When morning came, the rain still hadn't let up, but at least the worst of the storm had passed. Now, a steady thrumming of raindrops on the wood and solar panel roofs of the treehouses gently tapped away at a not at all unpleasant background soundtrack to Abby's new life. When she had woken up, Riley had still been asleep. She still was. Her desire to leave apparently wasn't that strong anymore.
Abby glanced at her watch - one of the Casio calculator watches that were all the rage around twenty years before she was born - and mentally added two hours to compensate for the time zone. With that, it was seven o'clock. They weren't in Cali anymore, and she'd still have to get used to that.
Her duffel bag had seen better days, but at least her clothes were still intact. Even her superhero costume was in one piece still, if a little damp. She started to hang them up on a clothesline she found in the bathroom, and soon, her colourful collection of sweaters and shirts - along with her improvised super-suit - hung from lines criss-crossing the San Francisco treehouse.
Her gaze fell onto Riley's notebook. She must've been writing in it until way too late. Abby knew she shouldn't, but risked a little peek regardless. Many new pages had been added, for each of the camp residents - but also for Autumn No, the girl she hadn't met yet. From the drawing, she was tall, mysterious, but also cute and lovable. Maybe that was a bit of artistic license, though.
She closed the notebook again, flipped idly through Sadie's archive instead. It was mostly a collection of instant photos, the ones that didn't make it onto her treehouse wall. Dozens upon dozens of vignettes, small snippets of the lives of kids that made it here to be themselves. Not too many pictures of Sadie, though. She must've been taking most of them.
As if she knew what Abby was thinking, Sadie knocked at the treehouse door. It couldn't have been anyone else - the knock was strong and determined, even though she was probably trying her hardest not to leave a mark. Abby went to the door and opened it. Sadie's hair was wet, but she was beaming with excitement and friendliness.
"Abby! How was your first night?" She bellowed, probably waking up Riley in the process. "The storm keep you up?"
Abby shook her head. "No, it was... nice. Warm."
"That's great to hear! Listen, I have a lot of errands to run today, and I was wondering if you could help me a little." Sadie didn't waste any time getting to the point, and considering her camp was going to be Abby's home for at least a little while, she felt obliged to give her gracious host a hand.
"Sure, what do you need?"
"We go for groceries once every other week. I thought you could help us with... transport."
"I... have to have been somewhere first for my power to work."
"So we'll walk to the store and teleport back. Can you teleport multiple people?"
"I've never tried" Abby asked and tried to listen inward. It was a trick she had taught herself a few years ago - wherever her powers came from, she could get a feel for how well she was doing just by listening to her body. Today, she was full of energy. She could probably teleport all the way back to San Francisco if she wanted to. "I think we should be fine."
"Great! Let me get Jake. We leave in twenty." It might have been Sadie's superpowers, but she suddenly felt a little warmer.
"Wait, how far's the store?"
"Oh, not far. Maybe two and a half hours," Sadie said, nonchalantly. "It'll be a nice little hike to Keystone. Bring a jacket, all right?"
Abby nodded. "Jacob's coming too?"
"Problem with that? Is three people too much for your power?"
"No, no-" Abby shook her head. "I just... don't know much about him. That's all." The warmth got even stronger, and she realised she was blushing.
Sadie pat Abby's shoulder, a little harder than she was probably going for. "Good time to get to know him, then", she said, grinning at Abby as she noticed her blush. "You'll love him. I'll see you at the clearing, all right?"
Abby pulled her winter jacket off the clothesline and changed into her running shoes. She took a pen and scribbled a note for Riley - Gone shopping with Sadie & Jacob. Back later. Don't leave without saying goodbye. She hesitated, then added another word. Please.
The clearing was already busy when Abby climbed down. Marigold was tending to her garden despite the rain, sneezing occasionally as she pruned what looked like tomato plants. JP sat cross-legged on the porch of Sadie's old cabin, reading a book while he ate breakfast.
Jacob was standing with Sadie, both of them studying a map of the Black Hills National Park. "Storm was bad, so we can't take the usual route. Old service road is our best bet, I estimate two hours and seventeen minutes, assuming average walking speed and no delays."
"Morning!" Abby called out, trying to sound more confident than she actually felt. Sadie and Jacob looked up, and greeted her back.
"Abigail!" Jacob looked up from the map and adjusted his glasses. "I hear you're joining us?"
"Someone's gotta get you guys back here." She answered. "You, uh... going over the route?"
"Seventeen possible paths, but only three are really viable given the current weather conditions and the touristy areas."
"That's... pretty impressive," Abby said and meant it.
