《Animation in Blue》


 Chapters 1-5: Vision

    Sarah wished she was sick. She could still get sick. Stick her fingers down her throat, maybe. But she''d already had breakfast, and the granola would probably hurt coming back up. She''d already said good morning to Mom, so it was too late to have a sore throat and a cough. Fevers were impossible to fake without real planning. And she''d stayed home with cramps last week, so that wasn''t really an option. She certainly wasn''t going to offer up any symptoms more vague than that, not again.


    Today would have been a great day to lay on the floor and watch dust motes in the sun. Maybe watch some game shows with the sound off, curled on the couch under a pile of blankets. Heat up a can of Spaghetti-Os for lunch. If she was really lucky there''d be some movie marathon on. That just sounded divine. It''s not like she was behind on any schoolwork anyways. Other than biology, it wasn''t like going to class was going to help at all with that.


    The fog was bad today, and thick fog always meant she was about to have a worse day than usual. Some days she could get up and everything looked clear, but this morning the white film seemed to coat everything she could see, somehow making the little reflections in the kitchen brighter and making the milk in her cereal seem to glow as she dipped her spoon into it. She could hear music thumping as someone started their car down the street, the energetic beat carrying over the sounds of the engine. The passing beat almost lined up with her own heartbeat echoing in her ears. She carefully cleared her dishes, putting the bowl and spoon gently in the dishwasher before slowly closing the door.


    It was definitely bad today, even the water in the faucet was loud. Washing her hands almost felt painful under the spray of water. At least brushing her teeth was a release - she could focus entirely on the sensations of the bristles over her gums, the scritching sounds filling her head, and the taste of mint flooding out the noises outside. But soon enough she had to spit, flinch at the cold water rinsing over her teeth, and finish up. No time to brush her hair, so she just gathered it up into a ponytail, pulling the worst of the frizz tight against her head.


    Finishing in the bathroom, she made her way back to her room. Her walls were painted a faded greenish blue, her mother called the color something fancy, and it matched the darker carpet. Sarah wished she could have something different, this carpet always showed her footprints standing out in a pale contrast to the dark olive green. She''d have to vacuum again tonight, or the footprints would keep her up. Her bed was already made, the cotton beige comforter pulled tight and her pillow squared up on top. She turned around to grab a hoodie from her closet. Even in October, the days were plenty hot, but sometimes the hood helped. It stuck on a hanger for a moment, but she just tugged a bit harder until it popped out. She was just pulling it on over her head when her bedroom door crashed open, her mother looming into view.


    Sarah couldn''t help but scream, just a little. Her mother jumped too, startled by the noise. "Are you ready?" She asked, "I''ve got to get going, or I''ll be late."


    "Just packing," said Sarah. Her backpack already had her school stuff in it, but she took a moment to double-check. She pulled a novel from the shelf over her desk, she was pretty close to finishing the one that was already in there, and she couldn''t remember if her locker had anything in it. Some earplugs got stuffed into a side pocket - she couldn''t usually get away with them in class, but if things were still rough by lunch she''d need them there. Sarah glanced around, but at this point, she was just looking for reasons to stall. No excuse loomed from the bare walls or tidy shelves.


    Her backpack was heavy, but it felt good pressing down on her back.


    As she trudged out of the house and sat in the car, her mom asked, "Are you ok?"


    "I''m fine."


    "Your head isn''t bothering you? No, um, migraine?"


    Her mom wasn''t looking at her, so Sarah couldn''t just nod, "I''m fine." She could have said yes, but she''d done that before, and that would be worse than just going to school.


    The car ride wasn''t too bad. Sarah could keep her eyes closed, which always helped. The car was just a Toyota, but it ran smooth and they''d had it long enough that it didn''t smell funny or anything. Even better, the city had repaved the highway last summer, so the motion of the car actually felt soothing instead of the normal bouncing and jarring. And while she couldn''t call David Sedaris soothing, public radio in the morning was still about as good a soundscape as anyone could hope for.


    And then came the moment of truth. The little Camry pulled to the curb outside school, and when the door opened Sarah found herself bathed in shouting, discordant voices. A basketball was being dribbled. Tinny screeches could be heard from at least four sets of earphones. They were kind of early, and the marching band was out behind the school doing something brassy and stompy. Skateboard wheels clattered by over the asphalt. The rope and chains on the flagpole swung in the morning breeze, ringing against the steel flagpole.


    Thank god she didn''t have to ride the school bus. One of the busses was roaring to a stop around the corner, and she could hear the thump of unbalanced tires completely failing to cover up the echoes of voices inside as it stopped. The hiss of the door opening up released those voices to waft over her.


    Sarah stood, frozen. The fog was brighter too, almost like something was shining a light on everything from no particular direction. Finally, a voice pierced through, someone had said her name. Sarah turned back to her mom, smiled, and said, "I love you too. See you later."


    With that, she squared up and dove into the school.


    <div>


    Inside was strangely better. She was still assaulted by voices and voices and voices, and now they were accompanied by squeaking shoes that cut through the noise. Lockers slamming shut gave a baseline to the piercing noises. But the light wasn''t so bad inside; other than the row of doors at the entrance, there weren''t any windows in the hallway to let the morning sun bounce reflections into her eyes. The walls and doors did a decent job filtering out the engine noises from outside, too.


    Nonetheless, Sarah felt like it would be best if she got out of the hallways before they got truly crowded. A trio of senior girls she only knew by sight shot past her on their way outside. The girl in front yelled as she ran by, "Hey Sarah."


    Sarah gave a little wave, turning around as they ran past, but the three were out the doors before she could hardly begin the motion. No big deal, really. Sarah didn''t know any of their names anyways. She reversed her turn, rather than spin in a full circle like a leaf in the wind of the older girls'' passing. Sarah''s mood lifted for a moment, as she imagined herself spinning like a top as people passed her in the hallways. She wasn''t sure what a dervish was - but she''d had a ballerina phase way back before the fog started glowing around everything. She''d missed a year or so after she''d told her parents about what she could see, and never got back to it. But a little part of her still liked the thought of just spinning for the joy of it.


    Another kid, Jacob maybe? Josh? A ''J'' name, for sure. He came in, walking past her as she stood imagining dancing in the halls. He was wearing a big pair of over-ear headphones with the cord tucked into his shirt, a good enough pair that she couldn''t hear the music he was listening to. But she could still hear him mumbling to himself, "How low, before I get in, before I mmmm mmm, before I begin, how low before..."


    He brought her attention right back to the hallway, and she shuddered as she got moving. It was Tuesday, so pre-calc was her first period class. That was always a relief. Coach Colway was boring to the point of caricature. He was a golf coach, of all things, but he taught math too. She wasn''t really sure if he''d started teaching first and became a coach later, or if he''d been a coach first. But more importantly, his classroom was practically empty. No posters, no doodads waving from the walls; he was strict too, no music, very little talking. He''d just drone a bit, do an example problem or two on the whiteboard, and then pass out worksheets and let them all get to it.


    Sarah was the first person in the room. Coach wasn''t there, but his room was unlocked and so she let herself in. Sarah grabbed a seat in the middle of the room. her shoulders shook as she took off her backpack. She set it on the desk, then quickly sat down into the seat. She pulled out yesterday''s novel and opened it up, focusing as much attention as she could manage on the way the fictional hero helped the British storm a mountainous fort in old India. It was a good book, and she felt outraged on the soldier''s behalf at his treatment by the villains of the story, but she still noticed when Coach came in. He was making a sort of slithery noise as he shuffled a stack of printer paper in his hands.


    The first bell rang, announcing that there were only 8 minutes to get to class, and Sarah had to fight with herself to not cover her ears. Instead, she just hunched down a bit deeper in her seat.


    The trickle of students walking in didn''t help her concentration either. More sneaker squeaking, loud conversations continued as pairs came together, friends getting caught up on whatever they''d missed from each other''s lives since yesterday. Sarah smiled, trying to look up whenever someone said good morning or hi or whatever. She''d say hello back, wave, whatever seemed appropriate, and then turn back to her book.


    The second bell rang, the muscles in Sarah''s neck tensed up and her book bent under her grip as she waited out the shrill noise. Her hands relaxed, but her neck stayed rigid as the morning announcements continued. Nothing special, a volleyball match that everyone was supposed to care about. The student council voice on the intercom somehow felt just as shrill as the bell had, but at least most of the conversations had stopped.


    Coach Colway was standing up before announcements even finished, writing on the board. More sequences, it looked like. That shouldn''t be very difficult, even if he was writing some letter-filled formula up next to the numbers. This was probably the last new thing they''d cover in the week because there was a test scheduled for Friday and Colway usually spent a day or two letting people review. Sarah dutifully put her book away, stuffing it into her bag''s front pocket. She rummaged in the main space for a moment, finding the right spiral notebook and dragging it out. The wires had already mushed down, so she had to force it open to a blank page where she could start copying the problems he wrote out.


    Coach growled, "Quiet," as a whispered conversation tried to revive in the back, and Sarah finally felt herself start to relax a bit. She didn''t even notice the faint mist overlaying everything in the room.


    Then the bell rang again, catching her entirely by surprise. Her lead broke as she forced her pencil hard against the paper, dragging a short dark line across the problem she''d been working on. The math hadn''t been hard, it was just another way of rewriting equations in different forms, but there was something satisfying about rearranging the numbers like a little puzzle.


    She packed up again, folding up the worksheet and closing her notebook around it, then shoving the whole thing back into her bag.


    Now the hallways were truly crowded. It simply wasn''t possible to move through them without bumping into other kids. Lockers, shoes, talking, it all filled her ears like a physical force. She looked both ways, considering. She could go to the bathroom, and the hallways would empty out in a few minutes, but then she''d probably be late to biology. Bio was already bad enough, she wasn''t sure if she wanted to risk drawing Mrs. Bianchi''s attention even more. No, she''d just grit her teeth and go. If she was fast enough she could maybe even get a seat by the door, away from the windows.


    She set her shoulders and began pushing through. She moved fast enough to earn a few shouts of surprise and irritation when she''d misgauged a space and knock shoulders a bit too hard. Sometimes it''d be some senior or otherwise solid guy and she''d just sort of bounce off them instead. Despite being about to turn eighteen in just eight months, she was still small enough to be routinely mistaken for a freshman. A small freshman who wouldn''t even make a jock stumble when she crashed into them. Regardless of the contact, she kept her head down and moved quickly enough to not see anyone''s reaction or to even really register who she''d bumped into. It didn''t help that the Bio room was about as far as was possible from Algebra without one of them being outside in the portables.


    After what felt like a marathon, she reached the door. It was shut, and some cartooney poster featuring a tree with a face blocked off the little window in it. She pulled it open and stumbled in, but was forced to suddenly stop her rush by the bright sunlight that filled the room. Between the half dozen dirty skylights, two walls filled with windows, and banks of grow lights that never turned off, the room was absolutely blinding after the dim hallways.


    Sarah was forced to close her eyes, standing in the doorway as she tried to adjust. Even with her eyes closed, she could see the outlines of everything burnt into her eyelids. Fuzzy green filled the windows, where racks of plants grew, filling the room with a cloying and musty aroma. Instead of the little boxy desks with built-in chairs, this room had tall, heavy tables lined with stools. The bright glow in the room was strong enough that she almost didn''t notice the music. Some classical something tinkling away, each note interrupting her thoughts.


    <div>


    Mrs. Bianchi was walking along the tables, passing out a piece of paper to the students already in the room. It looked like she''d have to either sit right in front or at one of the tables along the wall. She already knew the wall would be better. It wasn''t pleasant, sitting where the floral aromas were strongest, and where the sun shone directly on her, but it wasn''t as though anywhere in that room was particularly quiet. Better to endure a lot of discomfort than to be right where Mrs. Bianchi would see her not focusing on the work.


    She was sitting down and pulling out another notebook when the bell rang. She was startled enough that she dropped her whole bag, spilling it onto the ground. With a groan, Sarah dropped out of her stool to start gathering the papers and books. The girl sitting next to her got down to help.


    "Don''t use your locker?" asked the girl.


    Sarah didn''t say anything, just kept looking down as she shoved more into her bag.


    "I never do either," said the other girl, handing over the last few pages.


    "Thank you," mumbled Sarah.


    "No problem," whispered the girl, because Mrs. Bianchi had started talking. Sarah finally risked a glance up at her neighbor, realizing that this is one of the girls who had half-spun her that morning. She smiled, noticing that the junior was wearing dangly earrings shaped like leaves. That was probably where she''d gotten the mental image from. For just a moment, the girl looked green. Not ill, but like her whole body shifted shades for a moment. Sarah blinked, and everything was back to the misty white that filled the room.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Sarah jumped again, as half the class shouted "Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell!"


    Mrs. Bianchi laughed along, then continued, "But I suppose we need to talk about why. Mitochondria make a protein called ATP, which in turn is the fuel, the gasoline, for the cell..."


    Mrs. Bianchi continued along, but the reflection of a windshield of a passing car made Sarah blink some tears away. And by the time she could struggle back through the screeching violin that bounced around the room, the teacher had gotten far enough along that Sarah was totally lost. She dutifully took what notes she could, writing about stairs and chains and phosphor-something or other. She could have paid more attention, but Sarah was more focused on controlling twitches and grimaces every time the music changed, or a bit of light moved, or someone got too enthusiastic about a bad joke from the teacher.


    Disgustingly enough, the only thing that kept Sarah even slightly under control was the posters and diagrams around the room. They were still busy, but she could read the labels on a couple of the closer ones, and she could digest them in between distractions. Sarah figured that memorizing the bones in a skeleton or the stages of the decomposition cycle were biology related, even if she was going to have to sit down with the textbook alone to have any hope of understanding the day''s lesson.


    After about half an hour, Mrs. Bianchi had them all turn to the worksheet she''d passed out. It was another diagram, filled with blanks, and they were expected to fill it out, demonstrating that they''d learned from the lecture. And then Mrs. Bianchi turned the volume of the music up even louder. Sarah sat, her hands in her lap, and stared at the page. There were no stairs, nor anything that looked like stairs. Lots of circles though, lots of poorly-photocopied circles. And lines, lines where she was supposed to write stuff down.


    Sarah jumped yet again, this time because the girl next to her had pushed her, gently, on her shoulder. Sarah focused back at her, looking at the other girl''s mouth.


    "I said, do you want to do this together?" she asked. "I mean, I took notes, and I think I''ve got it, but I still remember Tyson complaining about this class. He got a four on the test, but still only got a C in the class."


    "What?" asked Sarah. She still wasn''t quite tracking, percussive notes filling her ears.


    "Sorry, my brother, Tyson," she said. "He''s way smart, but never got bad grades. But he complained about AP Bio all the time. I think I''ve got this, but we should still do it together."


    "Oh," said Sarah. She stood up abruptly, dropping down from the stool. "I''m sorry, I''ve got to, I''ve got," she said as she darted away.


    Sarah went up to Mrs. Bianchi''s desk, "Ma''am, can I have a hall pass? I need to go to the bathroom."


    Mrs. Bianchi just smiled, and said, "Of course," before handing Sarah a large plush frog. The frog was wearing a t-shirt that said "Hall Pass" in big blue letters.


    Sarah left the classroom as fast as she could, but she didn''t turn right toward the nearest bathroom. Instead, she turned left, leaving the building, heading towards the football field. On the home team side, there was a dingy brick building under the stadium. Part of it was dominated by a big steel shutter that closed over a counter where Costco soda and candy got sold during games. But off to the side were bathrooms. She ducked into the girls'' restroom and found herself in a dingy but surprisingly clean bathroom. This time of year, girls sports were all indoors, so really only the boys practiced out here, and there hadn''t been any games for long enough that the place had probably seen more janitors than girls lately.


    More importantly, it was dark, empty, and quiet.


    She found a stall and sat down, feeling the muscles in her back loosen up. She couldn''t stay long, at the very least she''d have to return the frog, but for a few minutes, she had some refuge. After a few minutes in the warm bathroom, Sarah could feel her breath start coming easier as her heartbeat slowed. She felt achy all over, but without the good fuzzy feelings she had after a hard workout. She could hear voices getting louder outside - all male voices. Second period must be almost over, and the guys'' PE class was heading back to their locker room so they could change. And to not shower. She needed to get moving too.


    <div>


    Walking slowly now, she went back inside to the bio classroom. The cartoon tree felt like it was sneering at her, his big white eyes shimmering as sunlight bled through. With a deep breath, she opened the door. She didn''t pause even as the light briefly dazzled her, just dropped the plush hall pass on the teacher''s desk and trudged back to her table, ready to wait a few minutes until the next bell.


    Her backpack and notebook were where she''d left them, although she noticed her pencil had been slid into the wire binding of the spiral notebook. Her table was empty now, the senior girl who''d been sitting there was up and chatting with friends across the room.


    She pulled her bag up onto the table to get ready to leave, and Sarah noticed that her notebook had been drawn on. There were goofy little anime faces doodled in the corners of the page, a girl with a ridiculously ornate updo and a boy with giant eyes that bulged above his spiky hair. A third face was half finished, with just the outline of a chin and ears framing an empty space. Sarah couldn''t take her eyes away, so distracted she missed the end of Mrs. Bianchi''s playlist as a tinkling harpsichord petered into silence. She shook her head and picked up her notebook to put it away, and noticed more on the page behind.


    Someone, that upperclassman, she guessed, had drawn out the same diagram from the worksheet, with all the labels filled out in ridiculously cutesy handwriting. She''d even dotted the eyes with little loopy spirals and put smiley faces inside of some of the bigger letters. Looking at the page, her hand twitched, tugging on the corner, ready to pull the page out of its wire bindings to crumple and leave.


    Sarah didn''t need help. She had her textbook, she could have gotten it done on her own. How dare that girl write in someone else''s notes? Did she think that Sarah was dumb? That Sarah had some learning disability? Sarah was the smartest kid in that class, it wasn''t her fault that Mrs. Bianchi insisted on making the room as painful as possible. Her face felt like a mask, she could hear the girl giggling behind her, oblivious like everyone. Sarah wanted to spin, to throw the book at her. No, she wanted to throw it at Mrs. Bianchi. A shift in light drew her attention to the plants on the wall, and Sarah took a step towards them, reaching out.


    She almost picked up one of the pots, but at the last moment, she shifted and satisfied herself by just plucking a single leaf off. She sat back on the stool and slowly tore it into little bits, staining her fingers with a muddy green as she did so. A powerful odor rose up as she did, making her feel like she should retch. She glanced back at the pot she''d almost attacked - it had a tag with big loopy letters that said, "Basil."


    Of course, thought Sarah, of course, the bio plants are even worse when you break them.


    "Oh, I do love that," a voice behind her boomed. Mrs. Bianchi had walked up without Sarah noticing. "Sometimes when I''m stressed I do the same thing. The herby smells are just wonderful, aren''t they?"


    Sarah didn''t answer, so Mrs. Bianchi continued, "I just wanted to let you know that you don''t need to hand in today''s worksheet. Keep it to study from, I know a lot of you kids would rather memorize anyways, and frankly, your book doesn''t do a great job laying this out. You''ll need to know it for the AP test at the end of the year."


    "Thank you," said Sarah.


    "Oh, and I asked Alexa to copy it out for you. A lot of people mix up where the phosphates go."


    Hearing her name, the girl who''d been sitting next to Sarah looked over and waved briefly, before going back to whatever gossip was keeping them so entertained.


    At that, the bell rang, making Sarah jump again. This time she couldn''t help but cover her ears. The next few periods were easy enough. Third was computer science. The whole room was dark and bare, with just the chairs and computers filling it. Sarah dimmed the screen where she was sitting, and even better she got to put in headphones. She quickly found a white noise generator and turned it on, filtering out what little chatter filled the room. That hour passed quickly.


    Fourth period was PE. It was plenty loud, and she absolutely hated Coach Wilkin''s whistle, but she was allowed to jog the track instead of participating in whatever inane game was on the schedule today. The exertion and rhythmic feel of her feet hitting the rubberized track wasn''t exactly fun, but she could get into a groove of sorts that let all the other stuff slide away.


    Despite zoning out, she noticed when Coach Wilkin dismissed them back to the locker room. The shrill whistle helped. Sarah grabbed a shower stall and quickly rinsed the sweat off, holding her hair out of the water with one hand. The spray stung her skin, but after the run, she almost didn''t mind the laughing and talking echoing around the tile room. She didn''t really pay attention to it, but the locker room had more of the misty fog in it than most rooms like it did. For the most part, she associated the fog with noise, light, movement, and lots of stuff.


    The locker room was just tile, with aluminum benches and big lockers. It spent most of its time empty, and people weren''t usually all that energetic. The girls mostly were stalling and dragging their feet when they changed into their gym clothes. After an hour being worked by Coach Wilkins (a four-foot, eleven-inch ex-cheerleader who still possessed all the irritating competitive optimism of the stereotype), the girls were mostly too subdued and tired out to be very active when changing back out of those gym clothes.


    Shower done, she shucked her shower sandals into the mesh bag with her sweaty t-shirt and shorts, stuffing them into a locker. No PE on Wednesday, so she''d wear them on Thurs and then take the bag home to wash. Sarah momentarily felt irritated that there wasn''t a PE class offered last period of the day. But all things considered, it was probably best to let boys have that slot anyways. Too many of them smelled bad enough already, so any boy who waited till the end of the day to get smelly was a good thing.


    Although fourth wasn''t all bad. It was just lunch next, so she didn''t have to rush getting dressed. It wasn''t as though she did anything fancy with her hair and makeup anyways. A few brushes to make sure things were straight before pulling the elastic around her ponytail were plenty. And the closest she ever got to makeup was if she grabbed unusually shiny chapstick.


    <div>


    Of course, there was simply no way Sarah would even consider subjecting herself to the cafeteria. The mere thought made her hands shake, just a little. Not even on a good day was that place tolerable. The other people didn''t even pretend to keep quiet, and there''d always be a few playing music from tinny little speakers. Plus the smell of chili, or cheap pizza, or whatever crud was on the menu would stick to her hair all day long. No, there was absolutely no reason to go into that big room. Even if she''d forgotten to make a sack lunch, she''d be better off just being a bit hungry.


    No, she had something better she could do. Instead of the lunch hall, Sarah made her way to Mr. Clarke''s art room. He always left it open during lunch - he said it was so people could work on stuff, but Sarah suspected he''d already lost his keys this year. There was a rumor that a few years back he''d given everyone in all of his classes an A after losing his laptop with all his grades. Whatever the reason, she had her advanced art class right after lunch, so she had every excuse to be there. Even better, Mr. Clarke didn''t care about food or drink in the room. It made sense, it was unlikely that spilled soda or dripped bbq sauce or whatever would ever be worse than the damage that paint splatters, lumps of resin, and various adhesives had already done.


    The art room was almost as bright as bio, but so far it had always felt more tolerable to Sarah. Maybe it was because she was usually in there during midday, and even though it had just as many big windows the sun wasn''t shining directly into the classroom. It might also have been simply that the room was usually quiet. It was tucked on the side of the school, away from both the main road and the gym and football field. Even when it was full of students, it remained fairly quiet as everyone tended to just focus on their projects.


    This semester they were supposed to do some sort of sculpture. Sarah got hers down, bringing it to the table she usually worked at. At the moment, she just had ten oblong lumps of clay about the size of her thumb. They were laid out on a board, and she''d spread a plastic bag to keep it from drying completely out.


    She eyed them for a moment, considering getting right to work with them, but a growl from her stomach reminded her what time it actually was. Sarah got back into her backpack, rummaging around to where her food had fallen to the bottom. Miraculously, her sandwich only had one corner smooshed, although her apple was pretty thoroughly bruised. That was ok, it just made the apple a bit more juicy, and Mr. Clarke kept plenty of paper towels around. And the sandwich was just peanut butter on wheat bread. It was hard to hurt that.


    She pulled out her novel to read as she ate. She was actually able to focus on it and lose herself in the pages. A bloody charge against a fort''s wall, the outer fort taken thanks to a breach opened by artillery. The main fort was apparently impregnable until the hero found an undefended corner that could be climbed. More fighting, then the enemy commander was killed shortly after the hero''s servant boy was killed.


    The hero had just managed to find his real enemy, a particularly vile British sergeant, when the door to Mr. Clarke''s room suddenly banged open as a tall redheaded boy burst into the room.


    Sarah didn''t really like Finn. He was one of those boys who had an adult build at fourteen. Tall, broad, athletic, pretty much the only thing that he ever got teased about was his red hair. And even that was more ironic than mean, what with people chanting "Ginger" at football games whenever he ran the ball. Not that Sarah had ever been to the games, but they''d chant just the same during the couple of pep assemblies she hadn''t managed to get out of.


    "Sarita Bonita!" he called out as soon as he saw her. He thought that nickname was funny.


    Sarah just ignored him, setting her book down and uncovering her project. She was planning on making butterflies, with glazed clay bodies and stained glass wings. The bodies had already been given a rough shape and then left to dry out just enough that she could carve the clay instead of just smooshing it around with her fingers. She turned her back to them, and to Finn, to get some carving tools from the back wall.


    When she turned around again, she saw Finn at her table, holding up one of the little bodies in his big hands.


    "What are you working on?" he asked her, smiling. "Surely it''s not some artsy poop thing?"


    "No," she said.


    "Well, what then? You''re not going to make a Madonna or something to lay them on, are you?" he laughed to himself.


    "Put it down, please," asked Sarah.


    "I mean, Mr. Clarke''s laid back, but I don''t think he''d really like something quite so, um, provocateur."


    "Give it back, Finn," said Sarah, her voice starting to tighten up.


    "No worries, Sarita," he answered. He set the oblong lump of clay back on the board before wiping his hand on the front of his jeans, leaving a smear of reddish clay on his thigh.


    Sarah tried to ignore him as he left her table to get his own stuff out. He''d shaped some wire mesh into a pointy oval cylinder and had a pile of paper strips piled up. His creativity apparently stretched far enough to make a paper mache football. He actually came and set down right next to her. Not looking at him, she picked up one of her butterflies and started to carve it out, making the eyes a bit more recognizable, emphasizing the segments in the insect''s body.


    She was just carving out two long grooves for the wings when Finn spoke up again, "Are you using the book too? For your project?"


    Sarah realized that he hadn''t been doing anything with his project, he''d just been watching her. He was close enough that Sarah couldn''t really pretend to have not heard him. "No," she said.


    Finn picked up the book, "Oh, is it any good? Do you think I''d like it?"


    "I don''t know," she said in a quiet monotone. Sarah had to stop carving, her hands were starting to shiver, just a bit.


    "So what''s it about?"


    "Just put it down."


    "I will," he said, thumbing it open and starting to read the first few pages.


    Sarah suddenly twitched, breaking the piece of clay she''d been holding. Even though it hadn''t been fired, it was still dry enough that it cracked apart like dried mud, the crumbled lumps of clay falling down onto the table. She spun at Finn, not really knowing what she was about to do. Shout at him, or probably just talk really fast at him. She wasn''t about to start crying in frustration, no matter what else happened. Maybe she''d reach out and grab her book back, hopefully without bending it too much. Ideally, she could explain that she really didn''t want to talk to him, or to anyone. She just wanted to work, she just wanted her stuff back, she wanted her butterfly to not be broken, and she wanted her project to turn out pretty, and suddenly she froze.


    The white mist, the fog that had surrounded everything since she was nine, suddenly flashed a bright yellow. Everything shone yellow through the mist. All her life, the fog hadn''t ever done anything that she''d ever seen. It didn''t even make it harder to see things at a distance, it had never moved, never flowed with the breeze, but now it changed. Sarah forgot about Finn and her book, stunned by the change.


    And then she felt the burning, a hot fizzing on her skin. It was worse around her face - her ears, mouth, and eyes were spikes of pain driving toward her brain. She tried to scream, but instead, Finn just saw her eyes roll back before she collapsed on the ground, twitching.

 Chapter 6: Awakening

    A loud beep in her ear woke Sarah up. It beeped again, and she flinched against the noise. As the beeping continued, Sarah was able to redirect her focus, realizing that the beep was in time with her heartbeat. Other little beeps clamored for her attention, both from inside her room and beyond, and she started to reach for her ears, only to realize that her arms were covered with cords, limiting her movement. Sarah could feel more cords taped down on her chest. With all the noise, Sarah deliberately kept her eyes closed. She knew what she''d probably see anyways. She was in a hospital, and she still remembered what it was like.


    "Oh thank God, honey, you''re awake," her mother''s voice was immediate, cutting through everything else.


    "Mom, I don''t want to be here," she whispered.


    "I know honey, but you were unconscious for hours, the ambulance couldn''t wake you up," her mom said.


    Sarah opened her eyes, not noticing the bright white glow that filled the small room. She immediately took off the soft clamp attached to a finger on her left hand and then started working on the tape holding her IV in when her mother took her hands. A loud continuous alert went off on the machine next to her, drowning out whatever her mother was saying.


    "I want to go home," cried Sarah. "This doesn''t help!"


    A pair of nurses bustled into the room, one re-attaching the device that had been on her finger. Even though the long tone of the alert stopped, Sarah kept pulling against her mother''s grip, reaching for the pads on her chest. The rhythmic beeps got faster, Sarah''s eyes twitching at each repetition.


    One of the nurses shouted something, and Sarah saw the second nurse turn away and reach into a drawer. Sarah just thrashed harder, trying to get away from the hands holding her down.


    "Please, I just want..." she whispered, as the room suddenly turned yellow. This time she didn''t stop struggling, even as her eyes and ears started to burn. She didn''t even feel the pinch of a needle in her shoulder as she lost control of her arms, twitching in the bed as her mother watched the two nurses work.


    <hr>


    This time, when Sarah woke up, the room was nearly silent. She could hear some footsteps outside, along with a repetitive sloshing noise. It was someone mopping the hall, probably. There was beeping coming through the door from outside too. She could hear someone breathing in her room. That was almost certainly her mom unless they''d kicked her out for some reason. She could hear a few machines whirring, but they were steady and fairly quiet.


    Sarah concentrated on keeping her breathing steady, she tried to listen to the sound of the air moving through her nose. She rubbed her hands on the rough cloth of her hospital blanket. She could feel pressure from the blanket as well, someone had tucked it in on either side so that it pressed against her legs. She could smell the antiseptic cleaners that always filled spaces like this, and just a hint of the floral lotion her mom used on her hands. Her mouth tasted disgusting, filmy.


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    As soon as she noticed it, Sarah found it difficult to think about anything else with that stale taste filling her mouth. She opened her eyes, pleasantly surprised that the overhead lights in her room were off, but between all the monitors and the white glow, she could easily make out everything around her. Her mom was asleep in a little chair, head cocked to the side at what must have been a terribly uncomfortable angle.


    She had expected there to be a little white cup and straw with ice water on the table next to her, but it was empty. Sarah ran her tongue over her teeth, swallowing down the saliva collecting in her mouth. There was a little bathroom in the room, and there would be a sink in there, that would be even better. She could rinse and spit instead of swallowing whatever was making her mouth taste so bad. She started to roll onto her side to get out but was caught short. Both arms were held down with strips of gauze. Not tightly, but enough that she couldn''t reach one arm with the other.


    Sarah laid back, she really needed to rinse out her mouth. "Mom," she finally said, her voice croaking just a bit as she tried to whisper.


    No reaction. "Mom," she said again, this time at a more normal volume. Sarah was a bit surprised at how normal her voice sounded.


    Her mom started awake and looked at Sarah with a blank expression. "Mom," said Sarah, "could I have some water? My mouth tastes really bad."


    "Of course," she said, reaching down to the ground. She pulled a big steel water bottle out of her purse and carried it to Sarah.


    Sarah could see her mom biting her cheeks as the bottle was lifted up to Sarah''s mouth, but the feel of the crisp water washing out her mouth overwhelmed her. Sarah tried to drink greedily, but her mom pulled the bottle away.


    "I''m sorry baby, but I don''t know if it''s ok to give you more. The doctors didn''t say..." her mother trailed off, and she wiped her face. "How do you feel?"


    Sarah paused. She wasn''t comfortable, and she really wanted to go home, but otherwise, she felt fine. Nothing was sore, nothing felt wrong at all. Even though her eyes had felt like fire before, now they felt fine. Maybe a bit gritty, but fine. If anything she felt better. Normally the little LEDs in a dim room like this would make her eyes ache, but they weren''t bothering her at all. Maybe the hospital did something special with them, they could have put some sort of filter on them. It seemed like she was in some kind of quiet room, after all.


    "I feel fine, Mom," said Sarah. "When can we go home?"


    "Let me just get the doctor," said Sarah''s mom.


    Within seconds of her mom opening the door to the bright hallway outside, an older man in suit pants, dress shirt, and sneakers was in the room. He asked her questions but seemed much more interested in the papers at the foot of her bed and the information on the screens around the room. It wasn''t as though Sarah was going to tell him about the white fog turning yellow, and Sarah didn''t want to tell him about the burning eyes and skin either.


    Finally, he began talking to her mom, "We don''t know yet exactly what is causing her events. As lucky as we were that she was on an EEG last night, that only ruled out seizures. Fortunately, most other causes aren''t terribly serious. Given her light and sound sensitivity, I suspect she''s only suffering from migraines. Those can do some crazy stuff sometimes."


    "Our real worry is the possibility that this was a transient ischemic attack, especially with the way her blood pressure spiked right before her event. It sounds scarier than it is, but those are sort of like a mini-stroke. With her age, it''s really unlikely, but we really need to do some tests to rule it out, just in case. I''m going to schedule an MRI for later today, and we''ll keep monitoring her EKG too. If that is the problem, there are lots of treatments, it''ll only be a problem if it goes untreated."


    "For now, I''ll have the nurses bring her some breakfast, and she can have visitors too," he finished saying before he swept back out of the room.

 Chapter 7

    All of that from the doctor, and only one word really stood out to Sarah.


    "Visitors?" she whispered, staring at the door.


    "Oh yes," said her mom, smiling. "A lot of your friends were really worried, some of them were here yesterday too. They''ll be so glad to hear you''re ok."


    "Who though? asked Sarah.


    Her mom''s eyes suddenly sparkled a bit, and she wiped at them with one hand, "Everyone, it seems. Let''s see, a whole bunch of girls came together, Jennifer, Tayler, Lauren, Kayla, and Alexandra. Although I think maybe they were all coming with Alexandra? She seemed like the leader of the bunch. She did get my phone number, to ask if she could come by later today in the evening."


    "Cassy came by, she stayed a little while too. There was another handful that came, but honestly, I missed their names while I was talking with Dr. Foster."


    Sarah closed her eyes while her mom described the girls who''d come to the hospital, schooling her face to be still. She was fairly sure that Alexandra was Alexa from AP Bio, but why she''d come was a mystery. Cassy was admittedly someone she''d call a friend, the girl lived on Sarah''s street and they''d occasionally share rides together. But Sarah had no idea who the other girls were, some of Alexa''s friends, maybe?


    Sarah''s mom sat back down, still talking, "You never told me about Finn, he''s cute."


    Sarah''s eyes popped open, "Finn?"


    "The poor boy tried to sleep here, I had to force him to go home. He came right back this morning too. He even brought you flowers," her mom was grinning at Sarah now.


    "Why? He''s just... why?" stammered Sarah.


    "Why what? He''s cute, I''ve got to say I think I approve."


    "Mom!" The room was getting brighter, and Sarah''s cheeks felt warm.


    "Well, he said he was there when that first seizure happened. I think maybe he feels like it was his fault."


    "It was his fault," muttered Sarah, remembering him making fun of her unfinished sculptures.


    "Sarah!" The smile was gone from her mom''s voice. "We don''t know what''s happening, we don''t know what caused it. Don''t blame him, don''t blame yourself. Hell, girl, don''t blame me either. We''re all trying to take care of you, trying to do our best. Be at least a bit grateful. That boy is probably why you don''t have a concussion on top of everything else."


    Sarah''s head was spinning, and she could hear the beeping in the hallway getting louder over the sound of her breathing. "What?" she repeated.


    "You''ve been lucky," her mom said. "Whatever you think of Finn, he at least made sure you didn''t crack your head on the floor when you collapsed. So when he comes in, tell him thank you."


    "And don''t blame him. You don''t have any reason to be angry with him." At that, Sarah''s mom stood, gathering up her purse. "I''m going to get a coffee, and maybe something to eat. I''ll be back."


    Sarah''s mom left the door open when she left the room. Sarah shut her eyes against the light pouring in from the doorway. She tried to relax into her pillow, to loosen the muscles that had tightened up. She could hear her mother''s voice in the hallway, although Sarah couldn''t make out any of the words spoken by the people outside.


    Before she could make any progress relaxing, someone in the doorway cleared their throat.


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    It was Finn, smiling his normal broad smile, showing off his teeth. He was wearing jeans and a band T-shirt. It looked like he hadn''t brushed his hair, so his head looked like he''d just been electrocuted. His red hair floated in the air, catching the light and creating a bright, fuzzy circle around his head. It didn''t look like he had flowers, which was at least a small mercy. He was just holding a plastic bag with a box inside.


    "What do you want," sighed Sarah, closing her eyes again.


    "Um," he said as he dropped the smile. "I wanted to check on you, is all, I guess."


    "Fine, I''m fine," she said.


    "Good," he answered. He held up a plastic grocery bag and took a box out of it. "I know you don''t like flowers, but you''re supposed to bring flowers to people in the hospital, so..." he trailed off.


    "Thank you," said Sarah, seeing a box of Lego flowers. "And thank you for catching me, I guess. I don''t remember that though."


    "It wasn''t a big deal, I didn''t really do anything, you more sorta fell on me," he said, his smile creeping back. "All I really had to do is not step out of the way, you know? I don''t think I was much help after that."


    "Wait," said Sarah, suddenly confused again. "How do you know I don''t like flowers? Did my mom tell you?"


    "Doesn''t everyone know?" he said. Finn dropped the smile again, his expressive eyebrows pushing together. Sarah was darkly certain that those eyebrows moved on command. "I mean, I remember when you threw that fit way back in sixth when we were supposed to make bouquets for Mother''s Day. And you got really mad when you had to sit by Emily last fall, although she did really overdo it with the rose water, I don''t think anyone would have been happy next to her. And you scowl any time you come to class and a teacher has flowers on her desk. Oh, and I think you''re the only person in Mr. Clarke''s class who doesn''t like Van Gogh''s sunflower paintings."


    They looked at each other, Sarah in her paper gown with wires and cords holding her down, Finn standing in his casual clothes holding the box of legos.


    The silence stretched. Sarah realized it was probably her turn to say something, but for the life of her, she couldn''t figure out what she was supposed to say.


    Clearing his throat again, Finn set the box of Legos down on the little dresser where her mom had kept her purse. "I did need to ask, well, you know."


    He trailed off again while Sarah struggled to figure out what she was supposed to say.


    "It''s just, it was different," he said. Finn wasn''t looking at her, instead looking around the room. His eyes finally settled down on a monitor behind her. "It''s just, you know, I''ve never told anyone. By the time I realized it wasn''t normal, I''d realized it didn''t really change anything, so I never said anything. And then yesterday it changed. Do you?"


    Finn looked like he was about to cry, his lips tight, his arms folded around himself as he leaned forward. He was making absolutely no sense to Sarah, but now she realized she had to say something, "Do I? Thank you, I think. I''m sorry that seeing me is scaring you."


    "Scaring me? Maybe," he said. "I''ve never seen that happen, I''ve never seen anything happen. It just was, since I was seven."


    Sarah pushed herself deeper into her mattress, though the thin foam didn''t have much give. "See what, Finn?"


    "The spirit, Sarah," he said. "I shouldn''t tell you, but yours changed. I don''t know if it''s really the spirit, but everything shines, you know? Living things especially, warm things, but everything. Some days it''s stronger, it was strong yesterday."


    "But Sarah, it''s always been white before, that''s why I always thought it was God when I was a kid, you know? White and pure. But it changed yesterday. The spirit in the room turned yellow, and then you turned blue and fell down. And not like sick blue, I''ve seen that when Brock almost drowned at swim practice. No, all blue - even your hair and clothes turned color. But it wasn''t like you were blue, it was the white shine you normally have, only it got brighter too."


    Sarah opened her mouth and shut it again. She had to take a moment, swallow twice, then run her tongue around her mouth. She inhaled once through her nose. Out again, and inhaled a second time. She couldn''t talk about this, not with anyone. She finally spoke, "I don''t know what you''re talking about, I don''t believe in God."


    "God, spirit, shine, It doesn''t matter. I don''t know what it is, but don''t lie to me, Sarah," he said, his voice getting louder and faster as he spoke. "You did something, it meant something."


    "Finn, I think you should go now," said Sarah. She looked around her bed, there should be a nurse call button somewhere.


    "No! Sarah, please, help me!" He wasn''t shouting, but he had that same intensity. He stood up suddenly, his hands clenched in fists. "You did something, please, I need to know!"


    He reached out to her, and suddenly Sarah could see the white glow in the room move. It almost seemed to pulse away from him. The white and beige walls were suddenly a vivid red, but a teal shine filled the room, gathered around all the lights she could see.


    Sarah found the call button and pressed it. The nurse came quickly, probably already alerted by Finn''s angry voice. She got inside the room just in time to see Finn''s eyes roll back into his head as he collapsed onto the floor.

 Chapter 8

    Finn just sorta folded up, almost like he was sitting down. Sarah watched as he almost fell into his chair, but his center of gravity was far enough forward that he slumped forward onto the floor. Once down on the ground, he looked dead. Sarah couldn''t see if he was breathing, but the nurse was already crouching down over him, calling for help.


    Several more people in scrubs ran into the room, and they quickly had him laid out flat on his back. No one did CPR, so Sarah thought he must still be alive. After a few more shouts, someone else was in with more gear. A bandage of some sort got wrapped around Finn''s neck, and a long board was slid underneath him. Then four of the nurses lifted him up off the ground and carefully took him out of Sarah''s room.


    And without any fanfare, her room was nearly silent again. The voices faded down the hallway as Finn was carried to people who presumably could help. Sarah found herself staring at the red light that covered most of the room. It wasn''t like the fog that flowed evenly through the room. Instead, it was as though everything had been evenly painted a hotrod red with glowing light, even if Sarah could still see the beige colors just fine. The fog that filled the room didn''t look the way it should. Finn had somehow taken all the red out of the pure white mist, and now the room shone with a teal hue. As Sarah watched, she could already see the teal beginning to brighten back to white, and the glowing red fading as things went back to normal.


    There was something wrong with it. The red didn''t fit, not really. It felt like that one time her mom had used food coloring on meatloaf. Sure, it tasted fine, but blue and savory just didn''t work together. The way it sat on everything just felt wrong. Somehow. Sarah licked her lips, watching the red coating fade away. At the same time, there was something about the teal light that remained that kept pulling at her attention.


    A nurse came back into her room, holding a clipboard and a little recorder. The older woman was breathless like she''d been running, but she wasn''t sweaty either. Sarah figured the nurse was reacting to Finn''s sudden collapse. She was wearing gloves and something covering all her hair, and her mask had a hose to a little box at her waist. The woman took a moment to glance at Sarah''s monitors and visibly calmed down on reading the numbers there. With a thoughtless motion, she adjusted her mask as she sat down next to Sarah''s bed.


    "Sarah, are you ok?" asked the nurse.


    "People keep asking me that," said Sarah. "What''s happened?"


    "I was kinda hoping you had some idea," said the older woman. "I''ve got to ask you some questions. It looks a lot like Finn''s suffering from the same thing you are, but we want to make sure. What happened before he fell? An argument?"


    "I don''t know," said Sarah. "I mean, yeah, he was getting upset, but I don''t know why."


    "He wasn''t worried about something you''d say? He didn''t want you to keep a secret?"


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    "What? No, he wanted me to tell him..." Sarah trailed off. "Something."


    Thankfully, the woman didn''t seem to respond to Sarah''s evasion. "This is important, Sarah. Does he take any drugs? Any medicines, anything like that?"


    Sarah blinked and then blinked again. "I don''t, what?" she stammered. "How would I know that?"


    "Sarah, do you take anything?"


    "No!" exclaimed Sarah. She paused after her reflexive assertion. "They tried Ritalin on me a while back. And other stuff, but it all just made everything worse. It''s been years since I took anything. Ah, I take Benadryl sometimes, especially if it''s stormy and I can''t sleep. Please don''t tell my mom, I just get it from her medicine cabinet."


    The woman smiled, "Thank you, Sarah. I''m Dr. Foster, by the way. Right now, we''ve got that boy down the hall getting stabilized. We don''t really know why he collapsed, not yet. But I''m sure he''ll be fine. I wanted to talk to you though, because I''m more worried now.


    "It''s rare, but not unknown for migraines or other minor neurological problems to cause seizures, pain, or vision problems..."


    "I don''t have vision problems," interrupted Sarah.


    "It''s ok, Sarah. I''ve talked to your mom and seen your history," said Dr. Foster. "I completely understand why you wouldn''t want to talk about that to a doctor again. All I can do is apologize for all the pain you went through, but please understand that it matters to your diagnosis and treatment. Some neurological symptoms can be important, even if they went away years ago.


    "Here''s the real problem. It''s a one-in-a-million thing for a healthy girl to collapse and have two seizures in a day. But ten billion people live on the planet, so it comes up frequently enough. Of course, it''s also a one-in-a-million for a healthy boy to collapse too. For it to happen within twelve hours of each other, in the same school, while speaking to each other... it''s practically impossible for those to be unrelated."


    Sarah nodded at that. She already knew that what was happening to her and Finn was connected. The red had almost completely faded by now.


    Dr. Foster continued, "Which means that whatever is making you sick is almost certainly making Finn sick. Which is why I''m asking about drugs. If he gave you something, or you took something together, then we can get you feeling better quickly."


    "I feel fine," said Sarah. "Great, as a matter of fact. I think maybe I slept really well last night."


    "Sarah, please," said the doctor. "If there is a toxin, I need to know. Otherwise, I have no idea what might happen to you two. I won''t tell your school, I certainly won''t tell the police, and I don''t even need to tell your mom. But I need to make sure you two aren''t going to get sicker, and I really need to make sure there isn''t going to be a rush of people with the same symptoms crashing into hospitals around the county. Because if it''s not something that you took together, then the connection is simply that you''ve *been* together. Which means something communicable."


    "We didn''t do anything together, really," emphasized Sarah. "Really, I barely know him. He''s just a jock at school, he bugs me a lot, and that''s it. He''s always bothering me about the books I read and stuff. But we don''t do anything together. Just art class and history. I don''t even know why he signed up for art class, he''s really not good at it and I don''t think he likes it either."


    "Ok, Sarah, fine," sighed the older woman. She stood up, putting the recorder into a pocket. Pausing at the door, she turned to Sarah, "We''ll order a broad tox screen, I''m sure if there''s something we''ll find it. In the meantime, we''ll have to keep both of you in quarantine. At least until we figure out what''s going on."


    And with that, the doctor went away, leaving Sarah to watch the slowly changing colors around her. Even faded, there was still something wrong about the red coating everything in the room. It just wasn¡¯t supposed to be like that.

 Chapter 9

    Sarah looked at the blanket wrapped around her legs. It wasn''t as tight as it had been, she''d loosened it when she had been leaning to watch everyone take care of Finn. But she could see the red stuff coating the individual threads. It really, really wasn''t right, was it? The color shouldn''t just coat the blanket... Sarah flipped the edge of the blanket to just see the brownish-beige fabric. Yeah, whatever Finn had done, nothing went through the cloth.


    Another woman came into Sarah''s room, although Sarah made a mental note to not assume that she was a nurse. The woman was wearing a mask and a visor and was gloved up and wearing some sort of smock thing over her clothes. She was carrying a covered tray and a big cup of water.


    "We have to put you into quarantine," said the woman, who was probably a nurse, as she put the tray and covered cup onto the table next to Sarah''s bed. "There''s an intercom button there if you need anything."


    Sarah saw the controls built into the rail on her hospital bed and nodded. The woman continued, "It seems like you''ve calmed down, so we''re going to untie you. Please don''t remove anything. If you need to go to the bathroom, just go slow and move your IV pole with you. We''re not going to let in any more visitors though."


    "Oh," she said before leaving again, "Almost forgot." The nurse opened a drawer and pulled out a little remote control, setting it on the table as well.


    The food certainly smelled good, and Sarah took a drink of the cold water. It tasted of nothing, and she sucked hard at the straw for a moment. But the food looked...normal. None of the clinging red material that clung to everything else in the room.


    Sarah glanced up, looking at her heartbeat monitor. She didn''t really know what the numbers meant, but she knew her heart was beating faster. It was probably beeping faster wherever the nurses were, but maybe they were still too distracted. Or maybe it was faster but not fast enough to worry them. She should be upset, right? After all, Finn had just collapsed and then she''d been accused of being a druggie, so her heartbeat should be fast right now.


    Sarah licked her lips as she glanced around the room. Almost everything was white again, with just a bit of teal left near where Finn had been standing. Could she wait? Should she wait? Would she really do anything, or was she actually going crazy? Sarah could feel her heart beating in her chest, according to her monitor nothing had changed but she swore it was pounding harder in her chest.


    Sarah suddenly thought of her very last ballet performance, four years ago. She hadn''t been allowed to go en pointe, but it had still been a real show, and she was going to dance with adults and everything. It wasn''t just a thing where all the kids got to show off to parents; Sarah had gone to auditions and people had paid money for tickets and everything. She hadn''t been nervous, but there was some great pressure filling her up, waiting for her to go out.


    It felt like that. Sarah could feel every bit of fabric against her body, the cool of the cords on her arms and chest, a prickle on her scalp reminding her she hadn''t showered today, a breeze from a vent over her head, her heart in her chest along with matching pulses in her fingertips. She could hear beeps and voices and steps outside, and they all seemed to come in sync with her own breath.


    There was that same pressure in her head, telling her to do something, to perform.


    Sarah watched the last bit of red glow fade from the room.


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    The red was wrong. It shouldn''t coat the fibers of the blankets, it should fill them. Just a bit of pushing... and...


    Nothing.


    Nothing happened, except that the red faded completely.


    A shout from outside made her jump, breaking her concentration again. She heard more shouting, and Sarah recognized her mother''s voice. With a deep breath, she reached out and pushed the intercom button. Someone outside whistled, and the yelling stopped. A speaker that Sarah couldn''t see beeped, and she heard her mom''s voice ask, "Sarah? Is that you? They won''t let me come in!"


    "It''s fine Mom, really," answered Sarah. She paused, realizing that she actually felt kinda calm, she didn''t have to manufacture even tones in her voice, "I don''t want you to get sick. This is bad enough already, even if I feel fine."


    "I was in there all night!" her mother''s voice was rising again, and Sarah could hear the echo from outside. "If I was going to get sick from you, I would have already."


