The Tribe

by Jon Gerrard

  * * *

  Whenever Paige and her sister went to the Hill they got there through a hole in the fence at the end of Willow Street. Someone had cut through the chain link years ago. The hole was behind a fat pine tree at the end of the block. It was so well hidden that even the people who owned the property didn’t know it was there. For years nobody except some of the local kids knew about the hole. After that it was a quick walk through the woods to their private place. But Reed lived in a different part of town. From the time he was little he had been exploring the woods along the horse trails. He had discovered a number of ways to get to the town-owned property. Some of them were even wide enough to let a car through. That was the way he decided to bring them.

  Reed led Manny’s car down Eagle Avenue, the road that led to the park. Just before they got to the park entrance, he turned off the street onto a bridle path that paralleled the road before heading into the woods. It was too late in the evening for anyone to be horseback riding and he drove along the familiar path confidently. Once they were under the cover of the trees it suddenly got much darker. It was mid spring and the sun would not completely disappear for a while, but the dense tree cover blocked a lot of light. Reed was reluctant to announce their presence by turning on his headlights and instead he drove through the deepening dusk without them. After about a hundred yards he slowed and turned off the trail. Although there was no clearly defined path, Reed wove his way easily through the trees for a short distance before he came to a halt and shut off his engine. Manny pulled his car up beside him and stopped. It had been raining a lot over the past few days and Reed didn’t want the cars to bog down in the soft ground. By this time their eyes had adjusted to the low light and when they stepped out of the cars it didn’t seem quite so dark.

  “Your hill’s that way, isn’t it?” Reed said to Paige as he pointed off to their right.

  Paige looked around for a moment. She wasn’t used to going this way and in the dim light she wasn’t sure where she was. “I think so,” she said eventually. “If that fallen tree is the one I think it is the hill should be over there.” After looking around once more she started off slowly and the others followed. A minute later Paige began to recognize other landmarks and she increased her pace as her confidence grew. Soon, they were approaching the crest of a small rise. A thick stand of trees was clustered on the broad hilltop.

  “I don’t see anyone,” Reed said.

  At that moment they heard a car engine approaching. They looked around and saw a small SUV zigzagging quickly through the trees toward them. Moments later it skidded to a stop a few yards away. As soon as the engine shut off the doors opened. James popped out of the driver’s seat wearing a big grin as Tom, Dimitri, and Danny climbed out of the other doors.

  “We saw you pull off the road and we followed you,” James announced with pride as he tossed the keys to Tom. “How come you guys left your cars so far away?”

  “The ground is soft around here,” Reed said. “I didn’t want to risk getting stuck. I’m surprised you made it this far.”

  Tom looked at his cousin and punched him in the arm. “I told you we should have left the car back with theirs.”

  “Ow! Chill out, Tarzan. Your car has four-wheel drive. It got us in here. It’ll get us out.”

  Tom continued to glare at him. “Yeah, well—”

  In the stillness of the woods the teenagers heard a sudden rustling coming from the stand of trees at the top of the hill. They spun around as a group but couldn’t see what had caused the sound.

  “What’s that?” Amanda said as she pointed at a cluster of bushes.

  At first no one saw anything. Then two small, glowing objects appeared. In that instant they realized that what they were seeing was a pair of eyes staring at them, eyes that reflected the dim evening light.

  “There’s something in there!” Danny said, pointing at a dark shape huddled in the brush. Whatever it was, it was bigger than a dog. As they watched, the shape rose up from where it had been crouching, growing larger by the moment. It was much bigger than a dog.

  “You guys make a lot of noise,” a voice said. It was Paige’s sister.

  Shay stepped away from the bushes where they could see her clearly.

  “You scared the crap out of me!” James said.

  “Well, you scared my friends,” Shay said. “So we’re even.”

  “Yeah, we heard you were hanging out with some friends from school,” James said as he started looking around. “You girls can come out now. We don’t bite…much.”

