Edie

At dinner, the topic of the craft fair came up again, when Corrie, Dawn, and Roe told the rest of the group about how Roe’s vision had turned out to refer to it, and that something would explode in glitter at some point. “It’s too bad we didn’t know about this craft fair earlier,” Corrie said to Edie. “You could have sold some knitted stuff or something.”

Edie sat down in French class with a sigh. She was still thinking about those strawberries from yesterday. They’d just been so delicious—not to mention the fact that she and Leila had eventually resorted to feeding each other the strawberries with their mouths. Memories of Leila’s tongue were very distracting.

Thankfully, she managed to drag her mind back to the present when Zip sat down beside her. “How’s it going?” she asked, forcing herself to smile.

The rain was pouring down all around them, but the huge maple’s branches, though they were totally nude of leaves, seemed to protect them. Of course, Edie was pretty sure it wasn’t the branches that were offering the protection—it was Leila’s magic (though it had been Edie’s umbrella that sheltered them between Gilkey and this tree).

“So what’s the big surprise?” Edie said, leaning against the tree. Its bark was rough but still welcoming, and it seemed to invite her to rest.

Mardalan let out a wrenching shriek and whirled around, clutching at the back of her neck as she did. But the wire had already fallen, though Edie couldn’t see where it was. There seemed to be a mist in front of her eyes. She clutched at the ground, dragging breath into her lungs. Had Leila made her stop talking again? She was breathing, but it seemed difficult. Everything seemed difficult.

Leila squeezed Edith’s hand almost painfully hard as she whirled around to face her. “How do you know Mardalan?”

Edith shook her head, trying to clear it and figure out what the answer to Leila’s question was. “She was… in the woods? Oh! She kidnapped Annie. We went to rescue her.” She wanted to turn her face away, to ask Mardalan some questions, but her eyes seemed glued to Leila’s bright green ones. She hoped that looking into her eyes would at least convince Leila of her honesty. Why was she so upset about Edith and Mardalan having met?

“Nothing’s going on,” Genesis said quickly. “Why would you think something was?”

“You’re both acting really weird,” Edie said. “I don’t think you’re telling me the truth. When I saw you I thought we would all help the trees together, but now I remember Leila said that she needed me specifically. Right, Leila?” She turned to her girlfriend, frowning and uncomfortable. “You said I had special…”

They spent all day making bracelets and crafting. Edie had moved on from the bracelets, having made one for each of her wrists, and was demonstrating how to turn the heel on a knitted sock to Naomi when she realized what time it was. “I’d better go,” she said, quickly knitting up the last few stitches to finish the row. “I have to meet Leila.”

Corrie looked up at her quickly, frowning. “Are you sure you have to go?”

As it turned out, there were only four strip malls between them and their destination. They stopped at the fourth, since Corrie said it had been eight miles and maybe that was close, but there was no craft store to be found there—just a big box store, a lingerie store, a hardware store, and an electronics store. “I guess this way husbands and wives can pretend they’re going out together and just go to different stores when they get here,” Dawn joked.

Saturday, October 11

Edie felt oddly light and energetic as she woke up that morning. She normally didn’t wake up very quickly, but today she felt like it. She was just getting dressed when Corrie came back from her post-run shower.

“Hey,” said Corrie, flipping her head over to rub her hair through its towel. “You’re up early for a Saturday.”

Corrie, Edie, and Corrie’s father sat on the rock in the stream for a long time, talking about their lives. Actually, Corrie didn’t manage to get much information out of her father, but she did get his cell phone number and a promise never to sneak up on her on campus again. He didn’t get the full story on her college experience out of her, either, but he did manage to persuade her to talk about something she hadn’t planned on explaining. “He seemed sweet in high school,” she sighed. “And he is sweet, I guess.