They set off through the forest, following what looked like an old maintenance road. The rain had settled into a light drizzle, and the early morning fog gave everything an ethereal quality. Jacob led the way, occasionally muttering numbers under his breath as he calculated optimal paths around muddy patches.
"So..." Abby ventured after they'd been walking for a while. "How long have you been at camp?"
"One year, two months, twelve days." He answered without hesitation. "A few weeks after Marigold."
"A whole year you've been living here?"
"I've not been slacking, if that's what you're implying. I take online classes at a remote university. In another few months, I'll have my Bachelor's degree in pure mathematics."
"Aren't you sixteen?"
"I'm also faster at math than most supercomputers." He grinned. "Why not use that?"
"That, and he's our architect," Sadie chimed in. "Before him, we were living in glorified tree forts. He redesigned our homes, made them stable."
"As much as I like her, Jesse's houses would not have survived the storm last night."
They continued walking, and Abby found herself relaxing despite the drizzle and the long trek ahead. There was something comforting about Jacob's precise observations and Sadie's steady presence. It felt... normal. Almost like a school field trip, if your classmates happened to have superpowers.
"Your friend Riley visited Autumn's treehouse last night." Jacob said suddenly, but not in an accusatory way. Abby almost tripped over a root.
"How'd you know that?"
"Saw the flash when she teleported, and a little after that, Autumn made a null field big enough for two people, and it lasted for around 27 minutes."
"You can tell all that?"
"The numbers don't lie." He cracked a smile. "Though, admittedly, the social implications are harder to calculate."
"She never lets anyone up there." Sadie said. "Didn't think she'd even come down for weeks. When JP showed up, she locked herself in for almost a month."
"Well, whatever they talked about, must've worked." Sadie picked up an enormous tree trunk and laid it over a little stream effortlessly so they could cross.
"I think Riley's gonna stay. At least for a while." Jacob said. It was strange to hear him say something he couldn't back up with hard numbers.
"She seemed pretty set on leaving last night."
"Yeah, but that was before Autumn." Jacob adjusted his glasses, his eyes briefly glowing as he calculated something. "Based on previous patterns, when someone connects with Autumn, they tend to stay. She's like our... statistical anchor, I suppose."
"What Jake means," Sadie translated with a smile, "is that Autumn's good at seeing through people's walls. She doesn't talk much, but when she does..."
"It matters," Jacob finished. "Like with Marigold. Wouldn't stop crying about her allergies. One conversation with Autumn, and suddenly she's okay with it. Started calling it her 'botanical curse' instead of just... her curse."
"Speaking of challenges," Sadie interrupted, pointing ahead. "We've got company."
Through the trees, they could see a park ranger's truck parked on the main road. Two rangers were talking to some tourists, pointing at maps and giving directions.
"Alternative route?" Jacob immediately started calculating, his eyes glowing slightly. "If we backtrack 200 meters and head northeast, we can-"
"No need," Sadie said calmly. "They're just regular rangers. But we should still be careful. Abby, stay between us. Jake, keep an eye on their sight lines."
They moved carefully through the trees, keeping their distance from the road. Jacob muttered coordinates under his breath, occasionally adjusting their course with gentle nudges. Abby found herself holding her breath, even though they weren't doing anything wrong. Just three teenagers hiking through a national park. Nothing suspicious about that.
Once they were past the rangers, Sadie relaxed slightly. "Good work, team. Jake, how long till Keystone?"
"One hour, four minutes at current pace. Assuming we don't run into any more complications."
One hour and four minutes later, they passed the green town sign for Keystone, South Dakota, population 337. Home of Mount Rushmore.
Main Street looked like it had been frozen in time somewhere in the fifties, with vintage storefronts and faded advertisements for tours to Mount Rushmore painted on brick walls. Despite the early hour and the persistent rainfall, a few tourists were already milling about, taking photos of the buildings and browsing souvenir shops.
"How's our finances looking?" Jacob asked. Some things were clearly out of his ability to calculate.
"I got..." Sadie reached into her back pocket and pulled out a crumpled Benjamin. "A hundred dollars."
"That's not exactly good. Barely covers the supplies from the hardware store, let alone groceries." Jacob thought out loud. "We gotta get some more."
"How are we gonna do that?" Abby asked. Jacob started to grin a little.
He led both of them to a small stream, barely twenty minutes outside of the town limits. The water was flowing, and Jacob kneeled down to look up the stream near the water line.
"What are you doing?"
"In 1874," he began, not taking his eyes off the stream. "The Black Hills expedition led by commander George Armstrong Custer was ordered to investigate the area for traces of gold. They were successful, this patch of land is quite rich in natural resources, all things considered."