  Shay looked confused. “I’m not with anyone from school.”

  “Paige said you were hanging out with your friends,” James said, sounding disappointed.

  “I am. But they’re not from school. They live around here.”

  “Hey, Shay,” Dimitri said as he stepped up to her. “How’d you do that thing with your eyes?” Like Shay, Dimitri was into animals. His family owned several cats and he had seen their eyes reflect light in the darkness the way hers had. “I never saw a person’s eyes shine like that before.”

  Shay hesitated, glancing around at the others. “Yeah, about that—”

  “Not to be rude or anything,” James said, “but I thought we were here to meet your friends. Don’t get me wrong. You have really pretty eyes and all, Shay, but,” he held up a bottle. “I brought a little something to help us get the evening going.”

  “Let me guess,” Danny said. “Fireball.”

  James’ entire experience with drinking consisted of the one time his older brother let him try some of his drink. It had been just last month at his brother’s college graduation party. Ever since then he had been telling his friends how amazing it had been. The concoction was something his brother had called a Dragon’s Kiss and was made with the cinnamon flavored whiskey. In fact, the bottle James had brought with him was his brother’s. He had borrowed it from his brother’s room when he heard that they might be meeting some college girls and wanted to make himself seem older. What he hadn’t told anyone was that the drink had made his sick as a dog and had spent most of the night throwing up.

  James grinned at her. “So where are these friends of yours anyway?”

  Shay ignored him and looked at the group for a moment. “Okay, I’ll introduce you, but you have to stand still.”

  “What are they, shy or something?” James said.

  “Just be quiet and don’t make any sudden movements,” Shay said.

  Shay looked into the trees to her right. “It’s okay, you can come out. They’re my friends… No. I promise they won’t.”

  A moment later they saw a shape step tentatively from behind the stand of trees. It was a doe. And staying cautiously at its mother’s side was a young fawn. The animals paused and stared at the group of teens that was gaping at them. The mother glanced at Shay.

  “I know,” Shay said. “They do make a lot of noise, don’t they? I heard them coming too… No, they’re not going to use the moving den anymore.” She looked down at the fawn who had started nuzzling her hand. “I don’t know. I’ll ask them.” Shay looked at the others. “Bright-eyes wants to know if any of you has some food.”

  The friends looked at each other.

  “Bright-eyes?” James said.

  “Bright-eyes is the baby,” Shay explained. “At least, that’s what I call her. And this is her mother, Swift.” Shay glanced down as the fawn nudged her hand again. “Yes, I did ask… Okay, okay. You’d think you hadn’t eaten all day. Here.” She took half an apple out of her pocket and held it while the fawn took bites out of it. The whole time the mother deer kept an eye on the group of strange teens. “Bright-eyes wants me to ask again if you brought any food.”

  “Sorry, we didn’t bring anything,” Paige answered for the group. Out of all of them, she was the least surprised by the turn of events.

  The fawn dropped its head and gave the distinct impression of being disappointed.

  “I’ve got t
his,” James said, holding out his bottle.

  The fawn’s ears pricked up. It stepped over to him and tentatively sniffed at the bottle. After a moment it snorted and shook its head vigorously. Shay laughed.

  “No, that’s not for you,” Shay said. “It’s human food.”

  The fawn snorted one last time then began moving among the rest of the teens. It went from person to person sniffing at them and poking its nose into their pockets while the mother kept an eye on them. As her baby moved from one person to the next, the mother stepped toward them.

  “Swift says she knows you, Reed,” Shay said. “She says she remembers you being with the long-tails. That’s what she calls horses.”

  “Are you actually, talking to that deer?” Dimitri gasped.

  The doe looked at him.

  “Well, yes,” Shay said. “It’s kind of hard to explain but I can hear what animals are thinking when I…” Shay paused and stared at the doe. After a moment she laughed. “Swift says she likes your hair-that-grows-where-your-nose-should-be. I think she means your beard.” Dimitri had recently cultivated a goatee that he was quite proud of.