    "Please don''t get upset," Sarah said, her voice firm. "Really, I''ll be fine. You should get some sleep, maybe."


    "Sarah, I should be there..." said her mom.


    "No, Mom," interrupted Sarah.


    "Fine, fine! Fine," she said with an almost huff. "Do you need anything? They said they could bring your phone next time someone suited up to go in."


    "Thanks, yeah, my phone would be nice. Did anyone get my backpack? I''d like something to read," said Sarah.


    "Ok honey, I''ll be right back then," her mom said. "Are you really ok?"


    "Yes Mom," Sarah''s voice drew out the words, finally letting some irritation show. "I''m fine. It''s fine."


    "Ok, I love you," she said.


    "I love you too," said Sarah.


    With a beep, the intercom was silent.


    Sarah looked back down at her blanket - it was completely back to normal now. She couldn''t see anything strange about it, and even though the fog in her room wasn''t terribly thick it shone a pure white again. She couldn''t see any sign of whatever Finn had done.


    Sarah had never really looked closely at the fog before. It''s not like the stuff ever changed before. Besides, it didn''t exactly impact her life any, so it had always seemed best to just ignore it. But now it had changed, at least three times it had changed. And if this last time was something Finn did, maybe she''d done something the first two times.


    The fog wasn''t actually even in the room. She could see it was a smidge thicker by the door, almost like it was getting pulled in with the drafts. Looking around, Sarah noticed more of the bright mist gathered around her covered tray. She lifted the cover and saw how the glow was thicker beneath. With the cover off, she watched it slowly start to diffuse out into the room.


    Sarah could feel the pressure build, an expectation filling her as she studied the fog that had followed her for almost five years.


    She waved a hand through the thicker stuff above her meal and was surprised to see it move. Her hand left a trail of yellow mist, but in front of her hand, the fog thickened, showing first a steel grey color that slowly brightened into a true blue shade.


    Sarah could feel the stuff for the first time, the blue fog felt warm against the skin of her hand. Suddenly the heat spiked, and it almost began to feel like burning. As the burning began to spread up her arm, Sarah flailed her hand, trying to shake off the intangible brightness that was gathering around her hand and spreading up her skin. She kept flailing, and finally in a panic she tried to wipe her hand on her blanket.


    With a snap, the blue spread out into the blanket. This time though, it felt right to her. The way the burning ended suddenly was right, but the blue in the blanket was especially right. It fit. The whole blanket had taken on a soft blue glow to Sarah''s eyes, and she knew without looking that the blanket had been filled. The energy was throughout the cloth, and not simply sitting on its surface.


    Sarah noticed the aroma of the food again. She wolfed it down, hardly tasting it until she realized she was using a finger to get every bit of the gravy out of the little compartments on the tray. She was still starving and thought about buzzing the intercom again to ask for more to eat. But when she leaned back to reach the button, she found her eyes drooping.


    She barely even noticed her blanket shifting to cover her and tuck itself tightly around her as she fell asleep.

 Chapter 10: Touch

    So far as she could tell, nothing woke Sarah up. The room was dark and quiet, her blanket tucked tightly around her. She opened her eyes, seeing just the closed blinds blocking the sun in the window and the steady green lines of her heartbeat on a monitor. Stretching, she sat up, the blue blanket sliding down to loosely cover her legs.


    "Good news, they ruled out infection," said Sarah''s mother. Her mom was back in the chair, leaning a bit awkwardly so that her phone cord reached a plug in the wall. "I did ask them to turn away any visitors. Even if you and Finn don''t have the same thing, you seemed stressed."


    A pause and her mom asked, "How do you feel?"


    "Honestly? Great," answered Sarah. "I mean, I''m starving, but my head feels clear and I''m not achy or anything."


    "Good, I''ll talk to the doctor. She said we might be able to take you home tonight. She''s back to thinking migraines."


    "Mom, um, do you know what happened to Finn?" asked Sarah, "I mean, if it was really different than me?"


    "I don''t think I''m supposed to know, honey, but I heard them talking about exhaustion and low blood sugar," said Sarah''s mom. "Is he diabetic?"


    "No? Maybe, I don''t know," said Sarah. "But that''s not something you catch..."


    Her mom smiled as Sarah trailed off. She said, "Right, which is why they aren''t enforcing quarantine any more. They really aren''t supposed to tell anyone what he''s sick with, I think they only said what they did because we were all worried about you."


    Sarah nodded. Her room was quiet enough that when her stomach suddenly growled, her mom could hear it too.


    "Hang on a minute, honey, I''m sure I can get you some lunch, and we''ll see what the plans are."


    Her mom unplugged her phone and bustled out of the room, leaving the door open. Sarah leaned back down against her pillows, her blanket pulling itself back up to cover her arms against the draft. Sarah wasn''t sure when she''d fallen asleep, but judging from the light outside she''d been out for most of the day. The room was back to a misty white, if anything the glow was thicker and brighter than it had been before. A corner of the blanket lifted up, where Sarah could inspect it closer. It was still blue, just as blue as it had been when she''d tried to wipe the mist off it before.


    When Finn had done whatever he did, the red coating faded in minutes, but her own blue was holding steady hours and hours later. She hadn''t really inspected it that thoroughly, but it seemed like it hadn''t faded at all. Would it ever? And what was the point?


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    Sarah looked at the mist, feeling a pressure build up again. She needed to try it again. She could put the fog into her blanket, but clearly holding it and just touching it was dangerous. Sarah could still feel the burning sensation crawling up her arms. She was pretty sure that her falling unconscious wasn''t caused by anything more complicated than that; if she''d really covered herself with the blue mist the way Finn said, then no wonder it hurt so bad.


    But she couldn''t help but wonder, could the blanket be more blue? Could she do it to other things? When Finn had collapsed, he''d painted everything in the room. The blanket folded back to let one of Sarah''s arms out, and she reached out, intending to see if she could gather more glowing mist from the air. Which was when her mom walked back in, and Sarah quickly turned the reach into a stretch, yawning hugely.


    "They still have an MRI scheduled to rule out strokes, but it sounds like we can go home tonight. I already got a prescription for propra, pro, a beta blocker that you''re supposed to take daily. The doctor said it''ll help with blood pressure and migraines, but there''ll be a lot of appointments with Dr. Foster until she works out the right dosage. And I''m sure you''ll be happy to hear you''re missing school for a week or so, in case you faint again," her mom continued on, talking about plans and appointments and tests.


    Other than getting to miss school, Sarah didn''t pay much attention. She had no idea what was happening, or why she was the only person who could see and touch the glowing fog. Well, maybe not the only person, Finn apparently could too. Not that Sarah was going to talk to the jock about it. And maybe other people could too.


    Sarah had told her parents about the fog when she first noticed them. Before she realized that she should just keep it to herself, she had spent a week in the hospital, had four MRIs, half a dozen CT scans, pokes and prods without number (including a particularly painful needle in her back), and most of a year of daily therapy with a host of psychologist, psychiatrists, counselors, and an acupuncturist. There had to be other people who''d figured out that talking about things they could see was stupid, right?


    She''d need to be careful. She didn''t want to talk to them, either. Who knew what crap they''d inflict on her. And they''d be able to see what she did - Finn had seen her, and she''d see Finn. Anytime someone was around they''d immediately notice when the mists changed color. Could she draw through windows? She could see through windows, was this stuff like light or like normal fog? And if she could put mist into stuff, could she pull it through? If she did it on accident, not realizing it, someone just driving by her house would know she was inside.


    Looking down, Sarah realized that she didn''t just have to worry about the fog changing color. Her blanket shone as it lay motionless on her lap. If she left a trail of stuff they''d be able to find her too. She could still see that her blanket was the same greyish beige as every hospital blanket, the blue color was somehow totally different from its actual color, even if she could easily see both at the same time.


    Her mom was still talking, something about a low-sodium diet. "Mom," interrupted Sarah, "can I take this blanket home?"

 Chapter 11

    Sarah didn''t get a chance to be alone the rest of the day. They took more blood and made her lie down in an MRI while it took pictures of her head, and did very little else. One of her questions got answered, at least - twice more that afternoon she saw teal fog in the hallways, centered on Finn''s room. So clearly it could be pulled through walls, windows, or shut doors. She tried not to think about the alarms that would go off or the shouting that followed each time she spotted the change in color.


    Her mind did drift to her backpack a few times, that dumb biology worksheet loomed large. It wouldn''t be that hard to memorize it like she was supposed to, especially not in her calm hospital room. Even her mom couldn''t talk forever, especially when Sarah was right there and awake for whatever the nurses and doctors had to say.


    Not that they said much. Nothing wrong with her brain that they could see, nothing was wrong with her heart or lungs either. All the blood tests and labs were fine, the only medical symptom they had found during her whole stay was that blood pressure spike from when she''d panicked after first waking up in the hospital, and according to the nurses that was pretty easy to manage.


    But forget biology, Sarah was finding it hard to pay attention to anything but that blanket. It didn''t fade throughout the day, and she constantly fought the urge to shove more blue into it. Could she put the blue into something else? She wasn''t sure, and Sarah just wanted privacy to try it.


    It was getting a bit late in the evening before Dr. Foster made it back in. The older woman was calm, smiling as she talked, "I think the medication should help, but be careful about dizziness. We''ve seen some weight gain, but at your age, I honestly wouldn''t worry about it."


    "Now, obviously I''m not going to say you''ll be perfectly fine. In fact, you''ll almost certainly have more events. If you feel anything similar again, try to lie down before you fall. I know it''s hard to predict, but if a severe headache comes on, severe nausea, and eye pain all can signal a migraine. If I were you, I''d be more worried about hitting my head during a faint than the migraine itself, as bad as they are. The same goes for any of those symptoms you reported as a kid - eye pain and even seeing auras are very common symptoms."


    Sarah could only nod along, clutching her blanket in front of her.


    The nurses made her sit in a wheelchair, with her blue blanket folded neatly on her lap, while they wheeled her outside to where her mom''s little Toyota was waiting. The drive home was uneventful. Sarah covered herself up with the scratchy blanket and leaned her head against the glass of her window, watching streetlights and signs shine in the pale glow of the night. The fog got brighter out in the suburbs. Instead of wisps hovering around the cement and glass downtown, here the fog clung thickly to the grass and trees in people''s front yards, rising up and around homes.


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    Sarah perked up for a moment - just before turning onto their own street, she spotted a house with a patch of purple spreading into their yard. Confused, Sarah stared before noticing the inside of a bedroom was filled with purple light as well - someone must have colored LED bulbs turned up bright, throwing the purple light into the dark night air. That made sense - she left yellow fog; Finn left teal fog. That''s what she should be looking for if she was looking for something, which she wasn''t.


    With a mild thump from the tires, the Toyota pulled into Sarah''s driveway. Before her mom could turn off the car, Sarah had her seatbelt off and the passenger door open. She grabbed her blanket and backpack and darted out of the car, shutting the door before her mom could finish whatever it was she was about to say.


    Without glancing back to see her mom shut her mouth, Sarah practically skipped through their garage, letting herself inside. Abandoning her pretense and walking slowly, she ran up the stairs and into her room. She chucked her bag and the wadded-up blanket onto her bed and sank down onto the floor, laying face down and rubbing the carpet with her hands. It smelled of carpet. Not hospital disinfectant, not artificial floral scents, not sweat, or glue, or stale coffee. It just smelled like home.


    She was still laying there when her mom finally caught up. "Sarah!" yelped her mom, "what''s wrong?"


    "Mom, really," said Sarah. "I''m just glad to be home. It''s nice."


    Her mom just stood there, making sure that Sarah hadn''t fallen. "Ok... go take a shower, and then you should get some sleep. That''s what I''m going to do. I really need a shower. And a bed."


    "Ok, I''ll go in a minute," said Sarah.


    A shower really did sound nice. Her skin felt kinda crispy now that she thought about it. Not dry exactly, but like there was a layer of something dry on top of it, crackling when she moved. The carpet still felt nice, and despite the sudden bit of itchiness, she kept enjoying the feel of her own room again.


    She really wanted to go take that shower. Maybe she''d wait until her mom was done with hers though, so she could get some better water pressure even if it would mean maybe running out of hot water. And waiting wouldn''t be a big deal anyways - her mom might be tired but Sarah had no intention of going to sleep. She had slept most of the last couple of days, and she felt energized and alert in a way she couldn''t remember ever feeling. Maybe that had always been her problem. Maybe she just needed more sleep? They say teenagers need more, maybe she was an outlier and needed even more than that.


    And even if she was as tired as her mom, there was still no way she was going right back to sleep. She sat up from the floor, glancing at the neatly bundled blue cloth at the foot of her bed. It still seemed just as bright as it had been before, but something was still bothering her, just a bit.


    She had been using it in the car, covering up to stay warm while enjoying the cold air from the car''s vents. She had just grabbed it up, tossing it over the arm she''d used to carry her bag, and then she''d tossed it onto the bed.


    So why was it now folded neatly up and squared away on her bed?

 Chapter 12

    The blanket lay there, like a perfectly ordinary blanket. It was folded into quarters, longways, so it stretched across the foot of her bed. It lay there, glowing softly blue under her room''s low-watt lights. It was lined up right along the edge of her mattress, the way Sarah always folded extra blankets she had out. But she was confident she hadn''t folded it.


    No, she''d come in, tossed her bag and the blanket down, then embraced her carpet. She hadn''t done anything else. Her mom hadn''t taken more than a step into her room, and there just wasn''t anyone else who could have done it. Sarah kept staring at the blanket, had she gone to the bathroom? Fallen asleep?


    No, the blanket should be wadded carelessly with her backpack where she''d left it.


    Suddenly the blanket shifted, unfolding itself and slithering up the bed to push against her backpack. It mostly fell motionless again, although one corner kept trying to push itself under her bag.


    Sarah yelped a sharp high pitch little scream, blushing as she realized maybe privacy wasn''t just important for preventing additional hospital stays. She reached out, grabbed the corner that was ineffectually trying to wedge itself under the backpack, and whipped the blanket off the bed. Nothing was underneath it other than her pale brown comforter. Holding the edge of the blanket, she gave it two sharp shakes. Nothing fell out, other than a few little puffs of dust that Sarah could just barely pick out in the light.


    With a more dignified growl, Sarah chucked the blanket into her hamper in the corner of the room. She could see the blue color through gaps in the wicker basket. Standing on the balls of her feet, arms tense, she watched it.


    It didn''t move.


    Had it moved? Yes, she''d thrown it down, it had folded itself and then unfolded to try and go back where she''d left it. And then it stopped.


    Sarah kept staring at the basket as it simply did what baskets do. She felt her muscles loosen as her breathing slowed back down but didn''t stop watching for any blue shifting in the hamper.


    A few dozen shallow breaths later, Sarah closed her eyes. She inhaled deeply, held it for a moment, then exhaled deeply. She opened her eyes, clenched her fists, released them, then touched the little grey desk next to her bed, touched her pillow, and finally picked up her backpack, moving it to the black office chair by the desk. She unzipped it and began pulling out her papers and books, stacking them on her desk. The binders and spiral notebooks got set down in an alternating pattern, keeping the top flat. Two of her novels were stood up on the shelf above the desk, with the third novel that she hadn''t finished yet set on the corner of her desk where she could reach it from her bed.


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    Loose papers came next, most of them went into the little waste basket under the desk. She saw the worksheet that Alexa had doodled on and filled out, crumpled under everything else she carried. With a pang, she smoothed it out and slid it into the middle of the pile of binders. With a few adjustments, she couldn''t see it at all under everything.


    Then, before she could do anything with the handful of pens and pencils at the bottom of her bag, she spun around quickly towards her hamper. Nope, it was still exactly where it had been. The blanket hadn''t moved at all. Padding over, she looked down into the hamper. The blanket still lay there, the blueness inside the fibers perfectly visible in the shadows of the basket. She reached down and pulled it out.


    Running her hands along it, it felt just like any other crappy hospital blanket did. It was cotton, lightweight, with a sort of fuzzy and scratchy texture. She lay it back on her bed. This time catching the air so it spread out flat over the mattress, the corners falling over the sides because it wasn''t straight. Sarah took a moment, focusing and memorizing exactly where it lay, then turned around again. From the top drawer of her dresser, she pulled out a faded gray pair of shorts and a ratty black tank top.


    Looking at her bed one last time, she finally left her room to take a shower.


    The shower felt pretty good, although she had a hard time really enjoying it. She left it lukewarm to start with, hoping the hot water would last long enough to finish, but she still had conditioner in her hair when the water went cold. She could feel the grit and grime of the last couple of days sluicing off her in the soap and water, which did feel lovely despite the cold water.


    But her mind kept flashing back, going over everything that had happened. She could pull blue from the air, leaving a yellow mist behind. The blue hurt, and hurt bad, but her blanket didn''t seem to mind. Finn had pulled red out of the air, leaving a teal mist behind. It looked like it must have hurt him too. And her blanket moved by itself.


    Hadn''t it? Sarah had tossed it down, and while she was thinking about how happy she was to be back in her space, it had folded itself up precisely as she would have if she''d taken the time to do it. Then she''d noticed, felt bothered, and tried to go back to where she''d left it. And then it laid perfectly still, exactly as she thought a blanket should.


    Getting out of the shower, Sarah swiped a towel over herself briefly and pulled on her pajamas over wet skin. She hustled back to her bedroom, distracted for just a moment by the trail of marks that the water in her hair left as it dripped behind her.


    The blanket was still laid out flat on her bed, one corner hanging over the edge and down onto the ground. Sarah told herself that the blanket should instead be straight, and indeed the blanket immediately began shifting itself until it was perfectly aligned. Despite herself, Sarah yelped again. She had expected to have to concentrate, or say some magic word, or wave her hands, or something. Instead, she barely had to consider what she wanted and the blanket moved. "Locomotor!" she giggled to herself as the blanket folded itself into a neat square over her pillow, then rolled up into a tube before unfolding and flopping onto the ground.


    Sarah watched as it moved around the room like some sort of animal, smiling as it pulled itself into triangles or twisted spirals. She only frowned once, when she realized that it couldn''t lift itself off the ground - it could reposition itself, but it couldn''t climb back on to her bed or into her hamper.

 Chapter 13

    The blanket would just wiggle around against the side of the basket, but the edge of it just wouldn''t reach up. At best it would fold back over itself and get some height that way. Sarah even had the blanket scrunch up in the middle to see if she could lift it up that way, but it just collapsed back in on itself. She spent a few minutes watching her blanket, seeing if she could come up with a way to get it higher when she noticed that the blue color was finally starting to fade.


    As the blue light within the blanket got fainter, it started moving slower and started to seem less responsive to Sarah''s thoughts. It had originally been moving without Sarah even forming a command in her mind, now it would only move when expressed a clear desire in her mind.


    Sarah called the blanket over, and it crept across her floor until it was puddled around her feet, feebly pushing up at her ankles. Smiling, she bent down and picked it up, gathering it up and clutching it against her chest. The faded blue was holding steady again, but then she wasn''t having it do anything.


    Glancing around, Sarah considered her room. A twin bed in the corner, with a brown comforter pulled tight atop the mattress, the single pillow causing a bulge in the folds at the head. The pale cool walls were bare, and no posters or pictures were hung up anywhere. She had a desk next to her bed that doubled as a nightstand and a few shelves on the wall above it. No knickknacks, although the shelves were filled with paperbacks. One window opposite her door, with blinds and a heavy black curtain covering it. The hamper by her closet was the only thing on the floor.


    But more importantly, the glowing mists were thick in her room. Sarah reached out, and she could feel a heat of sorts against her palm, and see blue light thicken against it, leaving a yellow trail behind. Before the heat could turn to pain, she brought it against the cotton hospital blanket, watching the blue power snap into the fabric. She hadn''t gathered much, and the cloth wasn''t as bright as it had been before.


    So she reached out again, swiping her hand along to draw even more power to herself. This time it flowed more slowly into the blanket, and somehow Sarah recognized that she''d quite literally filled the fibers up to the brim. There was still blue on her hand, and she recognized the warmth as it slowly got more intense, again turning into a burning sensation that spread up her arm. Sarah instinctively wiped her hand off against her desk chair, letting the blue leave her skin and fill up the fake leather backing. The pain vanished as soon as the blue light got sucked away from her skin.


    Ok... the chair took a bunch of light from her hand, but it ended up barely bluish to Sarah''s eyes, while the blanket gleamed brightly. The chair was bigger, so perhaps it just took more. Sarah giggled as it rolled itself slowly under her desk. She almost started to reach out for more light to put into her chair, but she noticed that almost all of the mists in her room were already yellow. She knew there was more within reach, but glancing at her curtained window Sarah worried that taking more would make it obvious from outside that someone was pulling blue from the air.


    It probably wouldn''t take long for the fog in her room to turn white again, so instead of pushing more into her chair, she let her blanket crawl out of her arms back to the floor. She was delighted to see it moving much faster than it had previously. The blanket was actually able to push the hamper a few inches across the floor. Even better, the corners of the blanket could actually reach up from the floor into the air. Still nowhere near high enough or stiff enough to get into her hamper by itself, but clearly more blue meant the blanket moved faster and with more strength.


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    She watched the blanket struggle against the basket for a while longer, enjoying the way the blue-infused cloth tirelessly rearranged itself to try to do what she wanted. But as fun as it was, Sarah was getting hungry. It hadn''t been that long since she''d eaten at the hospital, but her stomach was demanding attention. So Sarah lifted her blanket back onto her bed where it folded up to wait for her.


    Out in the hallway, Sarah glanced at her mom''s room. The door was cracked open, showing a dark room. Without turning any lights on, Sarah padded down the stairs to the kitchen. Despite the way the white mist seemed to glow in her sight, the stuff didn''t actually reveal anything in the dark. Sarah could still make her way by memory though, and while her mom wasn''t as neat as Sarah, neither of them was likely to leave anything on the floor to trip over.


    The fog was thicker in the kitchen, like it usually was. Feeling around on the wall, Sarah accidentally turned on the disposal in the sink for a moment before getting the switch that turned on the lights over the counter. The kitchen wasn''t quite as tidy as the rest of the house, probably because Sarah''s mom had left mid-meal when Sarah had gone to the hospital. There was a dirty plate on the table and more dishes in the sink. Sarah took a moment to move everything into the dishwasher, resolving to run it before she went back upstairs. She''d wipe the crumbs off the table too.


    That done, she checked the fridge for something to eat. Some tin foil on a casserole dish revealed the meatloaf they''d had a few days ago. Not great, but with some ketchup, it would be fine cold, and somehow it sounded way better than toast or yogurt. Putting a lump of it on a plate, she carried it to the table along with a squeezy bottle of ketchup.


    The meatloaf did taste good, even without warming it up. She munched happily, waving her fork in the air as she chewed, the chorus from some song echoing in her head. Looking at her fork, she could see the fog actually swishing around her fork as she marked the beat. As she watched it, she could see it starting to gather up blue light. It actually gathered up more blue light than she''d taken with her hand - she basically turned the entire kitchen yellow, and she only stopped when she saw the yellow fog had reached the wall. She''d held it a long time too, gathered up near the tines.


    She finally had a chance to watch the blue power as it swirled gently. It moved, almost like it was orbiting Sarah''s fork. It was spreading back out too, getting less focused as it seemed to mix back into the room. At least it was getting less focused until the ball was big enough that it touched Sarah''s fingers where she was holding the fork. Immediately it started to burn, and she could feel it spreading fast again. Her eyes widened, head swiveling to look for something to dump the light into, but she hadn''t planned anything and nothing stood out to her. As much as it hurt, she had to put the blue into something she could keep in her room. Her eyes were starting to burn when she noticed that the mess on the table wasn''t just crumbs. There were a few dead flies as well, black houseflies that had fallen near the windowsill.


    They were little, and probably couldn''t hold much, but they were better than nothing. Or at least better than a dirty plate. Gritting her teeth, Sarah reached out a finger to touch the nearest fly. The burning stopped immediately as the blue light vanished into the dead bug.

 Chapter 14

    The dead fly should have glowed bright like her blanket. It had felt like she had put all of her power into it, more than she''d gathered up earlier in her bedroom, and more than she''d gathered after Finn had collapsed. But while a small bit was enough to make the blanket feel like it was overflowing with power, the dead bug felt like an empty water bottle with just enough moisture to fog up the plastic. It didn''t even really look blue to her sight. It was sorta tinted blue, maybe.


    Sarah took another bite of her meatloaf, now that her fork wasn''t gathering up strange magical powers from the air around her. She chewed it slowly, examining the dead fly. Even though it was barely lit up, it shook out its legs and easily flipped itself upright. The fly walked around the table, forming little figure eights and other patterns as she finished her late meal. It kept walking in its pattern even when Sarah''s head drooped and she dropped her fork with a clatter on the plate.


    Covering a little yawn with her elbow, Sarah got up and took her plate to the washer. She grabbed the little soap packet from beneath the sink, tossing it in among the silverware before she shut the door. A couple of buttons later and she could hear it hum as it got going. She could empty it out in the morning. She grabbed a little spray bottle from under the sink and tore a few sheets of paper towels, and went to wipe down the table. As she sprayed, the fly took off into the air with a buzz. It hovered a foot or two over the table as she finished cleaning up.


    She couldn''t quite get the dead thing to fly like a real bug. Instead of the vaguely aimless swoops that she would have normally expected of a fly, it flew in straight lines and deliberate turns. Her fly was a fly with purpose. At least, it would have a purpose if Sarah had any idea what the point of a fly under her control could be.


    A blanket was pretty cool. Just being able to tidy itself up was awesome - Sarah was already planning to fill up her other blankets and sheets so that she wouldn''t need to make her bed anymore. The chair was kinda silly, but being able to roll around on its own was fine. It would probably take some time though, waiting for the mists in her room to turn back to white again.


    But a fly just seemed useless.


    Oh well, thought Sarah. If nothing else, it seemed like it could hold a ton of light. She''d keep it around to shove extra into it. Keeping a dead fly around seemed a bit creepy, but it was better than knocking herself out again.


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    Her room was still strongly tinted yellow. She''d need to be more careful, some of the mist in the hall outside her room was yellowish too. Shutting the door behind her, Sarah sat down on her bed and found herself laying down. She had slept all day, and she had intended to spend more time messing around with the blue fog, but she could also feel how heavy her eyes were getting.


    "Uggh," groaned Sarah. She was already laying down but she''d left her light on. But before she could swing her legs off the bed to start sitting back up, the buzzing of the fly intensified. It had landed on the switch and somehow shoved down hard enough to turn her bedroom lights off. In the dark, she could see the bare little glint of blue within the fly where it still sat on the switch. So maybe a fly wasn''t totally useless. Could an ordinary fly flip a switch, if it wanted to? Not for the first time, Sarah found herself regretting how little attention she paid in biology class.


    Sarah watched the soft blue spark drift around the dark room like her own personal light show. She banged it into the walls a few times, but it didn''t seem to take any damage or lose what little light it had. After just a minute or two, Sarah reached out in the dark and opened the top drawer of her desk. Knowing where it was by touch, Sarah was able to guide the fly into the drawer where it could sit, hopefully unbothered. She let her head settle into her pillow as she slid the drawer shut.


    She smiled, looking at the little bit of blue glint of the fly where it sat in the dark. If she focused, she could make out its wings, legs, and eyes. Her hospital blanket glowed more brightly at the foot of her bed, and she''d been able to see the blue mist infusing each fiber in the blanket, but the fly was beautiful. Every detail seemed plain to her as it sat motionless, poised.


    Suddenly, as her mind started to drift, Sarah opened her eyes and lifted her head with a jerk. Her chair wasn''t blue! It wasn''t glowing at all, even though she''d put some light into it. It had been brighter than the fly, and it had rolled around on its own, but it was as dim now as anything else in her room. She tried to look hard, to see if there was some tiny bit she could make out, but it was just a dark amorphous blob, only slightly visible from the tiny bits of normal light that crept in through her blinds and curtain. Nothing filled it at all, even though it had been there before. Sarah closed her eyes again; the chair was just one more thing to mess with when she had a chance.


    Sarah considered getting up so she could actually get into her bed, instead of simply laying on top of the comforter. Even as she considered the steps necessary, her mind began to slow. The hospital blanket pulled itself over her as she relaxed, surrendering finally to sleep.

 Chapter 15: Rise

    The house was still and quiet when Sarah awoke. Absolutely nothing was bothering her as she slowly rose from sleep.


    Her room wasn''t as dark as it was in the middle of the night, even the best blackout curtains still let a bit of diffuse light into a room when the sun was shining outside, but the diffuse sunlight wasn''t enough to disturb her. There was something indescribable in the air that told Sarah that her mom was up, that the house was awake, and that the neighborhood outside was moving around, but no actual noise from any of it was catching her attention. Her bladder wasn''t even bothering her, her alarm hadn''t told her to get started with her day. She woke up exactly when her body wanted it to.


    Sarah stretched out in her bed, flexing her arms and legs in turn. She was particularly delighted when her blanket shifted along with her, keeping her legs covered without actually tangling with her clothes as she shifted. She reached out to a little lamp on her desk, resting her hands on the switch. Then she smiled to herself and opened the drawer instead of switching on her reading light.


    The dead fly took off and hovered above her desk. She then had it zip over to her curtain where it landed on the edge of the cloth. The buzz of the fly suddenly got louder as it pushed hard against the cloth. Sarah thought that she had for sure seen a twitch of the cloth as the bug strained, but the heavy curtain was clearly too much for the little body to shift. After a moment she sent it to the light switch instead, but again it simply buzzed loudly and failed to turn on her lights.


    Sarah sat up, concentrating on the fly. It had managed the switch fine last night. The buzzing of its wings spiked a bit louder again and the light finally flipped on. Licking her lips, she brought the fly back over to herself for a closer look. It was hard to tell, but the fly had lost some of its blue light. Sarah glanced down at her bed at her blanket, it was still bright, and an indefinable sense told her the blanket was still full to the brim with blue light.


    Without hesitation, Sarah reached out and gathered some of the white fog in her room, only taking a smallish handful. She was careful to reach toward the center of the room, well away from her walls. She held the blue light for a moment, feeling the warmth grow on her fingertips. Before it could heat into pain she reached out and touched her hovering fly with a finger.


    The light flowed into the bug, and it brightened back up. As it took in the power, the buzz of its wings got quieter, and Sarah could feel how it flew more easily.


    So, more light meant more power.


    The fly darted back to the light switch, and with a loud buzz, it switched the lights off. Then on, then off again, then finally on. She left the lights on and called the fly back. It hadn''t lost any light and it was still flying fast and easily. With a flicking motion, she sent the little bug back to her curtains.


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    It landed again on the curtains and she made it push, to push as hard as it could. This time she was sure she saw the curtain twitch, just a little bit, though the fly didn¡¯t actually move it along the rod. She left the fly there, pushing. She could hear the whine of its buzzing wings, and even if she couldn''t really see the bug she knew it had landed on the side and was using its wings to push down against the thick black polyester. After just a moment, she could hear the buzz start to soften, and she could tell that the fly wasn''t pushing as hard as it had before. Sarah let it stay, pushing as hard as it could while the noise faded.


    Sarah glanced around, realizing that she didn''t have any sort of clock in her room. Her mom probably still had her phone, since Sarah hadn''t ever gotten it back since she''d gone to the hospital. She wished she had some way to time her bug, or the fog flowing back into her room. Something else for the future, she figured.


    The buzzing stopped completely and Sarah looked up. She tried to call the fly back but got nothing. She couldn''t see its glow either from her side of the little room. Sarah got up from her bed and walked over. After a moment of looking, she found the dead fly on the carpet under the window. No blue in it, nothing. It had totally emptied out in just a minute or two. Sarah looked around the room, considering how much light she could gather without letting the yellow hollow she left behind touch the walls.


    Her room was still bathed in a yellow tint, it hadn''t had a chance to fade at all yet. There was still some pure white mist near the wall opposite her bed, but not a lot of it. Probably not enough to do anything with the fly again. But she reached out anyways, this time extending just her index finger to graze through the room. Blue fog gathered, drawn in to warm her finger as it collected and spun around. She was moving slowly, trying to limit how much she took, and the warmth grew slowly too. She still touched her finger to the inert fly before the warmth could start to burn.


    A knock sounded at her door, and Sarah yelped and dropped the fly. She spun to face the door, while the fly crawled across the floor and under the door to her closet.


    "Sarah?" said her mom''s soft voice at the door. "Are you up?"


    "Just a sec!" she shouted in a high pitch. Sarah moved fast to open the door before her mom could come in. She cracked it and stuck her head out, seeing her mom in sweats.


    "Good morning?" her mom asked. Her mom cocked her head and said, "Are you ok?"


    "I''m fine," said Sarah. "Sorry, you just scared me, that''s all."


    "Scared?" her mom smiled.


    "Well, you made me jump."


    "Sorry, I''m sure. Do you want some breakfast?"


    "Um, yeah. I''ll come down in a bit," said Sarah.


    "Good, I''m making waffles." Her mom continued, "By the way, one of your friends came over early this morning. Alexa? I''ve never met her before she came by the hospital, but she seems worried. I wish you¡¯d tell me about your friends."


    Sarah''s eyes widened at the news that Alexa was downstairs, and she ducked back into her room.


    Her mom studiously ignored her reaction and went on, "So maybe don''t make her wait too long. I¡¯ll be downstairs, come down quick, please."


    Sarah just sat on her bed, listening to her heart thundering in her ears.

 Chapter 16

    Maybe Alexa would just go away. Sarah didn''t have anything to say to her, they''d never shared more than greetings or the minimum required for some group assignment in class. Before AP Bio this fall, Sarah didn''t think she''d ever even seen the other girl. And what could Alexa have to say to her anyway? Sarah didn''t care about gossip from school, and she especially didn''t care about whatever Mrs. Bianchi had covered in biology, so what else was there? At best, Alexa would give her the same old platitudes about being worried and sorry and scared and how she hoped that Sarah would get well soon.


    The hospital blanket wrapped tightly around Sarah, clinging to her chest and shoulders as she breathed rapidly. Sarah reached down and touched her bed, running her hands along the fabric of her comforter. She felt the carpet under her feet, the tight weave rough under her toes. She could feel just a hint of a draft on her feet as air flowed from the vent under her bed.


    Ok, thought Sarah. I¡¯m fine. This is fine. She wasn''t sure why she was worried. It made sense that people were interested, it''s not as though ambulances carted off students from the high school regularly, and Finn had probably bragged all over the place about how he''d caught her. Alexa probably just wanted to hear about what happened so she could tell everyone about it. And it''s not like it was anything super terrible, she hadn''t done anything bad, or even anything embarrassing beyond just passing out.


    Had she? Hadn''t she read that unconscious people usually messed their pants? Oh God, thought Sarah, had she had an accident before the ambulance took her? Would people have seen or smelt that?


    Sarah''s breathing sped up more as the blanket tried to tighten down around her shoulders. Her arms free, she reached for her desk, opened a drawer, and took out a little stone she kept there. It was fairly rough, although one side had a black patch painted on it. She rubbed her fingers over it, feeling the weight and texture of it.


    Her door knocked again, and Sarah didn''t look up. She just said, "Mom, could you tell her I''m fine but want to rest some more?"


    "Um, Sarah, it''s me, Alexa," responded the voice.


    Sarah chucked the rock back into the drawer and slammed it shut, standing up with a jerk. "Just a minute!" she yelled.


    The blanket had fallen back on the bed and was folding itself back up, but Sarah reached without looking and grabbed it, tossing it to the floor where it crawled under her bed, hidden by the bed skirts. She looked down at herself - the shorts were maybe a bit too short but it was fine. The tank top though, was old and stained, and starting to fray around the neckline. That wouldn''t do, so Sarah got into her closet and rummaged quickly along the hangers, finally pulling out a big t-shirt. It was a men''s shirt, and big enough that she could have worn it with both shoulders out of the neckline. A faded graphic advertised a used car lot that had gone out of business years ago.


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    Throwing the shirt on, she grimaced realizing it hung down past the bottom of her shorts. But she turned towards the door anyways, resting her hands on the knob. She took one very deep breath, inhaling as much as she could before letting it go slowly. She still felt like her hands should be shaking, so she took one more deep breath before opening the door.


    Had she opened it too slowly? It felt too slow, but she tried to smile anyways and turned up the corners of her mouth. Sarah was looking down after opening the door and saw that Alexa''s toenails were painted a bright yellow. "Morning," she said.


    "Good morning," Alexa said, brightly. Alexa stepped in close to Sarah, her arms extended out, but instead of hugging her, Alexa just stopped and stepped back. The older girl went on in a more subdued tone, "Your mom said you were feeling better, but I wanted to come see you. We were all so worried, no one at school really knows what happened."


    Sarah stepped back into her room, still facing Alexa without actually looking at her, "Doctors said it was just a Migraine. But I think I''m fine. Just tired, you know?"


    Alexa stepped in to follow Sarah, "Wow, your room, it''s... clean. Um, yeah, that''s good you''re ok. I hear you''ll be out for at least a week? That must be nice, getting some quiet like that."


    Sarah just nodded, so Alexa went on, "I''d probably go nuts, but I get it. A break might be worth getting poked by doctors a bit. Or maybe not. A few days of extra sleep and not doing makeup in the morning would be awesome."


    Sarah started to say that she never wore makeup, but her mom interrupted them. "Sarah, honey, the hotel called and there''s some sort of emergency, but I can''t leave you alone. It should just be an hour, and then we''ll come back."


    "Mrs. Galardi, I can stay if Sarah wants to rest," said Alexa. "I''ve already talked to all my teachers, and I was just gonna sluff today, and probably tomorrow too."


    "Mom!" Sarah was mortified, "I don''t need a babysitter!"


    "Sarah, we can''t leave you alone yet, what if you go into another coma?"


    "Mom, please, It''s not like you could do anything if I did!"


    "I can call an ambulance, and I can make sure you aren''t drowning or choking on vomit or bleeding from where you fell!"


    Alexa was standing quietly, she had moved so her back was against the wall and the senior was carefully not looking at either Sarah or Sarah''s mom. "Um, I can call 911, and I''ve got my phone right here. I know your address too, 814 Passage Way, right?"


    "Mom! This is..." Sarah was interrupted before she could keep going.


    "Thank you, Alexandra. I really appreciate it. Get my number from Sarah, I really should be back soon enough," and with that her mom left, leaving Sarah sputtering behind.

 Chapter 17

    Sarah finally looked up at Alexa, her eyes narrow and her mouth clenched. Alexa held both her hands up, palms facing out as she said, "I''m not a babysitter, obviously. You''re fine, she just left you home with a friend. We''re just hanging out, ok?"


    Sarah pressed her fists down against the mattress where she was sitting. She started to put her tongue between her molars to keep them from grinding, but the last time she''d done that the sores took a week to heal.


    Alexa said, "We don''t even have to look at your homework, even though I got a bunch of packets from all your teachers yesterday. Mr. Clarke didn''t give me anything, he said you could just finish what you could, he just grades on participation or something. The papers are all downstairs..."


    Alexa trailed off as Sarah still wasn''t moving or responding.


    "Um, so the doctors are kinda going nuts about Finn, did you know?" said Alexa. "It''s kinda funny, really, whenever he''s awake they''re questioning him about drugs, which just gets him mad, and then he passes out again. Somehow every time he gets upset he hits a wall and passes out, like he''d exercised too hard. They just pump him with sugar and he wakes back up."


    Alexa was grinning about this, but the thought of being stuck in the hospital like that seemed horrifying to Sarah. The doctors would just ask and ask, poke, prod, cut, and make everything so much worse than it was before. Imagining herself in Finn''s spot made her forget to be angry, and Sarah asked, "How do you know?"


    "Oh, I was there most of yesterday after school. I guess you didn''t want visitors, so I was mostly hanging out with him. The nurses and doctors were only talking about him, when I left they were arguing about what sorts of specialists to call in." Alexa burst out in giggles.


    "That''s terrible! Who knows how long he''ll be stuck there," said Sarah. "And why are you laughing?"


    "You would too if you were there! Everyone was so confused, Finn knew exactly what the problem was but couldn''t control himself and of course didn¡¯t want to actually say, layers of red Qi coating the room, the nurses and doctors walking around with red faces and clothes, it was great. I''d swear Finn was doing it just to get out of answering questions."


    Sarah pushed herself back against the wall, bringing her knees up in front of herself to cover her body. She could feel the blanket under her bed do the same, pushing itself as far into the corner as possible.


    "Oh, shit," said Alexa. The girl stopped laughing quickly and sat on the floor opposite Sarah''s bed. "I didn''t mean to scare you, of course, I''ll keep the secret. I''m just..."


    The two sat in silence. Sarah''s mind felt frozen. It was worse, so much worse than some accident at school. Alexa had so many friends, always talking to people, everyone would know about Sarah seeing things, that Sarah was weird, that she was worse than some loner, that she couldn''t breathe, that she couldn''t move, that her chest was frozen, that...


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    "Sarah!" snapped Alexa, but even at a near shout, it didn''t pierce the panic filling the younger girl. Alexa got up and left the room, Sarah could hear the steps going down the stairs and hoped that Alexa was leaving. Instead, the steps came right back, and Sarah could hear Alexa breathing hard from exertion as she took the stairs two at a time. Alexa came back in holding a bag of something that she pressed into Sarah''s hands.


    It was cold, freezing. It shocked her, clutching the bag in her hands. She gasped involuntarily and focused on the cold. Her eyes came into focus and she saw it was a bag of chocolate chips that her mom kept in the freezer.


    "Sorry," said Alexa. "Jill uses cold packs, but I didn''t see any, so I grabbed this. I figured we could eat them even if they get a little smushed."


    Alexa fell silent for a moment, watching Sarah.


    "Really, please, don''t worry. It''s not like I''ve ever told anyone about myself either," said Alexa. "They''ve got enough to deal with already, and it never really caused a problem until last year."


    Sarah just shook her head, "I don''t know what you''re talking about."


    "Come on girl, I can see your room, and I saw Mr. Clarke''s room before. I''d show you how I make it purple instead of your yellow, or Finn''s teal, but I''d rather not spend the next ten minutes blind and deaf."


    Sarah just kept shaking her head, flexing the frozen bag in her hands. Her fingers were starting to feel a bit numb, but that was better than letting her mind go again. She opened her mouth, then shut it again. Instead, she just looked over at Alexa.


    Alexa was sitting on the ground again, her legs out straight in front of her. She was wearing capri jeans cuffed at the calf and a red long-sleeved shirt. Just a T-shirt, even if it was a lot tighter than anything Sarah wore out. She was still wearing the same leaf earrings, the dabs of green color popping brightly against Alexa''s dark curly hair.


    "I know you just got back from the hospital, and I''m probably being selfish," said Alexa.


    "Its just just... I just need to know. You figured something out, I know you did. You touched the light just this morning, judging from your room, but you''re ok. You aren''t unconscious or anything. But me? I can''t always control it, but it happens anyways."


    Sarah kept breathing, through her mouth now. "I don''t know if I can teach anyone, I''m not, I''m only, I''m," she stuttered. Her tongue felt thick like it didn''t fit her mouth.


    "Ok, fine," said Alexa. She sighed, noisily. "Fine, please don''t, um, do anything. Just, here." And with that, Sarah could suddenly see the fading yellow mists shift. Sarah could see a ball of mist thickening in front of Alexa, turning a pale green as it gathered. The rest of the fog in the room was turning pink.


    "Huh," said Alexa. "I didn''t expect pink. It''s usually purple, but I guess if I started with yellow it makes sense."


    Alexa grimaced, "And there it goes. I''m blind, and if you''re saying anything I have no idea. I''m probably shouting too, because can''t hear a thing either. And don''t draw on my face or do anything nasty, I can still feel stuff. It''s super creepy to have someone touch me when I''m like this." She waved her hand in front of her, making a karate chop motion.


    "This happens every time I touch the Qi, the light. I gather them up, they look pretty, I go blind," Alexa said softly. She was whispering instead of shouting, but Sarah could hear her just fine. "Last night I tried doing what Finn did, shoving the light at things, but It doesn''t really work. I can make shapes in the air, but I can''t move them, and even if I swing something against it nothing happens. Just passed through. And of course, I only get a moment to experiment before I have to take a break."


    Alexa frowned. She reached out and felt the door, it was still shut. "Ok, you didn''t leave, I guess that''s good. No idea if you''re listening though, I really hate this. So much. I''m just going to keep talking, nothing else to do. At least not until I can see and hear again."


    Sarah could only nod, watching the ball of green dissipate back into her room.

 Chapter 18

    "So, um, I''m not sure when I started seeing the light everywhere. I was like twelve when I realized that not everyone could see it," Alexa was still sitting on Sarah''s floor, legs stretched out. Her voice was quiet, low, but steady. Her face seemed calm too, as though she wasn''t blind and deaf and sitting in some stranger''s bedroom. Sarah was still bunched up against the wall, she hadn¡¯t moved even though her breathing was slowing back down.


    "I still remember the first time I realized it - my older brothers were talking about some space movie and how awesome it looked. I watched it and said something about how they didn''t do the fog very well. Which of course led to some confusion, the movie didn''t have fog, and there isn¡¯t any fog in space, but my brothers thought maybe I meant that the movie should have had fog or something, and then they made me watch a bunch of stupid movies that did have fog and then they talked about that for a week.


    "And because my brothers are jerks, I just dropped it and didn''t talk about it anymore. I thought maybe I just had some eye problems, but I always got twenty-twenty when I got my physicals so I decided it just didn''t matter. I remember once getting a bit excited hearing some psychic talk about auras, but as soon as she talked about the different colors around people I realized I wasn''t doing that."


    Alexa paused, she tilted her head up to the ceiling, "Huh, maybe it does mean something. I haven''t thought about that in years. I mean, you kinda had a yellow aura in here, and Finn had a teal aura in his hospital room. So maybe the colors do mean something.


    "Anyways, some of us from school went camping at the end of the school year. I guess that was only a few months ago, but it feels like longer. We joked it was our Twilight trip, cause we were out in the Oregon boonies by the coast. Have you read it? It''s great, I''m really looking forward to the next one. Anyways, I''d never been out there before. I''ve mostly just lived here, and even when we go on a trip it''s always to some other city. Like Disneyland and stuff.


    "The light was so bright, so thick. It was incredible, Mrs. Bianchi''s room is the only place around here I know of that feels close to that. But there, I felt like I could taste the Qi, roll it up in my fingers, and chew it. And I reached out and pulled it into my hands. And before I could blink the woods were all tinged purple and I had this incredible vivid green ball in front of me. And then I couldn''t see anything at all. That was the first time I went blind.


    "Did you hear about it? I know the girls talk about it. I panicked and called out, I think I scared some of them, but I got my vision back soon enough. When it came back, the green glowing light was still there, but it had sorta diffused some. I spent an hour or so watching it fade away. I did it again on the drive home. The ball was just outside the car that time, but it flowed along with us, passing right through cars and fences as we drove along. I didn''t panic at being blind that time, I was just a passenger so I just rested my head back like I was napping until my sight came back.


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    "I''ve done it a bunch since then, and each time I go blind. It''s stupid, it''s not like the green balls do anything, but sometimes it''s like I can''t help myself. I see the white glowing QI and I know I can do something with it, that it''s important, but I can''t do anything with it. I guess I¡¯m starting to get used to it."


    Sarah tried to interrupt, "Why do you call it that? Qi?"


    Alexa was still deaf, "The girls told my parents and they took me to a doctor who told them I probably had a concussion, never mind that I hadn''t hit my head on anything. Honestly, I think I had decided to just ignore it as best I could, and if I ever felt compelled to touch the Qi I''d make sure to do it when I was alone and it didn''t matter if I could see for a few minutes."


    Alexa stopped talking. She just rested her head against the wall, looking like she could sit there all day. Sarah, however, couldn''t. She''d been shifting back and forth as Alexa went on. Sarah stood up, and Alexa held up a hand as Sarah moved closer.


    She had said not to touch her, but Sarah needed some way to communicate if even a little bit. So Sarah took Alexa''s hand with a firm motion. She tapped it five times and then patted it against the ground, saying "I''ll be five minutes, just stay here."


    Alexa said, "Five sit. Sure. I wasn''t going anywhere."


    And with that, Sarah slipped from the room. She hadn''t left her room since she''d woken up in the morning, and some needs pressed a bit more than a nosy girl. She took her time, used the toilet, brushed her teeth, and even put on a bit of fresh deodorant. She probably didn''t need that, she''d showered right before she''d gone to bed, after all. But still.


    Her mind kept drifting back to Alexa waiting in her room. She hadn''t invited the girl over, but she''d not only come to the hospital, she''d come to her home in the morning and practically forced her way into Sarah''s room. And Sarah couldn''t even kick her out, since her mom would be super mad to find Sarah alone. Never mind that there wasn''t any real risk of Sarah falling unconscious again.


    So Alexa was here. Sarah looked at herself in the mirror. Blue eyes, although they always looked washed out by her too-pale skin. Her mom always said she''d tan if she ever got sun, but Sarah avoided going outside as much as possible. Her muddy brown hair fell straight down. At least it usually did, at the moment there were some patches that shot off sideways or hung in a matted tangle. She''d looked like that all morning! Sarah scrabbled for a brush and began working the morning''s tangles out. She''d dribbled some toothpaste spatters onto her shirt too, showing white and crusty against the dark fabric. But nothing she could do about that.


    Sarah rolled her head around her neck, stretching a little bit. She''d like to hide longer, but Alexa would probably come looking for her as soon as the girl could see again. Might as well just go back.

 Chapter 19

    Alexa was standing at Sarah''s desk, holding one of Sarah''s books. When Sarah stepped into her room and saw that, she swallowed once, stepping around to sit back on her bed. Alexa put the book back on the shelf, carefully sliding it back into where it had been left as though the books had some sort of organization. Alexa sat back down on the floor where she''d been before.


    "So, um, do you have any questions for me?" asked Alexa.


    Sarah shook her head.


    Alexa opened her mouth, but Sarah quickly spoke, "Why Qi? Did you just make up a word for it?"


    Alexa''s eyes widened briefly, and she glanced up at the shelf before answering, "I guess you don''t read much fantasy? I''d assumed... it''s a magic thing. Qi, mana, the force? Dunno why I picked qi. The force doesn''t seem right, and haven''t you noticed it''s thickest around plants and food and people? And the more energetic people are, the thicker it is too? So I just started calling that in my head, ever since I realized I can move it around. The green makes me think of life, too."


    It made sense to Sarah, that was probably part of why the biology classroom was so miserable. "I really don''t like those places, much, they always feel so loud and the light hurts. I guess I didn''t realize it was the fog that hurt, I just assumed it was the noise and sun and stuff."


    Alexa said, "Really? I mean, don''t you always hang out in the art room? The lights there are way brighter, and he''s right next to the shops too. I can''t stand the hammering and tool noises over there. But I guess I know what you mean. I like going out into the woods and stuff, it''s really hard to ignore people sometimes. And yeah, it''s for sure worse when the fog is bright, now that you mention it. Although..."


