Whenever the Devlins are out in public, Katy and Jessica get all the attention. "Twins!" coo random strangers on the streets when they see the identical little girls, Katy in blue, Jessica in pink. Jonathan and Margaret swell with pride as Katy smiles prettily and does a little twirl, while Jessica hides behind their father. So shy. So sweet. Rosalind may as well be invisible.
She knows her parents never wanted her. They're not happy together, they only got married because of Rosalind and they only stay together because of the secret they share. Those two kids who went missing, a few years before Rosalind was born. Rosalind is an expert at listening at doors, unseen, unnoticed.
Her parents don't love each other, but the twins have given them something to live for. When it becomes clear that Jessica's problems go beyond shyness and Margaret takes to her bed from the stress, Rosalind takes responsibility for caring for her younger sisters, but she still gets no thanks. Sometimes she fantasises about disappearing, like those kids in the eighties, then her parents will be sorry and worried. She runs away a couple of times, but her father's only response is to shout at her for not looking after the twins. Her mother, now fully tranquillised, doesn't even notice.
Rosalind does some digging into the kids' disappearances — the internet has all the old newspaper articles — and discovers that there was another boy with them the day they disappeared. Adam Reilly. She wonders how he feels about being the one left behind. Like Rosalind, he wasn't good enough to be taken.
A reject, just like her.