  “What about my nose?” Dimitri said defensively.

  Shay looked at the doe for several moments, then laughed again. “Yes, she means your beard. Remember, their faces are different from ours. From the eyes down their face is all snout. Oh, and she says she didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

  “That’s okay. Um, tell her I said thanks.”

  The doe stepped up to him and began sniffing his leg.

  “She says you smell like the little-hunters,” Shay said. “That’s what she calls cats. There are a number of feral cats living in the woods around here. I told her you have several of them that live in your den with you.”

  “Can you talk to them, too? Or is it only deer?” Dimitri asked.

  “I can talk to any animal,” Shay said, “but cats are…well, independent is the best word I can think of. They pretty much do whatever they want to do. Actually, there’s a few of them not far from here but I don’t think they’ll come. They’re hunting field mice at the moment. But, how do you feel about squirrels?”

  Shay closed her eyes and tipped her head up slightly. At first nothing seemed to be happening. Then the group began to hear rustling in the trees overhead and through the leaves on the ground. Soon the small, furry animals began popping up all around them. In less than a minute there were dozens of them everywhere with more and more appearing every moment.

  “That’s amazing!” Magda said. A number of the squirrels were startled by the sound of her voice and began scurrying away.

  “It’s okay,” Shay said to the fleeing animals. “They won’t hurt you.”

  Her words seemed to reassure the squirrels. They turned back and started bounding toward the group of friends in waves. In moments the teens were surrounded by a sea of puffy-tailed rodents. As a group the squirrels sat up on their back legs and stared at them, their whiskers and tails twitching.

  “Um, is it just me,” Danny said, “or is this creeping out anybody else?”

  The fawn lowered its head and started sniffing at the squirrels, but its mother nudged it back.

  “Swift doesn’t especially like squirrels,” Shay said. “She says the little-climbers are always taking the best food and hiding it.”

  Unlike the others who were standing in a huddled group, Dimitri had squatted down and was cautiously reaching out to let the squirrels sniff his fingers.

  “How do you make them do that?” Dimitri asked, as one of them jumped into his palm and scampered up his arm to perch on his shoulder.

  “I can’t make them do anything,” Shay said. “I can talk to them and ask them to do stuff, but they decide if they want to listen to me or not. Squirrels are naturally curious so they didn’t take a lot of convincing. They usually keep their distance from people because they don’t trust us, but the ones around here know me. I just told them that you were my friends so they decided to come and check you all out. I’ll ask them to go away now.”

  Shay closed her eyes. The squirrels began to bound away and scamper up the trunks of the nearby trees. In a few moments they were all gone. Once the squirrels were gone the doe began nudging its baby away as well. Shay reached out and stroked its neck.

  “I understand. I’ll come back soon. I promise,” she said to the doe.

  The doe gave the teens one last glance then started off. The fawn followed. A moment later they began bounding away. Soon they had disappeared among the trees.

  “They’re going to look for something to eat,” Shay explained. “We’re not all that interesting since we don’t have any food.” When she looked back at her friends she saw them all staring at her. “What?”

  “What do you mean, ‘what’?” Danny said. “Shay, you can talk to animals! That’s…that’s…”

  “Amazing!” Magda exclaimed. “How long did you know you could do that?”

  “It started about the time I got to high school,” Shay said. “It took me a while to get the hang of it.”

  “I didn’t know there were any deer around here,” Dimitri said. He was staring off in the direction the deer had disappeared in.

  “Swift and Bright-eyes are some of the last ones,” Shay said with a touch of sadness. “They’ve learned to stay away from people so I’m not surprised you never saw any.”

  “But, Shay,” Amanda said, “you can talk to animals!”

  Shay looked around at the rest of the group and an odd expression crossed her face.

  “But I’m not the only one who can do things, am I?”