    It was Sarah''s turn to wait while Alexa looked for words.


    "Growing up," Alexa said, "growing up it was hard to not notice when people were having a bad day, and it''s always kinda been my thing, to help people have a better day. I''d notice someone was upset, and I couldn''t focus on anything but dealing with that. But, this year has been maybe different. I''ve honestly been keeping myself up sometimes because lately, I''ll notice something is wrong and just sorta not care. Like, yeah, my brother came home from work angry at something but I''ll just finish my homework and go to bed. It used to be I''d barge in and clown around, or make him brownies, or whatever until he forgot to be mad at whatever."


    "Ok," said Sarah slowly. "Is that bad?"


    "No!" said Alexa. "Yes? Maybe? Is it bad that I don''t think it''s bad? And why did it just now change?"


    "Maybe it''s a teenage thing?"


    "Ha!" Alexa barked the word out, rather than laughing. "My mom says that. Well, she says it''s hormones. But I don''t think so, and I think maybe it''s the same with you."


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    "I don''t think I''ve ever been worried about helping people like that," said Sarah.


    "No, maybe not. But you didn''t even notice, did you? Why not?" Alexa gestured to the window, where the blinds were open and the morning sun was streaming through the curtain onto Sarah''s bed, right where she was sitting.


    It felt good. The bright sunlight was warm on Sarah''s shoulder, and she''d been relaxing in it without noticing.


    "The first day of bio this year, I''m pretty sure you hissed when you stepped into the sun," said Alexa. "And you flinch when birds chirp outside, and you can''t concentrate when people are whispering in class, yeah? So what''s changed? And is it really so farfetched for me to be thinking that what changed with me is what changed with you?"


    "No, wait," said Sarah. She was looking down, her mouth working as she looked at the fog in her room, the pink light in her room slowly brightening into a pale purple shade. She could feel the blanket folded up neatly under her bed, and she could just barely spot a glint of blue where the dead fly sat under her closet door. The fuzzy green ball still hovered in the air, where Alexa had stepped around it to sit down.


    "But it''s not the same, is it?" asked Sarah. "We''re different. So different. You''ve never been bothered by sounds, I''m not bothered by people being, um, bothered. Finn sure as hell isn''t bothered by sounds or people.


    "Look," Sarah said with a burst of impulse. She reached out, gathering a batch of blue light on her hand. "Blue, not green, not red."


    She shook her hand, trying to leave a ball of blue light in the air to match the ball Alexa had left. It clung to her hand stubbornly, beginning to crawl up her arm and cause the familiar burning sensation. Was it taking longer to burn? No, she just didn''t have very much gathered up. She reached down and pulled up her hospital blanket from the corner that was sticking out from under her bed. It took a smidgen of the light, but it was still very, very full, leaving Sarah with a handful of light.


    Alexa was watching her with wide eyes as Sarah reached out to dump the last of the light into her desk chair. "I can''t put light into the air like you can, it just doesn''t work. And when I let it touch me it starts to hurt - it''s why I had my seizure at school. What I do, I put the light into things. Look," said Sarah as she tossed the blanket into Alexa''s lap.


    Alexa caught it easily, looking at the light imbued into the cotton fibers. She said, "So if you put it into something, it doesn''t knock you out?"


    "More than that," said Sarah.


    "What do you," Alexa yelped, "the Hell is this!"


    Alexa scrabbled her way up the wall, brushing at her arms as the blanket clung to her. Sarah giggled as the blanket reached out to wrap around Alexa''s face before the other girl was finally able to fling it to the ground. The blanket immediately slithered back to Alexa, trying to crawl up her feet as Alexa danced away.


    Sarah brought the blanket back over to her, picking it up and putting it on her bed where it quietly folded up. "Sorry, yeah, that was just me. Sorta," said Sarah. "The light doesn''t just sit there, it makes the things, well, move. I haven''t done much yet. It''s not like it''s been that long, all I know is that the more light I put in, the stronger the thing gets, and if I push too hard it loses light.


    "So I''m not sure what you want me to tell you," said Sarah. "I can''t put light into nothing, and you can''t put light into stuff. So we can''t be the same, I''m sorry."


    "Please don''t ever do that again. It''s not supposed to move like that!" Alexa was rubbing at her arms, watching the blanket where it sat inoffensively on the bed. But she smiled suddenly, "It''s the colors, Sarah. It all makes sense!"


    And with that, Alexa reached out to the green ball of light with her hands, and the light flowed into her hand, tinging Alexa''s whole body green.

 Chapter 20

    As the green light swept into Alexa''s body, she inhaled a sharp gasp. She stood with her back arched, just a little, her mouth hanging open as her eyes rolled back. Sarah could see Alexa''s nostrils flare as she breathed hard. Alexa''s shoulders shook for a moment as her breath caught, and then she just threw her head back and laughed.


    "Wow," said Alexa. "I feel like energy drink commercials were true. Is it like that for you?"


    "No, definitely not," said Sarah. She could feel a blush rising. "Um, you''re a little green now, by the way."


    "Am I? I am! This feels really, really good. Like, I dunno, I need to run or something." Alexa held up a hand to look at it. Alexa didn''t feel any different from Sarah, not the way the blanket felt full or the fly (or everything else in her room) felt mostly empty, but she was certainly holding some green light in her body.


    Sarah was about to ask if she could get a closer look when Alexa suddenly launched herself in the air, cracking her head hard against the plaster of the ceiling. The girl landed with a thump, her legs flexing to take the landing.


    "Ow," said Sarah, wincing as she got up to catch Alexa, even though Alexa didn''t appear at all unsteady on her feet.


    "That... I''m sorry," said Alexa, looking up. There was a crack in the drywall where she''d hit the ceiling - she must have hit a beam because the crack was long and straight.


    "Are you ok?" said Sarah, putting a hand on Alexa''s shoulder as she looked up at the ceiling too.


    "Um, yeah, that''s, I still feel great," she said. "That probably should have hurt, huh?"


    "What was that," said Sarah, watching Alexa rub the top of her head.


    "I''m not sure, honestly, I was just going to bounce a little. You know, just hop on my toes a bit. I feel like I should be running, or throwing something really hard, or something."


    "Ok, I guess," said Sarah. "Maybe no more jumping? And maybe no running or throwing inside?"


    "Yeah," laughed Alexa. "Sure, I won''t."


    Sarah watched Alexa as the girl twitched and fidgeted and smiled to herself. They should probably get out of her little room before something got broken for real. "Do you know if my mom actually made any waffles, or did she leave before she got started?"


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    "No idea!" said Alexa. "But good idea! I''m starving, let''s go find out!"


    Sarah led the way to the kitchen with Alexa skipping along behind. Her mother hadn''t cooked anything, but the waffle iron was out and the batter was already mixed. The girls set about making themselves breakfast, not really talking about anything but waffles. Alexa was cheerfully pouring out the batter in the iron, Sarah mostly wiping up after the other girl while telling her where the plates and syrup and so forth were kept. Before too long, and without any broken plates, they had a stack of waffles laid out along with syrup and fruit.


    They sat down and both tore into their breakfast. Sarah put down three whole waffles along with plenty of fruit before realizing that she''d just eaten more than she usually did in a day, but she still felt hungry. Not the bored kind, where she''d have a book and would pick at a plate or bowl until she''d eaten herself sick on nuts or chips, but actually hungry, like there was still a pit in her stomach that demanded filling. Alexa was eating just as quickly, but Sarah had no idea if that was normal. Some kids brought absolutely gigantic lunches to school, but she hadn''t ever really paid attention to what Alexa ate. Or if she ate. Or who she was at all.


    She ate another two before slowing down. Should they be talking about something? That was what people did when they ate together, right? Her mom had complained often enough whenever Sarah tried to read through a meal, even though her mom never had much to say either.


    Alexa took the last waffle just as Sarah was about to reach for it. With a smile, Alexa tore it in half and let Sarah take it. A few bites later, they both got up and proceeded to mix and make another batch of waffles, still without really talking.


    They ate most of that batch too.


    Alexa''s little half-smile didn''t feel nearly as uncomfortable to Sarah now that she had a little smear of maple syrup on her shirt. For that matter, Sarah was stuffed to the point she felt like it''d be hard to move, and she probably had a similar expression on her face.


    "Ok, so I''ve been thinking," said Alexa as she dragged a strawberry through the puddled syrup on her plate. "You''re worried, right? You don''t want anyone to know what you, what we, can do, even if they can do it too, yeah?"


    Sarah nodded, and Alexa went on, "Which means you can''t do anything here. If you only used what''s inside the house, you''ll hardly have anything. I mean, I know how much I''ve pulled into the air before, and how much I pulled in just now, and it''s like nothing. Less than nothing. I''m trying hard to keep myself under control, but I gotta admit I really, really want to pull in everything I can reach. Don''t you want more?"


    "Not really, but maybe?" said Sarah. She honestly didn''t feel anything driving her beyond a bit of curiosity, but then she thought of her little fly. She knew she''d barely put a few drops into a giant tank - what could she do with more?


    "Ok, so it''s simple. We can practice, we just need to go somewhere where that''s far enough that even if someone sees the different colors, they won''t necessarily know it''s you."


    "Makes sense," said Sarah.


    "Great! Today''s Thursday. You seem fine, but there''s no way anyone will expect you in class tomorrow. We''re going camping!" announced Alexa.


    "What?"


    "Camping! Don''t worry, I''ll talk to your mom, she''ll be fine with it," said Alexa. "It''s a date!"

 Chapter 21: Stance

    Sarah wasn''t quite sure what had happened. She was sure she was sitting in Alexa''s big blue four-wheel drive thing. Alexa had called it her jeep, but it wasn''t shaped like a jeep and Sarah didn''t really know cars at all. Tossed in the back was a wrapped-up sleeping bag she didn''t know they owned, a duffel with a change of clothes, and a cooler full of food that her mom had excitedly filled up. She wasn''t sure how the two of them were supposed to eat all those hot dogs, potatoes, bananas, chips, and other snacks, but they had them. There was also a big plastic-wrapped box of water bottles from the garage. Sarah also clearly remembered stopping by Alexa''s to throw in another sleeping bag as well as a tent and pads.


    All of that made sense. What didn''t make sense is how quickly her mom agreed to everything and helped plan things. Sarah had been in the hospital just yesterday, but the only hint of concern from her mom had been when she''d made them promise to make sure that they had cell signal wherever they ended up stopping. Her mom hadn''t even asked where they were planning on going - not that the girls had thought that far ahead, not beyond simply getting far enough away to be basically alone. Well, maybe Alexa had an idea, it sounded like she spent a lot of time out here.


    Sarah realized she could have acted still sick and gotten out of this impromptu trip. A bit of soreness, a headache, or even just her normal sensitivity to light and sounds could have been enough to stay home. She normally just got out of school like that, but surely if she hadn''t already been so insistent about how good she felt her mom would have kept her home. Except Alexa would have known. Alexa would have known that she was just faking it to get out of going out, and somehow doing that after already agreeing was worse than actually going.


    "It''s too early for the hunters to start coming out, so other than a couple of nuts tracking herds ahead of time, it should be pretty empty," Alexa was saying. "It''s starting to get colder, and people have school and stuff, so odds are we''ll find a whole canyon to ourselves."


    "It''ll be nice having someone to come up with me," she said. "I know you''re not supposed to, but I usually come up alone. The other girls don''t really like to, not very often anyway. And I''m usually coming up because I need a break from my brothers in the first place, so I don''t exactly invite them either."


    Sarah was looking out the window, she and her mom never went camping, and she hadn''t ever had a reason to come up into the mountains. They were thickly covered in pine trees, with lots of other brush and vines and stuff growing that Sarah couldn''t identify. Once in a while, she''d catch a glint of water between the trees - little streams or lakes, probably. Alexa maybe had a point about living stuff, the glowing fog was super thick up here, she could actually make out how it billowed over the forested hills.


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    "Oh, don''t let me forget," said Alexa. "What''s your cell signal looking like?"


    "Four bars still," said Sarah.


    "Good, It''d be a good idea to get as far out as possible, but we need to watch that."


    "Sure," said Sarah as she turned to watch out the window again. "We''re pretty far already."


    Alexa laughed, "Not really, we''re still on the highway. I''d like to get a couple of miles off it before we start getting comfy. Help me look, there''s a little dirt road on the right coming up, I always drive right past it. It''ll take us up over that ridge, and then there''s a great little meadow with a stream not much farther. I just hope we have signal over there - the mountain might block it."


    "I''m sure it''ll be fine," said Sarah.


    "Well, maybe eventually you can go radio silent, but I''d rather not have your mom start to hate me this early," said Alexa. "Let''s just do what we''re told to start with. Actually, why don''t we even call her once we get lined up? Make sure the signal actually is good, and tell her where we stopped?"


    "Good idea," said Sarah. She noticed a break in the trees up ahead and pointed it out. "Is that the turn?"


    "Good eyes," said Alexa. "Yeah, I definitely would have missed it. It looks different every time I come up, I swear. You''re going to love it up there, it''s so quiet. Like you''re the only person in the world."


    The road looked like it was going to be smooth, but before they even got out of sight of the highway the dirt track turned into a rutted mess. Alexa quit talking, focusing on driving while Sarah just hung onto her armrest and the handle above the door. They jostled themselves for another half hour or so, pausing once in a while for Sarah to check her phone. It spent most of the trip at one or two bars, but once they got stopped they''d call out and make certain it was working.


    Finally, Alexa pulled to a stop. At first, it looked just like everything else along the dirt road, and Sarah thought they were just checking the phone again, but then she looked past the row of bushes ahead of them. Through another break in the trees, she could see tall grass filling a deep meadow. She got out of the car and followed Alexa out to the break. The meadow stretched across the whole valley, maybe a quarter mile across. Just tall yellow grass surrounded by a green wall of pine trees. She could hear water gurgling loudly from at least two directions. Birdsong rang out, the wind rustled the grass in long wavering lines, and she could hear the crunch of undergrowth in the distance where a group of deer were moving. Sarah assumed it was deer, she couldn''t actually see them, but she couldn''t think of anything else that would be in a big group like that up here.


    "See?" said Alexa. "I said you''d love it."

 Chapter 22

    "First things first though, come on," said Alexa, walking back over to the car. Opening the back, she gave Sarah the tent before grabbing their tarp. She led the way back into the meadow, following the edge of the trees until they reached a little brook gurgling its way through the mountains. On a modest rise just above the water, they found a little fire pit that made Alexa start to grumble.


    "Whoever was here last buried the fire instead of putting it out," answered Alexa after Sarah made a little questioning sound. "Look, you can see they just dumped dirt on top of the ashes, and there''s some big chunks of wood under there. They''re lucky they didn''t burn down the whole mountainside, and it''s not like there isn''t plenty of water to drown it."


    "Ok, I"ll remember that. Um, What should I do with this?" she said, hefting the heavy tent.


    "Just dump it out on the grass right here, we''ll do the tarp first," said Alexa.


    Setting up camp went quickly, none of it seemed particularly complicated to Sarah, though she did learn a few little details that she supposed could wreck someone''s day. Like rolling the tarp under itself, so water wouldn''t pool if it rained, or how a knot tied just so would tighten itself but a knot tied the other way ''round would loosen itself. They pitched the tent, and Alexa insisted on putting up the matching rain cover, even though the forecast said it would be clear. Sarah appreciated that they''d have shelter if an unexpected rainstorm blew in. That wasn''t unheard of, after all.


    Gathering firewood was a more difficult task. Alexa insisted that they had to find deadwood, and deadwood only. So they had to range out under the trees and look for fallen branches that they could actually carry. They had to be as big as possible, but still small enough for the girls to break into pieces small enough to fit in the fire pit. Alexa had a little saw and a hatchet, but cutting anything more than maybe the thickness of Sarah''s wrist was exhausting. Ideally, they found branches they could prop up against a rock and kick into smaller pieces.


    Looking for wood did give Sarah the opportunity to explore a bit and look around on her own. She''d never been in the mountains before, at least, not on foot in the woods. She''d driven through with her mom, but this was different. It wasn''t like how she imagined things from her books, where the woods were just a wide park with tree trunk pillars holding up a green ceiling of leaves and branches. It wasn''t a solid wall of underbrush either. She had to pick her way around bushes, rocks, and roots, and she had to duck under branches, but for the most part, the way was clear enough.


    Sarah paused for a moment, to take a break. The mists shone brightly here, emphasizing everything she could see and hear. It didn''t really illuminate things the way real light did, but Sarah felt like she saw and heard everything. Other than a spider up above in a branch and a line of ants working on a dead snake, most living things were hiding from her line of sight, but she could still hear them. Birds were calling as the afternoon turned to evening, and she could hear little scuttling and crunching noises from the trees that she guessed were squirrels. The deer had moved off, probably frightened by the noise she and Alexa were making as they had driven stakes into the soil and cracked branches into smaller pieces.


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    Sarah couldn''t hear Alexa doing anything at the moment; it was too far away to hear her breathing. She was probably taking a brief rest, it had sounded like she''d been tugging on something extra tangled. Some of the dead branches had stuff growing through them or were caught on living branches, and took a lot of effort to pull out.


    The ever-present white mist that settled so thick here in the mountains shifted, and Sarah could almost feel part of it drain away as the white light snapped into a vivid purple hue. She gasped and looked toward where she''d last heard Alexa. Loud cracking and popping noises had started coming from the area, and Sarah found herself running to find the other girl.


    She ran as quickly as she could through the undergrowth, hopping over tangles of roots and darting around trees. Within a few minutes, she found Alexa standing over a pile of wood chips, pieces broken too small to be useful for more than kindling. Smiling brightly, Alexa''s whole body glowed green, though her arms and legs seemed faded.


    "What happened?" gasped Sarah as she fought for breath.


    "Well, I kinda got a bit frustrated," grinned Alexa. "It just wasn''t coming loose, and then I remembered how easily I had jumped so high before, so I thought to myself, why not?"


    "And?" asked Sarah, still catching her breath.


    "It all just broke!" burst out Alexa. "Watch this!"


    As Sarah watched, the green in Alexa''s body flowed into her arms and hands, making her fingers glow brightly as the light in the rest of her body faded, leaving just some green flows along her shoulders and back. Alexa looked around, looking for something specific, then reached for a dead stump jutting out of the ground. It had broken off maybe three feet from the ground and was perhaps as big around as Sarah''s thigh. The wood was grey with age, but it also didn''t have that porous look that Sarah was already associating with the really light broken stuff that rotted into powder as soon as she put some pressure on it.


    Alexa grabbed the wood with both hands and lifted it from the dirt with a loud crack. Alexa could see the cleaner wood where it had broken off at the roots. Then, with twisting motions and no apparent effort, Alexa proceeded to basically grind up the wood. She''d squeeze and twist and the branch would almost burst, splintering into little chunks. Alexa got almost all the way through it before her hands faded, losing the light they''d held. As the light faded, the task clearly got harder. Alexa slowed down and began supplementing the force with her own efforts, sweating and grunting until she couldn''t break the wood into any smaller pieces.


    Adding the last bits to the pile of chips, Alexa stood there, grinning triumphantly.


    Sarah couldn¡¯t help herself, and said, "Good job. Now come gather more wood. You said we needed a lot more for the fire, and you said we already have plenty of kindling."

 Chapter 23

    Sarah giggled, watching Alexa''s shoulders slump and her hands drop limp to her sides as they both looked at the pile of wasted wood. You could probably gather armloads of chips, but it was all the sort of stuff that Alexa had said would burn way faster than you could use to cook with. Sarah was still holding a long straight branch that she''d picked up already.


    Alexa just glared at Sarah, provoking another bout of laughter. Rather than just mock Alexa to her face, Sarah spun around and marched back into the woods. She''d already noticed that there was a lot of better wood closer to the road, just inside the walls of underbrush that lined the dirt track. In the end, it only took an hour or so before Alexa declared they had plenty of firewood. Sarah couldn''t help but suspect that the real reason they''d stopped was because it was starting to get colder. The sun had set, and the shadows were getting deeper under the trees, although there was still plenty for Sarah to keep finding sticks. But the heat of the day was gone, and a fire would feel good.


    Sarah dumped her last load out on the pile they''d gathered, then sat down on the turf to watch Alexa work. She was picking through the branches, building a complicated log cabin teepee thing. The birds were still singing, but all the little sounds of animals moving had already stopped, presumably for the night. Sarah thought she could hear trucks on the highway once in a while, but perhaps she was just imagining their rumbling engines driving past. The fog in the meadow had almost returned to its pristine white glow, but Sarah could still see the edge where Alexa had pulled all the green out earlier. The line was almost gone, just a slight difference in shades of white marking where Alexa''s pull had stopped. She could see a very gentle curve to it and supposed that the colored area was a huge circle centered around where Alexa had been standing.


    After Sarah sat down, Alexa turned her head and said, "Ok Sarah, it''s your turn. I''ll have a go again after you."


    "I don''t know," said Sarah.


    "Come on, that''s why we came up here, right?" said Alexa. "I mean, I love having company, but you''re the one who wanted a bit of secrecy. Come on, now''s your chance to pull as much as you possibly can, right?"


    Sarah just nodded, looking at her hands. It made sense. Alexa already knew, so those beans were already rolled out under the furniture. And she had been ignoring the growing pressure in her mind all day. She could even feel the way sounds were getting a little more shrill than they''d been since this morning when she''d played with her fly. So she looked up, held up her hands into the air, and concentrated on the pressure, on the desire to make those little irritations go away.


    And the mist responded in a flash. She could feel the warm blue light flare in her hands, the glow so bright that it would have blinded her if it had been real light. It was exhilarating, and she stared at the way it swirled around her hands. The motion as it orbited her wasn''t subtle like it had been the night before, instead, it whirled and spun in hypnotizing spirals, weaving between her fingers and wrapping around her wrists, reaching for her elbows.


    Sarah''s eyes widened, somehow she''d forgotten the heat. As the light spread towards her shoulders it was burning like fire and ice, like millions of little ant bites. She looked around, looking for somewhere to put it. Her leggings and shirt took some, but it was barely a drop of the gathered power before they were overflowing with blue. She touched a huge boulder next to her, it took even less than her shirt had. She reached out and touched Alexa, but the power simply ignored the girl, continuing to flow up Sarah''s arms. She brushed a stick that Alexa was holding, it took more, lots more than her clothes had. She dumped as much as she could, then spun and started pushing more into the pile of firewood as fast as possible.


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    But there was too much, and not enough containers to put it in. The blue burn continued to spread over Sarah''s body, finally filling her mouth, ears, and eyes as she collapsed to the ground, her mind unable to continue tolerating the pain.


    <hr>


    This time, when Sarah woke up, she was wrapped in a sleeping bag and reclining next to a fire. Much, much better than a hospital. No birdsong, just a gentle sort of roar from the fire. Wasn''t fire supposed to crackle? Must be something about the wood, it wasn''t as though Sarah had been around lots and lots of campfires. She could feel the warmth of it on her face, contrasting with the crisp air she was breathing. No scent of woodsmoke, either.


    Opening her eyes, she saw the meadow was back to a purple color, Alexa must have been experimenting while she had passed out. The fire was burning brightly, throwing flames up into the sky. Sarah could hear Alexa breathing beside her, so without turning her head she asked, "How long was I out?"


    Alexa sighed, "Not long. An hour? Ish? I didn''t think to look at a clock right away, and I don''t know when sunset was. God, I''m glad you woke up quick. I thought you would, I''ve never been blind more than like half an hour, and I know Finn had been waking up pretty fast, I figured you would too, or, I hoped you would. But you seemed like you were breathing fine, and the twitching stopped pretty fast.


    "Um, I pulled in some more Qi, I just needed help getting you covered up. And since then I''ve been focusing on just sitting still and holding it," continued Alexa. "Look, it sticks around a long time if I don''t do anything. Too bad you''re the only person who can see it, otherwise I could dress as an Alien girl for Halloween. Oh, you need to look at the fire, by the way."


    Sarah was still gathering her thoughts together. She wasn''t uncomfortable, and just like in the hospital, nothing hurt; it was as though the pain never happened. But she still kinda felt like she''d woken up from a nap a few minutes too early. Trying to lick the cottonmouth away, she sat up and looked around. The fire was hot, and it looked just like how she thought the fire should look. Orange tongues licking at the sky, glowing a bright yellow-orange, deeper red down by the blue wood. The wood was blue, Alexa must have been using wood she''d tried to pour power into.


    Sarah just shrugged, "Ok, so the blue wood burns. Cool, I guess."


    "Nope," said Alexa. "Try again."


    Sarah looked more closely. The wood was piled in the teepee shape it had mostly been in before. Alexa must have set it back up after Sarah had knocked everything about before. "I don''t get it. It''s nice? Thank you for starting it, I don''t think camping would be very much fun without a fire."


    "Wow girl, we really need to get you out more," said Alexa, gently. It sounded like she wanted to laugh, but was keeping her voice calm and soft. "You''ve seen fire before, right? Candles, at least? Think about the wicks for a second, and look at your wood again."


    Sarah looked. The wood wasn''t as brightly blue as the wood still stacked in the pile. If she had to guess, it had lost maybe half its power. Maybe more? Watching, she told herself that she could see the power slowly draining away as it burned. She kept watching for several long minutes until Alexa cleared her throat and interrupted.


    "It''s not burning, see?" she pointed out.


    And Sarah realized. The fire pit was full of ash from previous fires, but the blue sticks didn''t even look scorched. No smoke was coming from the flames either - Sarah knew what smoke smelled like, and nothing was coming from this fire. The flames kept putting out their merry light and heat, but the wood wasn''t actually burning.

 Chapter 24

    Sarah and Alexa sat quietly, watching the flames. Sarah''s imagination had been correct, the blue light was draining as the flames danced around the wood. Some of the smaller pieces were nearly empty, and as she watched one skinny little piece emptied out entirely. She watched as it blackened, making popping noises as the water inside flashed to steam and escaped. Finally, it collapsed under the weight of the other wood, sending a brief burst of sparks into the sky as it fell.


    "So... it''s more than just moving stuff around, clearly," said Alexa.


    "Yeah," said Sarah. "Let me try something..."


    Sarah trailed off, concentrating on the pile of wood. With a groan, she was able to make some of the pieces bend, twisting like they''d grown crooked. They dimmed rapidly as she twisted them, although she was able to make one piece move a round a lot before it lost any power. It was a knot of wood with several small branches sticking out, and if you squinted it looked kind of like a stick figure of a horse or cow or something.


    The stick pranced in a circle around them, Alexa laughing delightedly at the sight. Oddly, it moved smoothly, even though one "leg" was actually part of the main branch and was significantly thicker than the others. Sarah could feel it losing power each time that thick leg moved, even though it looked as supple as the more twiglike portions of her little creature. After one particularly energetic jump into the air over a tuft of grass, it finally fell silent, exhausted of the blue energy she''d poured in before. Other than the wood still in the fire, all the blue light had drained away. Almost all.


    "Why does your qi stay in the wood longer?" asked Alexa.


    Sarah was confused at first, thinking Alexa had asked about the different pieces of wood. But Alexa was actually gesturing at Sarah. Sarah looked down - that was right, in her panic she''d put power into her clothes too, but only her shirt was still blue. Her leggings and sneakers had lost everything, not like they''d taken much before filling, but the light had still drained back out without doing anything. Just to try, her shirt twitched, tightening on her briefly like she''d tugged it into a better fit for a moment. It stayed blue, just like the blanket.


    "No idea," said Sarah.


    "Cool," said Alexa. "One last thing - I thought you''d figured out how to not pass out? What happened?"


    "I can''t do what you do," said Sarah. "The light won''t go into my body, and I can''t hold it without it starting to really, really hurt. It feels like I''ve dipped myself into boiling water, and it just gets worse. I''ve got to put it into something pretty fast before that happens. And it''s like there''s a limit to how much I can stuff in. If I pull too much and don''t have something to dump it into, I''ll get stuck."


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    "Ok, we need to figure that out," said Alexa. "I mean, I''m putting on a brave face, but that was pretty scary, even if I thought it''d be fine. I wonder if I have a limit too?"


    With that, she sort of inhaled, and the landscape turned purple again as the green light infusing Alexa¡¯s body got brighter yet again. Alexa arched her back and stretched out, her feet digging furrows in the ground. The two of them glanced at the deep lines Alexa had dug in the hard dirt with her feet. The boulder Alexa had been leaning against had shifted too.


    "Wow, that still feels so good," said Alexa. "I don''t know if there''s a limit, but it''s really hard to just sit still. And maybe it''s getting harder to not break stuff either. So that''s simple enough, I guess. But what about you? I guess you just can''t take too much at a time?"


    "Hang on, I think I have an idea," said Sarah. She''d been thinking about the tiny fly back in her room. It barely weighed anything, but it had taken several times as much light as her blanket had, and she could tell it could have taken a great deal more.


    She got up and walked back to the edge of the clearing. It was dark, but the stars gave more than enough light for her to navigate and find things under the trees. As always, even though the purple fog covered everything, instead of obscuring her vision it highlighted everything instead. Alexa had followed her, stumbling over rocks and kicking through a few roots.


    Alexa''s crashing noises didn''t bother Sarah any, she was focused on what she could see on the ground. She found the pile of broken bits of wood that Alexa had made earlier, and that gave her bearings. Walking in a straight line, she retraced her steps back to where she''d been searching for deadwood earlier. Finally, she found it.


    Even hours later, the ants hadn''t moved the snake''s body very far. Glancing around, she found a stick to pick it up with. A chunk fell off the tail, and Sarah looked at it, considering. It was ok, she''d take things slow. She could come back if she needed to, maybe after getting something better to handle the rotting body.


    "What is it?" asked Alexa. "I don''t know how you can see anything out here. I should have grabbed a flashlight, I didn''t realize you were going into the trees."


    "Sorry," said Sarah. "Just follow me, we''ll go back to the fire."


    The two walked out, Sarah picking her way through the brush while Alexa stumbled behind. Right before they got back to the meadow, Alexa tripped over a rock. She kicked it in frustration, cracking it apart and sending chips flying everywhere.


    "Shit!" exclaimed Alexa. "I broke my shoe!"


    Sarah glanced down, glad that Alexa couldn''t see the involuntary smirk on her face - Alexa''s shoe had split apart at the toe where she''d kicked the rock.


    "I''m sorry, look, you can see the fire," said Sarah, leading them the rest of the way. She set the dead snake down in the dirt and looked at it. Something she''d learned to recognize made it look like a deep well to her. It echoed to her senses, just waiting to be filled to the brim with light.


    Alexa sat down in a huff and glanced down at what Sarah had fetched from the dark woods.


    "Eww"

 Chapter 25

    "Sarah, why exactly did you pick up a dead animal?" asked Alexa. She sat down on the opposite side of the fire from Sarah and curled her lip up. "It stinks, girl."


    "No it doesn''t," answered Sarah distractedly. She sat down and laid the snake on a patch of dirt in front of her. She used her stick to straighten it out and looked at it. Why couldn''t Mrs. Bianchi cover something useful, like types of snakes? Sarah had no idea what kind of snake this was. But maybe even if she knew about snakes she wouldn''t be able to tell. This one was sorta patchy, thanks to the ants. And it was probably a lot longer when it was alive. It had a bullet-shaped head, about as big around as her thumb, and the rest stretched out maybe eighteen inches. And it didn''t smell.


    "Sarah, seriously, this is sorta creepy," said Alexa.


    "You said it before, Alexa. I need something that can hold extra light I pull," said Sarah.


    "Um, I don''t think I said that."


    "Ok," said Sarah as she was looking around. She grabbed a few of the sticks that had lost all of their light, setting them next to her.


    "Hang on, you tried putting light into me, right? It''s not going to work on another animal, it didn''t work on me, right?" Alexa said. It was probably pretty easy to guess why Sarah had brought the dead snake over.


    "It''ll work, just watch," said Sarah.


    Sarah didn''t answer right away. "Fine," she muttered. "Just be careful. I''d rather not sit by myself for another couple of hours."


    "Yeah," said Sarah. She wasn''t really listening to Alexa anymore. Instead, she was focusing on the mounting pressure in her head. Although maybe ''pressure'' wasn''t the right word for it. Expectation, perhaps? Concentration?


    With a small shake of her head, Sarah reached out and collected a wisp of blue light. She wasn''t sure, but she tried to take the least amount that she possibly could. That tiny spark was enough to make one of the broken branches gleam. It wasn''t quite full, but it felt close. She could moderate how much she pulled, that was good. She pulled another tiny wisp to her finger, letting it just sit this time. It felt warm, shining on her fingertip, but it wasn''t starting to burn like it had before. Maybe small bits just didn''t burn the same way? No, it would still burn her. She could feel the heat increasing, and see the light spreading towards her hand too. It just went slower, that was all. She let the light snap into a second branch. It was smaller than the first had been, but it still took all the light without trouble.


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    She smiled and tossed the piece of wood to Alexa. Alexa caught it and looked closely at the wood. Both of them contrasted the way the blue light sat in the stick with the way the green light moved through Alexa''s body. The blue light was stable and motionless, and it emphasized the structure of the wood - the light followed the grain and pooled in the knots. The green light flowed, moving from place to place within Alexa''s body, without any pattern, so far as Sarah could see. When Alexa had caught the branch the light had separated, brightening her eyes and her hand.


    "It doesn''t burn when it''s got magic, does it break?" asked Sarah.


    Alexa looked back at the wood and just squeezed. They could both hear a creak, but nothing else, even as green light drained from Alexa''s hand. She pursed her lips and took the branch in both hands. With a sharp inhalation, her green light intensified and the wood snapped cleanly in two.


    "Yeah, it''s stronger," said Alexa. She reached out and crumbled another branch in her hand, just to try it on an unlit bit of wood. "Way stronger."


    Alexa tossed one of the pieces back to Sarah, who tracked it easily as it arced over the fire. The broken wood still glowed blue, but it wasn''t as full as before. Sarah reached out and pulled another flicker of blue power to her finger. She used that to top off the branch, and then instead of touching another branch, she touched the snake with the remainder.


    Alexa made a gagging noise when Sarah''s finger touched the carcass.


    Sarah didn''t look at Alexa at all, and she certainly didn''t suppress a little shudder. Maybe the snake did smell a little bad, after all. The tiny leftover light practically vanished into the snake''s body, as if she''d put a single drop of water into a barrel. With a nod to herself, she did it a second time. Just a teeny wisp of light falling into a deep well. The third time she clenched her fist and drew in a little ball of light, still just a sip from the deep pool of fog that filled the meadow. Again the magic snapped into the snake''s body. And again, and again.


    Sarah smiled with pleasure at the feel of the warm light passing through her hand. But glancing at the dead animal, she realized it would take all night to finish it. Maybe even several nights, at this pace. She reached down and picked up the snake in her right hand, earning another groan from Alexa, but still reached out with her left. This time she didn''t really consider the urge to snap up the power, instead she just allowed it to pass into her. Light streamed slowly now, so slowly that Sarah and Alexa could see it flow and move, drifting to Sarah''s left hand, and then flowing in a narrow thread to her right and into the snake. Faster, she pulled in more, and more.


    Until suddenly the world lurched, and Sarah dropped her hand to keep herself from falling over sideways. The whole meadow was tinged yellow - she couldn''t see the edge anymore, the limit where she couldn''t reach out and touch her blue magic. Sarah laughed, delighted to find that she''d lost her balance just as though the light she''d been tugging on was tangible.


    "Cool," breathed Alexa. Sarah had actually forgotten the girl was sitting there, watching. "Gross, really, really gross. But cool."


    The snake had wrapped itself around Sarah''s wrist when she''d started to fall, smearing dirty goop on her arm. It still wasn''t full of light, but it still glowed brightly with power. "Yeah, I don''t suppose you''ve got any soap in your car?"

 Chapter 26

    Alexa did have soap in her car. She actually had a big plastic tub thing full of stuff for camping. In addition to both liquid soap and hand sanitizer, the tub had paper plates and utensils, a big skillet, cooking spray, sunscreen, rope, a collapsible shovel, a windup flashlight, a few loose batteries of various sizes, and a bunch of hair ties. Alexa didn''t let Sarah rummage in the box, she made Sarah stand well away with her rotting snake body still curled around her wrist.


    "Go downstream, please," said Alexa when she handed her the big jug of soap.


    "Sure, sure," smiled Sarah. "Does it really bother you that much? I mean, there''s probably dead fish and other stuff already in the water."


    "Yes," said Alexa. "Maybe it shouldn''t, but I know about that thing on your wrist, I don''t know about whatever is already up there. And I''d rather not find out."


    "Ok, if I see something I won''t say anything," said Sarah. "Hey, come down with me, we can talk. I want you to think about something too."


    "What?" asked Alexa. She was already stumbling as they walked away from the path between the fire and the car. Sarah was stepping around and over the tufts of grass and little rocks, but Alexa kept tripping over them.


    "So when I blue a stick, it doesn''t burn and it''s harder to break, right?" said Sarah.


    "Phrasing!" laughed Alexa.


    Sarah blushed, and she was grateful that it was too dark for Alexa to tell. "Yeah, I need a better way to say that, if we''re going to talk about this. Enchant? No, I hate that. I''ll think about it. Anyways, you know what I mean. The sticks are tougher than they should be, yeah?"


    "Yeah," said Alexa.


    "So are you? Like when you''re all green, are you harder to hurt?" said Sarah. "I mean, you kicked that rock apart and tore your shoes, but did it actually hurt your feet?"


    "No..." trailed off Alexa. "I dunno. I didn''t notice."


    "So how tough are you?" said Sarah. "And if you''re just holding the green, are you tough or do you need to actually be using it?"


    "You know what, that''s a very good question. You know what else? I don''t think I want to test it."


    "Really? We could start small. I could flick the back of your neck with a rubber band, or pull your hair. We don''t have to jump right to bulletproof."


    Alexa arched an eyebrow in the dark, "Sarah, I like you, but we''ll need a bit more time before I let you pull my hair. At a minimum, you''ll need to buy me dinner first."


    They''d arrived at the stream - there was a spot where an eddy had made a deeper, clear pool that lay relatively still between stretches of babbling rocks. Sarah blushed, and instead of responding to Alexa she let the snake drop to the ground and began soaping her hands and arms. She knelt by the edge and began scrubbing off the crud the dead body had left on her hands, careful to keep water from splashing on the rest of her.


    "I wonder if I can wear gloves," said Sarah, changing the subject.


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    "That would probably be a good idea," said Alexa. "I''d guess you could - I mean, you moved your energy from one hand to the other without touching them, and didn''t go across your arms and chest either."


    "We''ll have to try it. I''ll have to try other stuff too. If I''m going to do this a lot, I''ll need to figure out a way to carry something with me I can dump extra into. And as cool as Cuddles is, I''m not sure if it''s reasonable to take him everywhere."


    "Cuddles?" asked Alexa. "You mean that nasty piece of rotting crap you found?"


    "Yes, Cuddles, say hi." The dead snake lifted its head half a foot into the air and began waving it back and forth vigorously.


    Alexa lifted her arms up in front of her, "I have no idea what you''re doing, but I''m sure it''s creepy. Tell that thing there''s no way I''m going to wave back."


    "Maybe I can clean up Cuddles too," said Sarah. The snake uncoiled itself and slithered rapidly into the water. There was a teeny splash that Sarah could just barely hear over the sounds of the brook, and then the snake began writhing around under the water, scraping itself through the pebbles underneath. Alexa seemed to relax a bit as the snake moved away, standing flat on her feet and letting her arms drop back down. While it worked, Sarah kept thinking about Alexa''s light.


    "You can''t really see yourself, but have you noticed your light moves around?" asked Sarah.


    "Well, yeah, I can see my arms. It''s just sorta drifting back and forth," said Alexa.


    "When you''re not doing much," said Sarah. "But have you looked when you''re actually breaking something or whatever? It drifts - it seems like it focuses on where your muscles are actually working."


    "I guess," said Alexa. "I mean, I haven''t noticed, but it makes sense."


    "Ok, so try something while I wash up," said Sarah. "Can you move it without actually using it? Like focus it in a hand, or your legs, or whatever?"


    Alexa didn''t answer, so Sarah glanced over at the girl. Alexa was standing still in the dark, looking down at herself. She had lifted both arms up, palms up where she could see them. The green light flared in her hands, letting the rest of her body dim until the light was almost invisible. Then it flared brighter in just her right hand, then flashed to the left, and back again.


    "It''s not that hard, I barely have to consider it and it moves," said Alexa. The light streamed from her hands as she dropped them to her sides, filling her legs instead. It flashed to one leg, but when she moved it back to her left leg Alexa suddenly toppled over. Sarah caught her before she could hit the ground, staggering just a bit under the Senior''s weight. Both girls went down, although it was more of a sudden sit than an actual fall.


    "Ok, I wasn''t expecting that," said Alexa. "It was like standing up after one leg went to sleep and was suddenly numb. I don''t think I''ll do that again."


    "Or you should do it lots, and practice," said Sarah.


    "Or that, yeah."


    "I''ve got another idea," said Sarah.


    "Awesome. Can I catch my breath first?" Alexa wasn''t breathing hard at all.


    "Well, that''s kinda it," said Sarah. "Can you use your light to help you catch your breath? Or something other than just muscles? Like what if you put the light in your lungs, or your eyes, or something else?"


    "That''s... yeah," said Alexa. The green light in her body suddenly concentrated in her eyes, giving the girl an eerie look in the dark. Sarah could make everything out in the starlight, but the green eyes shone in a way that made the rest of Alexa seem to fade into the background.


    "Well?" said Sarah. "Any difference?"


    "Just a minute," breathed Alexa.


    Alexa was looking around the meadow, and then she looked up and froze. She simply stared at the sky while the two sat in silence. Sarah decided to let her be and concentrated on her snake. It crawled out of the water, and Sarah dumped out some soap on the flat part of a rock nearby, letting it coil and writhe around to cover itself in suds. After it got thoroughly soapy, she let it go back into the water to continue its exfoliation routine.


    "This is incredible," said Alexa. It seemed like she hadn''t even noticed Cuddles coming out of the water. She was still entranced by the sky.


    "The stars?" asked Sarah.


    "Yes," said Alexa. "No, sort of. I can see so much, I''ve never seen this many stars. I can actually see spiral galaxies up there. And I can see Jupiter, I know it''s Jupiter because I can even make out the spot! I can''t even..."


    The two sat there by the bank of the stream. Sarah was happy to just sit in silence while Alexa enjoyed her private star show for an hour until the light in Alexa''s eyes finally ran out.

 Chapter 27: ignition

    "That is just too cool," said Alexa, blinking as the light finished fading from her body. She stood up, brushed off her pants, and looked around. The blue magic in Sarah''s wood must have finished draining, the flames weren''t visible anymore, although Sarah could still see where they''d pitched camp. With a deep breath, Alexa''s eyes glowed green again, and she was able to pick her way back to their fire and tent without tripping over the rough ground.


    "I''m going to absolutely get used to this," said Alexa, looking around in the night. "Sarah, I won''t say anything about you, but there''s no way I''m not going to do this all the time, everywhere."


    "Well, just don''t expect me to visit you after you get yourself locked up," said Sarah.


    "Why not, I visited you?" asked Alexa. "At least, I tried to."


    Sarah didn''t answer that. The two walked in silence until they reached their campsite and Alexa realized that she''d forgotten about starting dinner. She''d wrapped potatoes in tin foil and left them in the fire, but had forgotten about them when Sarah woke up. The potatoes were barely lumps of charcoal wrapped in collapsed foil. But the girls had plenty of hot dogs still, roasted on coat hangers over the fire. Alexa wouldn''t let Sarah infuse more wood - she said that the smoke and crackles were part of the camping experience and that it made their food taste better.


    "Do you think we should visit Finn?" asked Sarah. Sarah thought he''d probably talked about her, but if she was lucky people would figure that what he saw was part of whatever had made him sick.


    "We probably should. I dunno if we can really help him, but maybe. Talking to you made it make sense, to me at least. And if he''s still stuck in the hospital, maybe just knowing we figured it out might help him calm down," said Alexa. She was picking at her third baked banana thing. She''d shown Sarah how to slice a chunk out and fill it with marshmallows and chocolate. After a few minutes in the fire, it turned into a sweet mushy mess. Sarah had taken a couple of bites and let Alexa eat all of the rest.


    "Yeah, we kinda have to," said Sarah.


    Alexa watched Sarah for a moment, and then announced, "Well, that won''t be till tomorrow, at the soonest. And even though I kinda want to try to punch down a tree, we probably ought to sleep."


    Sarah didn''t even try to ask about punching trees, instead, she dutifully crawled into the tent and her sleeping bag. She was certain she''d be up forever, adding Alexa''s breathing to the sound of the water, the wind, and the animals around them was sure to keep her up. She wouldn''t complain though, she¡¯d had plenty of sleepless nights before, one more wasn¡¯t a big deal.


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    Sarah was asleep before she could even think about the noise.


    <hr>


    The sun was well over the mountains by the time Sarah woke up. She could hear the water burbling down the hill, like last night. She could also hear something crashing around the trees across the meadow, followed by thumps as something hit the ground. No bird song, whatever was messing around in the trees had probably scared them all silent.


    Crawling her way out of the tent, Sarah stood and stretched. She''d slept on her side, and her hip and shoulder were complaining at their mistreatment. It looked like Alexa had already cleaned a bunch up. The fire was cold, and everything but the tent and Alexa''s sleeping bag were gone. Cuddles had fallen off the rock where Sarah had left him the night before, but he was still glowing brightly blue in the sunlight. His blue contrasted pleasantly with the purple mist filling the hillside. He looked dry now too, and despite some bits hanging loose, he was pretty clean. It didn¡¯t even look like he¡¯d had any bugs bother him overnight.


    Sarah opened up the back of the jeep and pulled out a cold hot dog and a bottle of water. It wasn''t good, but it was probably a better breakfast than chips or licorice would be. At the thought, she got back into the car and got a piece of licorice to chase down the hot dog. Candy dangling from her lips, she crawled back into the tent and bundled up her sleeping bag for the car. She eyed the tent itself but decided to wait for Alexa. It looked like the kind of thing that probably needed to be packed in some extremely specific way, and Sarah didn''t want to have to make Alexa act all helpful in re-doing whatever was wrong.


    Another crash in the distance made Sarah look up. Up the side of a hill, she could see the top of a tree shaking violently. Sarah heard a quieter thud as the tree settled down, and then another grunt as the tree started to shake again. That must be where Alexa was. Sarah considered calling out to her but decided to just walk over instead of shouting. Cuddles trailed in the dirt behind her as Sarah walked through the sunny grass.


    Getting closer, Sarah started to make out movement through the wall of brush that bordered the meadow. Alexa wasn''t punching trees like she''d said last night. She was jumping up into them. Sarah wasn''t sure how tall these trees were, but Alexa was getting well up into their branches. She noticed Sarah right after landing feet first on a branch well over Sarah''s head. Alexa couldn''t quite catch her balance right away but grabbed the trunk of the tree to keep herself straight.


    "You''re up!" shouted Alexa as she flung herself from the tree. Green spread evenly throughout her body as she landed on all fours with a loud thud. "I didn''t wake you up, did I?"


    "No, I slept great," said Sarah.


    "Good, I figured you were tired, but I just couldn''t lay still any longer."


    "It''s fine, but I''m not sure how to pack up the tent," said Sarah.


    "No worries, it''s easy."


    The two skipped back to the camp, Cuddles slithering invisibly in the grass. The dead snake kept up easily even with them moving fast in the bright morning. Sarah felt a bit silly for being worried about packing the tent. They pulled the poles out, folding them up into their bag. The tent itself was sorta rolled up and then just stuffed into the bag. That done, Alexa dumped more water on the cold fire and made them walk back and forth a few times to look for trash.


    And then it was time to go. The only real hiccup came when Alexa refused to let Sarah bring Cuddles into her car.

 Chapter 28

    The dead snake rode home wrapped around the jeep''s hitch. It clung on tightly, and it felt secure. Sarah spent the whole drive home glancing back, worried that Cuddles would run out of life and fall to the ground. She even made Alexa stop halfway home so she could get out and check. Even though it hadn''t dimmed at all, Sarah still pulled as much blue magic as she could to reinforce the body. She told herself she''d feel better if the snake had felt anything near full.


    On the way home, she called her mom but just got voice mail. Before she could finish leaving a message, her mom texted to say she was at work. And then of course she asked about Alexa.


    "You''ve got a brother, right?" asked Sarah. "Any other siblings?"


    "Nope, why?"


    "My mom wants to know."


    "Wow. Interrogation once removed. You''re a single child, right?"


    "Yeah, just me and Mom. Um... college plans?"


    "I was going to just go to state college, but now I''m not sure. I got accepted to a bunch of out-of-state schools, but they''re expensive. Now I''m wondering if it''s too late to try for a track scholarship or something. Maybe it''s cheating, but I''m not sure I care." Alexa grinned at Sarah. "Are you applying anywhere yet?"


    "All over. I''d love to go to Reed, but I''ll probably end up at a State College. So I don''t have to live in the dorms or have roommates," said Sarah. She looked down as her phone buzzed again.


    "Boyfriend?" read Sarah. She blushed as soon as she realized what she''d asked.


    "Nope," said Alexa. "You?"


    "No!" said Sarah.


    "Hey, while she''s responding, maybe tell her we want to go to the hospital and visit Finn. If he''s still there."


    "Ok," said Sarah.


    "I was thinking, should we bring anyone else? I mean, we want to talk to him about the colors and stuff, but I dunno. Is that weird? If you want, we could get everyone else too. I know Bri kinda likes him, so she''d be thrilled to come. Unless you''d rather go alone?"


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    "No," said Sarah. "I mean, just the two of us is probably best. Could Bri just go later, maybe?"


    "Sure. You''re ok with Bri meeting up with him?" asked Alexa.


    "Yeah, why not?"


    "No reason," said Alexa after watching Sarah for a minute.


    When they reached Sarah''s house, Alexa helped carry the cooler back into the garage while Sarah grabbed her sleeping bag. Cuddles carried himself. She had him hide by climbing up onto the door motor, up high where you couldn''t see him from the ground. Sarah realized her mom would go mental if she found a dead snake inside the house, even if all the goopy bits had been scrubbed off. She really needed to figure out something long-term for him so she could carry him around.


    "Give me about two hours to shower and do myself up, I''ll come pick you up again so we can go," said Alexa. Between the empty garage and driveway, it was pretty obvious that Sarah didn''t have her own car, even if they''d never talked about it.