Sadie crossed her arms, and Jacob kept going. "The land of course originally belonged to the indigenous tribes-"
"Still does."
"-right, well, to the Sioux, the gold wasn't of much use. The Americans, however, were looking for a while until they found a homestake, a large cluster of gold deposits in the ground. It's barely fifty miles from here." He was focused on the water, and didn't even bother with an accurate distance.
"So what are you doing now?"
"Most of the gold found there was placer gold, which is mixed in with rocks and soil around active streams." He got up and pointed at some rocks under the water line, completely unremarkable. "They fed the mine with water from Cheyenne river, which this stream is an offshoot of. If you can calculate the erosion patterns, you can still easily find it." He reached in, started digging, and the mud turned the water cloudy. Eventually, he pulled out a rock, slightly glistening, but otherwise unremarkable. "Course, in this state, it's worth nothing. But with enough heat and pressure..."
He handed the rock to Sadie, who placed the rock between her palms and started pressing them together. Soon, her hands started to glow, first red, then white, and she kneaded the rock like modelling clay. Then, she stuck her hand in the river, and a plume of steam rose from the water.
"There we go." She opened her palm and revealed a small but pure nugget of elemental gold, barely larger than a small grape. It glistened in the morning light. "Should get us another two hundred, maybe."
"That's... really impressive." Abby took the nugget, which was still warm, and looked at it up close. "How often do you do this?"
"As often as we need to. Which isn't often. Don't wanna raise too much suspicion at the pawn shops." Sadie took the nugget back and pocketed it. "Let's go sell it."
The Mount Rushmore Quick Cash - Gold and silver accepted, no questions asked - smelled strange, and wasn't a place Abby would ever go inside of if Sadie and Jacob weren't there with her. The proprietor - an old and ugly man that looked like a wizard who lost his hat - sat in the corner of the room behind a counter, framed by rifles and trophies.
"Back again?" The man folded his newspaper and peered at them through his thick glasses. "Bit early for you kids, ain't it?"
"Earl." Sadie said and approached the counter confidently. "Got something you might be interested in."
She placed the gold nugget in the wooden bowl on the counter. Earl picked it up with mottled fingers, and reached for a jeweller's loupe.
"Clean. Better than last time."
"Getting better at it."
Earl set down the loupe and gave them all a long look. "You kids never did tell me where you find these."
"And we never will. No questions asked." Sadie smiled a little smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "That's why you like us."
"One fifty."
"No chance." Jacob said and stepped forward. "Current gold price is 1710 dollars and 54 cents per ounce. That right there is 4.7 grams. Market rate would be 258 dollars and 48 cents." He looked Earl in the eyes, the cyan glow fading from Jacob's irises.
"Two twenty and I don't mention to anyone that I've got teens bringing me gold nuggets at nine in the morning."
"Deal." Sadie held out her hand, and Earl shook it before counting out the money.
Outside, Sadie divided the money into two stacks. "Hardware store first, then groceries."
"I'll handle the hardware store," Jacob offered. "Need to get some specific supplies for the reinforcements I'm planning. The storm showed some weak points in our structure that need addressing."
"Meet us at Murphy's in forty-five minutes?" Sadie asked, and Jacob nodded before heading off down the street, already muttering measurements under his breath.
Sadie turned to Abby. "Ready for some grocery shopping?"
Murphy's General Store was exactly what Abby expected from a small town shop - cramped aisles, creaky wooden floors, and a little bell that rang when they entered. The elderly woman behind the counter smiled at Sadie like she was a regular customer.
"Let's see..." Sadie pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Marigold made a list. She needs more antihistamines, and apparently we're almost out of that honey she can eat without getting sick."
"How does she manage?" Abby asked as they moved through the aisles. "I mean, being allergic to your own power..."
"She's tough. Tougher than she looks." Sadie started filling their basket. "Plus, she's got good motivation to keep going. The camp needs her garden."
They worked their way through the store, picking up essentials - canned goods, dried foods, medical supplies. Sadie seemed to know exactly what everyone needed: JP's favourite cereal, Jacob's protein bars, Autumn's tea.
"Autumn drinks tea?"
"Every morning. Though usually cold by the time she gets it - refuses to come down from her treehouse until she's sure everyone else is done with breakfast. Anything you like that we should get?"
"Peanut butter? And candy corn."
"You eat that?" Sadie commented, but put a bag in her shopping cart regardless.
"No parents around, right?"
"Can't argue with that."
At the checkout, the elderly woman didn't bat an eye at their purchase. Like Earl, she seemed to know Sadie. "Same as usual?"