  The others shifted nervously and began glancing around at each other.

  “Animals are the only things whose thoughts I can hear,” Shay continued, “but I can also see this kind of aura that surrounds living things: animals, plants, even people. Most people have this kind of pale white glow around them. But you guys are different. Your auras have colors. That’s how I know you’re all different, too.”

  It was suddenly very quiet. The group of friends stood looking around at each other self consciously.

  “Really?” Shay said. “Nobody’s going to say anything?” Several of the others shifted nervously. Finally she turned to her sister. “Paige. Show them.”

  Magda looked at her friend. “You can talk to animals, too?”

  “No. Paige has a different, uh, talent,” Shay said. “Come on, Paige. Show them.”

  Paige took a few steps forward. “Okay, grab me.” At first no one moved. “Come on, somebody try to grab me.”

  James shrugged and reached for her. Just before his hand came down on her shoulder she twisted away, leapt backwards and did a handspring out of reach. “You’re a gymnast,” he said.

  Paige smiled. “Not exactly. Everybody, try and grab me. Twenty dollars says nobody can even touch me.”

  The friends exchanged looks and spread out to surround her. Once they were in position they lunged for her. Paige waited until they had almost reached her before she reacted. She became a blur in their midst, her movements almost too fast to follow with the naked eye. She twisted and dodged away from each of them, evading every attempt to grab her. At times she jumped and performed a complex maneuver in mid-air, always staying just out of their reach. In spite of their best efforts, none of them were able lay a finger on her. After nearly a minute of this she did a series of back handsprings and bounced high into the air. She grabbed a branch and swung herself up to it where she perched like a cat ready to pounce. The others stood staring up at her as Paige grinned down at them.

  “How did you do that?” Magda asked.

  “I’m not really sure,” Paige admitted. “When I concentrate I just kind of know where everything is around me and I can keep away from—”

  Without warning, Dimitri was suddenly right behind her. He hadn’t climbed the tree but had somehow just appeared there with her. Paige started as he tapped her on the shoulder and she lost her balance. Dimitri gasped as
she began to fall. He lunged for her but Paige pushed off the branch with her feet, launching herself into the air. She twisted around, did a back flip and landed in a ready crouch.

  “How did you do that?” Paige asked Dimitri.

  “You mean…”

  “…this?” Suddenly Dimitri was no longer on the branch. Following the sound of his voice they found that he had somehow appeared next to a tree several yards away. “Or…”

  “…maybe this?” He had disappeared and reappeared beside another tree a few yards on their other side. He grinned and disappeared again, reappearing beside a different tree a dozen yards in the opposite direction. He repeated the feat several more times before finally reappearing in their midst.

  “Now that’s cool!” Manny said.

  Dimitri smiled and bent over as he rested his hands on his thighs and took several deep breaths. “Kind of takes…a lot out of me,” he said between puffed breaths. After a moment he started to catch his breath and was able to straighten up. “I think you owe me twenty bucks,” he said, smiling at Paige.

  “So that’s what happened to you!” Reed said. He looked around at the others. “The other night we were in a scrap yard looking for a starter for my car when one of the workers came back. The guy must have forgotten something in the office because there’s never anybody there that late. Anyway, we were out in the open and had to get out of sight fast. I slid under this old clunker and had to crawl through a puddle of oily mud, but Dimitri just vanished. I couldn’t figure out where you got to so fast.”

  Dimitri smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I just kind of jumped away by reflex.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Reed said. “For that matter, why didn’t you take me with you? I ruined my clothes with all that oily crap I crawled through.”

  “I can’t take anybody else with me,” Dimitri said. “I can bring my clothes and maybe something small I’m carrying, but that’s about it. What about you,” he said to Reed. “Shay says each of us is special. What can you do?”

  “I’m good with machines,” Reed said.

  “We know that,” Paige said. “You’ve been taking things apart and rebuilding them since we were kids. But don’t you have something special you can do?”