    Sarah chucked the trash they''d shoved in the cooler, and put away the leftover food. She tossed her sleeping bag into the closet under the stairs, dropping it back behind luggage that Sarah had never seen anyone use. She stripped down in the laundry room, putting her clothes straight in the wash. She didn''t run it though, she''d learned that running the wash right before taking a shower tended to be a bad idea. Plus a single change of clothes was a really small load. She''d be better topping it off with more dirty clothes in a minute.


    The shower felt divine. She found a twig in her hair when she was applying conditioner, so she had to shampoo a second time. She took her time letting the conditioner sit while warm water ran over her. She used a washcloth and body wash to really get everything until she finally felt actually clean. Getting out, she even put some moisturizer on her elbows. She brushed her hair to get the last tangles out and glanced at her hair dryer. Dismissing it immediately, she put her wet hair into a ponytail and called it done. She flossed, picking out a few bits of jerky that had gotten wedged against her gums, then brushed her teeth.


    She smiled at the blue blanket folded neatly on her bed, then pulled clothes out of her dresser. Underwear, jeans, a faded black shirt with a big pair of lips printed on it. Just in case, she grabbed an old grey sweater too. The zipper was broken, but it''d be fine. Great, Sarah was all ready to go, and she still had an hour and a half before Alexa said she''d be back. On a whim, she plucked some magic from the air and deposited it into her shoes. She shoved her feet into them and smiled as the tongue pulled itself straight and the laces tightened themselves and tied themselves into a neat bow. Sarah decided she could get used to that.


    With nothing else to do while she waited, she let herself into her mom''s office and logged onto the internet. If she wanted to keep Cuddles, she needed to learn about storing dead animals. And while she suspected he wasn''t going to rot so long as he was lit up, she wasn''t certain if it was really safe, and she didn''t want to give everyone Polio. Sarah suppressed a groan when she thought about how she should have been paying more attention in biology class. Who knew that Mrs. Bianchi might have had something useful to say?

 Chapter 29

    The doorbell rang, interrupting Sarah''s reading. She was reading an article about different chemical options to clean bones, and while it wasn''t that interesting she thought for a moment about ignoring the doorbell. She really would rather just stay home, even if she didn''t have much to do. Alexa wouldn''t know for sure if she was still home - her mother could have taken her somewhere. Sarah''s phone buzzed.


    "Hello," she said, answering her phone. Yeah, she really couldn''t blow off Alexa.


    "Hey, are you ready? I decided I really didn''t need to do much with my hair," said Alexa.


    "Yeah, I''ll be right down," said Sarah, hanging up. She felt her hair as she walked downstairs, it had dried all the way out while she''d read.


    Sarah opened the front door to find Alexa waiting on the porch. Alexa was in a bright red skirt and a white blouse, and she''d done up her makeup. She was bright green too, and her glowing eyes darted to glance over Sarah in turn.


    "Self-tying shoes?" she asked.


    "Yeah, it felt handy," said Sarah, looking down at her own blue-infused shoes. "It''s not holding very well though."


    "Nice, so ready to go?"


    "Yeah," said Sarah, closing and locking the front door behind her. The two got back into Alexa''s car.


    "I called Finn earlier, his mom picked up. He''s still in the hospital, and she said he''s not fainting quite so often. Apparently, they''ve ruled out brain cancer and liver damage. I guess it''s harder to find an easy diagnosis for sudden drops in blood sugar than it is a seizure," explained Alexa.


    Sarah grimaced, her lips pulling back to expose her teeth. Finn had been in the hospital for... two days? Three? She froze at the thought, not really understanding how fast things had moved. He must have been losing his mind with all the tests the doctors had been doing. Although if he wasn''t collapsing so much, maybe that meant he was calming down and figuring out how to control himself.


    They parked in visitor parking, and then Alexa led the way confidently inside. She seemed to know right where she was going, although Sarah eyed the reception desk at the front. No one stopped them, not even went they left the elevator on the fourth floor and walked right past a nurse''s station. They didn''t stop until they reached a room in the corner, and Alexa knocked on the doorjamb. An older man looked up, greeting the two girls. Sarah could see Finn on the bed inside. He was looking out the window from his bed, and Sarah could see he was sitting with a clenched jaw.


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    "You must be Alexa and Sarah," the man said.


    "That''s us," said Alexa.


    "Great, maybe he''ll calm down and relax with you two here." He turned and said, "Finn, you''ve got visitors."


    Finn just grunted.


    "We didn''t bring flowers," said Sarah.


    He grunted again, and Alexa glanced at her from the corner of her eyes.


    Finn''s dad cleared his throat, "He''s been grumpy, which is probably normal. Anyways, if you two are here, I think this is a good time for me to slip down and get some lunch. Finn? I''ll be back in a bit. Be nice."


    Sarah sat down as the man left, leaving the door open behind him. Alexa stepped to the side to let him go and then watched as he walked down the hall before quietly shutting the door. Finn just kept looking out the window.


    "That was easy," said Alexa.


    "What was?" asked Sarah.


    "You''re the one who really wanted this secret, Sarah," said Alexa. "Unless you want to tell Mr. Conlan about the lights."


    At that, Finn''s head snapped around to stare at them.


    "Um, you were asking the other day, right?" said Sarah. "Alexa and I have been figuring some stuff out. We thought it might help if we told you. If nothing else, we can maybe keep it from hurting you?"


    Finn sat straight up, "Yes! Please! Tell me!" He wasn''t quite shouting, but Sarah was still sure the nurses outside could hear his every word. He slumped back into his bed before she could shush him though.


    "Sorry, I''m pretty light-headed," he said.


    "It''s ok," said Sarah. "Um, I guess I should start. You see, the fog is, I use the fog. Actually, Alexa, I didn¡¯t really think about this, where should we start?"


    "Like this, I think. Finn, just watch, ok? Don''t do anything yet." With that, Alexa visibly inhaled, leaving the room''s aura tinted purple. The green tint to her skin was left just a bit brighter. She nodded at Sarah, who nodded back and reached out a hand. Sarah gathered just enough for the blue glow to be visible on her finger, then reached out and dumped it into Finn''s blanket. She left the room tinted a vivid red.


    Finn''s eyes were wide, watching what the two of them did. Sarah said, "Just listen for a minute. When I was upset, when I really wanted something, I called the blue light to me. Only, when it touches me, it starts to burn. I''ve got to put it into something pretty fast, or the pain gets so bad I pass out. You know, like in Mr. Clarke''s room when you wouldn''t give me my book back."


    "Sorry," muttered Finn.


    "I saw her do it. She put blue in her blanket like she just did yours," said Alexa. "And she told me about how she sucked in light. I was different. When I drew the green power, I''d just leave it hanging in the air. It was pretty, but any time I did that it left me deaf and blind for a little while. Which sucked. After talking to Sarah, I figured out that I should draw green into my body, and move it around inside myself. When I do that, it doesn''t cause any problems. The opposite, really. Same for Sarah, when she puts it into something it doesn''t hurt her at all.


    "The two of us are different. But both of us were naturally using it wrong, and we got punished for it. I''m guessing that your blood sugar thing is the same - you''re using it wrong and it''s not working. Not sure what else to tell you, I''m sure you''re different too - at least judging by the way you splash red all over the walls."


    "No, I get it," said Finn. "It actually makes so much sense."


    The red in the room vanished, and Sarah just had time to see it forming into a tight ball in front of Finn before the room exploded in a flash of heat and light.

 Chapter 30

    Sarah rubbed her eyes, trying to get the stars to clear out of them. She couldn''t hear anything but a loud ringing too. She had laid down on the ground at some point, but she wasn''t really sure how she got there. Wasn''t she supposed to be heading for computer science? She coughed, someone had burnt something, she could taste it in her throat and instinctively tried to spit it out. It smelled awful, way worse than even burning plastic. She could smell that too. She suddenly felt a pair of hands under her arms lift her up, and she would have jumped if she''d been able to figure out where her feet were.


    She got flipped over onto her back and dragged along. As she was moved, a tiled ceiling swam into view along with a pale face. As she focused, she realized the man''s face was only pale because it was covered in thick dust. Glancing at her hands, she saw she was covered in the same stuff.


    The ringing in her ears was going away, and she could hear Alexa talking, "damn it, we told him to wait. He had no idea, the stupid idiot..." Alexa kept talking, trailing into increasingly vulgar curses. The older girl was on her feet and was pacing in the hallway here at the hospital. Right, Sarah realized, they were at the hospital. They were visiting Finn, and they were talking to him when he tried to use the fog and did something. And then something loud and bright happened.


    A pair of guys were shoving Finn''s bed out of the room, trailing hoses. She heard hissing and guessed that someone was spraying a fire extinguisher inside. That was probably the powder she was covered with. She could smell smoke in the air - burnt plastic and metal odors filled the floor so strongly that everyone was probably bothered. She looked down the hall, and yes, it looked like they were moving all the patients from their rooms. Alexa reached a hand down and helped Sarah stand up.


    "You ok?" asked Alexa. "That was kinda crazy."


    "I think so?" answered Sarah. "What happened? Did you see?"


    "With my elf eyes, you mean?"


    "Huh?"


    "I thought you read a lot," said Alexa. "Yeah, though. It looked like a bolt of lightning zapped the wall, and the wall wasn''t happy about it."


    "Lightning? Inside?" Sarah said. She shook her head again, still confused at the world. She was still wobbly, although her steps were getting more steady as she followed Alexa.


    "Told him to wait, didn''t we?" said Alexa. "Stupid moron jock."


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    "Oh," said Sarah. She stopped suddenly, realizing what had actually happened. The red light Finn gathered had been what made the blast of electricity. She''d been dazzled by the light and deafened by the blast. She''d probably jumped out of her chair onto the floor when it had happened. And Finn had done it, he''d made the explosion without even considering the consequences.


    "Think he''ll try it again?" asked Sarah.


    "That idiot? Probably. We''re probably lucky he pulled everything he could reach. It''ll make it hard to do it again right away," said Alexa. Sarah glanced around, the room they''d been in was bare of fog, and everything else she could see in the hallway was teal. Finn had pulled the red out of the fog. The idiot hadn''t just made lightning, he''d made it as strong as he could manage in his tiny little hospital room.


    Alexa waited by the elevators, watching where the nurses were taking the other patients as they pulled them from the room. Down two floors, it looked like. The girls turned and took the stairs. Sarah managed one flight and had to sit down for a moment, she was dizzy with the effort and still feeling stunned. Alexa went off ahead.


    Catching her breath, Sarah followed at a slower pace. By the time she made it down, Alexa was totally out of sight. Sarah picked a direction and walked down the hallway, but she didn''t see anyone and couldn''t hear anyone specific over all the hospital noises. The hallways felt like a maze to her, and she was suddenly worried about even finding her way back to the stairs. There were signs everywhere, directing her to various places, but they didn''t make any sense to her. If anything else, they made things worse.


    She looked up and down the halls, and noticed patches of pure blue fog in all the teal. Alexa must have been pulling the green out of the fog as she walked. Sarah didn''t know if Alexa was doing it intentionally, or if she was just pulling in little bits to help her recover from the explosion, but she had left a perfect trail for Sarah to follow.


    Very soon Sarah was able to make out Alexa''s voice, growling at Finn. "It isn''t just pretty lights, and if you''d waited for us to explain we would have said so. But no, you couldn''t help yourself, could you? You just had to stick your fingers in the toaster, never mind how bad an idea that was. We''re lucky we''re alive, you moron."


    Finn sputtered, but Alexa kept going, "You have no idea what Sarah and me can do, none! And none of us have an idea about what you do. So don''t flipping do anything! It can''t possibly be that hard."


    Sarah finally turned into the hallway where Finn had been dumped. He didn''t have as much white powder on his face as Sarah and Alexa, but there were dark smudges of soot across his face, and he was missing eyebrows and a lot of his hair had burned away. That was probably what had smelled so bad. Sarah couldn''t help but sniff; yeah, that was what smelled so bad. She reached up and felt her face and head with her hands, and pulled the end of her ponytail where she could see it. Her hair was filthy like the rest of her, but otherwise, it seemed fine.


    "Listen, and actually pay attention," Alexa was saying. "There''s no way they''ll let us stay now. Behave yourself. Quit doing shit for just a day or two, and they''ll let you go. Call Sarah or me and we''ll help you figure stuff out. But quit being an idiot."


    Sarah nodded along, and the two stormed away. Sarah was lucky that Alexa was along to guide their way back to the stairs.

 Chapter 31: Attention

    That Monday, Sarah had to go to school again. She had argued about it, telling her mom she had a headache, a stomach ache, that a migraine was coming on, but her mother put her foot down. It seemed that going camping while being out sick meant you weren''t really sick anymore. Sarah didn''t quite follow that logic, but the conclusion was inescapable. Sarah got into her mom''s Camry and rode to school.


    The little Toyota pulled to the curb outside school, and before the door opened Sarah heard the chatter and laughing from all the students. A couple of guys were half-dancing to the beats that Sarah heard from their headphones. Sarah stepped out of the way to let a guy zoom by on his skateboard. Some fresh laughter erupted as a school bus pulled up to deposit its load, and Sarah stood for a moment, taking everything in. The fog shone across the school, and Sarah could see a little patch of purple where Alexa must have passed recently.


    "Love you!" her mom said.


    "Love you too!" she answered before adjusting her bag and walking toward the doors.


    She blinked a moment when she walked inside. The fluorescent lights lit the hallway, but it still felt dark after the morning sun outside, so she paused a moment to let her eyes adjust. Before she could get moving again she heard a voice call out.


    "Sarah!" shouted Alexa from down the hall. She was wearing long dangly white earrings that were just visible underneath her curly hair. She was trailing two other girls in her wake.


    "Hi Sarah," said one of the two. She was wearing matching sweats, and her hair was pulled into a ponytail. Sarah couldn''t help but notice that the ponytail was pretty messy, with some strands that hadn''t gotten pulled in at all and others that were tangled up in the elastic. Sarah had no idea what her name was.


    The third girl, Jill, just waved. Sarah knew the girl, or rather Sarah knew of her. Jill was one of the tallest kids in school, and her disinterest in basketball and volleyball was so legendary that Sarah could even remember her name.


    "Morning, Alexa. Jill," added Sarah with a nod.


    "Bri," said Bri.


    "Sorry," said Sarah, putting her head down and backing up a step.


    "Why?" said Bri cheerfully. "It''s not like I''ve ever talked to you before, or been in a class. If anything, Jill should be irritated you knew who she was."


    Sarah glanced up and saw that Jill was flushed and was looking away too. She opened her mouth to apologize again, but Alexa cut her off. "Don''t let Bri give you crap, Sarah. And don''t be embarrassed to ask Jill to get you something from the top shelf, while you''re at it."


    Sarah shut her mouth. She opened her mouth again but instead of saying anything she just looked at everyone''s shoes. Alexa and Jill were wearing dingy grey tennis shoes, but Bri had on really shiny black sneakers with a shiny gold Nike swoop on the side.


    Bri chimed in again, "No worries, we''re just saying hi, but we''ve got to run. We''ve got choir first, and I''m pretty sure the principal hates music. He couldn''t have put it farther away from the busses if he tried."


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    Alexa nodded, "Yeah, I''ll see you in second, right? And you should come eat lunch with us, too. We usually hike back over to the choir room. There''s a couple of couches in there, it''s nice."


    "Ok," said Sarah. It was all she was able to say before the three zoomed off out the doors and towards a separate wing of the school. She turned back to the hallway and began navigating the crowd.


    She got to Coach Colway''s class just as the first bell rang. A couple of boys had beaten her into the classroom, but her usual seat was still empty so she sat down and set her bag down on the ground. A bunch more came in on her heels and grabbed desks. A few were still talking, but Monday morning had most of them a little muted.


    Announcements came on, with a couple of student body members talking about events for the week. And then Sarah heard her name - they announced to the entire school that she was ok and back in class today. Sarah''s face felt like it was on fire, and she put her head on her desk to avoid looking at anyone in the room. They announced that Finn was ok too, and had left the hospital over the weekend but wasn''t back in class yet.


    As usual, Coach Colway was moving around the room before they finished. He put a packet of papers next to Sarah''s head, and then after his footsteps moved away she could hear the squeaks of a marker as he wrote on the board. Sarah chanced a glance up, no one was looking at her, they were either following the numbers that Coach was writing or else staring numbly off into the distance. She turned over the packet and saw that it was a bunch of worksheets on it, and big letters in green ink sprawled across the top said "catchup work," followed by "test Monday" in smaller letters below. She flipped through the pages and saw that the sheets he''d given her included what was going up on the board right now, so instead of paying attention she just started working her way through the packet.


    An hour later the bell rang, interrupting her work. She folded the work packet in half and stuffed it into her backpack, then got up and left the room. She strode out into the hallway, finding her way through the flow of students on their way to class. She finally spotted the silly tree poster and let herself into the bio room. She had to blink at the sunlight drenching the room, but she smiled at the aromas in the room. Most of the school smelled of harsh cleaning chemicals and various teenage odors, but the air in there was heady and thick. She inhaled deeply, recognizing some of the herbs. Alexa was already sitting down, and indicating a seat she''d saved for Sarah. Sarah started to go sit down, but she was interrupted first.


    "Oh, Sarah," said Mrs. Bianchi. The teacher thrust another thick packet into Sarah''s hands. "We finished the cell cycle stuff while you were gone, so you''ll need to study up on that. Let me know when you''re ready and I''ll let you take the test. This week we''re going to fly through natural selection and review heredity, so the cell stuff shouldn''t make much difference."


    Mrs. Bianchi paused for a moment, then said, "I''m so sorry, how are you, dear? The grapevine said you were feeling much better."


    "I''m fine," said Sarah.


    "That''s wonderful. Please let me know if you need anything, ok?"


    "Actually, I do have a question. It''s not really about class, it''s just a project I''m thinking of and I realized over the weekend that you might be able to help?"


    "Of course!" said Mrs. Bianchi, clapping her hands together. "Let''s talk after the lesson when everyone is doing their worksheets."


    Sarah couldn''t help but wince, just a little, at the thought of standing right where the speakers were pumping out music during study time, but she nodded anyways. She sat down, pulling out her notebook. She and Alexa both took notes in class - Sarah made a mental note to go read more about Darwin sailing around later. There had to be some good stories about his time shipboard. Sooner than later, Mrs. Bianchi passed out sheets of paper for everyone to do. It was just a simple crossword, and Alexa got started on it while soft cello music rolled through the room.


    Mrs. Bianchi made eye contact with Sarah, and Sarah got up and approached the stand-up front.


    "So, that''ll probably sound weird, but it''s for a project I''m thinking about," said Sarah. "Do you know how to clean bones? You know, get the flesh and stuff off so they''re safe to touch and everything?"

 Chapter 32

    The next few classes went by easily enough. PE was PE, and she got sweaty like usual. Computer science was about as much of a waste as it always was - they should just change the name to typing or spreadsheets. Neither had anything extra to do to make up for her missed classes.


    When she got to art class, Mr. Clarke was actually pretty attentive and willing to give her a ton of leeway on her art project. She had made the little clay butterfly bodies, but with her extra time away from school they''d gotten so dry and brittle she couldn''t carve them anymore. They''d just crumble away when she tried to carve any details into them.


    "If you want to start again, that''ll be fine," he was saying. "Even if you can''t finish after losing a month''s work, I know you put the effort in."


    "It''s really no big deal," said Sarah. She was sweeping the clay into a bucket, it could probably be folded into wet clay and re-used in the future since it hadn''t been fired yet.


    "I wish I had realized, I could have kept them wet. I really feel sorry, it''s bad enough to have something just not turn out, but having a project ruined before you could see it come together really sucks." Mr. Clark picked up the bucket before Sarah could, and together they walked towards the sinks in the back of the room.


    "It happens, and thank you," said Sarah. "Stuff happens. Actually, while I was out I got an idea I want to try. I don''t know for sure if I can get it all the way done in time, but I''m sure I can make a good start on it."


    "Very cool," said Mr. Clarke. He waited while Sarah opened up their supply closet.


    "I wouldn''t mind some advice first, to get me started." Sarah pulled out a spool of shiny wire and pulled a bit out, testing it in her fingers. While the rest of the class worked on their projects, Sarah and Mr. Clarke talked about wire, leather strips, paracords, and different ways to twist or braid different materials onto various patterns.


    Lunch wasn''t terrible. Alexa, Jill, and Bri chattered away about romances and fights that were sparking away in the choir. Apparently, some of those romances were steamy enough that Sarah chose to sit in a folding chair instead of one of the old couches that lined the walls. The three really wanted her to come over and hang out at Alexa''s place that afternoon, but that felt like too much to Sarah. Alexa agreed with a bit of side eye, but they took it well enough. They did make Sarah promise to show up to their concert on Wednesday and to come out with them after. A week ago, Sarah would have assumed that there wasn''t any way her mom would let her stay out so late on a weekday, but she had a sneaking suspicion she wouldn''t get any help staying home. Still, even if she had to go to the concert, at least she had a couple of evenings free to get started.


    Her math and biology were the only classes with much makeup work. She basically got excused from all her missed work in art, computers, and English; she had some reading to do in history but wasn''t concerned about that at all. But the catchup would give her an excuse to do her own thing for at least a few days.


    Ever since talking to Mrs. Bianchi, she''d been making some plans. The process would be simple enough, though she was worried she wouldn''t have time to finish before the year ended, so she wanted to get started right away. The fact that Cuddles didn''t seem like he was decomposing any further complicated her plans. She''d cleaned him pretty thoroughly up back in the woods, and now she couldn''t smell any rot from the dead snake, even when she held him right up close to her nose. Even after sitting in the hot garage for a couple of days, he hadn''t started smelling again. For that matter, he hadn''t fallen apart further, gotten goopy, or even dried out.


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    So as soon as Sarah got home she grabbed a few things. She''d thought a lot about how she''d used her fog before and had some ideas, this would be an easy time to check things out without heading up to the hills again. She grabbed her mom''s old leather jacket, all the bedding from her room, and what was left of a rotisserie chicken that had been in the fridge a few days too long. She also grabbed a kitchen knife and used it to carve out a bunch of holes in a Tupperware container.


    Cuddles had made his way to the back porch while she had been looking for everything. He was curled in a loose spiral right on the corner of the top step when she came outside. She picked him up, looking closely. She hadn''t filled him up at all since the drive back from the mountains, but he was glowing just as bright as ever. Sarah stroked her finger along his spine, and blue light trickled out to adhere to her finger.


    Sarah smiled at the spreading sensation of warmth. She hadn''t been sure that would work, but she was delighted to confirm that she could pull the light directly from him and not just from the fog in the air. She had been pretty confident she could, but if it hadn''t worked she would have made Cuddles push a boulder around or something until he was drained all the way. This was a lot more convenient, and faster. She took the light on her finger and dumped it into the old leather coat. It didn''t feel as empty as Cuddles did, but it still was a long way from filling up. Sarah took the light from her finger and did it again, and again. In the end, the coat held perhaps half of what she''d already put into the snake. It shone bright, holding far more than most of the objects she''d tried to pour blue into. Once the coat was full, Sarah did the same to her bedding, the sheets and blankets topped off very quickly, but Sarah was surprised by how much her down pillow took. The cooked chicken held the rest. In the end, she only had a tiny bit of light left to put into the chicken, but she could already tell that it wouldn''t ever be as strong as cuddles.


    Looking at Cuddles, Sarah couldn''t help but frown at the carcass. It was far more fragile when he was emptied out like this. Now he really looked dead, his eye sockets were just open cavities instead of glinting points of blue light, what was left of his skin felt thin and crumbly to her fingers. Instead of clinging to her hands and arm, Cuddles just hung limply in her hand. She set him down into the Tupperware and took a moment to arrange him back into a spiral shape.


    Frowning, she set the box down and went back to the kitchen. She put a little sugar into a bowl along with just enough water to make a paste. She used the paste to smear around a few of the holes she''d made, and a bit more directly on Cuddles. Then she took the box out into the yard and began looking around. It was too much to hope for an actual anthill, so she just ended up putting it behind some bushes in a more overgrown section of the yard. The neighbors across that corner let their yard get pretty overgrown too, so that would probably be the best place. She put a brick on top of the box, just in case. Now she''d just have to wait. This was the part that was going to take a while. If she was lucky Cuddles would be clean in a week, but Mrs. Bianchi warned her it could take a month or more.


    She took the chicken and chucked it into the outside trash. She''d find out what happened when someone ate infused things later, if ever. The thought of eating something like that gave her a shiver, and she thought maybe that was what Alexa felt like when she''d seen Cuddles wriggling around. She threw on the jacket so she''d have free arms and carried her bedding back inside. The coat fit perfectly, with the cuffs rolling up to exactly the length she liked.


    She was just about to see if her sheets would fit themselves onto her bed when, with perfect timing, the phone rang.

 Chapter 33

    "Hello?" she said, picking up the phone. The cordless was in her mom''s room, so she''d answered that and was already walking back to her room.


    "Sarah?" a quiet tenor voice answered. "It''s Finn."


    "Hi Finn," she said. Her fitted sheet went on first. It stretched across the mattress and even got itself tucked in. Unfortunately, it lost a lot of its light getting the last corner tucked in.


    "I''m sorry, ok?" he said.


    "Ok," she said. Sarah tossed the other sheet on the bed and smiled as she watched it unfold and spread out. The flat sheet lost light too, getting tucked in at the foot of her bed.


    "I''ll be in school tomorrow," Finn said. "You?"


    "I went today," said Sarah. The quilt held more than either sheet, but it also didn''t lose anything unfolding itself.


    "Oh," said Finn. Sarah could hear him breathing on the other end.


    "Have you tried again?" she said. She figured he probably had some reason to call, at least beyond checking about school and saying sorry. Her pillow landed on the bed and crawled, sluglike, into place. It poofed itself and squared up just the way she liked it.


    "Yeah, I really am sorry," he said. "I had no idea... I mean, it looked like you two were fine so I thought it was just about getting some of the pressure to stop. And something just clicked and it all made sense. So, you know?"


    "I know," sighed Sarah. She''d just pinched a little light to refill her sheets without hardly a thought. She sat down, distracted by what she''d just done.


    "I called because, well, I wouldn''t mind some help, maybe," said Finn. "I mean, you''ve been using the spirit and I don''t think you''ve hurt anyone."


    "I don''t know if I can help, Finn," she said. "I''ve never made lightning."


    "Well, no, but still," he said.


    "I''ll talk to Alexa, ok? You''ll probably have to wait though. I''ve got school and makeup work, and there''s the concert on Wednesday, so don''t be surprised if it takes until the weekend."


    "Yeah, I get it," said Finn. "Thank you. Um, you mean the choir concert?"


    "Yeah, Alexa''s in it, and her friends too. You know Bri, right?"


    "Um, the short one?" he asked.


    "Bri isn''t short," said Sarah.


    "Well, no, but shorter than Alexa''s other friend, right?"


    "Well..."


    Finn laughed, "Yeah, ok. So you''re going to the concert?"


    Sarah nodded, then shook her head and said, "Yeah, I said I would."


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    "Great, do you mind if I go too?" he said.


    "It''s just a school thing, I don''t even know what they''re singing," said Sarah.


    "Awesome! I''ll see you on Wednesday then!" Finn''s voice had gotten louder, and Sarah held the phone a bit farther from her ear.


    "Didn''t you say you''d be in class tomorrow?" she asked.


    "Oh, well, yes. Forgot about that," he muttered. "I''ll see you tomorrow then. And thanks, by the way. For, you know, the shine stuff. And for the weekend."


    "You''re welcome," she said. "See you tomorrow then."


    A click and the conversation was over. She spent most of the evening working on her homework - there was less catchup work than she''d expected, but it still needed finishing. Her mom gave her permission to go to the concert, of course. She didn''t even check about how much homework still needed to be finished before telling Sarah that she could go.


    The next day was much the same as the first. Finn was in art class, and Sarah kept catching him watching her even though he didn''t actually say anything. He seemed fine, even if he was wearing a buzz cut that made his white scalp visible. His eyebrows hadn¡¯t grown back either.


    Sarah was messing around with her skinny leather cords. She was trying out different braids, wrapping beads and other objects into them, and seeing how they came together. She didn''t tie anything off though, she needed Cuddles''s bones to do what she wanted, but she was getting better ideas of what would be possible.


    Honestly, she was feeling a little obsessed about the dead snake. She''d checked the box that morning before school, and even though it looked like the ants had found him, he didn''t look any different. She was anxious to get him all the way cleaned, but she didn''t want him damaged either. She''d found a book about snakes in the school library and spent biology flipping through the pages showing snake anatomy. She wasn''t studying it, just looking at the diagrams and committing the shapes to her mind. She might see if her mom would take her to the store to look for some supplies that Mr. Clarke didn''t have.


    Despite the way her mind kept drifting, Wednesday had her thoroughly distracted. Her face was flushed, her breathing harsh, and her room was a mess with clothing scattered over everything. She had no idea how people dressed for school concerts. She could only think of one movie with a concert at school, and everyone was way dressed up. Not in ball gowns, but still ties and skirts and things. Alexa hadn''t said anything to her about how to dress, but she wasn''t answering her phone either. Her mom had just laughed when she''d asked, and she told Sarah to wear whatever.


    She needed to look nice, she knew that. So Sarah had decided to try some makeup, even if she only felt comfortable with a bit of mascara and lip gloss. She''d put her hair up too, with a braid coiled up into a bun. Nothing too fancy, but she hoped she was showing some effort and care without looking like a clown. She finally settled on a light blue V-line dress that hardly ever left the closet. Her mom said it looked good on her, but she¡¯d only ever worn it once, to a cousin''s wedding. She''d never wear it to school or anything, but it didn''t look too formal and it had a fun little swish to the skirt too.


    She was just pulling it down over her head when her mom yelled, "Finn''s here!"


    Sarah froze with the dress still over her head. For a moment, she thought her mom meant that Finn was literally right there, seeing her standing there half-naked. She yanked the dress the rest of the way and spun, but her door was still shut and her mom had yelled from downstairs.


    Why was Finn here? They weren''t supposed to meet up until the weekend. She could hear Finn and her mom talking, he was explaining something about football. Maybe. Sarah didn''t know much about the game, but she wasn''t sure if anything ever got tied down. She peeked around the corner, Finn was in jeans and laced-up boots, but he was also wearing a button-down shirt and a brown sport coat that matched the boots. His hair had something in that made it look shiny, even if it still was still short and spiky. Her irritation lessened, it was a good thing she''d talked herself out of wearing a hoodie.


    Putting on a pair of flat black sandals, Sarah swallowed and headed down the stairs to where Finn and her mom were waiting.


    "You look great!" exclaimed Finn. "Are you ready to go?"


    "Mom," said Sarah, ignoring Finn. "Weren''t you going to drive me?"


    Her mom just smiled.

 Chapter 34

    Sarah tried to put away her phone and wallet, then groaned and stomped back upstairs without saying anything else to Finn or her mom. Her dress didn''t have any pockets. Maybe she should have worn jeans and a hoodie. But Finn was waiting for her, and he was kinda dressed up. She did own two purses, one a little sequined clutch, the other a shapeless tan shoulder bag with more than enough room for her wallet and flip phone. She hesitated a moment before grabbing the shoulder bag and dropping her stuff into it.


    It had plenty of space left, and she hadn''t had much time to read lately, but with Finn driving her around who knew what was going to happen? She grabbed a novel from her shelf and tossed it in, followed by a pen, a small flashlight, a hairbrush, and a pocket knife. Throwing it over her shoulder, she looked down. The purse hung open with everything in it, so she grabbed a pinch of light between two fingers. With some blue, the purse shifted into cleaner lines and pulled its top edges together so it didn¡¯t just look like a tote bag.


    Then she kicked off the strappy sandals she''d had on, pulled on some socks, and stepped into a pair of soft, fleece-lined boots. If she had to walk much tonight that''d be much better, and they still looked ok with her dress.


    She stomped back down the stairs, ignoring Finn''s wide eyes and her mother''s smile.


    "I''m ready," she said, walking right past them out the door.


    "Goodnight!" said Finn to her mom as he followed Sarah out.


    Sarah paused, looking around. Finn pointed out his car - a maroon minivan parked on the curb. She reached for the door to get in, but Finn had done a little scuttling run and grabbed the door, holding it for her. She got in, carefully not making a face at the warm Cheerios smell that filled the space inside, and she waited for Finn to walk around the outside of the car to get in.


    Finn started the car, putting it into gear and pulling out. The air conditioner came on with the engine, flushing some of the smell out as it cooled the air. The radio was silent, but Sarah noticed that the radio was on some AM channel even though the volume was turned all the way down.


    "I''m so glad you''re coming," said Finn. "I thought you didn''t like music."


    "Well, I don''t like music. But Alexa asked, so I figured I should give it a try," she said. She closed her eyes, they were driving almost straight into the setting sun and it was easier to just close them than it was to wiggle around in the car chasing shade as Finn drove through town.


    "That''s great," said Finn. "I''m pretty sure they''re doing bluegrassy stuff, and I know the orchestra won''t be there. It''s gonna be pretty low-energy stuff."


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    "Oh," said Sarah. If there really weren''t drums and horns and similar then it would be a lot less painful.


    The two fell into silence as they drove back to school.


    When they got there, Finn hopped out and started to run out of the car, but Sarah found the door latch and let herself out. Finn did get to close the door while she walked ahead. Finn''s long legs let him catch up to her before she got much past the curb, and he sort of leaned toward her while they walked.


    "I''m pretty sure it''s..."


    "It''s in the theater," interrupted Sarah. "And we don''t need tickets, I checked."


    They were early enough that the auditorium was mostly empty. They stood in the back, looking around.


    "Where would you like to sit?" asked Finn.


    "I usually sit in the back during assemblies, but maybe we should be closer," said Sarah.


    "Do you see anyone you''d like to sit near? Or maybe away from?"


    "Not really," said Sarah with a sideways glance at Finn. She hadn''t really planned on going with anyone, but maybe that wasn''t something she should say out loud.


    Finn put a hand against her back and gently pushed her forward. He walked alongside her down the aisle, leading them to a spot maybe two-thirds of the way toward the front, then he indicated the row of seats to the side. She slid in and took a seat, and Finn followed and sat in the aisle seat.


    "The sound is usually better here than it is in the front. Plus there''ll probably be a bunch of parents trying to film and take pictures, so we''ll probably see better than in the center."


    "I''d never realized," said Sarah.


    "Yeah," he said. "I try to go to most things, it just seems fair. After all, everyone goes to the football games."


    "I see," said Sarah.


    "Plus, I used to play the violin. But I couldn''t fit orchestra into my schedule with football. I do kind of miss recitals though. Did you ever play an instrument?"


    "No," said Sarah.


    Finn ran a hand over his hair, and said "I still have a guitar, and I''ll noodle with it sometimes. It''s pretty easy after learning violin. But really, it doesn''t compare to football. I mean, jamming with friends is great, but nothing really compares to the rush of a good play. There''s just something about being on that field, pushing the ball past the other team.


    "Plus, I gotta admit, you''d be amazed how tough you feel in the pads and jersey. Standing in uniform with a team, wearing the gear, I just feel invincible. Of course, the strategy and teamwork is important, too."


    "Are important," corrected Sarah. She''d been looking over the stage, the way those risers were put together was interesting and she made a note to check them out afterwards. But that last phrase had jumped out at her.


    "Huh?"


    "Strategy and teamwork are important," she said.


    "Right. Like, everyone has to be on the same page, working together, and that''s what makes it awesome. I could chase that sort of thing all day long. Maybe you should come out to the next game."


    "Sure," she said as he chattered away. Sarah could make out a bit of mechanism on the back that lifted the whole thing off the wheels. She couldn''t be sure, but it looked like the whole thing was built around a single lever that could collapse the whole thing.


    Finally, she was saved by the lights going out, and a string of boys and girls in grey and silver robes filed in and took their places on the stands.

 Chapter 35: Measure

    The auditorium had mostly filled up while Finn had been talking. The center section was fully occupied, with only a few vacant seats. The edges were more open, but there were a few people sitting in every row right on to the back. The music started right away when the lights came down. A boy that Sarah didn''t know hadn''t joined the rest on the risers, instead stopping near the front of the stage where he started singing by himself. Sarah had heard the song before, it was familiar even if she couldn''t place it. The song managed to be both energetic and sad, as he sang about reading the newspaper. The whole choir joined in when the song started repeating itself, adding harmonies and depth to the melody. Even though she couldn''t pick out the soloist anymore, she could hear how it all worked together. Sarah closed her eyes and just let the live music wash past her.


    The music paused for a moment, then launched into a song with a few voices going back and forth. Sarah felt her feet tapping, and even found herself almost singing along to the chorus as it bounced around - ''So shy'' getting answered by ''Please don''t leave me, girl.'' The song''s sentiments didn''t touch her at all, but the words felt infectious.


    On the third song, Sarah recognized Alexa''s voice singing the solo. It was a soaring song in Italian, with the rest of the choir oohing and singing harmonies. Alexa''s voice ranged up and down the scale, and Sarah could hear every inflection perfectly over the rest. Sarah smiled, she could see the green power in Alexa''s voice, and it was clearly focused on her throat and chest. It was also, oddly to Sarah, concentrated in Alexa''s ears - there was a prick of green glow that almost looked like a little Bluetooth headset in each of Alexa''s ears.


    And then, almost before Alexa''s song was over the choir switched into a fast beat - an Elton John song that Sarah actually recognized. Her mom would play the song sometimes while she was cleaning. It would usually drive Sarah to her room, if not out of the house entirely. Instead of wincing in pain, Sarah found herself tapping and bobbing her head to the music. When they transitioned to a second Elton John song, Sarah even clapped along with the rest of the audience.


    A moment of silence, and they launched into a slower, more emotional song. Sarah recognized this one too, well enough to have to stop herself from singing along to the chorus at first - the words, ''bright sunshiney day'' were almost impossible to not sing out loud. She wasn''t the only one, everyone sang along for the final chorus. Sarah was laughing at the experience, the way everyone in the room was really focused on just the music. The pep rallies and school performances she''d been forced to in the past were never like this.


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    Amidst the applause and cheers that followed each performance, Sarah couldn''t help but wonder what it would be like to stand on that stage. The way Alexa and everyone stood and glittered up on stage in front of the audience was amazing, she''d never imagined holding attention like that. Not just holding attention, but blasting right through all the distractions and taking it.


    During the last song, Sarah imagined herself standing up there, wearing the same shiny robes that captured the stage lights in little sparkly bursts. She could do that, stand on the risers in front of everyone. She might even like it. As the last song faded, Sarah imagined standing out front in a spotlight and singing on her own, and she suddenly stopped clapping. The auditorium had gotten warm, and sweat was prickling on her forehead. She clasped her hands together to stop them from shaking, she really wasn''t used to clapping so much.


    Some of the singers were walking down into the aisles, and audience members were standing up and mixing with the choir. Sarah stood up too, noticing that Finn had put his arm over the back of her chair at some point during the show. Without looking back, she wormed her way through the crowd until she found Alexa. Alexa spotted Sarah right away and gave her a hug before pointing out the people she was talking to.


    "This is my mom and dad," said Alexa. "And this is Rob, my brother, and his girlfriend. And this is Steven, my other brother. He doesn''t have a girlfriend."


    "Shut up, Alexa," said Steven. "Nice to meet you, Sarah."


    Sarah just nodded at him. She was trying to decide how much work she needed to put into remembering their names. But before she could say anything, they had excused themselves, just telling Alexa to be home by eleven.


    By then, Finn had gotten through, but before he could say anything another voice chimed in, "Finn! You made it!" Bri pushed past Alexa and Sarah to wrap her arms around Finn in a big hug.


    "Hi Bri," said Finn. He sorta patted Bri''s back for a moment until Bri let go.


    "Are you coming with us after? We usually go to Alma''s after shows or late practices," she asked Finn.


    "Alma''s?" interrupted Sarah.


    "Alma''s is that diner, you know the one just off fourth? Like a block away from the school?" answered Alexa.


    "Oh, yeah," said Sarah, even though she''d never noticed any restaurant anywhere near the school.


    "I kinda already ate," said Finn.


    "No worries!" said Bri. "We only ever get like fries or pie and stuff. It''s not like there''s anywhere else to hang out at night."


    Finn took a little sideways step away from Bri and closer to Sarah. He said, "Well, I guess it''s up to Sarah, I''m her ride tonight."


    "I was planning on going. Alexa said she''d take me home anyways," said Sarah. Bri was staring so intently at Sarah that sparks might fly if they made eye contact, so Sarah kept looking down. Finn didn''t have to come to the diner, Sarah didn''t mind if he just went home. "You can go, Finn if you want."


    Bri''s attention switched immediately, "You should Finn! Can you drive me too?"


    Finn just looked back and forth between Sarah and Bri before answering with a quiet "Sure. I''ll drive you."

 Chapter 36

    Sarah stood quietly, watching everyone mingle after the concert. Jill never actually said hello, but Sarah could see her over the heads of everyone else. Jill saw Sarah watching and waved and mouthed "sorry" before turning to leave. It looked like she was with her parents, and Sarah wondered if they were going out to eat too, or if they were just going straight home.


    For the most part, the adults shuffled out pretty quickly, but the singers were all still riding an adrenaline high and were happy to chat and laugh with friends while they could. Finn was talking to one of the few adults still in the room, a dad or something. The older man was asking him about the football team, and what Finn knew about the new sophomores on next year''s team.


    Sarah was just considering whether she could sit down and pull out her novel when she felt an arm wrap around her elbow, pulling her toward a side door.


    "I need to go to the bathroom," chirped Bri right in Sarah''s ear. "Come with us."


    "I''m, what?" stuttered Sarah. She had immediately tensed up at the touch and pulled back against Bri, but she did relax a little when she realized that Alexa was moving in the same direction. Bri and Sarah followed Alexa''s big curly hair as it bobbed past the chatting students still filling the auditorium aisles.


    Out the doors, around a corner, and they were at a restroom. Alexa took a stall, but Bri just turned to Sarah, holding both her arms.


    "So, what''s with you and Finn?" said Bri. Sarah already knew Bri liked Finn, and had expected the other girl to be upset. Instead, Bri sounded enthusiastic, she sounded like she was smiling, even though her face was still.


    "Nothing," said Sarah. "I mean, we were in the hospital, so I guess he feels attached? Plus it''s really his fault I had my first seizure, so maybe he feels guilty. He just sorta invited himself to drive me tonight too."


    "But he likes you?" Bri''s eyes were wide, and there was a hint of a smile at the edges of her lips.


    "No? Yes? I don''t know," whispered Sarah. "I''d rather he didn''t. He''s kinda annoying."


    "He''s cute!" exclaimed Bri. Bri had frowned suddenly when Sarah called Finn annoying.


    "I guess," said Sarah.


    "So you really don''t mind if I go for it?" asked Bri, smiling again.


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    "I thought you were already going for it," said Sarah.


    "Sarah, he''s cute and he''s a star and he''s smart," said Bri. She trailed off, blushing. "I tried last year, but we kinda all decided he was gay or something. I mean, a boy like him and he''s never seemed interested in anyone. But he''s got a crush on you, so there''s a chance."


    "He doesn''t have a crush on me," said Sarah.


    Giggling erupted from the stall. "He''s got it bad, but don''t worry, we''ll protect you," said Alexa.


    "Yup," agreed Bri. "I never would have guessed he was just awkward. Guy like him..."


    Sarah was blushing now. "I should tell you, he invited himself to Alexa and our study thing on Saturday. I probably should have said no."


    "It''s fine," said Bri. "I''d say to let him down easy, but you might need to be blunt. Don''t worry, I''ll be there to catch him."


    "Oh, hey, Bri," said Alexa. "You did that urban exploration photography thing last year, right? Sarah was talking about a painting thing she wanted to try, and she was looking for something a little apocalyptic. Like an old abandoned factory or courtyard or something. Like all cement and steel with maybe a few weeds, and nothing that looks like a person has seen it in years."


    "Ooh! I know lots of places," said Bri. "What did you have in mind?"


    "I don''t know," said Sarah. She glanced at Alexa, trying to hide her blank thoughts. She didn''t really paint, just sketch sometimes, and Urbex really wasn''t her thing.


    "Well, if you want something really cramped and drippy, the old steel plant has some really dramatic stuff. It''s hard to get into though, there''s a guard there most days. You could try the old state hospital too, it''s creepy, and there are lots of long straight hallways and little cubby rooms. It''s pretty empty though, so you''ll just have peeling plaster and old linoleum to work with. Or maybe try the yards on the west side of town, there are a couple of really big warehouses that are falling down. They''re pretty empty too, but the broken roofs made for really dramatic lighting inside. And no one is ever around on weekends, at least they weren''t when I was over there."


    "Ok," said Sarah.


    "That sounds great," said Alexa. "How long were you in jail for trespassing last time?"


    "Thppt." Bri blew a raspberry at Alexa before turning to the mirror. She pulled the elastic out of her hair and was running her fingers through it to smooth everything back down. "They didn''t even call my parents, just told me to take off."


    Sarah got into her bag and handed Bri her hairbrush. "You''re amazing," said Bri.


    "Listen," she continued. "Don''t worry about Finn tonight, or even this week. Just be nice, and keep being oblivious."


    "I''m not oblivious," protested Sarah.


    "I''ll take care of him if I have to sit on his lap," she said. Bri had worked out a few tangles and was putting her hair back into a high ponytail that lifted her hair off her neck. She handed the brush back to Sarah, who absentmindedly dropped it into the open mouth of her purse.


    "Well, all right then," said Alexa. "Shall we? Unless Sarah wants to talk about whoever it is you do like? We''ve got tips and would love to help."


    Sarah''s face went beet red, right up to her hairline, and she started edging towards the door. The two girls giggled and followed her, taking an arm on each side as they skipped back to the auditorium.

 Chapter 37

    By the time the three got back, the auditorium was pretty much empty. A few people were still chatting near the back doors, and a pair of students in black pants and black T-shirts were folding up the risers and wheeling them away backstage. It seemed like most everyone had taken off.


    Finn was waiting near the outside door, along with two other kids that Sarah didn''t know. She knew the guy''s face from school, and he''d sung one of the solos during the concert, but she had no idea what his name was or even what grade he was in. Sarah didn''t recognize the other girl at all.


    When they came into view, Bri let go of Sarah''s arm and skipped ahead, leaning right up close to Finn.


    "Thanks for waiting," she said, reaching up to check her ponytail. "You''re still going to Alma''s with everyone, right?"


    "Yeah," Finn said, smiling briefly. "Cole and Brinna are going to ride along too."


    "Awesome," Bri said. She had hardly glanced at the two with Finn, keeping her eyes on Finn.


    "Sarah, you''re still good to ride with Alexa?" Finn said, his voice a bit higher pitched than it had been speaking to Bri.


    Sarah nodded, and said, "We''ll see you there."


    The two groups split up, and Sarah climbed up into Alexa''s jeep again.


    Starting her car, Alexa idly said, "You know, if you want Bri to back off, she will. She can seem a bit pushy, but she wouldn''t cat in on you either."


    "Cat in..." said Sarah to herself. Then louder, she said, "No, really, please. If she likes him, that''s great. I really don''t, there''s just so much to do. I''m not sure I want to date any guy at school. Besides, they all smell."


    Alexa laughed out loud, "Well, Finn smelled nice tonight at least."


    "Whatever," said Sarah. "By the way, what was that about me painting some wrecked building? I don''t paint."


    "Didn''t we say we were going to help Finn this weekend? I''m not sure what he can really do, but it''s probably fair to expect more lightning and burnt eyebrows. We''re not going to do that up at the meadow, I for one don''t want Smokey the Bear to get mad at me. I''d cry if that happened. And I don''t want him blowing stuff up at my house. I assume you don''t want him at your place either?"


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    "Oh, I get it," said Sarah, shaking her head. "Dumb, yeah, that makes sense. Go blow something up that no one cares about, yeah?"


    "Right, and even if it does go bad, it won''t hurt anyone else and shouldn''t get out of control. I know the area out there, it''s all cement and gravel. If we burn out there, well, he''d kill us anywhere. And I can try to break more stuff. Maybe lift some cement slabs, that kind of thing.


    "Yesterday, just to see if I could, I lifted the front end of my jeep off the ground. I could have gotten it over my head, but I didn''t want to break it if I dropped it. I used a lot of qi, but it hardly felt difficult. I''m kinda dying to let loose a little. Aren''t you?"


    "Not really," said Sarah. "I mean, a little, but it''s a lot of work. I think I need to find things to use if I really want to go all out. But yeah, I guess I''d really like to find something flexible and see what I can do with it. It''s just that even if the seizures aren''t dangerous, they aren''t fun either. I''m going to avoid them if I can.


    "Hey," Sarah said, to change the subject a little, "I saw you were using the fog to sing tonight. You were really clear and loud, so I''m guessing it helped? I''ve never actually heard you sing before.


    "I did? I mean, I''ve started kinda pulling in pinches here and there, I hardly even notice it, to be honest." She looked down at her hands on the wheel, "Yeah, I guess I did use a bunch somewhere. I was just focusing on the melody and control, I didn''t even realize."


    "That''s kinda scary," said Sarah, her eyebrows raised.


    "Not really, why?" asked Alexa.


    "What if you lose control? What if you''re angry and just sort of squeeze, not realizing you''re lit up." Sarah was speaking quickly now. "Do you remember kicking that rock? You broke a granite boulder in half and split your shoe but hardly noticed."


    "Shale," said Alexa. "It was shale, not granite. You could probably have broken it if you tried. Maybe with a hammer. And those shoes were super old. Nah, don''t worry. It''s one thing when I''m really focused, but I don''t really hit stuff out of temper. I usually just shout, but I''ll keep an eye on it."


    They had barely started the car when they arrived at the little diner. It really was just a couple of blocks, and Sarah felt like they could have walked there in almost as much time as it had taken to load in and get out. It was just a dingy white building, shaped like a box with a few big windows out front. A faded vinyl sign was hung on the side of the building over a doorway, proclaiming the place "Alma''s All-American Restaurant."


    Even though the neighborhood was rapidly getting dark, the little place glowed with warm light, and Sarah could see the crowd of teenagers through the window. Opening the door let their chatter and noise wash out. A few people were singing something, thunking cups to make time. Others were laughing or talking, everyone was still riding the high from their performance and enjoying a night out.


    Finn, Bri, and maybe half a dozen others were already sitting at a few tables pushed together in the middle of the floor. French fries had already been delivered, along with thick milkshakes. Two seats were still open, one at the head of the makeshift table, the other just around on the right. Without even noticing, Sarah was smiling back at the people calling out to her and Alexa as they walked in.

 Chapter 38

    The warm and inviting atmosphere of the diner welcomed Sarah and Alexa as they made their way to the group. Bri was beaming at Finn, and the others seemed to be in high spirits, still energized by the performance they had just given. Sarah felt a mix of excitement and nervousness as she approached the table, not quite sure what to expect.


