on fire. She knows the girls in her group home are responsible but she's leaving today so she doesn't bother with retaliating. Instead, she steps out on the streets of San Francisco looking for flowers, the items that have become her passion.

When she finds the flowers that send the right message, she goes back to the group home, distributes them, packs her small amount of things and waits for her social worker to take her to a transitional home. She says little to her social worker and thinks it odd when her social worker, who chose adoptive families that gave her back, tells her that no one is to blame for her life from this...