  “Yeah, but it’s kind of hard to explain.” Reed looked around briefly until his eyes fell on the SUV parked nearby. “Okay, watch.” He stared at Tom’s car. A moment later the engine roared to life. Its motor revved a few times then it began driving toward them. Tom felt for the keys in his pocket, amazed as he watched his car continue to drive itself. After it had gone perhaps ten yards it stopped suddenly. They could hear the sound of one of its wheels spinning without traction.

  “Oops. Sorry,” Reed said. “I think I got you stuck. Let me try something.” He frowned in concentration and they heard something clink in the engine. The car resumed its forward motion for another few feet before it bogged down again. This time all four wheels spun uselessly.

  “I don’t think four wheel drive is going to be much help,” Reed said. “I think it’s really stuck.”

  Paige suddenly started laughing.

  Tom looked angry. “I don’t see what’s so funny. How am I going to get my car out of here?”

  Paige held up her hands. “I’m sorry. I’m not laughing about your car.” She looked at Reed. “It was you, wasn’t it? You made Jack’s car break down the other day at school.”

  A pinched smile gradually appeared on Reed’s features. “Maybe.”

  Magda started laughing then as she recalled Jack’s reaction that day. A moment later Amanda joined in. All of the friends had heard the story about how Jack’s precious car had broken down and soon they were all enjoying a good laugh, all except for Tom who was looking around at the others uncomfortably.

  When the laughing finally died away, Tom frowned at his car. “What am I going to do about my car? My parents are going to be really pissed if I have to get towed out of here.”

  “We could try moving it ourselves,” Reed said. He stared at Tom for several long seconds. “Then again maybe we don’t need to. I bet you could probably lift it out of there all by yourself.”

  Tom frowned at him. “Very funny. That car has to weigh a couple thousand pounds.”

  “Actually, your car is closer to three thousand pounds, but I still bet you could lift it,” Reed said.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Tom said.

  “I think you’re a lot stronger than you think you are,” Reed insisted.

  Tom looked at his car. “But that’s a car. No one can pick up a car.”

  “Dude,” Magda said, “you pulled the door completely off my car.”

  Tom took a hesitant step away from the others. “I thought you were hurt. That was just adrenalin. Besides, the door was already messed up from hitting that tree.”

  Reed shook his head. “Uh-uh. I looked at the door, remember? There was nothing wrong with those hinges before you pulled it off. The pins were sheared clean through. Normal people don’t do things like that.”

  Tom retreated another few steps. “Look, I’m not like the rest of you guys. I don’t have any weird powers.”

  “I think you do,” Shay said gently.

  Tom snapped his head in her direction and raised a hand defensively. “Look, I’m just good at sports. That’s all.”

  Shay extended an arm to keep the others back. She saw that he was beginning to pull away from them. “Tom, it’s us. You’ve known us for years. We’re your friends.”

  “Then how come none of you ever said anything about having special powers?” He demanded. He looked at Dimitri. “Especially you, Tree. We’ve been friends ever since I can remember. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Dimitri looked confused. “I wanted to, but I couldn’t figure out how to... I mean, I didn’t know what to say…”

  “Don’t you see?” Shay said. “Look at how you’re reacting. You’ve known us for years and that didn’t stop you from getting all weirded out. None of us ever told anyone before because we didn’t want people thinking we were freaks. I didn’t even know about the rest of you until today. I only recently started seeing the difference in people’s auras. You guys are the first people I’ve seen other than me and Paige who have colors to their auras. That’s how I know there’s something special about you too.”

  Shay watched as the fear and confusion began to fade from his eyes. After a while Tom looked down at his hands as he flexed and opened his fingers.

  “I don’t feel like there’s anything different about me.”

  Shay smiled as she watched him relax. “Well, take my word for it. You’re different. And I think Reed’s right. I think it has something to do with you physically, like Paige. Your colors are similar.”