    "Hey, there you are!" exclaimed Finn as he noticed Sarah and Alexa approaching. He seemed genuinely pleased to see them, and Sarah couldn''t help but smile back, despite the lump in her stomach.


    "Hey!" Sarah replied, probably too quiet for anyone to hear her. She took the seat next to the head of the table, on Finn''s left hand. Alexa sat down at the head of the makeshift table, and the group greeted her warmly.


    Bri, who was sitting across from Finn, gave him a playful nudge and said, "So, Finn, how did you like the concert tonight?"


    Finn blushed a little, glancing briefly at Sarah before answering, "Yeah, it was awesome. You guys did a fantastic job up there."


    "Thanks!" Bri said, grinning, clearly enjoying Finn''s attention.


    As the conversation flowed, Sarah found herself getting more comfortable. The friendly banter and laughter helped ease her nerves, and she even started to join in on some of the jokes. She discovered that the guy singing the solo was named Cole, and that Brinna was his sister. Even though Brinna was just a sophomore, she was one of the louder personalities at the table.


    Throughout the meal, Sarah noticed that Finn kept glancing at her, especially whenever Bri''s attention got a little pointed. Could Bri have told him that she wasn''t really interested like that? Sarah couldn''t help but wish she had, or would. No, Bri probably wouldn''t have done it in front of anyone else. At least Sarah hoped Bri wouldn''t have done it in front of anyone else. Sarah tried to keep things light and friendly, not wanting to obviously ignore Finn. The conversation shifted to plans for the weekend, and Alexa started in on Finn inviting himself to their bio study session on Saturday.


    "It''s not even like you''re in our class!" exclaimed Alexa. "You''re just thinking we''ll give up our notes easy."


    Finn just gaped open like a fish, somehow he was even worse at figuring out what Saturday was really about than Sarah had been.


    "I wish I had taken bio this year," said Bri, leaning back in her chair and shifting so that her knees were pressed against Finn''s leg.


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    The group laughed, and Finn seemed to relax a bit, even if he wasn''t exactly smiling. The way Bri kept touching him didn''t go unnoticed by Sarah, but she couldn¡¯t help but tighten her lips when she noticed his constant glances in her direction, and Sarah did her best not to watch them. Instead, she focused on the conversation about the biology study session, hoping to distract herself from his looks.


    "Yeah, we''ll be studying the ATP cycle stuff," Alexa continued, clearly having fun at Finn''s expense. "I guess you should be there, you missed most of that week too."


    "That''s, uh, what I was thinking," Finn stammered, glancing at Sarah yet again.


    "Oh, don''t worry," Sarah chimed in, smiling warmly at him. "We''ll all catch up on the basics. It won''t be fun, but hopefully, it''ll help."


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    Brinna made a loud comment, explaining to the whole table how Cole hadn''t gotten into AP Bio at all and was just taking life sciences, and the subject moved away from their Saturday plans. As the conversation flowed, Sarah relaxed as she noticed that Bri had gotten Finn engaged in their own little side chat. Every now and then, Finn would still glance back at Sarah, perhaps making sure she was okay. But he did seem to be getting more and more happy with Bri¡¯s attention. He wasn¡¯t looking over every time Bri touched him anymore, instead just looking when Sarah laughed or said something.


    She appreciated the consideration, but she didn''t want him to feel obligated to do so. It wasn''t her fault that he felt responsible for her, and Sarah didn''t want any lingering awkwardness between them. A little guilt, maybe, for stressing her out that day in art class, and for blowing them up in the hospital, but not more than that.


    As the night went on, Finn and Bri excused themselves, saying they needed to head home. Sarah didn''t miss Bri¡¯s little grin as she trailed the tall boy from the diner. Bri even threw a little thumbs up at Sarah and Alexa before walking out the door, and Sarah was glad that Bri''s confidence had been well-founded.


    After a while, the group decided to call it a night and head home. Sarah and Alexa offered to give Cole and Brinna a ride, since their ride had already left, and the four of them made their way to the parking lot together. As they walked, Sarah found it difficult to stop smiling and even skipped a bit for the first time in years.


    Pulling up to Cole and Brinna''s house, Cole leaned up to the front seats and said, "Thanks for the ride, Alexa. It was great hanging out with you everyone tonight."


    "Yeah, it was fun!" Brinna chimed in. "We should definitely do this again sometime."


    "Definitely," Sarah agreed, smiling warmly. "It was great getting to know you both."


    As the two said their goodbyes and walked away, Sarah turned to Alexa and said, "I had a really great time tonight. Thanks for inviting me."


    Alexa smiled back, "I''m glad you came. It''s nice to hang out, and not worry about school or the magic stuff. And don''t worry about Finn and Bri. Either they''ll sort it out or not, either way, it¡¯s not on you."


    "I hope so," Sarah replied, her smile fading slightly. "I just don''t want things to get weird."


    Alexa reached out and shoved Sarah''s shoulder, "I think the weirdness boat sailed already, don''t think I didn''t notice your purse opening and shutting on its own. We''ll handle it together. Now, let''s get you home before your mom decides to stop letting you out."


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    After Sarah climbed out of the jeep and thanked Alexa for the ride, she opened her door and stepped inside. She looked back and saw that Alexa had waited until the door was open before driving away.


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    Closing the front door behind her, Sarah found her mom sitting in the living room, reading a book. Her mom looked up and smiled when she saw Sarah.


    "Hey, sweetie! How was the concert?" her mom asked.


    "It was amazing!" Sarah exclaimed, her face lighting up. "The choir did a fantastic job, and Alexa had a solo! She was incredible!"


    "I''m glad you had a good time," her mom said warmly. "Did everything go well after the concert?"


    "Yeah, it was fun," Sarah replied, trying not to sound too bothered. She didn''t want to talk about Finn and Bri and especially not about Finn. With any luck her mom wouldn¡¯t ask about him at all. "We went to Alma''s for some fries and milkshakes."


    "That sounds nice," her mom said, putting her book down. "I''m glad you''re enjoying yourself. You deserve to have some fun."


    "Thanks, Mom," Sarah said, feeling her shoulders loosen and she rolled her neck a couple of times. She was grateful that her mom didn''t seem inclined to press for details.


    "I''m heading to bed now," her mom said, standing up. "Do you need anything before you go to bed too?"


    "I''m good, thanks," Sarah replied, smiling. "I might read a little."


    "All right then, sweet dreams," her mom said, giving her a gentle hug. "Goodnight."


    "Goodnight, Mom," Sarah said, returning the hug. As her mom went upstairs to her room, Sarah made her way to her own bedroom. She closed the door behind her and sighed, feeling herself still smiling.

 Chapter 39: Flight

    It was a dark and stormy morning, thought Sarah to herself. Perhaps calling the Saturday morning stormy was stretching things, and it wasn''t exactly dark either. But the clouds were low and grey, and the wind was rolling them across town. It hadn''t actually rained yet, but the promise was clear.


    Sarah was sitting on the front porch, wearing her mom''s old leather coat. It still shone blue and she expected it would shed any rain just fine. She could always oil it later too, if it did soak up any water. The coat had deep pockets, holding her wallet and phone in a ziplock bag on her right side, and an empty bag in the pocket on her left. That bag was for the book she was reading while she waited.


    A honk made her look up, and she smiled to see Alexa¡¯s jeep waiting at the curb. Sarah carefully put her book into the bag, and then into her pocket, and then she ran over and hopped in, and together they zoomed off.


    "You''ve got Finn''s address?" checked Sarah.


    "Yeah," nodded Alexa.


    "I probably should have gotten into the back seat," said Sarah.


    "Why? No," said Alexa.


    "He''s just so much taller, he''s not even going to fit back there.


    "Who cares? I don''t."


    "I don''t want to be rude, I''d fit just fine in the back."


    "Nah, don''t let him think you''re thinking about him. And we¡¯re already doing him the favor here, plus it''s my car. He can sit in the back."


    "All right then," said Sarah.


    They pulled up to a house set well back behind a wide green lawn. Somehow the lawn was even thick and healthy underneath the big trees that made the space truly dark. Oaks? Elms? Sarah didn''t know. They weren''t maple, they didn''t have those five-pointed Canada leaves. The leaves were kinda long and lacy like someone with a fret saw had gone crazy on them.


    Finn opened the door pretty fast after Alexa honked. He must have been waiting just inside. Instead of ducking under the trees he went around, following a curved driveway out to where the girls were waiting. He was wearing sneakers, jeans, and a faded t-shirt.


    "Gonna be cold," said Alexa as he got in.


    "Nah, wet maybe, but not cold," said Finn. "Good morning, Sarah."


    "Morning," she answered.


    "Thanks for doing this," said Finn. "Want to talk on the way?"


    "And risk you having a bright idea and setting my baby on fire?" snapped Alexa. "No, we''ll wait. It''s not far."


    The silence stretched as they drove west, out of town.


    Raindrops splattered against the windshield, obscuring the view of the rugged landscape. The atmosphere inside the car was almost tense, and the occasional flash of lightning sparkled behind the hills. Each of them was lost in their own thoughts, the silence broken only by the sound of rain hitting the car''s roof.


    They were headed towards a semi-deserted depot, the depot had been abandoned for years, with rusted train tracks stretching out into the distance. It used to be a waypoint where trains split up their cargo, but traffic using it had dropped off long before Sarah had been born. Every so often someone decided to reuse the place, building a new warehouse or loading station. After driving for close to an hour, they finally pulled off the highway at the depot complex.


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    The newest building was still in use - a distribution center for some big box company. It was just a big white rectangle, lined with docking bays for trucks. Today, the parking lot was almost empty, with just a couple of box trucks parked near the back.


    The tension inside the car had became palpable, and not just from the silence. Sarah could feel pressure closing around her mind, and she eyed the thick glowing fog with anticipation. Sarah stole a glance at Finn through the mirror in her sun visor, and she could see him rocking his knees as he waited patiently. Despite the seriousness of their errand, she also taste a flicker of excitement in the way he was watching the scenery slide by.


    They pulled onto an unpaved side street, Alexa''s grip tightening on the steering wheel, and she navigated a muddy track with a little smile. Sarah hadn''t noticed when she¡¯d pulled her magic in, but Alexa was glowing brightly green now, and she was smiling as they bounced over ruts and divots.


    "Let''s see, Bri said..." Alexa trailed off as she made another turn around some old hulk of corrugated steel. They drove around a pile of rotting timber, and then right over a chain link fence that had fallen across the road. The tires started making a crunching noise over intact asphalt, and Sarah could even see the remains of old paint lines marking parking spots. A dirty red brick building loomed over them. There were some broken windows up near the roof, and Sarah could see chains hanging over the doors. Alexa pulled to a stop parallel to the wall, totally ignoring the lines.


    Looking around, Sarah could see some trees, some walls, and fences, but the working distribution center was completely hidden, as was the main road. No one was likely to see them parked here unless they were really looking for something. The air was thick and humid, and the ground was wet, but it wasn''t raining either, and the rumbles of thunder all came rolling out from beyond the hills.


    "So, right here?" asked Finn. ¡°Are you going to show me now?


    "We could, but come look, I think there¡¯s somewhere better," said Alexa. She led the way to the big doors. They were probably glass once, but now they were just big pieces of plywood nailed into the steel door frames.


    "Are you going to break it," asked Sarah.


    "I could, but no. Look," said Alexa. Finn''s eyebrows lowered as he thought about what Sarah asked, but he didn''t say anything. Sarah looked at the thick chains hanging on the door, they were held together by a rusty padlock. It looked old and dirty enough that even if someone had a key, they''d probably still need to cut it. Then Sarah looked again, at where Alexa was pointing. At the end of the chain, where it was looped through steel rings driven into the red brick, the chain was just held together with a hook. "We''re not the first people here. Lots of explorer types like this area, and they try to make it look like things are still shut up when they break in."


    "Not that anyone would notice anything out here," said Finn.


    "It probably wouldn''t be quite so deserted if the weather was nice, or if it was a weekday," said Alexa.


    "This''ll be perfect," said Sarah, talking to Finn. "And the thunder makes it better. Don''t want to break anything that matters, and no one will hear us over the storm either."


    "Right," said Finn.


    Alexa loosened the chain so they could open a door enough to slip in. Sarah eased through, making sure not to catch on anything sharp. Finn just bulled through, knocking crud down from the door jam. Alexa came in last. They were in a small entryway, no windows, but there was a dark doorway just ahead. In the darkness, Sarah could make out piles of mushy wood spaced evenly - probably old desks or tables. Ceiling tiles had fallen on top of everything else, giving it a curiously checkered appearance with their square shapes and sharp lines standing out against the rot.


    Moving through the dark and musty rooms and hallways, She found a hallway with some light coming through from farther inside the building, and she picked her way through the debris to see what it was. It opened to a huge open space. She could see bare cement flooring here, only lightly obscured by a few tangles of rusty metal and drifts of rotten leaves. The roof had mostly fallen in, leaving the space open to the sky. All together, it looked bigger than the school''s football field. Even with the mess of old steel and dead vegetation on the floor, there was still plenty of space to move around in.


    "Yeah, perfect," said Sarah.

 Chapter 40

    "Yeah, this should work fine." Alexa stepped out of the darkness, green light draining from her eyes into the rest of her body.


    Sarah heard a thud come out of the room behind her, and looking back she could see a billow of dust rising from where Finn had tripped and fallen inside.


    "Need a hand?" she called back.


    "Yes. Or a light," he answered.


    Sarah walked back and guided him out of the deeper parts of the dilapidated offices until he could see his steps by the light coming from the main warehouse. Once he got out with the other two, Finn leaned back, stretching out from the way he''d been holding his head down while shuffling blind through the shadows. He rolled his shoulders and hopped a couple of times on the balls of his feet.


    "Ok, I promised I''d wait for you two, so now what?" Finn''s eyes were wide, and he was shifting his balance from foot to foot as he talked.


    "Well, you already know how we all use the fog, right?" said Sarah. "Our colors, the way I put it in stuff, Alexa absorbs it, and I guess you concentrate it in the air."


    Finn just nodded, and made a little circular motion with his hands, asking her to go on.


    "Ok, so you did whatever you did in the hospital. Me, well, you see my coat, right? I put blue fog into it, obviously," said Sarah, indicating her leather jacket. The blue gleam of it cut through the grey light, making it clear to Finn what Sarah meant. She took off her jacket, setting it on the ground and standing well back. It folded itself up, neatly, like it was sitting on a shelf in a shop somewhere. Then it unfolded itself and walked back to Sarah, standing on its tail and moving with a sort of gorilla motion. The jacket used its arms to propel itself until it reached Sarah''s legs, where crawled up her body and set itself neatly on her shoulders.


    "That''s what I can do," said Sarah. "Well, more than just that, but you get the idea, right?"


    Finn had leaned back, holding his hands up in front of himself when the leather started moving. He''d leaned forward when it slithered up Sarah''s body and he was about to step forward and inspect it more closely when Alexa cleared her throat. He froze and whipped his head over to look at her. Alexa picked up an old piece of rebar from under a rusty pile, inhaled all the green mist they could see, and proceeded to coil the rebar up into a tight spiral.


    "And that''s what I can do," said Alexa. "With that in mind, I hope you understand why we didn''t really want you messing around. Especially in my car."


    "Yeah I get it, but that''s why we''re here, right?" Finn was swinging his arms now, back and forth in sync, like he was stretching again.


    "That''s why we''re here," repeated Alexa. She looked around at the black mold climbing the brick walls, at the jagged steel beams that still stretched overhead, and at the piles of trash and rust scattered about. She pointed at a door in the back of the warehouse, and said, "Ok, here''s how we''ll do this. Sarah and I will go over there, through the door, but we''ll leave it open so we can see you. You stand kinda close to the door and you''ll try and aim everything for the far wall. Start small, as small as you can manage. Don''t really go crazy until you know you won''t collapse this whole place doing it, ok?"


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    Alexa didn''t wait for an answer and moved directly to the door. It didn''t give when she tried the lever, so she just tried again and pushed until the whole door squealed and fell off its hinges. The door slammed against the ground, and Sarah could see the treeline just a short way through the open doorway. This building must be right on the edge of the complex. Sticking her head outside, she could see the bit of parking lot that surrounded this side of the building, the trees, and the hills in the distance. But no other cars, buildings, nothing but nature. Alexa had stepped outside, and the wind was streaming her hair off to the side.


    "Here, Sarah, look at this," said Alexa. She pulled out a little silk bag from her pocket and handed it to Sarah. "I was practicing the other night, making sure I could be careful and not break stuff, and I thought you''d like this."


    Sarah took the bag and opened it up. Inside were maybe half a dozen little paper swans, descending in size. Each was perfect, with perfect creases, with perfect proportions, and the smallest couldn''t have been bigger across than a dime.


    "You made these?"


    "Yeah," answered Alexa. "Just for practice, but I thought you might want to see if you could do anything with them."


    Sarah smiled, but before she could answer a loud noise cracked from inside the building. They both turned in time to see the flash of white light fade away.


    "Cool," said Finn. Looking inside, she could see scorch marks and smoldering leaves on the floor in front of him. He reached his hand out and more red mist gathered into a round ball just beyond his fingertips. And then before Sarah could hardly make out the shape, sparks erupted from his hand and arced out again, grounding itself into the floor.


    Finn looked over at the girls watching him, his eyes shining bright in the darkness, and he gathered another ball, this time gathering up from as far as Sarah could sense. She and Alexa both turned their heads and covered their eyes as lightning flared again. This time the lightning was bright enough that Sarah could see the light through her hands and eyelids, and the sound was loud enough that it knocked her down.


    "Sorry, sorry!" shouted Finn before Sarah could process what had happened. When Sarah opened up her eyes, she noticed that the newest scorch marks weren''t any farther from him than before. Even if some of the weeds and leaves were actually burning.


    "Well, at least it''ll be an hour before you can do that again," said Alexa. Finn frowned and held his hand out again. Somehow Sarah knew he was pulling just as hard as before, but he still only managed a tiny ball of red light. The spark it produced disappeared before it got six inches from Finn''s fingers.


    "You use your eyes, right?" scoffed Alexa. "You''ll have to wait for the magic to come back from wherever it comes from. Actually, don''t, keep practicing. Now you have to work small and I don''t have to worry about blowing out my eardrums."


    Sarah turned away from the two of them to look at the little swans in her hand. She took the biggest and dumped a pinch into it, turning it blue. It took three more pinches to fill it all the way up, and she put the remainder into the little silk bag. The little swan flexed its wings up and down. Then it unfolded itself in her hands. She held up the paper to Alexa, showing it to her as even the creases disappeared, leaving a pristine square of origami paper.


    "Can you fold it up again?" Sarah handed the paper back to Alexa. Alexa took the paper and frowned at Sarah too.


    "I''m already dealing with one dumbass, and now you wreck my present?" Alexa stuck her tongue out at Sarah, then looked around. "And no, I can''t do it again. I need somewhere clean to set it down and fold it again."


    "Fine," said Sarah, suppressing a smile. The paper started to shift again in Alexa''s hands, folding itself back into a swan, perfect creases back in place.


    "Right, of course. You''re not just wrecking my present, you''re showing off," said Alexa. "Should have just brought you a ream of printer paper."


    "They''re beautiful," said Sarah. The origami swan in her hands flexed its wings again, and then launched itself into the air, leaving a trail of blue light as it spun a circle around Alexa.

 Chapter 41

    All six swans were soaring around the air, circling the two girls. Alexa was gaping, laughing, and tracing the trails of blue with her hands as the origami swans swirled around her. The littlest one swooped in and landed on the tip of Alexa''s nose, just for a moment before taking off. They were slowly losing their blue light, it trickled out with every little burst of acceleration, but it was fairly easy for them to swoop past Sarah''s hand and get topped off before fluttering into the air. The two girls quickly made a game out of the little swans, one or more would flit right in front of Alexa until she reached out to grab it, only for the swan to dart away again.


    Alexa inhaled more magic, and started moving with incredible quickness and reflexes, but still the paper swans always darted right out of her hands. Often they''d dodge before Sarah was even aware that Alexa had started to move, as though they were paying attention on their own. As Sarah focused, she noticed that the paper swans would even use distractions to protect their brothers - Alexa would target a single swan only for another to sail right across her eyes, allowing the other to dodge.


    Remarkably, Alexa tired first. She had drained the green fog from her body with her speed, and even calling more from the edges of her reach didn''t let her last much longer. On the other hand, Sarah had been just leaning against the door frame, infusing tiny bits of blue into her little birds once in a while. It seemed that her swans could move just as fast as Alexa while using a lot less power. Of course, they barely weighed anything, so Sarah figured they probably took a lot less strength to move.


    Meanwhile, it seemed like Finn hadn''t noticed the two of them at all. He''d turned away to face the far wall and was focusing on making spark after spark crackle out into the dim warehouse. He was pretty clearly experimenting - Sarah could see that he wasn''t just forming the bits of red that he could gather into simple balls, he was forming all sorts of shapes as he played with his power, gesturing wildly as he tried to push it farther. Sarah could see little sparks jump from one hand to the other, or wrap around his hand like a bright aura for a brief moment. Once he even made a little gout of flame, like he''d put a can of hair spray behind a lighter.


    Glancing at Alexa, Sarah put a finger to her lips and sent the smallest of her little blue swans to fly out towards him. It landed lightly on his left shoulder, resting as he threw his arms around. The girls laughed out loud, watching the swan stay perched no matter how violently he threw his arms around. Sarah thought Finn was moving very dramatically for how small his sparks were. He¡¯d make a huge motion like he was pitching a baseball just to have a barely visible spark of static electricity radiate away.


    Finn must have heard the two of them laughing because he stopped firing his lightning and stood still with hunched shoulders. Sarah could only see him move because he was breathing so hard.


    Finn finally turned to look at them, but before he could say anything he noticed a bright blue thing sitting on his shoulder. He shouted and dove sideways, brushing it hard off his shoulder as he fell. The swan fluttered in the air, holding its place as he fell away, even before Finn landed on the ground a thin rod of brilliant red light lanced out and zapped the swan from the air with a little burst of flame.


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    The two girls ran over, Alexa knelt by Finn, grabbing an arm and shaking him a bit. "What did you do to Odetta!" she shouted.


    "What?" said Finn. "Who''s Odetta?"


    "Sorry, we didn''t mean to scare you, we were just playing around," said Sarah, picking up her swan. She hadn''t done more than glance at Finn. It wasn''t the first time he''d fallen today, and he seemed ok. Football players were probably a bit more bouncy than most people, and he''d missed any of the sharp metal littering the ground. Sarah was much more concerned with her swan. It might have just been a piece of paper, and she had five more, and she could probably get Alexa to make more, and she could even learn how to make her own, but she still felt worried about it.


    It had landed on the cement, and it was fluttering limply on the ground with almost all of the blue light exhausted. It stilled as she approached, and she picked it up. At her touch, she filled the little swan back up to the brim, and she examined it closely. There were some soot marks on the side, but the paper seemed undamaged. It unfolded itself and erased its creases so she could examine it more closely. She brushed her finger over the scorching and the black soot just fell off, leaving the paper pristine and clean again. She let it fold itself up again and set it to circling idly around her head, turning her attention back to Finn and Alexa.


    The two were just watching her, both of them with wide eyes that reflected the grey sunlight that filtered through the heavy clouds.


    "So... I didn''t hurt it?" asked Finn.


    "The stuff she makes, it gets strong. Stronger than me," said Alexa.


    "More just the same, I think," said Sarah. "When you broke those sticks before, I''m pretty sure you used up about the same power I did when I filled them."


    "Maybe, I dunno," said Alexa.


    "Good though," said Finn. "I don''t really like breaking things by accident."


    "I''ve got an idea," said Sarah with a smile. All six swans took off into the warehouse, spinning and flitting back and forth on the walls opposite the three of them. "You''re probably getting bored, yeah? So why not some target practice? Keep the beams small and they should be fine. I''ll bet lunch you can''t get all six."


    "But my swans!" said Alexa. "I slaved so long on them!"


    Sarah just stuck her tongue out at Alexa. "You can just make me more. Besides, you couldn''t grab them, you don''t actually think Finn''s better than you, do you? I mean, can he even keep his balance?"


    Finn didn¡¯t answer that. He stood, flexed his jaw, and turned to watch the flying swans. He threw out a hand and pulled all the red he could reach again. They''d talked long enough that he could gather a bit more than before, but it was still just a little flash that grounded itself right in front of him. It didn''t come close to any of the swans.


    Alexa relaxed, "Yeah, you''re right. Hey, Finn, why are you wasting time with that dumb electricity? Do the scorching ray thing again, you might actually have some range with that!"


    Finn paused before trying to line up another shot, lifting a single eyebrow to look at Alexa.


    "Scorching ray?" asked Sarah.


    "How am I the one who knows this stuff? Seriously," muttered Alexa to herself. "The laser thing, you know, what you already shot the swan with. Do that instead of wasting our time."


    Finn shook his head, then turned and nodded again. This time he just made a finger gun sort of motion, and another lance of red light shot out toward her swans. She flinched as she saw the burst of flame, but he had missed them entirely, not even coming close to any of her birds. There wasn''t any sign of his shot beyond a little black splotch on the moldy brick wall.


    Finn squared up his stance and fired again. And again, and again, all the while ignoring the giggles of the girls behind him.

 Chapter 42

    With each attempt, Finn''s shots became more focused and accurate. The red beams of his laser leaped from his fingertip and cut through the air with precision. But while it was evident that he was getting the hang of his power, the swans just danced out of reach, teasing him. His initial determination was giving way to frustration, and he began to lose some of his precision, firing more often with weaker bolts.


    Sarah and Alexa watched, amused, as Finn tried different angles and techniques to catch the swift-moving targets. The swans flitted through the air, circling, spinning, and occasionally diving to the ground before taking flight again. They left blue swirls in the air, marking their erratic flights. Sarah decided they were leading a dance, with Finn coming awkwardly behind on two left feet.


    Finally, without a burst of appropriate thunder, the promised rain truly began to pour down. All three took cover back in the dank office space where they watched the water pour into the open warehouse. Finn was breathing heavily, but he still had a dopey grin on his face. Alexa was relaxed, but to Sarah''s eyes, she looked much the same. Sarah supposed she felt the same as the other two. It had been a good morning.


    "I don''t get how you do that," said Finn.


    "Do what?" asked Sarah.


    "Dodge everything," he said. "I mean, it''s a laser, right? Or good as, and you''re dodging it every time."


    "Well, I''m not, you know," she said.


    "I don''t know, which is why I asked," he snapped back.


    "I''m not dodging the lasers," explained Sarah. "I''m dodging you. Just because those lasers are super fast doesn''t mean you''re aiming super well. Plus it''s not the lasers getting dodged, it''s your fingers. And you know what else? I''m not the one dodging you. I probably couldn''t. I''m a big target and I''m not that fast. It was the swans that were dodging you, not me. And they''re small little targets and they can flit around like mad. Not that hard to stay away from your fingers."


    "And by the way, why are you even using your fingers?" asked Alexa. "With the lightning, you just sorta plopped stuff out there without worrying about your hands."


    "Well, I guess it was because I was aiming. So I used my finger."


    "It makes it predictable. I guess it doesn''t matter, but if you didn''t use your finger, she might have a harder time dodging," said Alexa. "Maybe you could fire in a different direction than where you point?"


    "Maybe," said Finn. He was staring off into space, pointing with his fingers in various directions before firing another laser out precisely in the direction his finger was pointing. "Anyway, I guess lunch is on me. Which is good, because I''m starving. I don''t suppose there''s anywhere close by?"


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    "Not that I know of," said Alexa. "We''ll just hit a drive-through on our way back to town."


    This time Sarah helped guide both of them through the darkness back to the front of the building. Alexa hadn''t been able to put much green back into her body yet, and neither of them had the night vision that Sarah had. But she got them to the front door, and they were able to ease their way back out through the gap. It occurred to Sarah that maybe they should have just gone around the building instead of through it, never mind the rain. It was still raining so hard that all three were well and truly soaked through in the few steps they needed to get into Alexa''s car. Well, Sarah''s jacket had kept the rain off pretty well, but her hair was as wet as if she''d just gotten out of the shower.


    Alexa got the car started and pushed the fans and heat up to the max, although she also turned the AC on for some reason. Finn didn''t say anything about it, so neither did Sarah. They sat in the car for a few minutes, waiting for the air to warm up. Finn flopped down in the back seat, sprawling across the car with his eyes closed. Sarah and Alexa both looked back at him and smiled at each other.


    After the vents were blowing hot air against the windshield, Alexa put her car into gear and they made their way back out through the ruined buildings of the depot.


    "So," said Alexa. "You didn''t bring that snake."


    "No, it''ll be another week at least before he''s clean enough."


    "I thought you cleaned it last week?"


    "No," answered Sarah. "I mean, yeah, but I''m not sure if that was really good enough. I don''t want to get sick or get anyone else sick. And I don''t want to carry rotten meat around either. So I''m cleaning the bones, but there isn''t a fast way to do it without damaging them."


    "Bones?" asked Finn, without opening his eyes.


    "Yeah," said Sarah. "You noticed how I could only put so much into the swans, right? And they drained? Well, I can put a lot more into things that were alive. Dead animals, wood, leather. That kind of thing. Plastic and rock don''t work very well."


    "So that''s why your leggings kept fading? I thought you were using them to help you stand up or something. I kept waiting for you to take some giant jump like Alexa," said Finn.


    "My pants?" Sarah looked down, and they did indeed shine with a bit of blue. She couldn''t remember putting any magic into them. Her shirt was infused too, although the cotton had held the light better than her stretchy leggings.


    "Yeah," said Alexa. "All your clothes, actually. Even your hair elastic. I figured you were just putting the extra into it."


    Sarah fell silent, worried about using her power without a thought. She''d gotten after Alexa for doing the same, figuring it must be easy to just inhale it in. But Sarah was just as bad. She had to have some control, she simply had to.


    "So bones," said Finn. "Metal."


    "No, metal doesn''t really work either," said Sarah. "It''s just, well, you saw what happens if I ever pull too much. If I''ve got something deep on me, then there''s a lot less risk. And bones and leather seem easiest."


    "No, I get it," he said. "Metal."


    Alexa snorted, "And gross."


    "Well, a little gross. I guess," said Finn. "It depends on how well you clean the bones, I guess."


    "Shut up," said Sarah, pulling her book out of her pocket. The ziplock bag had kept the water off, so she opened it up and found her place. Alexa and Finn may have kept talking, but she wasn''t paying any attention. She didn''t look up until they reached the drive-through, where she ordered four cheeseburgers and a Coke.

 Chapter 43: Hunger

    It took two more weeks of sitting in the bug box before Cuddles was cleaned up enough to work on. Figuring out how she was going to braid the cord and wrap the wires had been fairly easy, so she''d mostly spent her time in Mr. Clarke''s class studying for other classes. Yesterday, she''d used an old toothbrush to scrub off the little bits that the ants and other bugs had left behind and then she''d soaked all the bones in a peroxide mix. She needed to really concentrate to stop herself from immediately dumping as much blue light as she could manage into Cuddle''s bones, but she''d been getting better at her self-control. She hadn''t used her power on anything, accidentally or on purpose, for over a week now.


    After soaking in the peroxide, the snake was a clean white color and Sarah could finally get started on him. She''d brought Cuddles to school, leaving him in her cubby in Mr. Clarke''s room. Now she was at her table, carefully detaching the ribs from the vertebrae. The vertebrae worked great as beads once the ribs were disconnected, and Sarah was looking forward to threading them nicely onto the cords she had waiting. A rib tinkled into a mason jar she''d brought to save them. She wasn''t sure what she''d do with the ribs, but it seemed wrong to just throw them out. Maybe Mr. Clarke would have some ideas for those, too. Finn was sitting next to her at his table, slapping brown paint onto his lumpy paper mache football.


    They hadn''t gone out together again in the last few weeks. As the days warmed up and summer got closer, things just got busy. They all had projects or tests coming up, including some that would count for college. Alexa was stressing about college, she''d signed up to start with summer courses. She was pretty stressed about that, even if her school was just on the other side of town. Finn didn''t have any plans for summer causing problems, but he had been pretty distracted by Bri. Sarah still saw both Finn and Alexa every day, not only did they have classes together, Sarah had kept eating lunch in the choir room, even if the noise had been getting pretty painful in there lately.


    "We should go to prom," said Finn, and Sarah snapped one of the fragile ribs in half.


    "Excuse me?"


    "Come to prom with me," he repeated, still not looking at her as he kept slathering paint down.


    "Wait, um, wait," said Sarah as she carefully put down the little cutters she''d been handling. "What about Bri? Aren''t you two a thing?"


    "We were," said Finn as he kept on painting. "It''s been fun, but she''s going with someone else anyways."


    "So, a date then, to Prom," she asked.


    "Yeah, we should go," he said.


    "Next week."


    "Right."


    "Next week," repeated Sarah. "To prom."


    "Yeah, will you?"


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    "With a dress and everything?"


    "That''s the idea, right?" Finn had put down his paintbrush and had turned to watch Sarah, although Sarah was still staring directly ahead.


    The door shut as someone left the room, and Sarah jumped as it slammed shut. She glanced up at the clock and began putting the bones back into the glass jars she''d been keeping them in. She could feel Finn''s eyes on her as he waited for her to answer. She just kept cleaning up with quiet deliberation. She had to say something.


    "Can I tell you later, tomorrow?" she asked him.


    "No problem," said Finn with an easy smile. He turned away and started putting his own stuff away, tossing his brush overhand into the big sink and clapping a lid over his jar of paint.


    When the bell rang, Sarah barely winced at the shrill buzz. She was already out of her seat and racing out of the room. She hadn''t really made a conscious decision, but she already knew she was going to skip history. The odds were good they were just going to watch more of Gettysburg anyways. She''d already read *Killer Angels,* so she didn''t see much point in watching the film. No, she knew where she was going, she just had to get there in time.


    Turning a corner, she found her destination and stuck her head through the door. She didn''t say anything, but she did manage to make eye contact with Alexa. Alexa quietly said something to the boy she''d been talking to and then got up and came out to where Sarah was now leaning hunched against the lockers.


    "What''s wrong," asked Alexa, reaching out to put her arms around Sarah''s shoulders.


    "Finn asked me out," said Sarah. "To prom."


    "Oh, right, he and Bri broke up this morning," said Alexa. "Did you say yes?"


    "No!" answered Sarah.


    "So you said no?"


    "No!"


    "I''m not sure what you want then," said Alexa.


    The bell rang again, and Sarah flinched, all her muscles trembling until the noise stopped. The two girls stood together for another moment while the hallway emptied out.


    Finally, Alexa spoke up, "So, he asked you out, and you didn''t answer?"


    Sarah nodded against Alexa''s shoulder.


    "Do you want to go?" she asked gently.


    "No. Yes. Kinda," said Sarah.


    "Ok, I think I''ve got that. No, you don''t want to go with Finn, but yes you think you should go anyway, and you kinda just want to go to prom regardless of who with," said Alexa. "Right?"


    Sarah nodded again.


    "You can just say no, I know you know that," said Alexa.


    "I can''t say no," said Sarah. "He''s just, I can''t."


    "You can''t, can you," answered Alexa. "So go. You can just tell him it''s just for fun, people really do go with just friends, even at prom. It''ll be fun, go dance, wear something pretty."


    "It''s next week!" Sarah was panicking again.


    "Oh, yeah, that''s not much time is it?" Alexa looked up as she spoke.


    Sarah shook her head this time.


    "You know what? It''ll be fine. You need a dress, so we''ll go shopping. It''s sure to be slim pickings, but we might get lucky. And if we don''t, I''ve got a bunch of dresses and you''re welcome to borrow one, and Jill''s got a ton of fancy dresses too." Alexa paused as Sarah pulled away with a cocked head and narrowed eyes.


    Alexa went on, "You might be surprised. She likes really short hemlines, I''ll bet she''s got a few that''ll fit great. Anyway, to recap, a boy likes you and asked you out, but you don''t like him..."


    "He''s fine," interrupted Sarah. "He''s a friend, and I''m not going to be mean to him."


    "Right. A boy likes you, and you don''t want to kiss him," Alexa paused as a giggle escaped from Sarah. "He asked you out, and you''re going to go out. You''re going to have fun picking out a pretty dress, you''re going to make him buy you expensive food for the privilege of making you feel awkward, and then you''ll have fun dancing. That''s not terrible, is it?"


    Sarah shook her head again, letting herself relax a bit. She suddenly pulled her arms across her chest and tightened up again, and felt her voice squeak as she said, "I have to dance?"

 Chapter 44

    As expected, it was impossible to find a dress in the shop. Sarah''s mom took her to a dozen different stores, even some of the bridal boutiques in case a bridesmaid dress would work. They barely found anything that would fit her, let alone something that also looked good. Alexa had one dress that might work, it was a white sequinned thing that had a big, billowy skirt; unfortunately, the neckline was far more daring than Sarah was comfortable with. Alexa said she could wear a shawl, and while Sarah certainly looked great in it, she couldn''t imagine going out in public wearing it.


    Fortunately, Alexa hadn''t been exaggerating, Jill had a huge closet to rummage through. They all gathered in Jill''s spacious bedroom, holding up dress after dress. Sarah was having fun, even if Jill''s room was filled with a nauseating combination of aromas. Lotions, perfumes, candles, and who knows what else all competed for attention in Sarah''s nose.


    Jill stood elegantly, showing off the dress she planned to wear to prom, a short tunic-type dress that came right up to her neck but left her shoulders bare. Sarah suspected that if Jill lifted up her arms or walked into a breeze then more than just her shoulders would be bare. But as short as it was, Sarah had to compliment Jill''s style as she watched the tall girl playfully twirling around, showcasing the dress. It did make her look great, all legs and motion.


    "Isn''t this just the most fabulous thing you''ve ever seen?" Jill said, striking a pose with a laugh. "Sometimes being tall pays off! And with heels on I''ll cause traffic accidents!"


    Sarah and Alexa agreed. However, their attention quickly shifted back to finding a dress for Sarah.


    "Alright, Sarah, your turn!" Alexa said, pulling out a dazzling array of dresses from Jill''s closet. She plucked one and held it out to Sarah. "Try this on!"


    Sarah hesitated, feeling a bit self-conscious. Jill noticed her friend''s apprehension and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don''t worry, some of it will be awful, but there''ll be something great in here."


    The first dress she tried on was, indeed, awful. It was a sequined orange thing that billowed in places that Sarah didn''t billow. The second fit perfectly, but it also hung down and trailed on the ground. Meanwhile, Alexa and Jill couldn''t help but ask her about Finn''s invitation.


    "So, he just asked during art class?" said Jill.


    "Hardly," said Sarah. "He didn''t even really ask, he just said we should go together."


    "And then what?" asked Jill.


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    "Like what? He said that I made sure I understood him, and that he was asking me for a date, I asked about Bri, and he said they broke up, and I said I''d answer him later."


    "And then you ran to me because going out with Finn is scary," chimed in Alexa.


    "It''s not scary, it''s just..." said Sarah, but she was interrupted before she could continue.


    "No, I get it, going out with Finn is kinda scary. He''s just a big doof, isn''t he?" said Jill. "But I heard he''s a good kisser."


    Sarah''s face felt like it was on fire, and the red dress she had on didn''t make her feel any better. It was too tight, and it was making it hard to breathe. She reached for the next on the pile and stepped back into the closet.


    Shucking the red dress off, she started to shimmy into the next, a pale grey dress with lacy bits. She spoke loudly through the closet, hoping to change the subject, "Where is Bri tonight, anyways?"


    "A new guy. John? James?" said Jill.


    "Josh," said Alexa. "Josh, he''s in her public speaking class."


    Sarah stepped out, wearing a knee-length dress with a flattering A-line cut, adorned with delicate lace accents around the waist and shoulders. In the brighter lights of Jill''s room, the lace turned into an iridescent pale blue that changed shades as she moved around. As she twirled around in front of the mirror, Sarah posed and watched herself in the dress.


    "I think this is it!" Sarah said, beaming at her reflection.


    Alexa and Jill applauded. "You look stunning, Sarah!" Jill said, giving her a hug.


    Sarah had a hard time looking away from herself in the mirror. The pale blue dress accentuated her figure and made her feel beautiful. She actually found herself looking forward to going to the dance. Jill and Alexa beamed with approval, and Sarah felt grateful for the way they ignored her little twitches and winces when a light caught her eyes or something banged or rattled nearby.


    With the dress settled, the trio moved on to accessories. They rummaged through Jill''s extensive collection of jewelry, shoes, and handbags, trying different combinations until they found the ideal match. A delicate silver necklace adorned with a small sapphire pendant complemented the dress perfectly. She''d never worn that sort of jewelry before, but Jill assured her it looked far nicer than it really was.


    She did put her foot down, literally, when the two tried to convince her to try on heels. Jill was holding a shiny silver pump with a spike on the heel that looked a foot long to Sarah. Alexa had a black sandal thing with a heel just as tall, but the toes were on their own platform too. Sarah thought they''d just feel like stilts. But no, she had flats at home. They might not be shiny, but she wouldn''t kill herself either. The dress and jewelry would be fancy enough for her.


    "Oh, that''ll be perfect for you," said Alexa. She''d been rummaging through a pile of clutches and held one out triumphantly. She handed it to Sarah. "Just make sure you wear black shoes with it."


    The little clutch was made of black leather, edged and riveted with shiny chrome. And on the front, embossed in the leather, was a grinning skull and crossbones. She wasn''t sure why, but Sarah did like the purse. Sarah gave her dress another swirl in the mirror, smiling at herself.


    "Yup, perfect," said Alexa while Jill nodded. "Just one last thing, even if you''re going to hate it."


    "What," she said. Sarah folded her arms, looking at the two.


    "Dancing," said Alexa.


    "Makeup," said Jill at the same time.

 Chapter 45

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    The day of the prom arrived all too soon, and Sarah couldn''t decide if she was excited or nervous. Her stomach was a little upset either way. She had gone through all the preparations with Alexa and Jill''s help, and now she stood in front of her mirror, looking at her reflection in the pale blue dress. The soft color suited her well, and she felt surprisingly confident. The silver necklace with the sapphire pendant added a touch of elegance, and the black clutch with the grinning skull gave her a hint of something that actually made her feel a bit more comfortable. Jill said it was edgy, but Sarah just felt more like herself carrying it. Less like a stranger in fancy clothes. Maybe it was just because it tied in her bracelet. The bracelet was white and silver and it coiled around her wrist like a wide cuff.


    She''d finished Cuddles just the day before yesterday, and Mr. Clarke promised full marks. Her teacher wanted Sarah to leave the bracelet at school so he could put it on display with a few of the other art projects he''d liked, but she''d managed to get him to let her take it home, just to wear to prom. She''d strung the bones on a strand of black leather and used bright silver wire to accent the shapes of each vertebra. The bones fit tightly together, making the whole thing feel stiff and solid, and she''d made a clasp out of the skull and a tiny decorative knot at the tail. Cuddles wrapped three times around her wrist, with the last bit of leather crossing the top to close the whole thing.


    Her mom was beaming with pride as she snapped a picture of Sarah coming down the stairs. "You look beautiful, sweetheart," her mom said, giving her a hug.


    "Thanks, Mom," Sarah replied, concentrating on not letting the red flush spread to her face. She knew her mom was still excited about all the time she''d been spending with friends, but Sarah kinda wished her mom was a bit less enthusiastic about everything. Sarah hadn''t been able to bring up her reservations about Finn, even though she had managed to tell Finn they were just going to be friends.


    Somehow she''d actually been able to talk to Finn about the night. Sarah shuddered a bit thinking about the short little conversations they''d had. She''d told him her soft blue-grey dress color, he''d asked if she wanted flowers, she''d checked about how they were meeting for the night, he''d told her when he wanted to pick her up, all that sort of little planning. She''d even managed to explain that while she wanted to go to prom, she didn''t want to date yet. She thought he''d taken it ok.


    Finn was waiting patiently by the door, holding a clear plastic clamshell at his waist. Sarah could see that the wristlet he''d gotten was all pale blue flowers that somehow exactly matched her dress. They were held together with narrow black ribbons that somehow both shone and absorbed all the light in the entryway. In spite of herself, Sarah thought they looked lovely. Finn put them on her left wrist, and she pinned a little red tulip to the lapel of his suit. They posed together for one last picture and then they were out the door.


    Finn was driving his dad''s car, a little two-door thing that looked very, very shiny and very old-fashioned at the same time. Sarah didn''t recognize the brand, it just had "SS" in little chrome letters on the front grill. Sarah opened the passenger door and let herself into the car. The interior was all pale blue leather with chrome highlights, and Sarah sat gingerly into her bucket seat, already worrying about how her legs were going to stick to it when she got out. Finn stood next to her door for a moment, then shut it and hustled around the outside to get into the driver''s seat.


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    "I did get you something," he said, reaching across to open the glove box. He pulled out a rumpled paper sack and set it on her lap.


    "Thank you," said Sarah. "But I didn''t. I''m sorry, I didn''t realize presents were a prom thing. I only got you that boutonniere."


    "Oh, no, it''s not a prom gift. Just a gift," said Finn with an easy smile. "Open it!"


    While Finn started the car, having to let it chug a couple of times before the old car roared to life, she opened the top of the paper bag. Holding the bag meant she couldn''t cover her ears at the rumbling engine. The bag felt like candy, it was full of little amorphous objects, and she reached in and took one out. She held it up to her sight, looking at the smooth yellow-white thing. It was a tooth. It was a bag of teeth. Finn had given her... teeth. She dropped the one she''d taken back into her bag and turned her whole body to look at Finn.


    Finn was concentrating on the road, and the car jerked and shuddered a couple of times as he did something complicated with the shifter. He was chewing on his tongue while he drove, looking down at the stick at each turn and stop sign. Sarah had heard that manual drives were more complicated, and she felt thankful that her mom had an automatic. Not that she drove very often. Her mom had made her drive a bunch when Sarah had first gotten her license, but that had dropped off fairly quickly.


    "What?" said Finn. He hadn''t noticed her staring until he reached a light that made them stop for a minute.


    "Teeth?" she asked.


    "Yeah, great, right? I dunno where Dad got it, but it''s been in a stack of his work stuff forever, and when I mentioned that a friend wanted to use them for an art project he let me have them. Cool, right?" he said with a grin.


    "I don''t think I can imagine an art project I want to do that uses teeth. Human teeth? Why would he have them at work?" she said.


    "Dunno, some dentist thing, probably," said Finn after a moment. He was concentrating on the car again as they drove along. "And no, not art, I just thought you might have a use for it. Like Cuddles."


    Sarah nodded and pushed the bag into her purse. Between her phone, keys, wallet, lip gloss, and the bag of teeth there really wasn''t any more room at all for anything else in there. If the bag of teeth wasn''t able to smush into the empty spaces she probably wouldn''t have been able to close it up at all. Maybe the teeth would be good to experiment with later. But maybe not.


    "Hey, I should ask before we get there," said Finn," but why haven''t you shined up Cuddles? Isn''t that why you made him? But you haven''t done anything yet."


    "Oh, that, yeah," said Sarah. "It''s a self-control thing. I haven''t used the blue for like two weeks. I''ve been trying not to since I realized I was doing it without thinking about it."


    "Really? Wow, I''ve been making fire and stuff at every opportunity. Look at this," he said. He took a hand off the wheel and pointed his finger. Sarah could see a teensy, tiny bit of red fog form itself into a straight wire of light. Sarah could see a purple spot on the dash where he was pointing, and he moved it around while continually feeding more power into it. Sarah reached out, the spot wasn''t producing heat at all.


    "I made a laser pointer!" exclaimed Finn, right before suddenly grabbing the wheel and hitting the brakes at a curve in the road.

 Chapter 46

    Sarah''s stomach gave a lurch as they pulled into the big reception hall that was hosting prom night. She could hear the bass thumping from inside, and see the reflections of brightly colored lights flashing too. Finn''s refinished car, with its thundering engine and shiny chrome, attracted some curious glances as he parked. Sarah opened her door and stepped out into the warm night. She took a deep breath and tried to focus on the sky while Finn hustled around the car.


    Sarah adjusted her clutch with the grinning skull, feeling the cool weight of her bracelet as she walked. She felt Finn put his large, warm hand on the small of her back, leading her as they walked together toward the entrance. The noise and laughter from inside the venue grew louder with each step.


    Once they entered the ballroom, Sarah had to stop and blink. Nowhere felt safe to rest her eyes, the whole room was covered with twinkling lights and tinsel decorations that reflected the flashing lights. A few couples danced on the dance floor, their huddled movements contrasting with a few circles of people watching a single performer. Sarah couldn''t help but wince and twitch at the blaring noise.


    Finn led her to a table where Alexa and Jill were already seated. They looked stunning in their own dresses, and Sarah felt the knot in her stomach loosening up. They waved as soon as they saw Sarah and Finn come up and scooted over to make room.


    "You look awesome!" exclaimed Jill.


    "She does," agreed Finn. "Hey, I''m going to grab some food, want anything?"


    "Sure, whatever you get," said Sarah, gritting her teeth at the thought of putting anything into her stomach. As soon as Finn left, she sat down and put her head on the table, resisting the urge to cover her ears.


    "You ok?" asked Alexa as she reached out to rub Sarah''s back. "I thought the noise thing was better?"


    "No," said Sarah. "It''s been getting worse."


    "And the lights?"


    "Worse."


    "Yikes, this won''t be good tonight, will it?"


    "Worse."


    "Ok then," laughed Alexa, shaking her bottle of water. "Can I help? Water? Tylenol maybe?"


    "Never helped before," said Sarah into the table. "I''ll be fine. I''ve faked it before, I can do it tonight."


    "Something stronger? I''m pretty sure that was pot I smelled out by the parking lot," chimed in Jill. "They say it does wonders for headaches and migraines. Of course, they kinda say it does wonders for everything, but it''s worth a try."


    "Maybe not," said Alexa when Sarah didn''t answer. "I don''t think tonight would be the right night for that sort of first."


    Finn came and sat down, and Sarah could hear a clink as he set two plates down on the little table. She put her head up and saw that he''d heaped both plates high with finger foods. He''d set one plate with meatballs, little quiche thingies, and other fried foods in front of her, and his other plate had baby carrots, strawberries, melon, grapes, and other fruits piled up. He sat right in close next to her, so that their hips were touching, and helped himself to a shrimp from her plate. He gestured to Jill and Alexa too, offering them something to eat.


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    "I skipped the bread," he said, indicating the plates. "Dig in, everything is bite-sized, so we can all share."


    The other two girls refused, but Sarah''s nostrils flared at the aroma of the meat in front of her, and she decided to see if something solid would settle her stomach. If she was lucky, it would settle her nerves too. The little quiches were just small enough to put a whole one in her mouth, and she ignored the driving music for a moment while she concentrated on how the flaky pastry and warm egg dissolved on her tongue. She followed it up with grapes, then strawberries, and then the meatballs. She even made Finn grab a couple more plates as they demolished what he''d already brought.


