Excerpt from Anger Is a Gift by Mark Oshiro, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Javier pulled his phone out, but Moss waved it away. "Let's get downstairs first," he said. "I just wanna get out of the station before…" He didn't finish the sentence. How do I finish that? How do I tell him?

They silently made their way down the stairs, the red and blue lights from the police cruisers on site bouncing off the walls. Two of the station operators stood outside their booth, their eyes locked on the scene to the south of them. Moss turned to head out of the north exit, his bike hoisted up on his shoulder, but Esperanza stopped and grabbed his free arm.

Signs were held high above the snarling crowd. One was of a photo of Osner Young, and it hit Moss: Osner could not have been more than a few years older than himself. His face was open in a joyous smile, and Moss recognized where the photo was taken: Martin's barbershop, the one not far from where he lived.

There were more signs. STOP KILLING US, read one. There was a tall white man off to the right, his messy hair gray and black, who carried a poster that read, I STILL HAVE TO PROTEST THIS? Moss frowned at that one; it left him with a bad feeling, as if the guy was more concerned with being witty than caring. But then lining the sidewalk outside the station, blocking the entrance to the turnstiles, was a row of cops in riot gear. They stood with their batons hanging at their sides, their helmets gleaming in the lights of the parking lot. Moss had to get out as soon as possible.

"Come on," Moss said, turning to walk away. "Please."

He bumped right into someone. Moss excused himself, but the guy examined him, looking him up and down. "Morris?" The man gave him the same look again. Was he from Martin's shop? How did this man know his name? "Yo, I haven't seen you in years. How are you?"

Moss backed away. "Um … I think you have me confused with someone else," he said. "I don't think we've ever met."

"Maybe you don't remember me," he said. "Last time was … damn, musta been five years ago. You were a kid still. It was at that rally outside City Hall!"

Please not now, Moss thought. He hunched down and tried to move toward the exit, but someone else stepped up, an older man with a crown of white hair. He looked more familiar, but Moss couldn't place him now. "Hey, Moss," the man said, raising a hand. "You here for the protest?"

Moss tried to form the words, but the darkness appeared. It started around the edges of his vision, it clutched at his chest, and he couldn't see an escape route. He forgot about Esperanza, about Javier, about anything other than the brightness beyond the turnstiles of the station. He reached into his front pocket and pulled out his Clipper card, held it tightly. But there were more people in front of Moss, asking him about the rally, asking him about his mother, asking him to stay and protest with the others, asking him too many questions, asking too much of him always.

A woman rushed up to his side, her cornrows a tight and intricate pattern on her head. "Hey, we got Morris Jeffries's son with us!" she shouted out. He tried to focus on her face, but it began to blur, to slide out of his vision, and then it seemed impossible to breathe.

"Please, I just need to go," he slurred out, and then he was lost, the panic slipping over his whole body. He let go of his bike, heard it clatter against the floor, the echo reverberating in his head. He felt someone grab at him as he pitched forward onto the gray concrete of the BART station, and he hoped the darkness would consume him.

Excerpted from Anger Is a Gift by Mark Oshiro. Copyright © 2018 by Mark Oshiro. Excerpted by permission of Tor Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.