  Tom looked at the car again.

  “Give it a try,” Reed said.

  Tom looked around at the group then walked over to the car. When he reached the car his feet began to sink in the mud that had trapped it. Stepping up to the front of the car he squatted and gripped the bumper with both hands. He took a deep breath and heaved upward. He strained against the weight for a few seconds then gave up when it failed to budge.

  “I told you,” Tom said as he straightened up and turned around. “Nobody can pick up a car.”

  “I still think Reed’s right,” Shay said as she walked down the hill toward him. “I was watching you just now and your aura didn’t change. Whenever one of the others used their ability their auras got brighter. But yours didn’t. You were just using your muscles. Try using your other strength.”

  “But I don’t have any special powers,” Tom insisted. “I’m just a good athlete.”

  Shay studied him again. “Well, there’s something different about you,” she said as she stepped over to him. “I can see it. Try picking up the car again, but this time try thinking about what it felt like when you pulled the door off Magda’s car.”

  Tom let out a long breath then turned back to the car. He squatted down like be
fore and gripped the bumper again.

  “Relax,” Shay said, resting a hand gently on his shoulder. “Picture yourself lifting the car in your mind.”

  Tom closed his eyes, tried to form the mental image Shay suggested, and lifted. After a moment the front wheels pulled free of the mud with a great sucking sound. Tom opened his eyes and looked down. “Holy crap!” he said.

  He started backing up, pulling the car with him until he was clear of the mud and could set it down on solid ground. “Holy crap!” he said again.

  “See,” Reed said.

  Tom hurried around to the back of the car and grabbed the rear bumper. This time he lifted it on his first try. Another series of shuffling steps to the side swung the rear wheels out of the mud and he set the back end of the car down. He wandered back over to the group as he stared down at his hands in disbelief.

  “Okay, who’s next?” Shay said.

  Everyone looked around expectantly. Then, suddenly, all of their cell phones began ringing at once. As they each took out their phones they saw that the caller ID was for Danny. They looked over at Danny who smiled and waved at them. His own cell phone was nowhere in sight.

  “I can do stuff with electronics,” he said. “Actually, I’m best with computers. Since phones these days are mostly little computers…”

  James swiped the face of his phone and brought it to his ear. “Hello?”

  “There’s nobody there,” Danny said. “I didn’t actually make a call. But I can do other things. Like I could get into the school computer and give you straight A’s on your report card.”

  “You’re on!” James said as he put his phone away.

  “Hey! That’s not right,” Manny said. “Some of us work really hard to keep our grades up.”

  “Oh, relax, princess,” James said. “I’m just kidding.” Then he turned to Danny and added in a stage whisper, “We’ll talk later.”

  But Danny wasn’t looking at him. He was staring wide-eyed at something past James’ shoulder. James turned and looked behind him. He nearly jumped out of his sneakers as he found himself confronted by a floating rock the size of his fist. The rock was hovering inches from his nose, supported by some invisible force. Then the rock made a sudden feint at his head and James ducked and scrambled away. Behind him he heard Amanda laugh.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t resist.”

  James recovered his composure and reached for the rock. When he closed his fingers around it and tried to bring it in close he found himself in a tug of war with an unseen opponent. He grabbed it with both hands and yanked as hard as he could. The force that had held the rock suspended in the air suddenly released it and James stumbled back a step. He turned the rock over in his hand briefly as he examined it, then looked at Amanda. She shrugged and hid a smile behind her hand.

  “I think I’m the one who put that dog up in the tree,” Amanda said, turning to Magda. “I’m sorry if I scared you. When it appeared in front of us I had to do something. I couldn’t let it get run over so I tried to move it out of the way. I guess I panicked and must have thrown it harder than I meant to.”

  Beside her Manny was looking at her as if he were seeing her for the first time. She glanced at her boyfriend. “You don’t think I’m some kind of freak, do you?”