    Alexa and Jill had gotten up and joined one of the circles of people, bouncing to the beat and watching a boy do something technical on the ground that involved a lot of spinning. Sarah ate, enjoying being able to focus on something pleasant while the noise hammered in on her. Even with her attention on the plates in front of her, Sarah still kept an eye on the people dancing. Some couples looked like they were trying to crawl inside each other, holding their entire bodies so closely together that Sarah wondered how they stayed balanced and upright. Others were standing at the very end of their arm''s reach, hands on shoulders and hips and rocking side to side with the beat. There were even a few people at the edge of the dance floor who were actually dancing. At least they were moving through complicated steps and coordinated motions that Sarah considered dancing, instead of just sorta swaying to the beat.


    She was looking around, trying to ignore the glaring lights when the thumping dance beat faded, replaced by the strumming guitar of a song that Sarah actually recognized. Finn rolled his neck, making little cracking noises that Sarah could hear under the music. He stood up and held a hand out to Sarah.


    "Dance with me?" he asked.


    She just nodded, took his hand, and let him help her stand up. That last carrot was sticking in her throat a bit, making it hard to speak. He led her out to the edge of the dance floor to join all the other couples that were filling up the space. She froze, not knowing where to put her hands, or where to look. She closed her eyes again and felt her back pull straight and rigid. Finn reached out, taking her right hand in his and pulling her around. His other hand reached under her left arm and lifted up until his hand was behind her shoulder. She was still stiff, but he pulled and pushed her to the sound of the music, and after a moment she figured out how to follow.


    The two of them rocked and spun while the music went on. The song faded, followed by another slow song, and they kept dancing. Finn had lowered his hands, releasing his hold when the song ended, but when Sarah hadn''t pulled away or said anything he took her hands again and they resumed their slow motion. She was dancing, and she made herself smile as she began to realize why people liked this. The same thing happened when a third slow song came on, Finn giving her the option to leave and gently resuming their dance when she didn''t go.


    But after that third song faded, a crash of chords and drums hammered the dance floors. Standing right between all the speakers, Sarah felt like something had struck her, and she dropped down to the ground, holding her ears. She crouched there for a few repetitions of the beat while ignoring whatever Finn was saying as he pulled at her arms. She could see the strobing lights and lasers through her clenched eyes too and wished she could cover them along with her ears.


    She gasped, and gasped again, forcing herself to breathe. Finally, she was able to open her eyes just enough to see the widening circle around her, and she stood and stumbled off the floor, breaking into a run once she was past all the other dancers. She didn''t stop until she got back outside in the warm air. She could still hear the music, but the walls and doors kept it muffled. Sarah wiped her eyes, counting quietly until she could catch her breath.

 Chapter 47

    Alexa came through the door just moments after Sarah, her face set in a mask. Alexa stopped a gentle distance away, not saying anything but also making sure Sarah knew she was there. Alexa was breathing hard, and Sarah listened while both of them calmed down, heartbeats and breath rate slowing.


    "Hey," Alexa said softly, "are you okay?"


    Sarah nodded but didn''t speak.


    "It''s okay," Alexa continued, her voice soothing. "You did great, and I promise you aren''t the only person who''s storming out in tears tonight. Not the first, and probably not the last."


    Sarah took a few more deep breaths, trying to ignore the cars driving past. She looked at Alexa and managed a weak smile. "I''m sorry, I just needed to get out for a moment."


    "Don''t apologize," Alexa said firmly, putting a reassuring hand on Sarah''s shoulder. "Seriously, look."


    Sarah looked up, seeing Alexa nod her head off to the side. Sure enough, there was another girl sitting in the driver''s seat of a car, wiping her face furiously with a tissue.


    "Don''t stare," Alexa went on. "But seriously, it''s not a big deal, so don''t be embarrassed. And do you know what else? You''ve got less to worry about than her. She''s alone, and I''m here. And her date is inside dancing and I don¡¯t think he even noticed her leave. And on the other hand, Finn is hovering right by the doors, wondering if this is his fault."


    Sarah nodded, and asked, "Should we check on her?"


    "Who? Her?" Alexa asked, nodding again at the girl in the car. She turned back to Sarah and said, "Nah, let''s get you sorted first. I''d say we should get Finn to check on her, but that didn''t work before so maybe not."


    Sarah laughed at that, "I don''t think another girl would be much distraction. Not tonight anyways."


    Alexa reached into her clutch and pulled out a small bottle of water, handing it to Sarah. "Here, drink some water. Get a bit more grounded."


    Sarah gratefully accepted the water and took a few sips. The cool liquid helped soothe her throat and settle her nerves. "Thanks," she said softly.


    "Do you want to go home, or would you like to stay a bit longer?" Alexa asked, looking out at the parking lot.


    "I wanted to have fun tonight," Sarah said, her eyes welling up again. "But I don''t think I can go in again."


    "I''m not leaving you here alone," Alexa said firmly. "We can just hang out here all night if that''s what you want. I''m sure Finn feels the same way, and Jill already got to show off so she''d be fine coming out too."


    Sarah''s arms and legs felt limp and weak, and her eyes were burning. She spotted a few benches under garden lamposts nearby and pointed them out. "Okay, yeah, I¡¯d like to sit down over there for a while at least, away from the noise and lights. Would you mind letting Finn know?"


    ¡±Of course,¡± said Alexa. She straightened up and stepped back from Sarah, took a moment to check the clips holding her curly hair in place, and finally turned to walk purposefully back to the doorway


    The cool night air felt good on Sarah''s face, even if the sound of a cricket nearby made her twitch every time it chirped. Alexa and Finn sat down, Alexa next to her and Finn on the ground in front of the bench. They didn''t push her to talk or explain anything; they simply sat with her.


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    After a few minutes, Sarah broke the silence, tears welling in her eyes again as she buried her face in her hands. "I really wanted to enjoy prom, you know? Dressing up, it''s all supposed to be fun. I really thought I could do it. I''ve been doing it, I was."


    Alexa wrapped an arm around Sarah''s shoulders and pulled her close. "Hey, you just got a bit ungrounded. We''re somewhere new, doing something new. You just sorta got unstuck, right? This isn''t your fault."


    Sarah took a deep breath, allowing Alexa''s words to sink in.


    "Well, you probably can''t eat all night, even if you do out-eat me," said Finn. "I guess I can go get some ice cubes, but you should focus on something, right? That¡¯s always helped when I have a bad day."


    Finn paused, then went on, ¡°Why not Cuddles? I mean, that was your project for weeks, why not finish him?¡±


    Alexa flinched away from Sarah as she heard what Finn said, Alexa''s arm had been resting right up against the bone bracelet. Then she relaxed again and leaned back against Sarah. "I''d forgotten what that was, sorry. I just remembered what it looked like when you found it. But maybe Finn has a good idea. It won¡¯t be a distraction for long, but the magic does feel good, doesn¡¯t it? I know how I feel when I bring in a lot of qi. It''s, um, relaxing, isn''t it?"


    Sarah blushed and scooted a bit farther from Alexa, who was squirming her body in a really uncomfortable way as she thought about absorbing her green light. Finn didn''t seem to notice, he was just watching Sarah, his eyes flicking back and forth between her face and her wrist.


    "I don''t know if I''d say it''s relaxing, but it is easier to sit still, I know that," said Finn. "I''m not sure if I could go two weeks without doing something. I''ve been burning a candle in my room at night, lighting it myself. It''s not the same as a great big blast, but I know I sleep better."


    "I don''t really want to," Sarah lied, running her fingers over Cuddles¡¯s white back. "Those first few weeks, I was doing it all the time. Like, all the time. It was distracting even when I knew what I was doing, and sometimes I didn¡¯t. It¡¯s just, I''ve got to control the power, I can''t let it control me."


    "Sure, I get it," said Alexa, brushing back a bit of Sarah¡¯s hair. "But you''ve managed two weeks already. It''s like what Coach said in health class about addiction, one of the ways you know if you''re addicted is to go two weeks without. If you can go that long, it''s fine, right?"


    "Besides," said Finn, "you''re choosing it, so it''s you. If you give Cuddles some spirit, it''s not an accident, it''s a plan. You''re in control."


    Sarah didn''t want to argue, so she reached out and pulled as hard as she could. She never drawn on the fog with so much effort before, unless maybe she had the first few times before she¡¯d realized what she was doing. But even compared to those sudden jerks of power, this was firm and deliberate, and the three could see blue light flaring as it gathering around her hands. The ball felt warm on her skin, welcoming and bright. She smiled as the mass grew, glowing brighter until she couldn''t draw anymore. Then, with another slow and deliberate motion, she reached down and let it drain away into the snake spine wrapped around her other arm.


    She smiled at her bracelet. All of that reaching, and he still wasn''t full. Not even half full, if she had to guess. Cuddles would work out just fine as an emergency vessel. She licked her lips, stretching out her legs and leaning against the back of the bench. Then she saw the smiles on her friend''s faces and scowled. She muttered, "You''re not right, that was just something I needed to do to finish him."


    "Sure, sure," said Alexa, leaning back over to hug Sarah.


    Finn stood up, and leaned down over the two girls, he held out a hand to Sarah and said, "Would you like to go back in now?"


    "Sure, we should, shouldn''t we?" she answered.


    Stepping back inside, Sarah felt the music hammering at her again. But instead of just twitching, she found herself tapping a foot and bobbing her head as she walked back into the main hall. Jill spotted them right away and skipped over, dragging Finn and Sarah into another circle that had formed.


    Sarah didn''t sit down the rest of the night. She danced with Finn, and a few other boys asked her to dance too. She¡¯d made sure Finn didn¡¯t mind, and the attention was nice, even if she couldn''t follow them quite as well as she followed Finn. Sarah even learned a few more complicated dances too, following the steps along with everyone else.


    By the time the night was over, she was exhausted, but it had been fun. Her only worry for the rest of the night came when Finn dropped her off and insisted on walking her to her door. But he just gave her a hug and didn''t try to kiss her or push anything farther. Sarah thought about the evening and realized that in the end, the hardest part of the night was taking off her makeup.


    The stuff was like ink, ink glued to her face. There must be some trick, it took an hour to put on, and another hour to take off. Who would ever actually wear makeup every day if they had to go through that?

 Chapter 48: Living

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    Sarah was wearing makeup again. Not as much as prom, but she had on a little bit of eyeshadow and mascara. It was probably a good thing she hadn''t done the full foundation thing, given how much she was sweating. She and her mom were sitting in the summer sun waiting for the high school graduation ceremony to begin. She fiddled with the bracelet she had made out of Cuddles'' bones, walking her fingers along the spine as it slowly crawled in a loop around her arm.


    As the commencement ceremony, well, commenced, the marching band struck up a tune, and Sarah just stared off into the distance while she listened. Somehow she''d gotten through three years of high school and this was the first time she''d ever heard them actually perform. She''d hurried past them practicing more times than she could count, but she''d never actually seen them all in uniform playing a song they''d mastered. They were energetic, but Sarah thought that the choir and the prom DJ had both sounded much better. Maybe they were supposed to sound like that.


    The last notes finally faded away, and the principal stood at the stand, sharing a few words before turning the microphone over to a student. Sarah didn''t know the boy, he''d never been in a class with her and the only other seniors Sarah ever talked to were the ones in Alexa''s circle. His voice echoed through the stadium, but Sarah wasn''t paying attention. She''d never been to a graduation before, but somehow she already knew that he was talking about opportunities, and how great school was, and he''d probably share some quotes or poetry snippets about choices or opportunities.


    Sarah glanced at her mom, and she could see tears glistening in her eyes. Her mom must be thinking back to her own high school days. Stifling a yawn, Sarah let her eyes scan the crowd. Lots of families were sitting in the sun too, the adults were mostly paying attention but the kids were restless. Sarah noticed Alexa''s parents sitting way off to the right, only one of Alexa¡¯s brothers had been able to come. Sarah smiled as she noticed a few other people examining the crowd instead of listening to the speech, their eyes finding more to interest them in the people around than the talking up front. One little girl in particular was staring at her and made eye contact with Sarah. Sarah scowled at the girl, clenching her lips and furrowing her eyebrows until the girl spun and turned her attention forward. The girl looked like she was maybe fourteen, so she was probably even more bored than Sarah was. The little girl glanced back at Sarah again, so Sarah stuck her tongue out, making her turn forward again.


    The talking finally wrapped up, and the graduates'' names were called one by one. Alexa walked confidently across the stage after her name was called, a bright smile adorning her face. The band had struck up another tune, this time playing "pomp and circumstance," and playing it much better than whatever it was they were playing before. The band played in the background as Alexa and the other seniors received their diplomas, officially marking the end of their high school journeys. When the ceremony concluded, the crowd erupted into cheers and applause, and Sarah spotted Alexa making her way through the sea of graduates. Sarah and her mom navigated through the throng of people to find their friend, wanting to celebrate this special moment with her.


    "Congratulations, Alexa! You''re done with this place!" Sarah said, pulling her friend into a tight hug.


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    "Thank you," Alexa replied, her voice breaking with emotion. "I''m so glad you came."


    "You''ve worked so hard, and we''re so proud of you," Sarah''s mom chimed in, her own eyes still moist with tears.


    "Not as hard as all that," said Alexa, waving her hand with a laugh.


    "Still, good job."


    "Thank you," said Alexa before turning to Sarah. "Hey, I''ve got to run for a minute, you''re sticking around, right? For pictures, at least. Can you stay for the party?"


    "Yes, she can stay," said Sarah''s mom. "Your phone is charged, right?"


    "Of course," said Sarah.


    "Good, I''m off then, it''s way too hot today. Call me if you''re out past twelve, ok? I know these things go late, just let me know." She didn''t wait for Sarah to answer, just turned and left the field.


    While Alexa mingled, Sarah found a tree and sat on the grass in the shade. Pretty quickly she found herself joined by other kids escaping the scorching sun. Most of them were choir kids that she''d gotten to know during lunch, and she smiled at herself as their chatter bounced back and forth. She was the first to sit under the tree, so she had claimed pride of place with her back against the trunk. She didn''t really feel like participating in gossip about summer plans and new freshmen moving up and competing for spots, so she amused herself picking through fallen leaves on the lawn around her.


    She was putting little pinches of blue light into the leaves, at least she was putting the fog into the leaves that let her. Recently fallen green leaves wouldn''t take any light, it felt like they were invisible to her power. But the leaves that had dried out would each take a little pinch. She was sorting them idly as she powered them up, organizing them by how whole they were; little scraps went on the left of the line, unbroken whole leaves on the right.


    Glancing up, she saw the little girl from before standing and watching her. Now that she was close, Sarah realized she might be a lot younger than she¡¯d thought. She was taller than Sarah, but her pigtails and bright yellow dress made her look very young. The state made Sarah hold her hand up against her neckline, but the girl just kept staring at the hand Sarah was holding in her lap.


    "What kind of bracelet is that?" she asked, pointing at it.


    "I made it," said Sarah. "I used snake bones and did the wires and stuff for an art project. I call him Cuddles. Cool, huh?"


    "Did you paint it too?" she said, squatting down to get a closer look at her arm. "Like how you''re doing the leaves?"


    Sarah clenched her hands into fists and leaned back hard against the rough tree bark. She''d only been using the fog for a few months, but she''d convinced herself that no one would notice as long as she didn''t make stuff move too unnaturally in public. After all, no one had ever said they''d seen anything before, she¡¯d never heard of anyone else seeing the glowing fog everywhere, and no one had ever really believed anything she¡¯d said about what she could see, so she hadn¡¯t ever really considered that someone would see her illuminated objects


    And now this kid was holding up one of her blue leaves, moving it out into the sunlight to examine it. Sarah had to resist the urge to call the leaf back to her, she could probably even make it dart out of her hands and fly back to her. But that wouldn''t accomplish anything, and could even make things worse if someone else saw. But before Sarah could say anything, the girl plucked another leaf from the tree and stared at it, concentrating. Suddenly the leaf was coated in a red mist, along with half the tree and the people sitting nearby in the shade, and the little girl collapsed to the ground.


    "Shit," said Sarah, springing to her feet to reach the girl.

 Chapter 49

    Sarah rushed to the little girl''s side and found her breathing fast, it didn''t look like she had suffered a head injury from the fall. The girl''s complexion was still pale, and her forehead was glistening with sweat. Sarah carefully laid her flat on the ground as a group of concerned onlookers gathered around. In the midst of the commotion, Sarah noticed several students already dialing 911 for emergency help. Not knowing what else to do, Sarah checked the girl''s pulse, which was racing under her fingers. She didn''t know if it was too fast, but the girl''s heartbeat was noticeably faster than her own pulse. The girl''s eyes fluttered open as Sarah was holding her wrist.


    "Does anyone have any juice? Gatorade? Maybe even some candy?" she called out. She looked back down at the little girl, "Just lay still, rest. Don''t do anything, ok? Really, don''t do anything."


    The little girl nodded. Murmurs filled the air as Sarah scanned the crowd again, hoping someone would have something to help the little girl. She spotted a boy holding a blue bottle and pointed at him, yelling, "Hey! Bring that over here!"


    Sarah took the drink, ignoring the boy who handed it to her, and carefully helped the little girl sit up. The girl sipped the drink slowly, looking around at everyone. The two of them both looked up at the tree above, the red mist that had coated the leaves was dissipating, leaving everything back to normal. They both watched quietly as it faded away.


    "Thank you," the little girl whispered, her voice weak but grateful. "I did that?"


    "It''s okay," Sarah replied, a mixture of worry and relief in her own voice. "Just take it easy for now. My name is Sarah"


    "Kayla."


    "Nice to meet you, Kayla," said Sarah. "Just keep drinking that, you need the sugar. We can talk later, ok?"


    As they waited, Sarah kept a watchful eye on the girl. Kayla''s parents showed up fast, just ahead of a pair of EMTs. Sarah looked around for the ambulance before realizing that the school must have arranged for medical services ahead of the ceremony.


    "She fainted," said Sarah to the first medic. "We were talking about my jewelry and she fell down. She seems better now."


    "Thanks, kid," he said, setting a board down next to Kayla. "It''s probably just heat stroke. This happens to a couple of people every time there''s a big event in the summer."


    Kayla still looked pale, but she was smiling at the two men who were already hooking her up to something arcane in their bag. Kayla''s mom was kneeling by her head, touching Kayla''s hair over and over.


    Alexa had arrived at some point, and she knelt next to Sarah, her concern evident. "Are you okay? I saw the red magic."


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    "I don''t know," Sarah admitted. "I mean, she''ll be fine, but... I didn''t think there was anyone else like us. Who else is out there?"


    "We''ll deal with that if it happens." Alexa went on in a quiet voice, "Right now, let''s focus on helping her. She''s like Finn, yeah? I saw some of the red."


    "Yeah, she saw me playing with some leaves, and anyway I think she noticed that Cuddles was special back during the speeches," whispered Sarah.


    "And she''s already trying it out. That''s peachy. We''ll need to talk to her then, won''t we? Make sure she doesn''t land herself in the hospital or lightning bolt someone. Beautiful. Do you know who she is?"


    "Kayla," said Sarah. "And not really. She must be related to someone here though. I don''t know who."


    "We''ll just have to watch," said Alexa. The paramedics had loaded Kayla onto a board and were carrying her over to a tent near the parking lot.


    "Ok," said Sarah. "We''ll need to get her away from her parents and the doctors though. To talk, I mean. For talking. About magic."


    "No problem," said Alexa, hiding a smile with a hand. "So long as she doesn''t knock herself out again, they''ll let her out of the tent soon enough. You go talk to her again, just tell her she was interested in your jewelry and wants to talk about it or something, and I''ll distract the parents. You can give her a rundown pretty fast, and then we''ll see what happens."


    "Sounds like a plan," said Sarah as she turned to see who was running up to them.


    "What happened!" a piercing voice shouted, right in Sarah''s ear.


    Alexa flinched, "God, Bri, we''re right here. Don''t shout."


    "A little girl passed out. The doctors said heat stroke," said Sarah, turning to look at Bri. Bri''s gown was unzipped, showing off a miniskirt and t-shirt underneath.


    "Is she going to be ok?" asked Bri.


    "Sure, she just needs some juice and AC. Sarah and I were just talking about checking on her in a little bit," said Alexa. "She was curious about Sarah''s snake bracelet."


    "Kayla liked that thing? Weird, she''s a total girly girl. She gets all screamy around spiders and dead birds," said Bri. "I still can''t believe you wear that every day."


    "Cuddles is cool," said Sarah. She folded her arms, making sure Cuddles was visible on top. "You know her?"


    "Uggh. And you even named it." Bri rolled her eyes before going on, "Yeah, she''s my cousin. The whole family is in town, which sucks. I''m probably not going to get to go to the graduation party tonight. If I''m lucky I can slip my leash late tonight. We''re going out to eat and then there''ll be all sorts of family fun time."


    Sarah nodded, her attention on the conversation with Bri shifting as she saw Kayla''s parents leave the med tent to talk to some other adults. "Family fun time, huh? That sounds... exciting."


    "Ugh, not really. Just a bunch of boring adults and younger kids running around, making a mess, and talking about things I don''t care about," Bri replied with a roll of her eyes. "But whatever, it''s family stuff, so I get to participate."


    Alexa chimed in, trying to keep the conversation light. "Well, maybe we can make some time to catch up later tonight at the graduation party. It''ll be more fun than a family gathering, I promise."


    Bri''s face brightened at the prospect. "Yeah, I hope so. I''ll definitely be there if I can escape the family chaos."


    "Actually, you know what?" said Alexa, "Why don''t we plan on picking you up? We can drop by after dark, like at ten? Show off Sarah''s bracelet to Kayla, say hi, and then we drag you away. If we show up, it''ll be easier to get away."


    Bri threw her arms around Sarah and Alexa, drawing them both into a hug. "That''s a brilliant idea, thank you!"

 Chapter 50

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    As the day wore on, the sun started to set, and the graduation party was in full swing. The school had reserved a whole city park, along with the pool next door. Half a dozen food trucks had lined up on the street, and a big screen had been put up to show movies. So far it hadn''t shown anything but a slideshow of photos from the student newspaper, but rumor said there''d be Disney movies up later. Sarah suspected that maybe they''d just finally finish Gettysburg.


    Alexa had been all over the place, but Sarah mostly hung out under the same tree. She dozed a bit in the warmth and chatted with other people who came for the shade. She''d gotten her spot back against the trunk, and the grassy shade was a fairly popular spot to rest. It almost looked like everyone was sitting in a circle around her like they were waiting for her to say something profound. Sarah had been surprised how many people seemed to know her and further surprised when they seemed actually interested in what she was doing for the summer, or even whether she was going to stay for the whole party. She''d even put a few dozen names into her phone, snapping a picture of the person because there was no way she''d remember any faces to go with their names later.


    "Ready to go?" asked Alexa. She''d unzipped her graduation gown too, showing off a pair of loose slacks and a frilly purple blouse.


    "I''m not sure. Although my faithful followers are going to miss me," Sarah said, grinning. The effect was spoiled by a wet raspberry from someone as she stood up and brushed herself off.


    "Ready for some magic talk?" Alexa asked with a playful smirk.


    "Nope." Sarah scowled, and asked, "Are you really looking forward to a ten-year-old Finn with pigtails?"


    "Oh," said Alexa, her face dropping. "Do you really think..."


    "She stared at me through the speech, started a conversation out of the blue, and tried to use her stuff before even asking how I did it. Yeah, I kinda think so."


    "Yikes. Maybe we shouldn''t have waited."


    "It''ll be ok, besides I actually do want to do one more thing before we actually go," said Sarah, taking a sharp turn and pulling Alexa with her.


    Sarah had been smelling sugar and grease for a while now, and she''d decided there wasn''t much point in resisting. By the time she got into Alexa''s jeep, she was happily picking at a funnel cake loaded with powdered sugar and strawberries. Alexa had a churro and was driving one-handed as she ate her own treat.


    "So, Bri''s house, yeah?" said Sarah with a full mouth.


    "You haven''t been there yet, have you?" asked Alexa.


    "Nope. She''s always met us somewhere or we all just left from someone else''s house so far," said Sarah. Bri lived far enough away that they both had time to finish their snacks before they arrived. Bri''s family lived in a little grey brick home set right up by the road. The driveway next to the house was full of cars, as was the street in front. The nearest space for Alexa to park in was several houses down the block.


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    "How do you want to do this?" asked Alexa as they walked together down the sidewalk.


    "Not sure, you?" answered Sarah, licking the last bits of sugar off her fingers.


    "I think we can play it by ear," said Alexa.


    As they approached Bri''s house, Sarah and Alexa could hear the faint sounds of laughter and music coming from the backyard. The warm glow of string lights illuminated the back area, and Sarah caught glimpses of people mingling and talking through the gaps in the fence. They let themselves in through a gate at the side of the house, walking through slightly soggy grass.


    Bri spotted them right away and came running over. "You''re here to rescue me! Thank you!" she cried out.


    "Hi Alexa." a woman said, following in Bri''s wake. "Bri, who''s your friend?"


    "This is Sarah, I told you about her, right?" said Bri. "She''s the one who Kayla was talking to when she fainted."


    "Right!" said the woman. "Thank you for that, she was asking about you in the tent. Something about blue jewelry. Would you mind saying hi before you leave? She''s been such a handful lately, she''s been running Jane ragged this summer. I told her they ought to put her on a leash."


    "Mom, no. She''s ten, she just needs more exercise or something," said Bri with an eye roll.


    "It''s ok," said Sarah. "I''d be happy to talk to her. It was a bit scary, anyways. I''ll sleep better if I talk to her a bit, I think."


    "She was in the kitchen a few minutes ago, just inside," said Bri. "She''s been there since we got home."


    The kitchen felt delightfully cool and clean after the hot summer day outside. Sarah suppressed a little shiver as the cool air raised goosebumps on her arms, and she could feel the last bits of sweat drying out. The cupboards were the kind without doors over their open shelves, and they were stuffed with mugs and little decorative containers. The counter space was filled with food trays from the barbeque outside. Sarah snagged a skewer of roasted vegetables as she looked around. There was a tiny TV hung under the counter, and Kayla was watching something animated on it from her seat at the kitchen table.


    "Hi Kayla," said Sarah, getting the girl''s attention.


    "Sarah!" said Kayla, hopping up and gripping Sarah in a tight hug. "Bri said you''d come, but I didn''t believe her!"


    Sarah froze up for a second, she''d forgotten how tall Kayla was and had to process for a moment to remember she was just a kid and not another high schooler. "Of course I came, we had to check on you."


    "I''m fine though," said Kayla, finally letting go of Sarah and sitting back down. "They just won''t let me go outside, I''m supposed to stay here where it''s cool. Like I''ve never played outside on a hot day."


    "I mean, it has been extra hot this week, they probably think you just aren''t used to it," said Sarah, speaking slowly.


    Kayla rolled her eyes. "Not compared to Tucson. It was a hundred-seven on the day we left."


    "Well, still, makes sense, they think you had heat stroke," said Sarah. She pulled a chair out and sat down at the table, taking the seat next to Kayla. "Only it wasn''t heat stroke, was it? It was the fog, and you used it wrong."


    "I should be making things blue, right? Not red?"


    Sarah looked around, the kitchen was empty and no one was hanging around the sliding glass door outside. "No, red is fine. It''s just we''re different, you and I. I can take blue fog from the air, which leaves the fog yellow. I can''t pull red, or green. I think you use red fog, and if you''re like my friend, that means you just use red fog. And I hope you''re a bit more careful than he is."


    Sarah sat down next to Kayla and said, "You noticed the yellow fog yesterday, didn''t you? And I''m guessing you can see the white fog everywhere? How long have you been seeing it?"

 Chapter 51

    "I guess I¡¯ve been seeing things since last Christmas. I thought it was just snow, but it didn''t go away in the spring. Mom took me to a bunch of eye doctors, but they didn''t find anything wrong, so I''ve been pretending it''s gone," said Kayla, sitting back down at the table. "She has enough to worry about, between my growth spurt and getting in trouble at school. I didn''t want her to think I''m sick too.


    "Why have you been getting in trouble?" asked Sarah.


    "Nothing, just sometimes I talk too much, or I don''t pay enough attention, and I keep forgetting my homework."


    Sarah said, "I started seeing the fog when I was nine. I told my mom, I got dragged to the doctor too. Only after the eye doctors didn''t see anything, I got to go to brain doctors, cancer doctors, and crazy-people doctors. I spent most of a year in one place or another before I realized I should just stop talking about it. You''re a lot smarter than me, to realize that so much faster."


    "Wow, how many doctors?" asked Kayla.


    "Lots. And lots. And lots of tests too," said Sarah. "But I''d honestly rather just forget all that. The point is, be careful talking about any of this, or people will think you''re crazy. And who knows what will happen if people find out what you can do, so be careful or they''ll notice.


    "We each use the fog a bit differently, right? It''s not painting, not really. Don''t do anything with the fog yourself, but look at this," said Sarah, laying her left hand out on the table. Cuddles let go of his tail and uncurled out onto the table. With a soft rattle, he slithered across the table in a big circle before wrapping himself back around Sarah''s wrist.


    Kayla''s eyes were wide, "I can do that?"


    "No, I''m sorry," whispered Sarah. Then in a stronger voice, she said, "Listen, please, I''m going to talk about this stuff, stay calm, don''t think about the fog, and don''t try to move it at all, really. Just, just listen. Ok? I put blue light into things. I don''t think I can touch the red or green light, or if I can I have no idea how to even go about doing it. All my magic is just blue. Now, if I try to use the blue light differently it doesn''t work, or I hurt myself. Like, it hurts if I put the light into myself, and I can''t just let it hang in the air either. I take it and I have to use it right away.


    "Alexa, the friend that I came here with, she can use the green fog, and she puts it into herself. It makes her strong, makes her body better. But she''s got the same deal, if she uses it differently, it either doesn''t work or she gets hurt. Now, for you, please don''t do this right now, but you use red, and our friend that uses red moves his light through the air. And when he does it wrong, the same thing happens to him that happened to you today. He can''t put it into himself, and he passes out whenever he tries to put it into something else. Like how you passed out before.


    "When Finn, my friend, uses his red light, he makes lightning, or fire, or bright light. Which is why I don''t want you to do it now. Better to not throw lightning inside, you know? The first couple of times he did it were dramatic, and he even started a fire in the hospital when he first tried it out."


    "I''m a wizard?" breathed Kayla.


    "Um, no," said Sarah. "Well, I don''t know, actually. You''re exactly the third person I''ve ever met who can see or use the fog at all. And you''re the second who uses the red. So sure, you can call yourself a wizard."


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    "Cool," said Kayla. "I really want to go try this out."


    "Fine, just not now, ok?" cautioned Sarah. "And don''t talk about this to people, ok? Maybe if you see someone else doing it."


    "Ok," said Kayla, slumping in her chair.


    Sarah swallowed, pulled a piece of the onion off the skewer, chewed, and swallowed again. She asked, "Tucson, huh? That''s in New Mexico, right? When do you go home?"


    "Tucson is in Ar-i-zo-na," said Kayla, sounding out each syllable of Arizona. "And we''re leaving tomorrow morning to fly home."


    "I''m sorry," said Sarah with a sigh. "I can''t help you right now, not with everyone around, and not with you going home tomorrow. But you''ll be ok if you''re careful. Just, when you do try to use your red light, try to find somewhere you won''t break anything, ok? And somewhere you won''t start a fire. And try to use as little as you can to start out. Smaller amounts make less lightning and fire."


    Kayla nodded.


    "Good. You know what, just a sec," said Sarah. She looked around and found a Post-it note and pen on the counter next to a bunch of other papers. She wrote her name and her phone number on it and gave it to Kayla. "Call me if you need something, ok? I don''t know for sure what I''d be able to do from here, but I can probably help."


    Kayla put the note in her pocket, perking up a bit. "Thank you. Do you think I can go outside now?"


    "I don''t know, I''m not your mom," laughed Sarah. "But I should go, Alexa and I were supposed to take Bri out tonight."


    "Oh, she was so angry she couldn''t spend the day at the party, she wouldn''t even eat the chicken, and that''s her favorite," said Kayla with a knowing nod. "I''d like to go to the party too, I''m going to go ask."


    Sarah could only blink as Kayla hopped up again, dashing through the sliding glass door into the warm night. She hoped Kayla wouldn''t cause problems for her, but it did seem like she already knew to keep what she could see to herself. Sarah finished her skewer, ate a deviled egg in a single bite, took a piece of fried chicken, and followed Kayla back out into the night.


    Kayla was arguing with her mom, but Sarah ignored her and found Alexa and Bri. They were lurking in a corner of the yard, away from any of the adults in the yard. Alexa had a clear plastic cup of something red in her hands, and Bri kept glancing at the fence gate while they talked.


    "How did it go?" asked Alexa.


    "Fine, I think," said Sarah. "Good as can be expected, really."


    "Well, she seemed like she was in a good mood when she came running out," said Bri.


    "Yeah, she wants to come with us to the party," said Sarah. "She was pretty bugged about being stuck inside."


    "Fat chance," muttered Bri. "I almost couldn''t leave. No way they''re going to let the kid go. Especially with all the trouble she''s been causing lately."


    Sure enough, Kayla was stomping her feet, and Sarah could hear the little girl''s voice getting louder as she demanded to go out with her cousin. With a jerk of her head, Alexa led the three of them out of the backyard. Bri ducked back inside the house through the front door, grabbing a pair of sandals, and then they were off.


    "Bri, I never asked," said Sarah as they walked back to Alexa''s car. "What did happen with you and Finn? He was kinda vague about the whole thing."


    "Oh, him? He''s cute and tall, but he''s crazy boring," said Bri. "So yeah, he was fun for a bit, but there''s only so much I can talk about football, you know? I totally get why you''re not interested."


    "He talks about music sometimes too," said Sarah. She had a strange feeling that she should be defending Finn.


    "Yeah, but he doesn''t have any actual opinions about it! It''s just great, or awesome, or pretty, or something. It doesn''t matter what song, he just says he likes it!" exclaimed Bri. "Who does that? And I can''t even get him to tell me why he likes something. Yeesh. I''m glad he took you to prom. I might have felt bad if he ended up alone that night."


    "Oh, he probably would have been fine going stag," said Alexa. "But you know what, no more boy talk tonight. Bri, you and I are going to college, even if I''m sticking at the state school. And Sarah here is a big ol'' senior now. So let''s go have fun, see who gets tossed in the pool last, or spill some punch on someone."


    "Right," said Bri and Sarah together. Sarah was excited to go back, even if Bri was louder about saying so.

 Chapter 52: Growth

    "Sarah! Phone!"


    Along with the shout, Sarah''s mom knocked loudly on her bedroom door, and Sarah was startled awake. She flailed and twisted around before she was all the way awake, and as her sheets and blankets slid out of her way she managed to roll all the way off her bed. She sat up, pulled herself up, and pushed her hair out of her face. As she stood up, her blankets pulled themselves back into position, arranging themselves tightly on the mattress.


    "What?" shouted Sarah, kicking her pillow back on top of the bed where it crawled into place.


    "Phone!" her mom called from farther away. She must have gone back downstairs after waking up Sarah. With a yawn, Sarah opened her door and saw the cordless laying on the ground in front of her door. She picked it up and yawned again before answering.


    "Hello?" she answered.


    "Why didn''t you answer your cell?" Jill''s voice was brisk with irritation.


    "My cell?" answered Sarah. She stumbled back into her room and shut the door.


    "I''ve been calling all morning," said Jill.


    "Sorry, asleep," said Sarah. She sat on her bed and let herself fall backward onto her pillow.


    "So you forgot." Jill scoffed. Sarah could hear a few other voices in the background sounding equally bothered.


    "I''m pretty sure I didn''t," mumbled Sarah. She fumbled at her desk for her cell, but the flip phone had died in the night. Which meant her alarm hadn''t gone off either.


    "Listen, just come over when you can. Bring donuts or something, ok? See you." Jill hung up, ending the conversation.


    Sarah shut her eyes again, but after a moment the cordless started emitting a loud tone to announce that it wasn''t still on a call. Sarah opened her eyes and pushed the button to end the call. She lay a moment longer, decided she couldn''t get back to sleep, and sat up again. She fumbled behind her desk and pulled the phone cord out and plugged her cell, watching to make sure the indicator light came on. Finally, she stood up from her bed and stretched, feeling her back pop in a few places from the movement. She quickly brushed her teeth and washed her face, trying to wake herself up. As she looked in the mirror, she noticed her eyes still had a bit of sleepiness in them, so she splashed some cold water on her face. School had only been out for a week, and Sarah had already forgotten how to get up early.


    She was sitting on the toilet when her mom knocked on the bathroom door. "Hey, my ride''s here so I''m off to work. Don''t forget to put gas in the car before you come back home, ok? Don''t work too hard!"


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    "Ok," said Sarah. After finishing in the bathroom, Sarah sat down and checked her phone now that it charged a bit. She yawned again as she scrolled through her notifications on the cell phone, realizing she had missed several calls and messages from Jill, Finn, Alexa, and some other number she didn''t recognize.


    Jill was moving out to college today, for the summer semester.


    Sarah had said she''d come to help pack and move.


    Sarah had said she''d be there at eight.


    It was nine-thirty.


    Her eyes snapped open, and Sarah pulled out a pair of jeans and a comfortable t-shirt, just grabbing whatever was on top of the drawer. She quickly got dressed and slipped on some sneakers, grabbing her wallet and phone before heading downstairs, taking the steps three at a time.


    She was in the car, phone plugged back in, and pulling out before her brain caught up. "Oh, right, donuts," she thought, remembering Jill''s request.


    She took a detour to a donut shop, eyeballed the big red sign announcing hot donuts, and pulled into their drive-through. She ordered a dozen assorted donuts and a dozen plain. The smell of the warm pastry filled her car, making her stomach grumble in anticipation. She opened up the top box and grabbed a glazed donut, finishing it before pulling back onto the road. By the time she reached Jill''s house, she''d had three.


    As Sarah approached Jill''s house, she saw Jill standing on the porch by a pile of boxes. The door was open, and Sarah could hear Finn and Alexa arguing inside. Jill''s face brightened when she saw Sarah arriving with a box of donuts in hand.


    "Finally! I was starting to think you''d never wake up," Jill teased as she walked over to greet Sarah, bending down to give her a hug.


    "Sorry, I didn''t get my phone plugged in last night, and it died," Sarah replied with a sheepish smile, handing over the box of donuts.


    "No worries, you''re here now," Jill said, giving her another quick hug. "Thanks for bringing the donuts! I think low blood sugar is getting the better of my help."


    "No worries, I needed some this morning too," Sarah said, taking a bite of her fourth. "My head is seriously behind."


    Finn came storming out of the house, setting down a box on the porch with a grunt. He was breathing heavily through his nose, and his face was bright red, almost matching his hair. He didn''t seem very sweaty though, even though the sun had already worn away the morning chill.


    "Because you''re the big strong guy!" shouted Alexa from somewhere inside the house.


    He somehow flushed a deeper red, and turned towards the door when Sarah grabbed an arm to interrupt him. "Donut?" she asked.


    Finn didn''t say anything, just took one without looking and walked back inside.


    "Has this been going on long?" asked Sarah.


    "Not really," said Jill. "It''s just that my dad''s out of town, and there''s some heavy stuff to move. I think he''s embarrassed he can''t move some of my furniture by himself, and Alexa has been teasing him."


    Sarah decided she wouldn''t get involved while Jill was around, so she changed the subject. "So what are we doing with your stuff?"


    Jill kicked one of the boxes and said, "You''re not actually all that late. There''s not much to do until my mom gets back, she''s still out getting a Uhaul, and then we''ll take it to my apartment. I still say I should have just moved into a dorm, like all the other freshmen, but they wanted me in my own place with a roommate instead. It would have been easier, no furniture, no kitchen stuff. But it''s all in boxes already. So really, you can just sit while we wait. No point until the truck is here, and then we''ll help Finn get the mattress and dresser and stuff into the truck, and then boxes.


    "And maybe it''s best not to get between Finn and Alexa until they''ve got their blood sugar back up," added Jill as more raised voices came from inside.


    Sarah nodded, and she sat down on the porch with Jill to wait.

 Chapter 53

    As Sarah and Jill waited on the porch, they could still hear muffled outbursts from Finn''s raised voice inside the house. Sarah sighed, feeling a bit guilty for not intervening earlier, but she figured it was best to let them cool down first. Finn stalked out and stacked another box on the porch, this one was just marked "clothes." Alexa came right behind him, holding a standing lamp. They both turned and went back inside without a word to Sarah and Jill, although Alexa started laughing as she shut the door behind herself.


    "Thanks for coming to help, Sarah," Jill said, breaking the silence outside. "I''m sorry I gave you crap about being late. I don''t think it was you I was actually irritated at."


    "No problem, Jill. I did sleep in, so you shoulda yelled a bit. Besides, I wouldn''t miss helping out, I should have made sure everything was plugged in. I''d yell at myself worse if I blew this off." Sarah smiled at Jill, but she heard more of Alexa''s mocking laughter inside and turned to watch the front door. Sarah said, "I probably shouldn''t, but I am going to go check on them. Hang out a minute?"


    "Sure," said Jill.


    Sarah got up and let herself into the house, grabbing a donut for Alexa. She found Alexa in the bathroom, putting little makeup bags and other arcane bottles and cans into a cardboard box. She was taking her time, looking at each item and stacking it just so inside the box. Meanwhile, Finn stomped back through the hallway, carrying a box labeled "novels." It wasn''t terribly large, but he was handling it as though it was heavy so Sarah stepped out of his way. If the box really did hold books then it was probably heavy, even if Sarah wasn''t sure why Jill would be moving to college with a whole box of novels. She was barely half an hour away, so why would she need a month''s worth of entertainment? Plus, Sarah had never seen Jill reading anything that wasn''t for class.


    As soon as Finn was past, Alexa dumped everything that had been in the box back onto the bathroom counter.


    "Ok, what''s going on?" demanded Sarah.


    "Oh, nothing, really," said Alexa.


    "Nothing? You two seem pretty upset for nothing," said Sarah, handing the donut to Alexa.


    "Nah, I''m just giving him a hard time. There isn''t really much to do, but Finn''s insisting we get everything all the way ready for whenever the truck gets here. He got real snotty, insisting I come inside and carry stuff with him instead of just waiting." Alexa used her arm to push everything off the counter, dumping it into the box. She went on, "So I told him he could take the heavy stuff and I''d put the last odds and ends into boxes."


    "Which is stupid, because she can carry way more than me without breaking a sweat," growled Finn as he came down the hallway.


    "But why not just wait? Just handle them once when we''ve got the truck to put it all in?" asked Sarah, trying to keep her voice even.


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    "Yeah Finn, why not just wait," chimed in Alexa in a singsong tone.


    "Why not just do it now? We''ve got to carry it outside eventually, so now is as good a moment as ever," he said. He wasn''t even glancing at Alexa, instead, he stopped and leaned against a wall to talk to Sarah. "Plus, with a job like this, it''s kinda nice to do it halfway and rest before finishing."


    Alexa responded, exaggerating her enunciation to make every word clear, "Right, we can put the boxes in the driveway or walkway so it''s in the way when we move the bed and dresser. Because that''s so very much smarter."


    Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose. "Alexa, if you don''t want to help now, then fine, but don''t make it worse, ok? Go sit with Jill, or come carry, but be nice, ok? Maybe eat some donuts, and get some sugar in you. Finn, if you''ll just stack up boxes for me, I''ll bring them outside. I saw that hand truck in the garage, I can use that easily enough. I''m sure we can find somewhere to pile them in the driveway that won''t be in the way."


    Without waiting for either of them to answer, Sarah spun on her heel and hustled back outside. Jill was looking at her phone and nodded at Sarah as she walked by. The dolly had been pulled out into the middle of the garage, but it wasn''t clear why no one was using it. It had been painted red at some point, but it was scratched and dirty enough to dull the color into a sort of grey maroon. The tires were a bit flat, but otherwise, it seemed perfectly useable to Sarah. She grabbed and dumped in a handful of blue light, filling the steel and rubber up to the brim, firming up the tires so they would roll easily. The little bit extra went into Cuddles. He really was working nicely as a power sink, and Sarah really liked the way he looked coiled around her arm. Sarah ran a finger under him, feeling Cuddles flex against her. She''d need to come up with something else eventually, at some point, he''d fill all the way up and stop being so useful.


    With a single hand resting on one of the handles, Sarah pulled the dolly behind her back into Jill''s room. The room was oddly bare, with patches where things had been moved and other patches where they''d been untouched. Most of her pictures and posters were still on the walls, and some shelves still had all their odds and ends. Other shelves were empty and clean, and there were a few squares of bright color where something had been taken off the wall. Jill''s mattress and box springs were leaned against a wall, the disassembled frame laying nearby. Finn had already stacked a few boxes into a single column, and there were enough boxes for one more. Still, with just one hand, Sarah let the lip of the dolly slide under the boxes. It leaned back, lifting the boxes off the ground, and Sarah followed it outside holding the single handle.


    She dropped off the boxes at the far end of the driveway, next to the garage. Sarah looked around, they wouldn''t block the garage if someone opened the door, and they wouldn''t be between the front door and anywhere the truck could park. With a nod she turned and went back inside, one hand on the following hand truck. Finn was waiting for her when she got back inside.


    "Thank you," he said. "For taking my side."


    "You''re welcome," she said. "But it was kinda a dumb fight. You were both wrong. I mean, look around, other than the bed we''re done in here. It''ll take maybe two minutes, would have taken five total all by yourself. You could have gotten the dolly yourself, and then it would have been really easy."


    She let the dolly grab the last boxes without any input from her and rested her hand on it to follow it back out. Finn trailed behind her.


    "Yeah, well, thanks for the help," said Finn.


    Before Sarah could explain to him that it would have been less work to just do it than it had been to fight over help, the sound of a truck pulling up in front of the house caught their attention. Jill''s mom had arrived with the U-Haul.

 Chapter 54

    Loading the U-Haul barely took any time at all. Alexa and Finn carried the bed into the car, as well as a dresser. The only other big thing to go into the truck was a ratty yellow couch that had been in the garage under a blanket. Sarah and Jill got that into the truck while everyone else was trying to get Jill''s queen-sized box spring through the hallways and out of the house. The couch was heavy enough to make Sarah have to strain to lift it up the ramp, but they only had to walk a short straight shot into the truck and they managed with a minimum of grunting. Jill and her mom went back inside to check for a few odds and ends, and Sarah used the dolly to put all the boxes into the truck.


    "See, she''s helping without complaining," said Finn, pointing at Sarah.


    "Yes, because she''s nicer than you," snapped Alexa.


    Sarah ignored them. She tipped a bit more blue light back into the dolly to top it off and rattled her way back down the steel ramp. She noticed a little pile of cut grass next to the fence and pulled out a few long pieces of hay. She sat down on the porch between Finn and Alexa, forcing them apart to make room. Still not talking to them, she put a bit of magic into the stems and amused herself by braiding them into different complicated patterns while she sat.


    Not too much longer, Jill came back out, holding the box of bathroom stuff that Alexa had been messing with. Her mom was right behind, jangling keys.


    "I think we''re good to go, if Jill forgot anything she can just come get it on the weekend or whenever," her mom said.


    "I''ll ride in the truck, Alexa, you and Finn can just follow," said Jill.


    The three sat and each ate another donut while Jill and her mom got the truck started and pulled out.


    "I''ll drive," said Sarah. "You''ve got her new address written down, right?"


    "Yeah, it''s easy to find," said Alexa.


    "Isn''t it just on that main road?" asked Finn. "Straight shot between the college and freeway?"


    "Other side of the college, but yeah, sorta," said Alexa.


    "Take the front seat, Finn," said Sarah. "I don''t think you''d fit in the back seat."


    "Maybe I should drive?" Alexa pointed at her jeep parked in front of the grey Camry. "More room?"


    "Not with you two acting crabby. You can drive yourself, but I''d rather make sure I''ve got an escape route," said Sarah.


    "I''m being nice!" protested Finn, and Alexa frowned too.


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    "Plus, if we hit a drive-through after, we may as well all be together," said Sarah.


    "Ooh, we''ll drive right by Burrito Boy, let''s eat there," said Finn.


    "Let''s get Jill unpacked, and then we''ll talk," laughed Alexa. "It''s not even ten thirty yet."


    As they all got themselves arranged in the little car, Sarah started it up and cranked the AC up to max. Alexa took the seat right behind Sarah, and Finn started messing with the radio. The only presets that Sarah''s mom had were for various news stations, so it took him a minute to find music he liked.


    Pulling onto the freeway, Sarah glanced in her mirror and asked, "So why aren''t you moving out too?"


    "What, and spend all that money to save myself a half-hour drive?" Alexa blew a little raspberry. "I''m fine living at home, especially if it means I don''t need to find a job or take out more loans."


    "I''m moving out the first chance I get," said Finn.


    "That''s what Jill says," said Alexa. "I think she''s looking forward to moving somewhere that everyone doesn''t already know the tall girl. Plus, her parents are paying for it."


    "That must be nice," said Sarah.


    Midday Saturday was a good time for traffic. The freeway was fast, and Sarah felt like she was making good time on the freeway, even if she never caught up to the moving van. Sarah felt like you could blink and the suburbs would vanish, leaving nothing to see but scraggly evergreens and brush. The grass and brush were already turning yellow in the summer heat, making the whole place look like a wasteland. They weren''t in the wilderness long though, as quickly as they vanished, more houses and businesses popped through the trees as they got closer to the next town. Soon enough they were back in civilization, with signs and businesses asking for attention.


    They took the exit right before they crossed a big river, then followed a long straight road through a nondescript suburb. They passed the university and took another turn along another long straight road. They did indeed drive by Burrito Boy, a little place in a dingy white box of a building. Even at eleven, there was a long line at the drive-thru, so Sarah figured it probably tasted better than it looked.


    Jill''s new place wasn''t actually an apartment. It was a little yellow house on its own lot, although looking at it critically Sarah could see why they were calling it an apartment. It was a single-story home, set close to the road, and the two-car garage looked like it had more square footage than the rest of the house. The front yard was a strip of grass about six feet wide, and judging by the fence she could see, the backyard was about the same size. The U-Haul truck had gotten there first and was already backed into the driveway.


    Sarah parked in the road, and Finn and Alexa both hopped out before she could get her car all the way stopped and turned off. They ran and helped get the ramp out of the truck, and then they started unloading. Sarah joined them, taking the dolly and bringing boxes into the little front room, setting them down in the corner and out of the walkway.


