Excerpt from Icarus by K. Ancrum, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

By middle school, he was irritated because it was obvious that they didn't need the money. His father's real job was art restoration and he got paid a pretty penny for it. Most of which he spent on the stupid replications they shoved into Mr. Black's house.

By the time high school started, breaking into the Black house was so easy for Icarus that it was just like any other extracurricular activity. The last time he'd almost been caught was in freshman year and he was a senior now. His spirit had settled on the matter. More, Icarus was now old enough to know why they were robbing him

tenth

The one other thing that was a constant negative was this: Icarus was only allowed to have friends that stayed at school.

Everyone understands how friendship circles work. You have your four tiers:

1. People you talk to in class, gym, maybe after-school sports.

2. People you'd hang out with if no one better was around. You might get stuck with them after school, then depending on how that goes they could move up or down a tier.

3. People in the same direct social group as you who aren't your absolute besties. You'd let them sleep over at your house as a group but you wouldn't go to a solo sleepover at theirs.

4. Friends that feel like siblings.

Icarus was only allowed acquaintances—people to talk with during class. Everyone else tended to start asking questions that Icarus was not allowed to answer.

This was a negative for obvious reasons. The worst of which was that Icarus wasn't unpopular.

He wasn't a wallflower, shy, or awkward. He didn't eat by himself at lunch and stare pensively out the window, or curl up in the library to read alone because he had to.

He was funny and outgoing, girls and guys liked him, he got invited to parties. He just wasn't allowed to go.

It was lonely. He hated it.

Excerpted from Icarus by K. Ancrum. Copyright © 2024 by K. Ancrum. Excerpted by permission of HarperTeen. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.