  Manny took her hand. “Of course not. Why would you even think that?”

  “I should have let you lift my car out of the mud,” Tom said as he looked down at his muck-coated sneakers.

  Amanda shook her head. “Oh, no. I can’t move anything that heavy, only something small.”

  James stepped up to them, bouncing the rock in his hand. “Okay, dude, it’s your turn. What can you do?” he said to Manny.

  Manny looked at James and a mischievous smile touched his lips. “Well, I can do this.” His eyes took on a distant, unfocused look.

  James suddenly stood ramrod straight and snapped his hands to his side as he stood at attention and began reciting something they had learned in school. “O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done. The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won. The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, while follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring.” When he finished he placed a finger under his chin and performed an awkward curtsey.

  He blinked then and came back to his senses as the rest of the group started laughing. He looked at his friends with a bemused expression. “What is it? What happened?”

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Manny said with a flourish, “I give you Mr. Walt Whitman!”

  James looked around, still confused as his friends now began applauding. “What? What did he do?”

  “Nice curtsey, James,” Danny said when he caught his breath.

  “Nice what? What did you do to me?” James demanded as he stepped up to Manny.

  “Relax, man,” Manny said. “I just made you recite a poem.”

  “And curtsey!” Reed added between breaths.

  James’ face clouded over as another round of laughter went through the group. “That’s not funny, man.”

  Manny got control of himself and placed a hand on James’ shoulder. “Okay, truce. It’s your turn, anyway. Why don’t you show us what you can do?”

  James thought for a moment, then glanced down at the rock that was still in his hand. “Okay, hold this,” he said as he handed the rock to Manny.

  Manny took the stone and watched it. “Are you going to make it float in the air?”

  “Nope,” James said. “Just keep holding it.”

  Several more seconds went by. “I don’t get it, nothing’s—Ow!”

  Manny dropped the rock and began blowing on his palm. Steam curled up from the damp ground where the rock had fallen.

  “I can make things hot,” James said, a self-satisfied smile on his face.

  Now it was Manny’s turn to get angry. He checked his reddened palm then glared into James’ eyes. “That’s not funny.”

  “Really? I thought it was hilarious. It was at least as funny as you making me do stuff I couldn’t control,” James said.

  “I didn’t make you hurt yourself,” Manny shot back. “You burned my hand! Besides, I already called truce.”

  “Well, now we’re even,” James said. “So now we can call truce.”

  As the two of them glared at each other, Magda stepped up to them and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “Calm down, guys,” she said. Both of them immediately relaxed. When they were calm she removed her hands and stepped back. Both boys looked at her with slightly dreamy expressions on their faces.

  “I can absorb emotions,” Magda explained.

  “Wow, Mags,” James said as he reached toward her. “I feel a lot bet—”

  “Don’t touch me!” she snapped. James felt his hand suddenly shoved away by some unseen force.

  “What was that?” James said.

  Magda clenched her hands into fists. “Just leave me alone for a second,” she said through her teeth. “It takes a minute for the feeling to go away.” She took several deep breaths as she reached up and rubbed her temples. “I never tried absorbing feelings from two people at the same time before. It’s a little…overwhelming.”

  “Do you want to sit down?” Tom asked.

  “Yeah,” Magda said. “I think that’s a good idea.” She looked around and found a spot at the foot of a tree. The others found places nearby and sat down as well.

  For a while no one spoke as they each sat absorbed by their own thoughts. A lot had happened and they found themselves preoccupied by the recent events. Around them, the quiet in the woods deepened as night approached. A gentle breeze brought the scent of flowering plants and moist soil. As the light gradually faded a comfortable peace flowed between them, something which was almost tangible. It was as if they were all enfolded in the same soft, protective blanket. A feeling of warmth and security seeped into each of them. At that moment everything was right with the world.

  Then James s
aid, “Anybody want a drink?”

  Chapter Five