    The house had two bedrooms, a bathroom, a teeny living room, and a kitchen. Jill''s mom was agonizing over the bedroom - the queen bed filled nearly all the space, and you couldn''t get into the dresser without sitting on the bed. Sarah thought the living room and kitchen seemed like a bigger problem. Once they got it in, Finn could sit on the couch and touch the opposite wall with his feet. And the kitchen didn''t even have enough counter space for Sarah to sit on, nor did it have a dishwasher.


    Jill was excited anyway. She was opening boxes and getting stuff put away, hanging pictures on walls, and generally making herself comfortable while chattering about her space. Her room didn''t matter, because without brothers she could take her time in the bathroom, and the kitchen didn''t matter because she hated cooking. By the time everything was unpacked, Finn and Alexa had caught her enthusiasm and mostly forgotten their earlier fighting.

 Chapter 55

    "Anything else you need," Alexa asked Jill.


    "No, just gotta get stuff put away. I''d really rather do that on my own, mostly," said Jill, pointing at a half-empty box in the kitchen. "If I put it away, I''ll know where it is. Besides, I''d rather not give Finn a chance to paw through my underwear."


    "I''d! No..." Finn sputtered and got up from the couch. His face had turned bright red again as he tried to find a denial.


    "I''m kidding, dummy," said Jill with a giggle. "You wouldn''t unless I told you to. And you''d blush so nice if I did, too."


    Finn just left the house while the three girls laughed.


    "Seriously though, we can bring back lunch, or stick around and shove furniture around so you can see it, or whatever," said Sarah.


    "It''s fine. Mom wants to take me somewhere she used to eat when she went here, and I think we''re meeting someone too," said Jill. "So go, it''s all good unless you want to be bored watching an old lady catch up with another old lady and eat terrible health food."


    "We can take you with us if you''d rather," said Sarah.


    "She''ll be fine, she''s exaggerating," said Alexa as she pulled Jill down to give her a hug. "Have fun, I''ll see you Tuesday, right?"


    "Yup, at ten at McNary," said Jill. She gave Sarah a quick hug, still talking to Alexa, "Now we''ve just got to figure out where McNary is."


    "There''ll be maps. Or people to ask. Or we can be late. Anyway, I''m starved, so we''re gonna go. Call me!" Alexa waved her hand in front of her face, turning the dismissal into a goodbye as she turned to go.


    Sarah followed, thumbing her bracelet idly. Finn was outside, leaning against the car. He opened his door but didn''t get in right away. Sarah got into the driver''s seat, closing her eyes against the heat welling up from inside. She started the car and cranked the air, rolling down the windows to get things cooled off. After a moment Finn and Alexa got in too.


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    "Burrito Boy!" boomed Finn, right in Sarah''s ear.


    "I''m right here, jerk," said Sarah, flinching away from the noise.


    Alexa reached forward and smacked the back of his head and said, "Small spaces, inside voice."


    "Sorry, sorry," said Finn. "But lunch now, right?"


    "Yes," said Sarah, putting the car into gear. "But if we''re getting tacos we''d probably better eat inside. Or do they have a porch or something?"


    "Yeah, but I just want a fish burrito," he said.


    "Gross, fast food fish," said Alexa. "But I''m getting the french fry burrito. We''re good to eat in the car? Your mom doesn''t mind?"


    "It''s fine," said Sarah. She pulled into line, waiting to order their food. There were maybe ten cars already ahead of them, and the drive-thru was moving slowly.


    "Can I show you two something?" said Finn, going on without waiting for an answer. "Watch this!"


    He held out his hand, cupping it like he was holding imaginary water, and he gathered a trickle of red light. He formed it into a circle that looked almost like he''d blown a smoke ring out of the fog, and then it flashed into power. Instead of fire or light though, it erupted with a dull whump. It sounded like two heavy pillows crashing into each other. Sarah looked, but she couldn''t see what Finn had actually done.


    "Sound effects?" asked Alexa. It seemed she hadn''t seen the point either.


    "No, watch the tree over there," said Finn, pointing. He gathered his magic again, creating another whump of noise. This time, watching where he pointed, she could see the top of the tree suddenly shake and bend. Finn had called up wind somehow, blasting it out.


    "I got the idea from an old toy I used to have. A bazooka thing with rubber bands and plastic, it''d shoot a little wad of wind out," said Finn with a wide smile. "Cool, huh?"


    Sarah nodded, but she was distracted. A boy had been eating outside, and she''d seen his head jerk the second time Finn had fired his power. Now the guy was rubbing his beard and looking around, clearly inspecting the line where the white fog was met with teal. He had a book on the table, but he''d set it down open and face down. Sarah cringed at that but still pointed the guy out to Finn and Alexa, and together they watched him.


    And then the teal around Sarah''s car snapped into a pure blue color, with a wall of purple extending further around them. The boy was staring at a glowing green ball of power floating in front of him, and Sarah could make out the moment when his eyes lost focus too. He didn''t really react at all, he took a drink of his soda and followed it with a bite of food.


    "Umm, I think this guy is for you, Alexa," said Sarah.


    "Yeah, you''re probably right," she answered. "But let''s get our food first. It''ll be a little bit before he can listen anyway. Let''s park and order inside. Get a table next to his, but be careful. It''s really unpleasant having people touch you when you''re deaf and blind, ok?"


    Sarah couldn''t get out of line until the car in front pulled forward, so Finn got out to grab a place in line. Once she parked, she joined him inside while Alexa got a table by the blind kid.

 Chapter 56: Pollination

    <div>


    Her senior year started in less than a week, but Sarah wasn''t thinking about that. The guy they met when they helped Jill move, Jacob Porter, wasn''t what she was thinking about either. He''d been pretty easy, he''d trusted the three of them right away, listening to them and watching them each show off a bit. He''d rearranged his sophomore schedule a bit and took a mountain biking class with Alexa, and she''d been able to give him the rundown on the long rides. Supposedly the most challenging part of the whole process was biking slowly enough to give a believable speed to the tracker gadgets they wore.


    No, Jacob was only part of what Sarah was thinking about. She was sitting at her desk, with a composition notebook open in front of her. Her eyes were closed, but she knew exactly what was written in it. Right at the top, in blue ink, was her own name. Then Alexa''s name, in green ink. Finn and Kayla followed in red ink. Then Jacob Porter in green ink. Below Jacob¡¯s name were six more. Parker Brown, in green; Samantha Johnson, in blue; Austin Soto, in green, Ashleigh Fields in blue; and then Beckham and Taylor Vilhauer in red.


    Some names had little notes next to them. Ashleigh had the word "boy" scrawled before his name. Austin had ¡°old - 30?¡± just underneath. Beckam and Taylor had arrows connecting them and the word "siblings" along the arrows. They also each listed a town, and most had a phone number. Kayla had an email address instead of a number, as did Austin. Kayla was too young for her own phone, and Austin hadn''t been willing to share.


    She''d been using her blue light for less than five months. They''d met Kayla at the end of May, and in the ten weeks since it felt like they met someone else every time she, Alexa, or Finn left their little town. Sarah had spotted the most, probably thanks to Cuddles and her tendency to enhance things to make her life a little easier. She was pretty happy with her leather shoelaces, for example. Most of the people on the list went to school with Alexa and Jill, and they found each other on campus, or nearby.


    Sarah rolled her neck and closed the little book. She could hear Cuddles rattling against her wall, and then morning light flooded into her room as he pulled back the curtain and wrapped himself in a circle to hold it open. She lifted up the corner of her mattress and slid the notebook in underneath.


    Sarah''s mom was downstairs eating breakfast when Sarah came down. Sarah pulled some cereal out and filled a bowl before pouring milk in and sitting down. She eyed her mom''s coffee for a moment before starting her own meal.


    "And good morning to you too," said her mom.


    "Morning," said Sarah. She was still thinking about the names in the notebook upstairs, and the silence stretched.


    "So, what''s your plan today?" asked her mom.


    "I dunno," said Sarah.


    "Worried?"


    "Kinda," said Sarah before freezing and looking up. "No, I''m not worried. Why?"


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    "Well, gee, senior year starts on Wednesday, surely you wouldn''t be worried about that. Or maybe it''s the way Mrs. Krowski next door asked me about your boyfriend, and for all your secrets I''m pretty sure he''s not one of them." Her mom smiled and took a sip of her coffee, and said, "I''d say maybe you were worried about missing Alexa, but she''s been at school for a couple of months already, and it seems like you''re staying in touch just fine. Maybe it''s just that she won''t be at school when you start?"


    "No," said Sarah. She took another bite and tried to smooth out her face while she chewed. "Maybe, yes, no, I don''t know."


    Her mom was content to sip her coffee and wait for Sarah to get her thoughts in order.


    "It''s just, well, Alexa, and Finn, and everyone," said Sarah. "Like, they''re my friends now. Good friends, even. But they''ve got their own friends, and their own lives, and so do I. I guess it''s everyone else I''m worried about. Do I have to be friends with everyone else too? If I want to keep hanging out with Alexa I''m going to have to start hanging out with people she''s met too. And I should, but I kinda don''t want to. But maybe I will if I get to know them, but how do I get to know them if I''m just the bratty high schooler tagging along? And can I stay friends with Alexa even if I hate the people she''s with? Or if they hate me?"


    "Oh, honey," said her mom. "I''m so happy for you."


    Sarah choked on the spoonful she''d just put in her mouth. "Happy?" she said around the mouthful of cereal.


    Her mom smiled gently, setting down the coffee. She said, "I''ve been so happy watching you this summer, especially after all those years... all those years I watched you just close in on yourself. If I''d known how much an Alexa would open you up, I''d have pushed so much harder to get you out the door years ago."


    Her mom reached out, taking one of her hands. "But a lot of this, this is all things we learn as we grow up and make friends. I''m sorry, I don''t think I can give much advice. If you like someone, great. If you don''t want to be around someone, you don''t have to. If you don''t like Alexa''s new friends, you can tell her. Or Finn, or whoever. Just remember, even if you do get hurt, remember how good this summer was, and don''t shut yourself up again, ok?"


    That didn''t really make Sarah feel any better, and she closed her eyes, letting her mouth screw up tightly. "I know I don''t have to, but I want to. It''s just... How? I can''t go skipping up to some college guy and ask him if he can come play."


    A little laugh escaped her mom, who let go of Sarah''s hand and took another sip of coffee, a bigger slurp this time. "Well, you can, but I guess I see why you don''t want to."


    The two sat for a minute, and her mom spoke again. "Ok, so here''s an idea. Life gets complicated, and just hanging out with someone you don''t know is tough, even if you both know someone else, right? So don''t hang out. Schedule something, and have an actual thing to do instead.


    "Like a date?" asked Sarah.


    "No, not really," said her mom. "I''m thinking more like a club. Something regular. Like my bunko nights. Bunko isn''t particularly fun to play, but it''s nice to spend an evening with ladies in the neighborhood. We stay caught up, talk, that sort of thing. The dice are just something to do when we run out of conversation. It''s also nice that it''s always on the same day every month. Makes it easy to remember to keep the night free, and even if someone misses they can pick right back up the next month. Do that."


    "I don''t think anyone wants to play bunko," muttered Sarah, even though she understood her mom''s point.


    "Well, obviously. But I didn''t say you should. Host a book club. Or start a hiking club. Or a potluck dessert night. Or, I dunno, board games. Whatever. Something you and Alexa and maybe Finn would actually be into, and something everyone could bring other people to. Just organize it."


    Sarah nodded, thinking of the names in the booklet. She''d need to get more than just Finn and Alexa to agree, probably.

 Chapter 57

    "Ok, so that bit of parenting out the way, on to the next," said Sarah''s mom. "What''s your plan for the day? It''s your last free Monday before class starts."


    "Not much. Finn said he''ll come by later. He''s bringing me a drill for a project," said Sarah.


    "Ooh, what project?" asked her mom.


    "Oh, a chain or something. I don''t think it''ll turn out, but I''ve got some ideas," said Sarah.


    "I''m excited to see it. Are you ever going to do anything with those bones you''ve been keeping?" Her mom gave a dramatic shudder and said, "The bracelet turned out really nice, but keeping a jar of bones in your room is kinda creepy."


    "I''m not sure. They''re a little too fragile to build something out of, but they might make for good decoration on something else," said Sarah.


    "Like spikes on dangly earrings?"


    "Yeah, like that," said Sarah, taking the last bite of her breakfast.


    Her mom finished her coffee too, and asked, "So, is Finn going to be around long?"


    "Dunno," said Sarah. "He''s just dropping off the drill, but I think he''ll want to watch me start. He''s been kinda interested in it."


    The two stood, each picking up their dishes to take to the sink. "Interested in the project, huh? I guess that''s nothing new. If he sticks around, feel free to feed him lunch, just keep him out of your bedroom," said her mom with a raised eyebrow and a smirk in her voice.


    "Mom!" Sarah blushed brightly.


    "It''s not that I don''t trust you, we just don''t want him getting the wrong idea."


    "Mom!" Sarah clattered her bowl into the dishwasher and had to bend down to pick up her spoon after it missed the little slot for silverware.


    "I mean, I could be wrong. If you do like him, and you want to, well, we''ve had the talk. Just use protection, ok?"


    "Mom!" Sarah spun around and was speed walking out of the kitchen.


    "Do you want to review anything?" her mom shouted as Sarah was taking the stairs two at a time.


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    Sarah slammed the bathroom door behind her, shaking her head as she undressed to shower. She was shampooing furiously when she heard a knock at her door. "I''m leaving, call me if you need anything," her mom shouted through the door. "Don''t forget you said you''d do some chores today too! Love you!"


    By the time Sarah was done in the bathroom, the house was empty. She found a tank top and a pair of shorts and went back to the bathroom. She was tempted to just throw her wet hair in a ponytail, but then it would be damp all day long and would leave marks she''d have to either live with or flat iron out later. And she had plenty of time, so she blowdried her hair out, then combed it out with a part in the middle of her hair. She added just a little bit of product to help it stay out of her face and decided that was good enough.


    Her mind kept drifting back to Finn, despite actively trying to go back to thinking about the names in the notebook. Was her mom right? No, he''d been just a friend all summer. He hadn''t pushed at all for anything more since prom. They''d hung out, talking about powers and showing things off. He''d explained how putting the power into different shapes seemed to make different effects, and she''d discovered that she could put blue into only parts of a thing, rather than filling it all up evenly. Today''s project was more of the same. Maybe she could get him to figure out a way to deal with all the fog types they''d been running into.


    He''d been bugging her about the teeth he''d given her. He wanted her to make something out of them, something like Cuddles. Never mind that the bag of teeth was kinda gross, and Cuddles was pretty. Where Cuddles was a pure white, the teeth were yellowed, even brown in places. She''d done the peroxide soak, but it hadn''t made much difference. Plus they were super irregular. Cuddle''s vertebrae lined up and fit neatly into each other, forming an articulated chain that just looked nice. The teeth were lumpy, and she just couldn''t see herself figuring out a way to make them look worth wearing. But Finn thought they''d be cool, so she was going to give it a try.


    If nothing else, she could just string them together and call it a day. Maybe if she ever dressed full goth, they''d look all right as a sort of hip chain. Between her mom''s old coat and the bracelet, she wasn''t far off. She''d seen a lady selling little bird-skull earrings at a crafting fair, and she''d been tempted. She probably would have even bought them, except they''d been made with cheap brassy wire and had a bunch of brightly colored feathers hanging off them too. They just didn''t fit anything, so Sarah figured if she was going to wear something like that, she''d make it herself to ensure it all worked.


    Maybe she should figure out a way to get ahold of some horn to work with. She''d seen some pieces that polished really well, and they had a really pleasant black and yellow color that didn''t look as stark as bone. Throwing a big loose t-shirt on over her tank top, she padded back downstairs to get the vacuum out. She got it plugged in, and watched for a moment to ensure it was navigating furniture well, then found her mom''s stack of old catalogs.


    She found an artsy one that they''d been getting in the mail ever since her mom had bought a sweater from the company, and she was paging through it looking at their jewelry and leather goods when the doorbell rang. She topped off the vacuum cleaner, it was on its way to the next room, and she went to answer the door.

 Chapter 58

    Finn was on the porch, holding a grey plastic case. He smiled when Sarah opened the door, and said, "Hi! Ready?"


    "Yeah, I think so, come on in," she said. She led the way through the living room and kitchen, past where the vacuum cleaner was leaving even lines in the carpet, and into the garage. She clicked on the lights and pointed at her little table.


    "Over there, Finn," she said. "I''ll be right there, there''s a couple of things up in my room to grab."


    Sarah hadn''t ever taken the bag of teeth to her workspace. After prom, she''d just dumped it into a desk drawer and more or less forgotten about them. She fished it out, shook it once, and considered the paper with a frown. It was old, folded, and used, and it felt like a good sneeze could blow it into pieces. She glanced around, but the only container she had handy that would do the job was the mason jar with Cuddles'' ribs, and she didn''t want to just dump them out. It was ok, Sarah could be careful.


    She glanced around her room, looking for anything she''d need, shook her head, and went to leave. She got just outside her door before she turned around and went back in. With one hand, she fished under her mattress for the composition notebook and took that with her when she went downstairs.


    In the garage, she found Finn playing with some of her leather cord. He had a couple of yards tangled up in his hands, and Sarah couldn''t help but laugh. He had looked up guiltily when she opened the doors and stepped down the wooden stairs onto the cement floor, and when he held up his hands as though he was admitting guilt he had looked like a huge kitten caught playing with yarn.


    "The spool fell off the table, it unrolled and I tried to catch it," he said.


    "It''s fine. It''ll roll back up easily enough," said Sarah. "Scoot over."


    He moved out of the way, and she set the paper bag down on the plywood surface along with her notebook. She shoved over the drill case he''d set down already, clearing a space around the vice she''d already placed at the edge of the table. She groaned and turned to leave again. She got a big shallow salad bowl from the kitchen that she could pour the teeth into.


    As she came back out and set the bowl down, Finn spoke up again. "So, what are you planning?"


    "I''m not sure, honestly," said Sarah. "The way they''re shaped, and the way they''re colored, It''s going to be really hard to make it look good."


    "Aren''t teeth necklaces a thing, though?" he asked.


    "Sure, if you''re a Viking or a headhunter or something." Sarah poured the bag of teeth into the bowl and started idly picking through them. "If I''m going to put this sort of work into it, I''d like it to look at least sorta nice."


    "All right, makes sense," he said, slapping his thighs for emphasis. "So what do you want me to do?"


    Sarah started to answer but pursed her lips before she could say her first thought. After a moment, she said, "Could you maybe sort the teeth? By shape and size?"


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    He nodded and grabbed a handful out of the bowl. He laid them down on the table and began shoving them around into lines, chewing on his tongue while he concentrated. Sarah rubbed her nose with one hand, then bent down and fished in a box she kept under the table. She pulled out a big square of plush fabric that she used for beads.


    "Use this, so nothing rolls around," she said. She took the grey plastic case and laid the mat down. Putting the case on the ground, she opened it and saw that the drill wasn''t quite what she''d expected when Finn had offered to lend it to her. Instead of the huge gun-shaped thing that she imagined when someone talked about power drills, this was just a straight cylinder, almost like a very fat pen. But it had the same mechanism to hold the drill bits that she was used to, and Finn hadn''t been lying when he said he had all the teensy drill bits she wanted. She took one of the smallest and set it in the drill.


    Then she glanced into the bowl and pulled out one of the more discolored teeth. If this didn''t work, no sense wrecking a good one. She set the tooth in her vice and tightened it down for a good hold. Unfortunately, the steel clamp cracked the tooth before she got it really stable. She tossed the broken tooth and knelt back down to rummage in her bin. With a grin, she stood up, now holding tiny rubber sheets. They''d originally been stuck to something with glue, so one side of them was still just a bit sticky. But they''d fit in her vice and let it grip the little teeth better.


    Sure enough, she was able to get the second tooth perfectly stable without breaking anything, and a whir later and she''d made a neat hole straight through it. She pulled the tooth out of the vice and held it up, examining it closely. Maybe she should be drilling long ways, instead of from side to side.


    "Hey Finn," she asked. He had been pretty focused on organizing the teeth. The incisors and molars were each in separate piles, and he''d already put the canines in a row, ranked by size. "What do you think about everyone?"


    "Who?" Finn looked up, blinking as he broke his concentration.


    "Everyone we''ve met this summer," explained Sarah as she set another tooth in the vice, this time held so she could drill it from top to bottom. "People who can use the fog?"


    "It''s pretty awesome, isn''t it?" Finn was grinning at Sarah. "I spent the day yesterday with Beck and Taylor. We mostly played football, and ran routes, Beck''s got great hands, even if his parents wanted him to play soccer. And Taylor showed me this funky spiral thing she makes with her spirit that will actually freeze things. Like literally coat them with ice. We think that if we tweak it we can make a straight-up air conditioner."


    Sarah put a hole through the second tooth. She said, "But aren''t you worried? Or bothered? It''s not just the three of us, there''s more than ten now. And there''s got to be more, doesn''t there?"


    "Sure there''s going to be more," said Finn. "It''s exciting, to meet more people. Just think, this time next year there''ll be hundreds, or maybe thousands of us."


    "Exactly, Finn," she said. She took the tooth out of the vice and looked around. She spotted an old mug on a shelf that usually rinsed out watercolor brushes, and dropped the tooth in with a clatter. She sat back down, not facing Finn, and said, "And what makes you so sure they''ll all be as happy to be on your team as you are to be on theirs? Not to mention keeping secrets. I really don''t want anyone to know about me, and that means they can''t know about you, or Alexa, or anybody."


    Finn turned and reached an arm around Sarah, "Hey, hey, it''s fine. Everyone has had bad experiences talking about the fog, no one wants to go public or anything."


    He squeezed her once and let her go, then he said, "But maybe you''re right. It can''t be a good idea to just let things go all it needs is some organization, some rules."


    "Yes," said Sarah. Something unknotted in her stomach as he finally understood her point, and she felt herself breathing more easily as she drilled a hole through yet another tooth.


    "But then that''s tricky, because if we''ve got an organization and rules, then we need someone in charge too." He had been talking quietly, almost to himself, but then he spun suddenly, pointing at Sarah, and he almost shouted, "You should be in charge!"


    Of course, he sabotaged his own declaration as his outstretched finger caught the edge of the bowl, sending the loose teeth spraying throughout the garage.

 Chapter 59

    Finn hopped right down to start gathering up the teeth, knocking a few more off the table as he did so. Sarah watched him for a moment, took one of the loose teeth off the table, set it in the vice, and calmly drilled a hole in it. She dropped it into the cup about the same time that Finn came up with a handful of teeth. He dropped back to his hands and knees and started peering along the ground to find more. Sarah just let Cuddles drop off her wrist to the ground, and the white snake promptly slithered into the dark corners of the garage.


    "I don''t think I want to be in charge though," said Sarah.


    "Someone has to," said Finn. Cuddles had shoved several teeth towards him from under various tables and boxes, and Finn was picking them up. "And you were first, really."


    "What difference does that make? Besides, it was just luck," said Sarah.


    "All right," said Finn. "But we''ve got to get something started first, and then we can make rules and stuff."


    Sarah said, "Most of us live nearby, except for Kayla. All the adults mostly live near the university. So why not set up a camping trip or something? It''s cheap, we''ll have privacy, won''t have to reserve anything. We just need to pick a weekend and get people to show up."


    Finn sat back, letting his feet splay out in front of him. He looked up at Sarah and said, "Do people like to camp?"


    "Sure, if I can stand it, they probably will too," Sarah said. "Besides, don''t you think everyone wants a chance to talk things over? I mean, I haven''t seen Sam since we met her in the library, and I still haven''t had a chance to talk to Ashleigh. They''ve both been using the blue for a month now, and I''ve gotta admit it''s making me feel a little crazy, knowing they''re out there."


    Finn scratched his head and dumped another little handful of teeth up on the table. "I guess. I mean, everyone who uses my red seems nice enough, but I don''t know if they''re all that anxious for a big meet-up for its own sake. I guess they''ll mostly like camping. Well, maybe, I don''t know about Taylor. Although I''d bet Kayla is going to go nuts when she hears about it."


    "Nah," said Sarah. "Bri told me she''s calmed down a ton this summer. I guess they put her in some sort of programming class or something, she''s been doing really well."


    "Cool," said Finn.


    "Here," said Sarah, handing the bowl down to him. "Set that down, Cuddles can finish cleaning up."


    Finn stood up and leaned back against the work table. He watched as Sarah drilled holes through more teeth. She''d gotten into a rhythm and was moving as fast as the screw on the vice would let her. Finn scraped all the teeth into a pile and dumped the cup of drilled teeth onto the mat she''d gotten out. He began sorting the ready teeth into piles and rows.


    "Tell you what," he said. "Want me to set it up? Call everyone, find a time, that sort of thing?"


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    "Yes," said Sarah. His proposal made her stop working on the teeth, and she turned to him with a wide smile. "That''s a huge relief, honestly. Maybe make sure that we''d like it to be a regular thing? Doesn''t always have to be camping."


    "Right," he said, picking up the notebook. "And I can let them know that we aren''t just catching up for fun, too. Maybe talk about how we bring more people in as we find them, how we talk, all that sort of thing."


    "And what do you think?" she asked. "About new people. Should we be looking for them, or letting them come as they find us, or what?"


    "Well, they seem to be finding us pretty fast already," said Finn.


    "Sure, a few, when one of us goes out of town or at the school where they''ve got people from all over the country attending," said Sarah. "But there''s got to be more, right?"


    "Sure there are," said Finn.


    "And remember what it was like before you knew? When we were stuck in the hospital? When the doctors thought we were sick?


    "Or our parents worried that we were crazy?" said Finn.


    "Or actually thought we were," muttered Sarah. "I just, well, shouldn''t we be helping them? I was lucky, to see you explode like that. I don''t know if I ever would have figured it out otherwise. And how long would you have kept shouting and knocking yourself out in the hospital if Alexa and I hadn''t come around?"


    "So... what? I don''t know if traveling from hospital to hospital asking about seizure patients is going to work," said Finn.


    "No," said Sarah, as she slumped back and focused on her work. "But at least that ought to be something we all talk about. Someone will have an idea. Or at least an idea about how to deal with anyone new showing up."


    "Actually, that''s good," said Finn. "It''ll be a lot easier to get people to give up a weekend to meet if we have something to talk about besides just arranging more meetings. I''ll start calling people right away. I''ll see if we can manage this weekend, but we might need to wait for Labor Day, even if that''s a month away. This''ll be fun."


    Somehow her talk with Finn had left her shoulders unknotted, and she couldn''t really help herself and gave him a fast hug. She squeezed him hard for a moment before turning back to the teeth.


    "Awesome. Can''t wait to get all the Fog Catchers together," he said brightly, smiling down at her.


    And just like that, Sarah lost her smile. She turned to look at him with a frown and a raised eyebrow, "Fog Catchers?"


    "No? How about Mist Whisperers?"


    Sarah kept looking at him.


    "Chroma Coven? Radiant Collective? Modern Magicians? Wizard Club?"


    "Maybe we set the whole naming thing aside for now, and let everyone decide what we call ourselves when we''re together," said Sarah. "Something else for the agenda."


    Finn quieted down and stood still watching her work on the teeth. He had one of the bigger molars in his hand and was turning it over and over in his fingers while he watched. Sarah glanced at him from the corner of her eyes and noticed he was looking flushed. Somehow it made his freckles stand out even more than they usually did against his pale skin. He wasn''t saying anything, or doing anything other than playing with the one tooth, he was just watching her.


    She kept peeking at him as she worked, but he still didn''t say anything. She finished drilling around a quarter of the teeth, then knelt down to put the little drill in its case. She picked up the last half dozen teeth that Cuddles had gathered, let the snake spine wrap around her wrist again, and stood up.


    "I think that''s it for now. I''m going to experiment with these before I drill them all, in case I need to do something different," said Sarah. "Do you want to come in and get something to eat?"


    When she stood up, she hadn''t noticed quite how close Finn was standing, and when she asked him about lunch she realized that they were practically touching, so she leaned back and smiled a bit. She started to apologize, but before she could speak one of Finn''s hands had come up and rested on a hip, the other held her shoulder, and now Finn was leaning over. She could already feel his breath on her face, and he was still coming.

 Chapter 60

    She couldn''t find her voice. The gap between what she''d been thinking about and what was happening now was just too vast. Finn''s arms were around her, and he was bending down to kiss her. She''d been uncertain about his body language in the past, and she knew she''d ignored signals, but this time there was no mistaking anything. Even as time slowed down, Sarah couldn''t get her mouth open, couldn''t force air past her throat. Her heart was pounding, hammering measures of music in her ears with an impossibly slow beat, and Finn was just so close.


    She felt Cuddles squeeze tightly on her wrist, he constricted hard enough and fast enough to send a lance of pain up her arm as he dug his nubs into her skin. Sarah finally managed to duck her head. She felt her neck bend at a glacial pace, looking down and away from Finn''s approaching face, and she felt his face pressing down on the top of her head.


    She could feel him freeze like that. His hands had been moving along with the rest of him, wrapping around to pull her in close. But now he stopped. They stood like that, Sarah''s hands clasped up against her chest, Finn''s hands on her back, his head leaned down over hers. Sarah closed her eyes, and she instinctively found herself thinking about the space around her - she could hear a car passing outside, the air conditioner clicking off on its cycle, Finn''s breathing, her breathing. She could feel the hard cement floor under her feet, Cuddles still gripping her wrist, and Finn''s warm hands with just a thin shirt between him and her skin. She could smell... No. She shook her head, breaking off her train of thought.


    "No," she said. Sarah opened her hands, turning them out to press on Finn''s chest, and she gently pushed against him.


    "I''m sorry," said Finn, "I just..."


    "No." Sarah cut him off, taking a step back as he let go. "You didn''t..."


    Sarah took a deep breath, and she smiled at Finn. Cuddles loosened up again too, hanging on her wrist like a simple bracelet. She looked up and looked into Finn''s eyes. They weren''t actually brown like she''d always thought. There were flecks of gold in his eyes, and in the harsh white light, she thought they almost looked like they were ringed with yellow. She left one hand on his chest and used her other to lift his hands off, one by one. Finn didn''t say anything, his face was simply frozen and impassive, although she could hear him swallow once when she lifted his hand away from her lower back.


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    "We talked, right? I told you I didn''t want to date," she said.


    Finn didn''t say anything.


    "I guess it looked like that changed," she said, dropping her hand off his chest.


    Finn still didn''t say anything.


    "You''re a friend, Finn, really, you are. It''s not just this stuff," she said. She held a finger up, flashing a bright ball of blue light before dropping it into one of the teeth on the table. "That''s part of it, of course, but that''s not all. You''re smart and nice, and I love that you''ve always been willing to help. And I''ve seen you be willing to help lots of people, so I know it''s not just because you like me.


    "You''re in my life, and I''m in yours," she went on. "But as friends. Maybe as siblings even. But, really, I don''t want more. I''m not sure if I want more from anyone, and maybe I''m being mean but I do know I don''t want more from you."


    She smiled at him a bit wider, "Really, I''m tempted to play along, it would probably make the first few weeks of school easier, to come in dating the quarterback and all. But it wouldn''t be honest, and it would probably be worse than if I just told you right now."


    "Right," he said, blowing out his cheeks as he let his breath out. "I guess I''ll go."


    "You don''t have to," said Sarah. "Come eat lunch. I''m pretty sure there''s roast beef left, and my mom made sourdough yesterday, so we can make some sandwiches."


    "No. It''s fine. But I should go." He turned away, paused, and pointed at her little notebook, "Can I take this?"


    "Of course," said Sarah. "You don''t have to, I can call everyone, it''s fine."


    Finn finally let some expression back onto her face as he smiled a little, even if it didn''t reach his eyes. "I said I would, and it''s a good idea. I''ll get things set up. Let Alexa and you know once I start hearing from people."


    Sarah nodded and walked Finn out the door. There was a brief moment where he almost hugged her goodbye, but he just gave a brief smile again and said, "Goodbye. I''ll text you."


    "See you later," she said, and then she closed the door behind him.


    Sarah''s mind was blank as she climbed the stairs to her room. She laid down on her pillow, closed her eyes, and felt the old hospital blanket wrap around her arms. Her face was even, her breathing steady and her heartbeat slow and steady. She smiled to herself and considered calling Alexa to talk about what happened. But she shook her head again, she was all right. Maybe she''d read.


    Instead, she just lay on her bed, smiling to herself and feeling tears slide down the sides of her face.

 Chapter 61: Seeds

    Alexa''s jeep swerved as Alexa''s head jerked to look at Sarah. Sarah braced herself on the dashboard, expecting Alexa to run right off the road, but Alexa got the car straightened out while still looking at Sarah.


    "What do you mean! He tried to kiss you?" Why didn''t you tell me?" demanded Alexa.


    "Well, I just did," said Sarah. "And watch the road, please."


    "That''s not what I mean, and you know it!" Alexa turned back and hammered her palm on the steering wheel. "Come on, I thought you two were settled, and he tried to kiss you? Did you let him? And why didn''t you call me or something?"


    "It''s handled, and it''s not a big deal. We were hanging out and he just read the room wrong," said Sarah.


    "But he knows better!" shouted Alexa. "What happened?"


    "He came over, I told you I borrowed that drill, and he was helping out," said Sarah. "We were talking about this meeting, and he volunteered to organize it. Which is great, because I really, really didn''t want to do it."


    "So this whole mess is your idea? Why didn''t you tell me that too?" grumbled Alexa.


    "Well, it was right after you''d told me about Taylor and Beckham. I''d gotten their numbers, and Finn was talking to them. But I was looking at our list of everyone, and it made me worried. So many people, so fast. So I talked to my mom..."


    "You talked to your mom about it?" Alexa''s eyes were wide, and her left knee was bouncing up and down rapidly.


    "Not about everything. Just... I made it sound like I was worried about your circle of friends at college. She knew I was upset, I had to say something," said Sarah. She was talking slowly, trying to stay calm and hoping it would reduce Alexa''s agitation.


    "Fine. So this meeting then?" asked Alexa.


    "Yeah, my idea. Sort of. Mom said that some organized thing like a book club or bunko night would be a good idea to keep everyone in touch. We''re not going to be a book club, but going somewhere as a group will be good I think. Especially if we can make it into a regular thing, so we don¡¯t have to feel like we¡¯re doing it alone. And I thought about when we''ve gone camping, or that warehouse... I just thought something like that where everyone can come would be nice.


    "Only, you know, that would mean calling everyone. Or emailing Austin, and letting Kayla know even if there''s no chance she''ll be able to show up. And figuring out what people''s schedules are. And talking them into showing up in the first place. And it''s not like I¡¯ve even talked to everyone on the list yet."


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    "So you asked Finn, and not me?" asked Alexa.


    "No! Well, yes, but not like that," answered Sarah quickly. "He was there that same morning, and I was still thinking about it. I hadn''t even really ironed anything out in my own mind. And so while I was working we talked about it. He got the idea pretty quickly and volunteered to organize it. So I let him, honestly it was a relief he wanted to. Besides I didn''t expect him to manage quite this quickly. Could you have gotten everyone to say they''d show up the next weekend?"


    "And you''re changing the subject!" said Alexa, her voice rising again. She pointed out the windshield at the hills in the distance, emphasizing her words. "What does this have to do with him kissing you!"


    "He didn''t kiss me, Alexa," said Sarah. "He tried, that''s all. I was happy and relieved that he would take over, and I''m still happy and relieved about this, even if you''re irritated about a group of people up in your meadow. I was happy, and I picked something up, and then we were standing a little too close. And he thought it was a signal, I guess, and tried to kiss me."


    "And he tried to kiss you," repeated Alexa. "So what did you do?"


    "I froze. I don''t know," said Sarah. The calmness left her voice as she thought back to the moment in the garage. "But it was weird. I dropped my head so he just sorta kissed my hair. That was, just whatever. No big deal. But then I pushed him away, and I told him again I wasn''t interested. Not in anyone, and not in him. It felt kinda mean, but, well, I dunno. Good?"


    "What exactly did you say?"


    "I dunno. He''s a friend, maybe even a brother. But not more," said Sarah with a smile. "And even if I''m interested in someone someday, I won''t be interested in him. But we''re still stuck in each other''s lives."


    "And Finn?" Alexa was finally calming down, but her knee was still bouncing.


    "He said sorry, and he took off really fast," said Sarah. "I invited him to stay for lunch, Mom said I should, but he left. I guess it was kinda awkward."


    "Kinda awkward. You''ve got a gift for understatement," said Alexa.


    "It was, really, I mean I think saying all that stuff was scarier than when he tried to kiss me," said Sarah. "But once it was out it was just nice. Like it felt good to say it like that. That''s why I didn''t tell you sooner too, it was just done."


    "Just done, she says. Right, because the ginger jock lets go of dumb ideas on the first try," muttered Alexa.


    "Be nice," said Sarah. "He''s been fine since then. We''ve talked a couple of times since then, and he hasn''t been weird or angry or anything at all."


    "Fine, so long as he''s not gonna have us hunting Yeerks," said Alexa.


    "Are those like snipes? Or is that one of your Japanese kung fu things?" asked Sarah.


    "I thought you read," was all that Alexa said, and the two fell into silence as they rode toward the mountains.


    The hills were maybe a bit more brown than last time, but the pine trees still made a dark green wall on either side of the highway. Through the gaps in the trees, she could see wider and wider vistas as they climbed up higher. Eventually, they made the turnoff and Alexa turned her jeep onto the rutted dirt road to their meadow.


    "Do you think everyone will be able to follow the directions?" asked Sarah.


    "Probably, it''s not really that hard. This is the only road anywhere near the mile marker. Plus, look," said Alexa, pointing ahead.


    Sarah looked, not realizing what Alexa was telling her to look at for a moment, but then she realized. The everpresent fog still lay thick off in the distance, but it was thin along the road. It was also multicolored, with patches giving way to teal, yellow, purple, pure blues, greens, reds, and other mixes of colors.


    "Well, at least a few people got here ahead of us," said Sarah.

 Chapter 62

    There were four other cars pulled up to the tree line. They weren''t quite at the same gap where Alexa had parked before, but it was the same meadow. There were a few tents already up too, one was glowing blue and caught Sarah''s attention immediately. When Alexa turned the car''s engine off and the girls got out, Sarah heard talking coming from the cluster of tents.


    Jacob, the boy Sarah had met at the burrito place, came racing towards them, accompanied by another guy who also glowed green. The second guy was wearing long dreads that flailed the air behind him as he ran, and Sarah assumed this was Parker. Both of them practically jumped at Alexa, engulfing her in a hug with audible thumps when they crashed into each other.


    "This was such a great idea!" said Jacob. "Letting loose out here is just amazing! Way better than just messing around in empty lots."


    "And I finally get to meet everyone," said Parker, turning away from Alexa and waving. "Sarah, right? I''ve heard about you from Jake. I guess I''ve got you to thank."


    "Nice to meet you," Sarah waved back. "And I didn''t do anything, you don''t need to thank me."


    "Sure," said Parker and Jacob together, both smiling at Sarah.


    "Come on down, I''ll introduce you both to everyone," said Parker as he shook his blond hair out of his face.


    "Just a second, I''ll grab our stuff," said Alexa.


    She and Sarah walked around the back of the car and pulled out their bags. Parker and Jacob scuffled a bit, trying to insist on carrying the girls'' stuff, but Alexa just shoved them out of the way and dumped everything into a big-wheeled canvas wagon that Sarah had picked up. The wagon rattled its way towards the campsite, and the two green boys followed it sheepishly.


    "Dummies," said Alexa with a smile.


    "They''re, uh, happy," said Sarah.


    "For sure, it''s nice being around people who want to be around, you know?" said Alexa.


    "Makes sense," said Sarah, walking down the trail to the others.


    From what she''d heard, most of the people here were about the same age. Kayla was the youngest they''d heard about, and she wasn''t coming. Austin was the oldest and probably wouldn''t show up either. According to Finn, he''d been noncommittal. Something about working weekends too often. Everyone else was either in high school or else in the first year or two of college and was excited to be there. So far, Finn was the only one in their group who''d actually met everyone on Sarah''s list.


    There were four people standing in a little cluster around a big black carry bag that glowed with blue light. They made an oddly balanced little group. A Hispanic boy and girl with a pretty clear family resemblance towered over another pair. The shorter pair were each pale and a little disheveled looking, and all four were focused on the tent between them.


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    "Nah, it''s easy, try it, I really don''t get why you''re worried," said the pale girl. Now that she was closer, Sarah thought the girl''s very short brown hair had once been a page boy cut, but it had grown out long enough to lose its shape. Sarah could see bits of blue filling her clothing, a lot of it concentrated in a belt made of little square panels.


    "Because it''s plastic, and I watched you do yours," said the boy she was talking to. He was as pale as the girl, although his skin was marred by some rather bad acne. "You had to refill it like three times, and it''s tiny and I don''t have a sink yet."


    "You mean that belt?" asked the tall boy.


    "Yes, I mean her belt," snapped the short boy.


    "What''s it made of?" asked Sarah, interrupting the argument. "It''s really cool."


    The siblings jumped, hearing Sarah speak up, but the other two just straightened up and gave Sarah perfunctory little smiles. "Horn, from water buffalo," said the girl. "It was my grandfather''s, he got it from a trip somewhere and gave it to me. It''s handy. I''m Sam, by the way."


    "Sarah," she gave her name with her own little wave.


    "I like your bracelet," said Samantha. "I''m guessing you use it like the belt?"


    "Probably, but he''s handy sometimes too," said Sarah. The last few inches of Cuddles'' tail unclasped and waved as well. "It''s nice to meet everyone."


    With that cue, the others introduced themselves. Sarah already guessed who they all were, by process of elimination. Ashleigh was the smaller boy, he had the same magic Sarah did, even if he wasn''t wearing anything that shone like her or Samantha. Samantha and Ashleigh were both wearing loose clothing in darker colors, although Ashleigh did have a metal bracelet on his left arm. The two taller kids were Beckham and Taylor.


    "So what''s going on?" asked Sarah once introductions were done.


    "Samantha was showing off," said Ashleigh. He glanced at Sarah''s little cart and lifted his lip a little. "I guess maybe it comes naturally."


    Samantha held a hand over the bag, and the blue light that had filled it gathered into her left hand before transferring it into her belt. "Fine, you can set it up however you''d like."


    "I will, thank you," said Ashleigh. He picked up the bag and trudged away from where everyone was grouped together.


    "I''m glad not all you blue types are so snappy," said Jacob.


    "Be nice," said Alexa. "He''ll loosen up. Sarah was the same way. He just needs to be a bit more adventurous, that''s all."


    Parker nodded. "He''s epileptic. Or they thought he was? Anyway, I think he''s knocked himself out a few times since he noticed me glowing green in class. He''s nervous. And I think he''s mad he didn''t hear about the thing about carrying extra space. You never mentioned that to me, Alexa."


    "Well, it didn''t matter to you. I didn''t realize you''d run into someone on your own," said Alexa. "I guess I should have."


    "Don''t feel bad," said Samantha. "No one told me either, but it made sense after I burnt myself that first time. He could have figured it out if he wanted to. Hey, Sarah, wanna see the tent thing?"


    "Sure," laughed Sarah. She pulled her and Alexa''s tent out of the wagon and heaved it into Samantha''s arms.


    Samantha immediately dumped it on the ground and filled the bag and its contents with blue light channeled from her belt. Ashleigh had been right, it was clearly pretty finicky. The super thin polyester fabric seemed to fill immediately, and Sarah could see it lose light even before it started moving. It quickly unfolded itself and stretched into shape. The poles clacked and slithered through the catches sewn into the fabric, and in a moment the tent was fully set up. The whole time Samantha had been hovering, paying close attention, and keeping it all topped off. At one point, one of the poles lost power and picked the whole tent up as it suddenly snapped straight, but Samantha got it under control fast enough.


    "Lucky," said Taylor. "All we can do is set stuff on fire."

 Chapter 63

    "That''s a great idea! Come on, let''s see if you two strapping folk can help me gather some firewood. Maybe with you along we won''t need much kindling." " Alexa punctuated her declaration with a clap, and she grabbed Beckham and Taylor and dragged them towards the treeline. "Come on, I''ll bet a cookie you can''t find as much as me."


    As the three tromped off into the woods, Sarah could hear quiet grunts and half-expressed cursing coming from where Ashleigh was struggling with his tent. She glanced at the others and saw that Samantha was looking at him as well.


    "I don''t think he''s been camping much," said Samantha.


    "You met him first, didn''t you Parker?" said Sarah to the dreadlocked boy.


    "I did, at first I thought it was pretty cool," said Parker, and he smiled as he spoke. Sarah couldn''t help but notice his striking white teeth, even if it seemed like maybe he had too many of them in his mouth. He went on, "But he''s kinda standoffish, you know?"


    "Flinches a lot?" asked Samantha.


    "Sits in the back, or away from windows?" said Sarah.


    "Maybe wears headphones a lot? The big over-ear kind?"


    "Doesn''t go outside much?"


    "Steps back from hugs and handshakes?"


    "Gets angry if you talk too fast?"


    "Or surprise him?"


    Parker had his hands up, palms out at the torrent of questions from Sarah and Samantha. "Down girls," he said, as the two girls erupted into laughter. "I guess you know him already?"


    "No, but that was my life too," said Samantha, after she and Sarah calmed down.


    "And mine, for a long time," said Sarah. "It''s better now."


    "Hell yes it is," said Samantha. "I think having something, well, magic to focus on really helps."


    "More than that," said Sarah. "Have you tried not using the blue yet? Really going cold turkey? Things get hard again fast. Using my magic keeps things better. Like I''m paddling and I can keep my head above water. The more I use it, the better I feel."


    "I guess," said Samantha. "I don''t know if I''ve gone an hour yet without using the light. I''m not sure I could. But it makes sense. And bozo over there seems like he hardly does anything."


    "Which is probably why he''s still, ah, irritable," chimed in Parker. He glanced at Jacob and said, "Have you noticed anything different? Since finding out, I mean. I don''t know if I have, but now that I think about it Taylor was saying something about her brother breaking stuff a lot less lately."


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    Jacob shook his head. "No, not really. I mean, I had a big fight with my roommate, after the jerk wore my Doc Martins and filled them up with mud. My therapist seems to think it was some sort of breakthrough, but honestly, I don''t see it. Of course, I''d be angry. Who wouldn''t? The jerk didn''t even think about me, or taking care of anything."


    A little thump drew Sarah and Samantha''s attention back to Ashleigh. He''d gotten one of the collapsable poles wrapped around himself somehow and had sat down hard on the ground.


    "I think maybe I should go help," said Jacob. "Come help, Parker. It might come better from us. I think maybe you two girls might be making him feel insecure. What with your nifty magic powers and all."


    "Plus you''re both cute," chimed in Parker, his white teeth flashing again.


    Sarah and Samantha both blushed and looked down. Sarah thumbed her bracelet and Samantha scanned the ground like she was looking for something. Jacob smacked Parker on the back of his head, and he led the other boy through the grass to where Ashleigh was struggling. The two girls just stood in awkward silence, watching the boys squat down to help put up Ashleigh''s tent.


    After a moment, Sarah decided she ought to be doing something. She tossed her and Alexa''s bags into the tent and dumped everything else out of the little cart. The cooler could just sit there, but she decided to try out Samantha''s thing and pulled blue from the air, filling the camp chairs she''d brought. They snapped open and walked themselves into a big semi-circle. After the first, she had a good idea of their capacity and was able to keep them full without resorting to dumping extra into Cuddles.


    "We should probably make a fire pit, have something ready before they come back with wood," said Sarah. Samantha just nodded, and the two got to work. They only had one shovel, but the sandy turf was easy to dig through. It only took Sarah a minute or two to cut a wide hole in the grass. She''d read that you were supposed to keep the grass intact, so you could put it back in place and not leave a mark, but this grass just crumbled under the shovel. Maybe there weren''t enough roots to hold it together. Sarah just piled the dirt into a pile, so it would be easy to bury everything tomorrow.


    Then she and Samantha followed the little wagon as they went looking for big rocks to line the fire pit. Sarah had gone straight to the stream, there were plenty of easy-to-find stones there. But Samantha interrupted her, "Not those, they can have water inside and explode."


    "Really?" said Sarah. "That sounds crazy."


    "Well, I heard it once, anyway," said Samantha, looking down.


    "No worries, there''s plenty farther away," said Sarah.


    The two slowly filled the little cart with rocks. There were a few big rocks that took both of them to lift, but for the most part, they just piled softball-sized stones inside, and the cart kept trundling along easily. By the time they got back to their little circle of chairs, Alexa had already started a pile of wood. Sarah smiled at unmistakable fingerprints in the wood in places, where Alexa had split big logs into more manageable chunks. Sarah and Samantha had just pulled out their first stones to finish the firepit when a loud thundering blast split the air.


    They looked up - it was hard to tell where the noise came from, even for Sarah. The sound echoed around the hills and trees, reaching them in a rolling wave. Looking around, Sarah couldn''t see any clouds, and the weather hadn''t said anything about storms. She shrugged and pulled another stone out for the fire pit. For a few minutes, she and Samantha kept working on the fire pit - they''d gathered more stones than they needed, so they amused themselves by balancing them, building an actual wall around where the fire would go.


    Sarah looked up, watching Alexa come back into view from the trees. Alexa''s curly dark hair was loose, and it was all Sarah could see of her face behind a wall of stacked wood. Taylor and Beckham were behind, each carrying a more reasonable load. Before they could drop it all off another crack of thunder split the air. This one was quieter than the first, and a moment later it was followed by a second blast, and then a third precisely timed.

 Chapter 64

    "Did you hear that too?" asked Sarah as Alexa trotted up.


    "Of course I heard it, it was kinda hard to miss," said Alexa. "Weather was supposed to be clear tonight, but it sounds like it maybe came from the road. Accident maybe?"


    Beckham and Taylor dropped their armfuls of wood on the pile, and the group looked around the valley as another three cracks rolled through the hills. The boys left Ashleigh''s tent unfinished and came over to the group to ask about the noise. The eight of them stood quietly, listening. Within a few minutes, three cracks echoed again, quieter than before but still evenly spaced.


    "A gun?" asked Jacob, but Samantha and Ashleigh both shook their heads.


    "Nah, a gun sounds, well, flatter. Whatever it is, it''s faster. Like thunder, really," said Ashleigh.


    Sarah had thought it sounded like thunder, and now that Ashleigh had pointed it out she could tell why. The noise was distorted by echoes and distance, but whatever was making it was high-pitched and fast. "Should we check it out?" she said.


    The others all nodded, and Alexa said, "Yeah, I don''t think I''ll sleep well if I don''t know what it is."