"Yes, Mrs. Murphy" Sadie answered and reached for the wad of cash in her pocket. "Just stocking up."
"So nice to see you taking care of your camping group. Not many responsible young people like you these days." She began ringing up their items, putting them in grey-brown plastic bags. "Might want to wrap up soon, though. Rangers say there's another storm coming. And those scientists staying in the Northern? Can't be good."
"Scientists?" Abby asked. "What kind of science?"
"Oh, dear, I wouldn't know. Government, though. US-something."
"...GS? USGS?"
"That's the one." She typed something into the register. "A hundred and fifty-five. Cash or card?"
They met Jacob outside, his arms full of bags from the hardware store. "Got everything we need," he reported. "Though the price of copper wire has gone up 12.3% since last month."
"Did you get the stuff for the lightning rods?" Sadie asked.
"Of course. After last night, we clearly need better protection. I've already calculated the optimal placement points, this should be plenty for repairs, and the repairs for the next storm, provided it's not that bad."
Sadie nodded approvingly and took his bags into her hands. She was carrying them effortlessly, they must've weighed nothing for her. "All right, Abby. You think you can get us and all of this stuff back?"
"I'm... gonna try." She stepped behind Murphy's general store and breathed a deep breath. "Everyone hold on to me, and don't let go of the bags."
Abby closed her eyes and focused on the camp clearing. She could picture it perfectly - Marigold's garden, Sadie's cabin, the network of treehouses above. The weight of Jacob and Sadie's hands on her shoulders felt heavy, grounding. She'd never tried teleporting with other people before, at least not with people that couldn't help with their own powers, let alone with bags full of supplies. "Ready?"
"Whenever you are."
Abby took another deep breath. The familiar pulling sensation started in her chest, but it felt different this time - heavier, like trying to swim upstream. She pushed harder, concentrating on every detail of their destination. The smell of wet earth and Marigold's flowers. The sound of rain on leaves. The exact shade of green-
"Wait," Jacob suddenly whispered. "Someone's coming."
They froze as footsteps approached the alley. Through the gap between buildings, Abby caught a glimpse of khaki uniforms. Park rangers.
"Now," Sadie hissed. "Do it now."
Abby didn't think, just acted. The pull in her chest became a yank, and the world dissolved around them in a flash of blue-white light. For a moment, she felt like she was being stretched in all directions at once, the weight of Jacob and Sadie and all their supplies threatening to tear her apart-
They materialised in the clearing with a soft pop, sending a spray of water droplets flying from the surrounding trees. Abby's knees buckled, but Sadie caught her before she could fall. "Whoa, whoa, you okay?"
Abby nodded, but her head was spinning. "Just gotta... catch my breath."
"You did great, Abby. That was... incredible."
"Abby!" Marigold called out from her garden, waving with muddy gloves. "Did you get my-" She sneezed violently. "My antihistamines?"
"Right here," Sadie said and dug through one of the bags, tossing a box of pills in Marigold's direction. "And your special honey."
"You're a lifesaver." Marigold caught the box with surprising grace for someone mid-sneeze. "Though I think I'll need something stronger soon. The tomatoes are starting to flower."
JP appeared on the porch of Sadie's cabin, his book abandoned. "Did you get-"
"Your weird Canadian cereal? Yes." Sadie started unpacking the bags. "Come help put this away."
Abby was still catching her breath, leaning against a tree. The world had mostly stopped spinning, but she felt drained in a way she never had before. Multiple people, plus supplies - definitely harder than she'd expected.
"Here." Jacob pressed one of his protein bars into her hand. "Your blood sugar's probably low. Calculating from your body mass and the energy expenditure required for that teleport..."
"Thanks." She unwrapped the bar and took a bite. It tasted like cardboard and chocolate, but she immediately felt a little better.
A movement caught her eye - someone climbing down from the highest treehouse. Autumn, making her way down with surprising grace, floating more than climbing. She didn't land, more stopped floating a few inches off the ground, but looked at Abby critically.
"Your friend's still asleep," she reported to Abby. "Though she was writing in that notebook until pretty late."
"You were watching us?"
"I watch everything." Autumn's dark eyes moved to the bags of supplies. "Let me get those to Sadie's house."
With a gesture from Autumn, the bags began to float, organising themselves into neat columns in mid-air. "I'll take care of it. You should rest," she said to Abby. "You should be there when Riley wakes up."
"I... thanks. I'm Abby."
"Autumn." She floated away without further comment, put the groceries in their places and returned to her treehouse.
"Wow, she's... never done that." Sadie said and helped Abby up. "I think she likes you two."