    Jacob had driven a truck, and between that and Alexa''s jeep everyone was able to load up fast and they rolled back towards the main road. As they crossed a ridge, Sarah saw a change in the fog ahead. The mist along the road was already mottled from everyone driving through, but in the distance, Sarah could see a teal dome in the fog ahead. It vanished behind the trees as they drove back down a hill, but Sarah had already figured out what was making the noise.


    "It''s Finn," she said.


    "Figures," said Alexa. "Wonder what the problem is? Or is he just showing off?"


    Sure enough, they found him half a mile from the main road. He was weighed down with several heavy bags, and he was dragging a cooler behind him as he trudged along the path. He started waving as soon as he saw the cars coming.


    Alexa pulled into the brush beside him, rolled down her window, and said, "Get in loser, we''re going camping."


    Finn smiled, waving at the truck that pulled up right behind Alexa. "I''m glad you heard me. I wasn''t sure you would, or that you''d come if you did. My cell gets absolutely nothing up here. I thought you said there was a signal?"


    "A bit, but you''ve got to get over that last ridge first," said Sarah from over Alexa''s shoulder. "Why are you walking?"


    "The roads rougher than you made it sound. Figured getting the Chevelle stuck in the mountains was a bad idea. I''m parked a ways back," he said. He looked inside the jeep and glanced at the truck. "It seems like I''m last?"


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    "Yup," said Alexa. "Load up, we''ll get you set up fast."


    Finn chucked his bags in the back of Jacob''s truck, then bent down to pick up the cooler. Finn had grunted and strained to lift the cooler up, then Parker leaned down from the truck bed to take it, making it look weightless. Parker''s arms and back glowed bright as he held it loosely and feigned dropping it a few times before he set it down. Finn stuck his tongue out at him, then hopped into the back of Alexa''s jeep.


    "New trick, or just more lightning?" asked Sarah as they got moving again.


    "Um, new, I guess?" he said. "It''s basically the same as the wind thing. Only instead of sending it in one direction, I send it all out in every direction, and it makes a bang when I let go. Not super useful, but it is really loud for how little energy it takes. I tried normal lightning first, but I could only manage one that was loud at all. I figured that wasn''t going to get anyone''s attention fast enough."


    "So, changing the subject," he said. "How''s it going so far?"


    "Fine," said Alexa. "Parker and Jacob are nice and friendly, of course. Taylor and Beckham are pretty excited to be here, and I think Sam is too. Ashleigh... honestly I think he''s more scared than anything."


    "Scared?" said Finn. "Why?"


    "Cause it hurts to screw up," said Sarah. "Like really, really hurts. Like set yourself on fire hurts. Plus if you''re already feeling overwhelmed, it''s kinda rough to step out."


    The other two were quiet for a minute. Then Finn said, "You still feel overwhelmed?"


    "No, yes. Yes, I do," said Sarah. "But it''s getting under control. Not the same as I used to, I haven''t melted down from music or sunlight since that night at the dance, but it''s still a lot, you know? I got used to being alone, and it was ok. But having you two around, it''s been amazing. Really."


    Sarah reached out and squeezed Alexa''s arm, feeling the girls green power in her muscles. "It''s good, and it''s changing my life, but it''s still a lot, and I''m not used to it. That''s why I was so happy you did all the calls for tonight, Finn. I''m still struggling with you two, ten more felt like I was back in Mrs. Bianchi''s room."


    "I thought you were just being shy," said Finn.


    "Is there a difference?" asked Sarah.


    Alexa was nodding, "I see it. Samantha is probably more comfortable, just knowing the Vilhauer twins already."


    "I didn''t know they''re twins," said Finn.


    "Dummy, they''re not," said Alexa. "But on the other hand, they look alike, they dress alike, they act alike. Just ''cause Talyor is a couple of years older doesn''t mean they aren''t twins."


    Sarah giggled at the thought, then said, "So how do they know her?"


    "Next door neighbors," said Finn. "Samantha spotted Alexa on campus and was watching them, but didn''t say anything until she spotted Jacob too. Then after she got the rundown, Taylor saw it from next door. I don''t know if they''re really friends. Not friends friends, anyway. They grew up next door to each other, but I don''t think they''re all that close."


    Alexa pulled her jeep back by the other cars, and they sat in it for a moment, waiting for the truck to catch up.


    "So, do we have a plan for the agenda?" asked Finn.


    "You make it sound so serious," said Sarah. "Lets get settled. Get your tent up, get a fire started before it gets dark. We can cook the hot dogs and get comfy. Then we can all talk a bit. I''m sure it''ll all come out pretty natural once we''re fed."


    "Sounds good to me," said Alexa. "No need to be all formal about it all."


    Finn sighed, "Fine, at least to start. I''m not sure if that''ll keep on working, but it''s something we can all talk about tonight too."

 Chapter 65

    This was only the third time she''d ever been camping, but Sarah had already learned that the food tasted good. She wasn''t sure if it was just being outdoors, or if it was the fire, or what, but even cheap hot dogs half-charred on a stick tasted amazing.


    Everyone had brought something. There were hot dogs, potatoes, bags of cookies and chips, and more. Jacob had brought a Dutch oven that he used to make a cobbler. It wasn''t complicated, he dumped in canned peaches, dumped a box of cake mix in, then poured some off-brand lemon soda over it all and put it into the fire for a while. Parker had chili in another big cast iron pot.


    Those two struggled at first because there weren''t any coals to cook with. They were used to fishing out mostly burnt wood to set under and on top of their pots, but the blue firewood hadn''t made any. Sarah had shown Ashleigh and Samantha, and they''d gotten a kick out of the merry flames that reached into the air. Like before, the wood didn''t snap and pop, didn''t throw sparks up, and best of all it was smokeless. Everyone kept talking about how nice it was to crowd around the fire and not need to constantly shift around to keep smoke from their faces.


    Sarah took that in stride, she''d never really dealt with smoke like that. They''d piled about as much wood as they could fit into the pit, creating a bonfire that made flickering shadows fill the meadow. Jacob finally just set the pot near the base of the fire, warning everyone they might end up with burnt or undercooked dessert. That didn''t stop him from checking it incessantly, and as far as Sarah was concerned it was perfect.


    The real star of the meal was a surprise to Sarah. Ashleigh had brought stuff to put on their baked potatoes. A lot of it was pretty normal, cheese, sour cream, hot sauce, bacon bits, stuff like that. But he''d also brought several tins of sardines packed in oil. He took one of the big prongs that they were using for the hot dogs, made a scoop on the end with tin foil, and cooked the sardines over the flames. Once they were good and sizzling, he''d carefully put a single fish on top of the baked potato before smearing on butter and sour cream and all the other stuff.


    Alexa and Taylor refused to even try it, and most of the boys made it into one of their weird competitions, but Sarah thought the salty savoriness of the fish was the perfect punctuation that kept the baked potato from tasting boring. Samantha and Beckham seemed to agree with Sarah.


    Once everyone finally started to slow down, conversations began to start up. They were mostly pretty standard, with lots of little questions about majors, siblings, or hobbies. Parker and Finn were arguing about a Transformers movie, and how it compared to other series. Sarah listened to the two of them, but she couldn''t decide which one of them liked the movie more, or whether they liked it at all, or what.


    She watched the flames while the chattering began to rise, and realized she couldn''t see Alexa at all. The other girl was sitting opposite the fire from her. The wood and flames made it difficult to see Ashleigh and Taylor too. Sarah glanced at Finn, and he noticed her looking around and nodded at her.


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    Sarah wasn''t quite sure what he meant with the nod but decided he''d given her a go-ahead. She didn''t say anything, instead, she reached her hand out and pulled all the blue light out of the logs in the fire, shoving it into Cuddles. She left two small sticks near the bottom filled, but the rest began popping and crackling as they finally started burning for real. Everyone had stopped talking to watch her as she did that, but she still didn''t say anything.


    As though he''d been following her cue, Finn gathered up his own light, and he made a series of tiny and complicated patterns surrounding the fire as everyone turned to watch him. As the light began turning into power, a steady breeze fed into the fire from all sides. Finn kept siphoning more and more red light into his fans, and the flames in the fire leaped high into the night air.


    Everyone was silent, and a few people scooted back as the fire gave off painful heat. Sarah sat still, enjoying the warmth on her face. The flames were roaring in the night, Finn''s bellows keeping it burning hot and fast. In just minutes, even the biggest logs were burnt through and crumbled into coals around the little surviving logs at the bottom. Finn let his fans go out, and the quiet thundered through the night.


    Sarah looked around, the fire still gave off plenty of light, more than enough for her to see everyone clearly. The trickle of flame and glowing coals made for dramatic shadows, but everyone was focused on the fire.


    They were dirty, sweaty, and wearing old jeans, ratty sweatshirts, and broken-down sneakers. They were sitting in mismatched camp chairs that creaked and groaned when someone shifted their weight. They were all kids, not one of them could legally drink beer, but there was something almost religious that swept over them, looking at each other.


    Alexa, Jacob, and Porter all glowed with green light. It was diffused through their body, although Alexa had a bit more light focused in her head and eyes than the other two. Sarah, Samantha, and Ashleigh all flickered with little bits of blue around their bodies. Ashleigh''s boots were bright, and Sarah could see where his light had flowed around the steel caps set in their toes. Samantha''s belt and other bits glowed with a bright light that contrasted with the fading light in her jeans and hoodie. Sarah dripped with light, not only had she illuminated her leather jacket, bracelet, and hiking boots, but she was wearing cotton sweats that shone in the darkness, and if someone bothered to look close they''d notice the light from the string of teeth in her pocket. Beckham and Taylor didn''t shine in the darkness, but they were the two largest people in the circle, and they loomed from their chairs in the darkness.


    Everyone was looking at Finn. He loomed too, leaning forward in his chair with set shoulders set and straight back. He was sitting farther from the fire than the rest of them, letting him see everyone all at once. A bit more red light gathered around his feet, and suddenly a white light flared up, illuminating him from below and casting his face into shadow. Sarah hadn''t noticed before, but he hadn''t dressed in his older clothes like the rest of them. Most everyone was in ratty jeans and shirts, or drowning in big rumpled hoodies. Finn was wearing cowboy boots, jeans that still didn''t have any faded wear patterns or fray around the hems, and a button-down shirt that stretched across his chest.


    He cleared his throat, meeting everyone''s eyes, and smiled.


    "Well, I guess we should get started," he said. "Thanks for coming, everyone. I''ll make sure Austin and Kayla hear about what we talk about.


    "But first of all, I''d like to call the first meeting of the Shining Fraternity to order."


    Instead of solemn silence, at least two raspberries were blown, and a marshmallow sailed over the fire to bounce off Finn''s head.

 Chapter 66: Plans

    "Fraternity?" Taylor''s voice rose from the darkness, with a hint of screech at the end.


    "Dude," said Ashleigh. "I was gonna just sit and listen, but damn."


    "I''d rather not call ourselves something that makes us sound like terrorists, thanks," added Jacob.


    "Terrorists?" asked Sarah, turning to look at him.


    "Shining Path weren''t terrorists," said Parker. "They were pretty bad, as bad as people get, but not terrorists. At least not like hijack and bomb types. More secret police and kill-your-own-people types."


    "Either way," said Jacob.


    Alexa threw another marshmallow that Finn batted away. "Fine," he said. "Whatever. It doesn''t really matter, does it? But we ought to agree on something. I thought ''shining'' would be nice. We all see it like that, yeah? And it''s like that book."


    "What book?" asked Beckham.


    "Red rum," said Parker in a high-pitched growly voice. He had leaned towards Beckham and made a weird gesture with his finger at the same time. He grinned and snatched a marshmallow out of the air and popped it into his mouth.


    Beckham just looked more confused, "I don''t get it."


    "That old movie. With Jack Nicholson." Parker pitched his voice high again and said, "Here''s Johnny!"


    "I haven''t seen it," said Finn. "I was thinking about the book, the King one where everyone dies at the beginning from the flu."


    "That''s worse," said Alexa. "Well, not really. But calling us something from a Stephen King novel maybe isn''t a huge step up from naming us after terrorists. Especially if you haven''t even read The Shining."


    Sarah was pretty thoroughly lost, she didn''t watch many movies. For that matter, she''d only ever read one of King''s books. It had started ok, but when the baseball team descended into random murder she''d put it away and never came back to the author. The conversation had drifted forward, discussing the relative merits of someone named Jack as he compared to some soldier type or a man in black, but Sarah really didn''t care about how a few fictional characters compared to each other ethically.


    "Um," said Sarah, raising a finger into the air. "Not to change the subject, but can we agree at least that this really is all magic? Just as a starting place?"


    "No, we''ve all just got alien implants giving us powers," said Ashleigh in a deadpan voice. "If we''re being obvious, that is."


    "Do we really need to call ourselves something all special," said Sarah, ignoring Ashleigh. "If we do magic, can''t we just call ourselves magicians? Or wizards or whatever, if you want to be fancy?"


    "Anyone who calls me a witch is going to regret it," announced Alexa.


    "Magicians is fine," said Taylor. "At least for now. But if we''re really going to keep meeting and working together and stuff, then a name for all of us would be nice, I think."


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    "Great. We''re magicians," said Finn. He was using a deeper tone of voice than was usual, and he was doing something to try and make his voice carry a little more. "How about we all come back next time with some options? We can vote on it? And maybe workshop some ideas?"


    "Motion seconded. Call for vote, opposed say nay. No one is opposed, motion carries," announced Samantha quickly before anyone else could interrupt her. "Great. We can come up with names for our super awesome secret club next time. Is it time for s''mores now? Before Alexa throws away all the marshmallows?


    "There''s plenty. We won''t run out unless people get real dumb," said Alexa, throwing one at Samantha.


    Finn slouched and put his face in his hands for a moment. He took a deep breath and straightened back up. "I''d like to talk about one other thing first though. Words and names and stuff don''t really matter. Although for the record, no one gets to call me a wizard. But whatever.


    "What I''m actually worried about, what we are worried about," said Finn with a glance at Sarah, "are new people. Ashleigh, you''re the newest, and Sarah was the first, sorta. We''ve averaged a new person every other week, almost. Sara, Alexa, and I were it for just a couple of months. The only people we knew in the whole world with shine. With magic. Then Kayla showed up. Then Jacob. Everyone else joined up in the last six weeks. I don''t know if something is getting faster, or if we''re just finding people now that it''s obvious and there¡¯s more eyes to look, or what."


    "Clearly you''re just finding us," said Parker with a shrug. "I''d been seeing fog for almost ten years before I ran into this. There''s got to be tons more people out there just waiting. It all feels obvious now, but I don''t think I ever would have figured my magic out on my own. It''s like getting told you can breathe underwater, but you''ve got to grip your left earlobe with your right hand while closing your right eye and thinking about moonlight first. It''s easy enough to do, but I''d never have thought to try it in the first place."


    "Exactly," said Finn. "Who knows how many else are waiting. How many keep going to hospitals, or are taking medication for an illness they don''t have, or what. I''m not sure if I like that."


    Ashleigh and Samantha were nodding at that, their faces serious now. But before either could say something, Taylor spoke up, "Is it really that big a deal? I mean, yeah, sure, it sucks for people to end up in the hospital. But we all learned self-control to not hurt ourselves. I''m sure everyone else did too. We all spent years with the fog, and we made things work. I''m not sure it''s a good idea to go on some recruiting drive. That''s what it sounds like you''re talking about."


    "It is," said Sarah. "But I''d seriously suggest you talk to a few other people before you come to a conclusion like that. We don''t all have the same stories, and you should have figured out by now that this doesn''t affect us all the same way."


    "You have no idea how much this makes life better," said Samantha. "None of you do, except for Sarah and Ashleigh. Seriously, it makes me worried about how good the, ah, magic makes my life, and I''m not talking about how easy it is to do my ironing now. It''s like a high, like I¡¯m on drugs, except it clears my mind instead of messing it up. You have no idea - so much pain and distraction, just gone. Just feeling normal is like floating in a cloud. Only better than a high, because there''s no hangover."


    "And it helps right away, too," said Ashleigh. "Beckam, you were just telling us about how happy you''ve been this summer, just being able to sit and read a book. Parker, you talked about how much easier it is to live with your roommate now. Or to be around people who are arguing. I''ll bet it''s the same. Our lives are better when we know, and it¡¯s not just the magic itself. But Sam''s right. You all got lucky with your colors. Having blue just kinda sucks. She and Sarah get it."


    "It does, at least until we figure it out and start using it," said Sarah. "I don''t know how many more are out there. Maybe we''re it. Maybe not. I''ve got no idea. But I need to find out. We need to help. It''s just not right, making people live like we were."


    Everyone else was nodding along, or looking thoughtful.


    "Ok, I guess I get it," said Parker.


    "You don''t, but thank you," said Ashleigh.


    "I said I get it," said Parker with a glance at the pale boy. "But then what? We''re all keeping an eye out, and I''d imagine that anyone who can tell I''m glowing is going to talk to me. What else is there to do?"

 Chapter 67

    "Yeah," said Taylor. "I''m all for finding more people, but we can''t exactly just buy a TV commercial."


    "We could do a billboard," said Beckham, looking at his sister. "Those aren''t that expensive. Especially if you just want something simple."


    "No..." Parker trailed off, shaking his head. "I mean, leaving aside the cost or whatever, I don''t think we really want to announce ourselves like that. I remember when my sister lost her dog - we put up flyers all around town and got hundreds of phone calls. People called to report all sorts of crap, and I don''t think most of them even looked at the picture of the dog. They just saw the reward, or my sister holding her dog. If we put up something that gets attention, then we just have the chore of trying to decide what attention is real in the first place. I''m not using my phone or anything for that."


    "You''ve got a point," said Alexa. She stood up and started rummaging in the cart that had carried the girls'' stuff from the jeep. "Carry on, everyone. I''ll be right back."


    "The phone number thing is easy enough," said Finn. He watched Alexa straighten up with several long poles. "I did some checking We can just buy a cell phone. If we pay cash and put minutes on a card, it doesn''t even need to be connected to anyone''s real name. We can even get a bunch of phones if we want. Setting up call forwarding and stuff is easy, so that if someone calls we all have a chance to pick up."


    "Fine, that works if you want to do that," said Parker. "But there''s still the problem of knowing if any given call is for real. What would we put up on the advertisement anyway? ''Can you see fog? Come learn magic?'' That''s just asking for problems."


    "Plus," chimed in Samantha, "what happens if someone realizes what we''re talking about, and they don''t actually see the magic? We were all kids when this started, right? I''ll bet most of us have seen a doctor about it, if only an eye guy back when we started talking about seeing mist. What if one of those doctors reads our poster and puts two and two together? Or a parent? Or whoever?"


    "We don''t want that to happen," said Ashleigh. "I''m sure I''m not the only ''epileptic'' in the country who''s actually Blue. There''s probably some paper published somewhere about seeing fog being an early symptom of seizures. Or maybe something connecting it to my irregular brain activity during a seizure."


    "No," said Alexa. She was passing the sharpened steel poles around to everyone. "We agreed on keeping this secret, and that''s a good idea. We''re not going to go public. I''d rather not get locked up in some freak show, thank you very much."


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    "Which is why we''re brainstorming together," said Finn.


    "But we still want to be better about getting the word out," said Sarah. "If nothing else, we need something concrete in place. Things we make sure everyone knows. We don''t want things to slide between the cracks - like how Ashleigh didn''t get told about power sinks as a way to avoid burning himself."


    "Asshole," muttered Ashleigh to Parker.


    "Hey, I didn''t know," said Parker, spreading his hands wide. "I''d been doing this for like a week when you saw me. It''s not like there''s a manual."


    "I know," said Ashleigh, punching Parker softly on the shoulder.


    "Which is what I want to fix," said Sarah. Alexa''s chair was still blue from when it had gotten set up, and it walked over to Sarah. She took the bag of marshmallows off and carefully lanced one on the pole she''d taken from Alexa. "Maybe just a phone tree will work. Like if we run into someone, figure out what color they are and get them in touch ASAP."


    "Maybe not just phones," said Alexa. She picked her chair up and carried it back to its place before sitting down again. "I mean, the rundown is good, but face-to-face is important. I mean, Ash, if Parker had told you, would that have changed much? Or would it have been better to meet with Sam or Sarah right away?"


    "I''m... not sure," said Ashleigh. He sat for a minute. "If Parker told me everything, it might have helped some. It''s not like it''s super complicated. But it''s not just knowing. This is, well, scary isn''t the right word, but scary. I''m not sure if I would have gone through with anything before seeing it in action. But getting told would have been a lot better than nothing. At least I wouldn''t have been quite so embarrassed seeing everything Samantha was doing."


    "The word is emasculated," said Samantha, earning her an airborne marshmallow from Alexa.


    "Be nice," said Parker and Jacob together.


    "She''s not wrong," said Ashleigh with a tight-lipped smile. "I could have done more if I''d wanted to. But I didn''t want to, and maybe learning a different way would have helped."


    "And let''s not forget any little Reds out there," said Beckham. "Taylor and I have been lucky. There was that one little fire in the backyard, but it wouldn''t have been hard to do a ton more damage than we did."


    "Whats with the ''We''", said Taylor. "You''re the one who set that bush on fire."


    "It could have been you," said Beckham, looking away from his sister.


    "But it wasn''t," said Taylor. "But you do have a point, even if you comb your hair to hide it. I think Reds definitely need a face-to-face, to cut down on property damage and all."


    "We certainly don''t want any exploding hospital rooms," said Alexa.


    "Ok," said Finn. "If I''m hearing things, we need to make sure phone numbers are shared and arrange for people to meet a mentor of their color as soon as possible. That''s going to mean we need to make sure we prioritize this - be available to drop things for a bit to reach out. We also need to put together important information that everyone should hear, probably organized by color too.


    "Agreed?" he asked, sitting back into his camp chair.


    "Agreed," said Sarah. "And actually, I think I have an idea. I''m really not happy just waiting to trip over more magic folk, we really need to do something more active. But we don''t want to go public either. But there''s a way we can do both."

 Chapter 68

    "Go on," said Beckham as he made a sort of rolling motion with one hand. "Don''t leave us all hanging."


    "I don''t have to fill all of something up. It can be tricky, but look," said Sarah. She took off her leather coat, and pulled all of the light out of it, leaving it just a dead black piece of leather. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated and channeled a trickle of blue light into her finger. She then traced it along the back of the jacket, dribbling out light as she went.


    Sarah had gotten the idea from both Alexa and Finn. Alexa could change how her light affected her by moving it around her body and focusing the green magic in different places or organs. For the most part, it seemed pretty automatic. If Alexa wanted to jump high, the light gathered in her legs; if Alexa wanted to see farther than normal, the light gathered in her eyes. Finn, on the other hand, had to think about what he was doing and plan out his constructions. Apparently, he couldn''t just think ''fire'' and make fire. Instead, Finn shaped his light just so, making complicated patterns with his red light to do anything other than an undirected blast of energy.


    Sarah was doing a bit of both. There was something instinctual about how she placed her blue magic into lines, and even though she was consciously guiding her finger, locking it into place instead of letting it flow out like water didn''t require much more than her own desire. Of course, she wasn''t looking to make the leather do anything different, she was just making a pattern recognizable to anyone who saw it.


    After a minute of tracing, she fought to hold back a yawn and decided it was good enough. Sarah held up the coat so everyone could see. A brilliant blue smiley face grinned from the dark leather, shining in the dark night. "It''s not fast, but I''m pretty sure it''ll last a decent amount of time. Depends on what I use to write on, I guess."


    "Can I see that?" said Samantha.


    Sarah tossed the jacket to her and then pulled her chair closer to the fire. It was still early September, but the night air was chilly. The others sat, watching Ashleigh and Samantha poke at the jacket. Ashleigh took a trickle and started to write, but his finger ran out almost immediately and he only managed to draw an elongated dot on the leather.


    "It''s easier to be smooth if you''ve already gathered power," said Samantha. She gestured at her belt, and drew a trickle of magic from the horn panels into her finger, writing her name on the black leather. "When you pull from the air, it stutters. You have to concentrate on pulling smoothly, but even then it isn''t steady. Makes the little stuff a lot harder."


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "I know, I know. I''ve got to get something," said Ashleigh.


    "Or make it," said Sarah.


    "I''ll find something," he said, shaking his head.


    "Puka shells?" asked Jacob with a smile in his voice.


    "Something. It''s first on my list," said Ashleigh.


    "Anyway," said Sarah, yawning again. "I can put up signs like this in places. I''ll try and find places where lots of people pass, and then I''ll find whatever will hold the magic the best. It won''t be hard."


    "I think it''ll be harder than you think," said Jacob. "If nothing else, you''ve got to travel around some. Plus it means that it''s all up to the blues. Not much for the rest of us to do."


    "Sure there is," said Alexa. She covered up a yawn of her own. "We''ve got to figure out exactly what to tell new magical types, keep track of where signs go up, and keep track of who all is around. When someone calls in, we''ve got to figure out who''ll be closest, and who''s available. Share what we can if no one can visit."


    "And we''ll need to keep doing these get-togethers," said Finn. "Keep everyone on the same page. That''s going to be important too. Especially if we get bigger, we might end up needing to ask for donations so we can rent a hotel or something instead of camping, if we get enough people needing to show up."


    "I''ll make signs if I don''t have to talk on the phone or plan parties," said Ashleigh with a laugh. "I won''t even complain about it. That''s not nearly as much of a pain as keeping track of crap or getting people to show up to the woods at night."


    "It''s settled then," said Finn. "Blues will make signs, and we''ll try and spread them around. It''ll be easy enough getting stuff up here and at school. But we''ll need to keep track if anyone goes on a trip. It''s entirely possible that we''ve already found everyone at the university already..."


    "Maybe. There''s what, twenty thousand undergrads this fall? That''s a lot of people I haven''t met yet, and odds are good I''ve only walked past a fraction. Besides, we''ve really only done the summer semester," said Jacob. "But yeah, if the blues are doing that, then maybe we should assign jobs for the greens and reds too."


    "Regardless, I can put something up there, just as soon as we have a phone number or something to direct people," said Sarah. "But right now, I''m tired, so I''m going to go crawl into my bag to sleep. Figure out what we want to say, and try and keep it short and simple."


    And with that said, Sarah ignored the conversation as people started to argue about what exactly should go on the signs. She was happy to just crawl into the tent and slither into her sleeping bag. She filled her wool bag up with blue light - hopefully, it would be smart enough to slowly open and close in the middle of the night to keep her warm without letting her overheat. But that thought had barely crossed her mind as she relaxed and fell asleep to the sounds of the voices by the fire.

 Chapter 69: Illumination

    Sarah was sick. She wasn''t actually sick, and she hadn''t had to stick her fingers down her throat or fake a cough or even talk about cramps.


    No, she''d just called in and excused herself from school anyway. Technically, her mom or someone was supposed to call in, but the ladies in the office never checked. They didn''t even ask what she was sick with, they just took her name and marked her down as excused. It was easier now that she drove herself to school. For that matter, it was easier now that she didn''t wish she was sick every day.


    And it was a lovely fall day. Too lovely to spend at school, really. The morning was crisp and cool, and even though the sunny day promised to warm up a bit, it wasn''t going to get too hot to enjoy comfortable clothes. She was driving west, so the rising sun was at her back, dappling through the pine trees as the road curved through the mountains. Sarah smiled as she sipped her thermos of green tea.


    And even though school was important, some things were more important. At least in principle. Deciding what was best on any given day was sometimes a challenge, but Sarah thought she was up to it. She didn''t think magic was something to build a career around, so Sarah figured she should still plan on college. It would probably be useful for a lot of different jobs, so she was still on the lookout for something relatively hands-on that looked interesting long term. But she hadn''t found anything yet, so she couldn''t just drop out. But a day off now and then was fine.


    Especially on a day like this.


    Sarah let the radio scan through the available stations, looking for something she liked. It didn''t take Sarah too long to find a Rihanna song to blast as she drove down the highway. She didn''t know it well enough to sing along, but she could tap on the steering wheel and bob her head in time to the beat.


    Maybe she''d grab takeout and picnic for lunch. There were a few beautiful parks along the river. She hadn''t just sat and read a book for pleasure in months. Finding a spot under a tree sounded wonderful. She might even take a nap. Of course, she might not be able to. She was going to call Alexa as soon as she got to the university campus. She''d probably call Jill too. They were probably in class themselves, but it didn''t feel right to swing by and not let them know.


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    Maybe they''d want to picnic with her, which would be equally lovely to a quiet day of solitude. Apparently, fall classes weren''t as intense as summer classes, but they both had taken a pretty heavy schedule. Either way, Sarah was going to enjoy a day of relative freedom.


    The visitor''s lot was full, but that wasn''t a problem. Sarah drove around a bit, but rather than risk a spot on campus that required a pass she found street parking a few blocks away. She stretched a bit as she got out. She pulled her black jacket out of the back seat and took a sip of green tea as the jacket zipped up against the last of the morning chill.


    There was a soft breeze that kept blowing her hair forward into her face, so she fished out an elastic from a deep pocket to pull her hair back. She walked along the wide sidewalks into the campus, following a path under wide shade trees. A few of them were already starting to turn yellow. In a few weeks they''d be brilliant, especially if they could avoid a hard frost for a bit longer.


    She slowed her walk, letting people pass her as they hurried to and from various buildings. The students on campus all made it look like the crack of dawn, never mind that the sun had risen over three hours ago. Sarah smiled at all the people wearing sweats, at their glazed looks or their unkempt bedhead. Some people were coming out of classroom halls, and if anything they looked more sleepy than those who had just stumbled from their dorms. Maybe she''d wait until later to call Alexa or Jill.


    Sarah knew right where she was going. A big ''L'' shaped building sat in the center of campus, and pretty much every student enrolled at the university either went in or walked past it on a regular basis. Each entrance had a few big wooden benches lining the pathway outside. Sarah sat down on one, tucking a leg underneath herself so she could face sideways.


    She smiled to herself again, reaching out a finger like she was tracing the grain of the wood planks. Pure blue light was streaming from the bracelet on her wrist to her finger and then settling into the wood, invisible to all the people passing by. Sarah was chewing on her tongue, concentrating to keep her lettering even and clean. She''d practiced at home, making sure she could write neatly. It had taken real effort to keep her handwriting from looking like an ugly scrawl, but now it was coming all too easily.


    She had a slip of paper in her pocket with a phone number and email address written on it, along with the message that everyone had decided would be best. Other than the number and address, she''d decided to ignore most of it. She knew what she wanted to write.


    "You''re not crazy..."

 Sarah will return! And other announcements

    Wow, everyone. This feels insane, I''ve actually written a novel. A whole fricken plot with a conclusion and everything. And more importantly, people have read it, and people have liked it. Which means I''ve only got one important thing to say: I''m not done.


    I''ll say it again.


    I''m not done.


    Sarah will return in Agitation in Red, the exciting sequel to Animation in Blue. Ultimately, I''ve got a trilogy planned, with the concluding book being titled Some-word-that-starts-with-A-that-I-haven''t-decided-on in Green.


    What does this mean to you? Well, a few things. First off, I''m going to take a pseudo-hiatus for two weeks. I need the time to build my backlog back up and to work out a few outlining wrinkles for the next book. While Sarah''s story is taking a break, I''ve got a few chapters I''m planning on publishing here - an epilogue to Animation. The next few chapters will help expand the world and the cast, but will not be in Sarah''s POV. For these epilogue chapters, I''m planning on publishing on Monday and Thursday.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Second, I¡¯ve finally gotten a patreon (link below)(Im also putting together something for Ream too, but it''s not up yet). Right now, it''s a little bit sparse, but it should fill up as I get farther ahead. I''ve got three tiers - the lowest tier is the no-reward-can-I-please-have-coffee tier. The second tier will get everything I''ve written as it''s written (at the moment, that''s basically just the epilogue chapters). Expect lower-than-normal proofreading, and I may of course make major last-minute changes, but that tier will have any written advance chapters. The third tier for folk who feel generous will get both the advance chapters and some interludes written that I don''t plan on ever publishing here on Royal Road. Right now there are only two real entries in that highest tier, but I''ll be writing more as we go. I''ll try and keep you all updated about how much content is in it as I go, but honestly I''m going to try hard to not be too insistent about it. Frankly, my Patreon is as much about getting some feedback for my advance chapters to help motivate myself to stay ahead as it is about earning any money writing.


    Finally, I want to say again how glad I am for everyone who''s followed me through this. Parts of this story have been percolating for over twenty years, and getting it down has been a wonderful experience.


    Thank you,


    I love you all,


    ~Genuine55


    p.s. It occurs to me that a lot of my underused tags will quickly become relevant. At the risk of spoilers, things like anti-hero, tragedy, and various content warnings are about to become important. There''s going to be a genre shift, so consider this a trigger warning. I''m honestly kinda worried about losing people, but if I do this at all the way its supposed to, I''d expect a few people to drop out. But maybe it''ll attract people too, once we drift from a laser focus on relationships.

 Epilogue I: Study in Green

    Nicholas sat down, pulling a clunky laptop out of his bag. Instead of individual desks, this room was made of long narrow tables bolted to floor in shallow arcs around the chalkboards up front.


    "Good morning," he said, smiling at the people to either side of him. Julie sat on his left - she was really into old movies and had broken up with her boyfriend right at the beginning of the semester. Ben sat at his right - Ben had snobbish tastes, but he¡¯d actually read and thought about most of the dense classics he talked about.


    Nicholas didn''t see a need to talk to either of them directly. Julie had her own laptop out already, and Ben was reading through his notes from last week.


    People complained about these advanced English classes, but Nicholas loved them. He knew he was lucky to have managed to get through his first few years of college. High school hadn''t been a problem, most teachers were happy enough to give good grades to people who just showed up and turned in anything. And even the hardest classes didn''t really require a lot of learning inside the class itself. But in college, some of the big classes were tortuous to Nicholas. Sure, some people would be paying attention, but there were always distractions.


    He''d sit by someone obsessed over a long-distance girlfriend, or a girl crying over their cheating boyfriend, and then he''d end up talking them through their anxieties and worries instead of paying attention. Or maybe someone would have a party planned that night, and Nicholas would get excited for that, and forget to study or prepare in the fun of a big bash.


    But ENG 3870 wasn''t like that. Every single person came in focused. Sure, sometimes personal issues would crop up, but even when someone had personal problems they still made a real effort to pay attention, participate, and work through the questions posed by the professor. It was great, finding people motivated to excel. His other advanced courses were mostly the same too. Nicholas had even managed to get himself out of academic probation, even if he wasn''t likely to make any Deans'' lists.


    The hour went by fast. He took notes, made sure he had written down the full name of the book he needed to get from the library for homework, and then he packed up quickly. No one stuck around to chat after class, and Nicholas found himself feeling an intense need to get out of the classroom fast. With a nod and smile to the professor, he joined the little crowd and moved into the wide hallway.


    It was warm outside. Sunny and bright, unseasonably warm for an October afternoon, the white mist that filled the campus didn¡¯t cool things off at all. Not that it ever did. He paused by the door, turning to the sun. Nicholas closed his eyes and basked for a minute, feeling the warmth on his skin. He glanced down and saw a girl stretched out on the grass with a book, and Nicholas realized how good of an idea that seemed. He didn''t bother her, she clearly was just looking for some time on her own, but he found a spot and laid down as well. The sun really did feel nice, especially with the cool grass underneath him. He spent most of the afternoon there, napping and enjoying the sun.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Too soon, the sun started to fall and the evening felt chill. Nicholas sat up, opening his eyes to look around. The grassy spot was mostly clear now, the girl had left a few minutes earlier, and the only people he could see were a couple of students walking and flirting idly along a path as they walked through glowing fog.


    I could go home, thought Nicholas to himself. But Jim will be there, and I''m not sure I''m in the mood to listen to him tonight.


    Jim worked most nights, but tonight he was off, and he usually just wanted to talk and gripe about his classes and bosses. Nicholas felt for the guy, Jim had pulled a short straw with some of his professors, but that sort of negativity wore a guy down. Nicholas was feeling nice and relaxed, and he rolled his shoulders under his backpack, enjoying how loose everything felt after his nap. Jim was all right, but he knew his relaxation would vanish the moment he entered his front door


    Not much to do tonight. That big paper is already done, and no tests until next week, thought Nicholas. I can afford a night off.


    During the day, the student union building was a fairly unpleasant place. It would be full of people arguing with admin over parking passes, broken computers, and other trivial frustrations; at night the atmosphere was more laid back, sometimes even wild. All the admin offices closed at five, but there were always things going on. The Memorial Hall had a little auditorium that regularly played old movies, a big arcade, and a few food places that stayed open late. Usually, there was music, live or otherwise. Sometimes it would even have good music, and crowds of people dancing along.


    It sounded like that was the case tonight. There was a crowd outside, and a few people were up on a makeshift stage with instruments. It wasn''t very raucous, to Nicholas¡¯s ear it sounded like they they were playing through various folk songs, but the audience was singing along with the choruses, and the vibe was infectious. Nicholas joined the crowd, finding a place to sit in the cement where he could let the music wash past him. He even sang along, even if no one would ever complement his voice.


    But as he listened he noticed something strange. His eyes had almost skimmed over it at first, thinking it was just some laser effect, but it remained motionless through the performance, and there wasn''t any equipment on stage to make light effects. There was a wooden bench outside the entrance with a few people sitting on it. It had grabbed his notice as someone stood up, revealing the bare wood.


    But now the bench shone with bright blue writing. Nicholas got up to go look closer. He''d originally thought that something was casting a bright laser light against the bench, aimed and focused just so as part of some artsy school thing. But nothing was shining on it. And the message seemed kinda inane for an art project. Nicholas waved his hands around it to make sure, but other than a bit of shadow cast by the big floodlights around the Student Union building, nothing happened. The blue letters shone regardless. And they weren''t on the wood either, somehow they were inside. But he could still see them just fine.


    Nicholas had gotten used to seeing through the white mist, that was perfectly normal, just a quirk of his eyes. This was the same, but different. This time he wasn''t seeing through a fog in the air, he was seeing through solid wood. Not much wood, the blue light lay immediately below the surface, but still. Nicholas just stared, the words written there had struck him dumb.


    <blockquote>


    You''re not crazy, and the fog is real. Call us, or write us, and we can help.


    </blockquote>


    A phone number followed, along with an email address made up entirely of numbers.

 Epilogue II: Study in Red

    "Richard! Put that away, you should be seeing this," said his mom, Lisa, in a sharp voice from the front seat.


    Richard glanced up and looked out his window, but all he saw were yet more trees. They were maybe bigger than usual, but still just trees. He shifted around in his seat, lifting up his knees to rest propped up on the driver''s seat in front of him.


    "Put the game down. You can have it again when we leave the park," said his dad. It wasn''t a big deal, his concentration was broken and he didn''t feel like going back to the anti-grav race now. He''d finished all the maps he had loaded anyway, and now that he''d moved around some he didn''t feel like grinding for better scores. Maybe tonight he could download some new courses if he could get online at the hotel.


    Richard slid his device into a pocket of his backpack, then he fidgeted with the strap of his backpack, getting it to lay just so, and then twisting and winding it into little patterns and shapes.


    "Richard, look at these trees!" His mother pointed out the window with enthusiasm.


    Richard glanced up briefly, his eyes skimming the trees before returning to his bag. "Yeah, they''re big."


    His father, Mark, shot Lisa an understanding smile, then adjusted the mirror to look at Mark. "You know, these trees are some of the oldest and tallest living things on Earth."


    Richard glanced outside again. "I think you said that last night."


    "Yep," Mark continued, ignoring Richard''s sarcasm. "Some of them have been around for over a thousand years, way before our time."


    Richard''s fingers tapped impatiently on his thigh. "I know, Dad."


    Lisa leaned forward in her seat, her voice gentle. "And they''ve seen so much history, Rich. Imagine all the changes they''ve witnessed, the stories they could tell."


    Richard''s eyes darted between his parents, letting himself get distracted. "Stories?"


    Mark nodded. "Absolutely. They''ve been through storms, fires, and the passage of time. They''ve stood strong through it all."


    Richard''s gaze shifted to the trees lining the road. He paused, almost as if he were really looking at them for the first time. "I guess that''s kinda cool."


    A hint of wonder crossed Richard''s face, and his fingers still tapping a rhythm on his knee. "I guess I never really thought about trees that way."


    Lisa''s voice softened. "It''s easy to overlook things when we''re busy, but sometimes taking a moment to appreciate nature''s wonders can be really rewarding."


    Even though he rolled his eyes at that, Richard kept watching the passing trees. The sunlight played across his face, casting fleeting shadows that seemed to mirror the thoughts swirling in his mind. He hardly noticed how thick the glowing mist was. He saw it everywhere, and he was already used to how much brighter it was out here close to the ocean. Back home in Wyoming, you could almost forget it existed, sometimes.


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    "You know, Richard," his dad said, "this forest reminds me of all sorts of stories. When I was a kid reading about Robin Hood, I imagined a forest a lot like this. Huge trees like pillars, open spaces underneath. I can''t help but think of all the adventures that live in places like this."


    Richard''s brow furrowed in thought, as he sat up to look out the window better. He didn''t even notice his hair brushing the roof of the car. "That was in England. I don''t think the Indians had the same sorts of adventures."


    His dad shook his head, and he adjusted his mirror to see the road again. "Native Americans, Richard. And why not? People are people, and they tell all sorts of stories. Maybe we can find a book when we get to the gift shop."


    Richard''s fingers resumed their tapping, this time more in tune with the rhythm of the tires as they bumped along the road. "Sounds good."


    "And you know," his mom said. She''d gotten a little booklet ahead of this trip, and she was reading out of it now. "These trees are not just individuals ¨C they''re part of a community. Their roots interconnect underground, and they support each other."


    Richard''s eyebrows lifted, intrigued. "They help each other?"


    "Exactly," She said. "When one tree is in trouble, the others send nutrients through the root system to help it out. It''s like they''re looking out for each other."


    Richard''s tapping fingers slowed again, his attention now fully engaged in the conversation. "That''s... actually kinda amazing."


    Lisa''s smile was warm. "Nature has a way of showing us how interconnected everything is, how we''re all part of something much bigger."


    As the car wound its way further into the forest, Richard''s perspective shifted. The trees he had initially dismissed as "just trees" began to transform into something more. They were no longer just a backdrop but a living, breathing entity, full of stories and secrets.


    The car reached a turnoff, and following a sign directing them deeper into the park Richard''s dad kept driving through the winding roads. The views were spectacular, with tall rocky mountains and deep canyons stretching into view at every turn, even if they didn''t quite catch Richard''s interest the way the giant redwoods did. Looking at the top of them, he could see the way the mist lifted up with the trees, and in his imagination, he could see it pouring out each branch and needle as the tree lifted the glowing fog into the air.


    "Here we go!" announced Mark. "This is why we didn''t get a van or SUV."


    The car took a little turn and they were confronted with a truly massive trunk falling across the road. It lay there like a castle wall. Richard could see where the roots flared into the air, while the rest of the log stretched off out of sight in the underbrush. Someone had cut a wide hole through the log, maybe fifteen feet tall. As worried as his dad had been about a big car, there was plenty of room for them to drive beneath it. Richard''s mind went blank as they passed through, not because of the deep shadows or the sheer mass of the old log.


    No, inside the log, written where he could see the words plainly, was writing made of luminescent blue. It almost looked like a neon sign set inside the wood somehow. His dad was driving slowly, but the writing was behind them before Richard could comprehend what he''d just read.


    "Did you see that!" he exclaimed.


    "See what?" his mom said.


    "The writing, on the tree!" he said. "The lights!"


    His mom frowned and turned back to look at him, but Richard was too busy looking behind them to notice. "I didn''t see anything, you mean the shadows?"


    "No, can we go through again?" asked Richard.


    Mark and Lisa glanced at each other, then his dad shrugged and they pulled to the side. They took a little loop around the log meant for bigger trucks and went to the tunnel again.


    There, in big letters as clear as anything, Richard read "You''re not crazy. The lights are real, and we can help."


    He missed the phone number, but just seeing the blue letters set in the tunnel had set Richard''s mind aflame.

 Epilogue III: Study in Blue

    Daniel walked down the street, his head down and not really paying attention to the people around him. He was wearing big headphones that covered his ears, and it had a heavy wire that he tucked into his jacket. They weren''t actually plugged into anything, but they took the city''s edge off. He''d used ear protection before, like what people use in gun clubs, but the headphones got him a lot less attention.


    Not looking around wasn''t really a problem either. No one else was looking around. So long as Daniel stayed on the right side of the sidewalk, it was pretty simple to just move with the flow. Even in the spring or summer when the crowds really swelled he could just trudge along and not bother with anything.


    And this was the best time of year. The first snow had dumped its dirty slush on everything a couple of days ago, and even though the streets were dry again, and everyone who could stayed inside. And the people who did come out moved fast. Daniel clenched his jaw for a moment as a subway train rattled away underneath the street where he was walking. That noise never went away.


    Winter was also pleasant because even when the sun came out, it was thin and watery, and by the time it filtered down through the tall buildings Daniel could almost pretend it wasn''t a problem. Even the terrible fog was less of an issue in the cold. Daniel liked to think there was less of it, but he didn''t really have a way to measure anything. Whatever the reason, it never felt like it was piercing his eyes the way it did in the summer.


    Daniel crossed the street, he was only a couple of blocks away from work now. He paused though, looking ahead, and stopped at the corner. It took a minute to wait for the light, but he crossed again, continuing his way on the opposite side of the street. He clenched his fists, some guy in a Santa suit was clanging a cheap brass bell. Each little peal made his fingers twitch, even with the headphones Daniel had to force himself to cross by the guy across the road.


    Some days, Daniel wished he''d been able to get a driver''s license. Not that he needed to drive here, but maybe living in a suburb somewhere would have been better. Quieter at least. But thanks to the seizures he''d had as a teen, he had a medical hold that kept him from driving. Never mind that the medication worked well enough that he''d been fine for the last fifteen years.


    But there''d probably be problems no matter where he lived. He wasn''t sure if the fog was really better in the winter, but he knew for sure the fog was worse outside the city. Visiting his parents felt like torture, even if Long Island was quieter. Here, he could almost ignore the cars passing by. Out there each car felt like it was driving through his skull from one eardrum to the other.


    No, he was just grumpy that he had to come to work a bit early today. Some new exhibits were going up, and the curator was holding a meeting to talk about how to take care of them. And that was fine, Mr. Afolabi was pretty straightforward. It wasn''t hard to remember what got dusted, what cleaners were ok where, and so forth, but reminders were a good thing. Especially if something new was coming in. Daniel was pretty happy with his job and really didn''t want to have to hunt for something else that fit so well. He especially didn''t want to be known as the guy who''d scrubbed out the wrong bucket.


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    Usually, he went to work late enough in the evening that the streets were relatively clear, but today he was moving through rush hour crowds. All the bankers and financial types and other assorted people in suits were on their daily migrations from their tall over-lit offices to their dank under-lit bars and clubs. It was impossible to walk without brushing shoulders and hearing inane chatter on phones.


    Finally, he was able to reach the little shelter outside the museum. Daniel paused for a moment, taking a few deep breaths to center himself. He didn''t want to look all irritated and discombobulated when he walked inside. The cold air was nice, it seemed to draw the tension out of him before it could collect as sweat, and the sear of icy air in his lungs cut ahead of most other sensations going on. A person would be forgiven for not noticing a museum here. Other than a lack of windows, it looked like most of the other office and apartment buildings throughout Manhattan. And even that could be forgiven, plenty of buildings had windows disguised to look like sheer walls.


    He took one more deep breath and then Daniel checked that his badge was visible on the outside of his jacket, and finally, he ducked into the museum. He nodded at security and made his way through one of the more popular galleries. The little locker room where he kept his gear was just through it. He mostly didn''t even look at the artwork on the walls anymore. Just like out on the streets, he kept his eyes down, focused more on his footsteps than his surroundings. Nonetheless, something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. This was a permanent exhibit, and nothing ever got changed in here. Some change made him stop and look around.


    There, right there. On one of the most important paintings the museum held, someone had defaced the art. The cozy church and its swirling stars and night sky had been painted on, with bright, luminescent paint. How had they ever done that? The painting wasn''t exactly dull, but the graffiti shone like someone had painted with LEDs. It made the colors underneath look muddy and faded. And somehow the vandals had done it without even being noticed. Daniel glanced around, he saw a couple stop to look at the painting. They were clearly on their way toward the front doors and had stopped to admire the painting. The woman gushed about how much she loved this painting, and how she used to have a print in her dorm room, but neither of them mentioned the vandalism.


    Daniel shook his head and looked closer. In bright pure blue colors, someone had scrawled on the masterpiece. Words Daniel could read easily.


    <blockquote>


    You''re not crazy, and the fog is real. Call us, or write us, and we can help.


    </blockquote>


    There was a number and email address written there too, but Daniel hardly noticed. The blue light called to him, and he felt something growing in the depths of his mind. He glanced at his watch, he was still early. Even the words barely seemed worth his attention. No, he knew the blue light.


    Daniel started walking again, passing through the museum without really seeing anything. In a moment he found his favorite piece, one of the only things he ever really looked at. The brass statue didn''t hold a tarnish or patina and it gleamed like gold. It wasn''t terribly large, but it had always drawn Daniel. It stood as still as any sculpture, but looking at it made Daniel feel like dancing. The way it twisted and flowed made it look like the Italian sculptor had captured some spirit mid-flight. Daniel looked without really seeing the sculpture, just feeling the pressure build, and build. Finally, he couldn''t stop himself and he stretched his arms out. The fog in the room shifted, blue light flowing and gathering around his hands.


    It hadn''t been his imagination. It was real, the blue light was real.


    And, with just a bit more reach, so was the sculpture.

 Author Announcement

    Ok, so I feel really bad I''ve left everyone hanging. It started out innocently, but as it dragged I felt worse which made it harder to come back which made me feel worse which made it harder to come back. Classic ugly vicious cycle.


    But y''all deserve some explanation.


    Last fall I had a number of things happen simultaneously. Job responsibilities spiked, family health stuff drew a lot of attention, and my laptop broke. The laptop was the easiest to deal with, but it was kinda a last straw and it broke my daily writing habit. That''s all bad news. The good(ish)(for me) news is that I haven''t walked all the way away.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    I''m working on major rewrites to book 1, there''s a few things that need real attention even if I''m happy with the bones of the story. Pun intended. I''m also starting to shop the story to agents, even though having published here may impact that I haven''t gotten the entirely negative responses I''d expected. As an aside, some of the rewrites have already invalidated a lot of what I''ve written for book 2, which is OK because I wasn''t totally happy with it so far anyway.


    So the long and short of things is that I''m removing the book 2 chapters and I''ll also be marking the story complete.


    So, again, thank you everyone for following and reading my little story. You''ve all been a major help to me in this story, and I''m very happy that you''ve all come along with me on this ride.