When Riley and Autumn opened the door to the San Francisco treehouse - Abby had made a little sign for the door identifying it as such, along with her and Riley's name - they weren't surprised to find it empty. Dark had already fallen, and down another level, Sadie's main treehouse was bustling with activity. Dinnertime, Riley figured.

"We can just ask her later" Riley said, but Autumn just lifted the two of them up and then down a level to Sadie's.

"If they're having dinner, we might as well join." Riley gave her a look. That was... unexpected, especially for Autumn. She really didn't like crowds, even if they were her friends.

"You sure? We can just stay in your treehouse, and-"

"I think I owe it to them. And when you're here, maybe they won't make fun of me."

"They wouldn't do that. And if they do, we can leave. The... two of us."

Autumn smiled slightly and blushed in an almost imperceptible manner. "I'd like that."

They opened the wooden door to a chaotic scene the likes of which Riley hadn't seen before, but that was probably normal at dinner.

"Well, maybe it wouldn't've gone cold if you got here earlier!" Marigold yelled and JP defended himself.

"Just gimme the damn bowl" Sadie acquiesced and grabbed it from her, before placing it between her palms and heating the plastic bowl along with the soup inside. The result was warm soup, yes, but she had also deformed the bowl slightly. "There. Warm."

"And probably full of carcinogens." Jacob added.

"All right, math boy, I don't see you making dinner."

"I'd at least do a better job at timing-" he started, but stopped when he realised the door had opened. Everyone turned to look at Riley and Autumn, both gently floating in the doorframe.

"Oh. Autumn." Sadie said, surprised. "You're... here."

"Yeah. Bad time?"

"Course not. Here, take a seat." The dining table was crowded, but Sadie quickly made room, shifting plates and bowls around until there were two spaces between Marigold and JP. Riley noticed that everyone seemed to be trying very hard to act normal, though JP kept glancing between her and Autumn with poorly concealed interest.

"It's soup night," Marigold announced, sniffling slightly. "Made it with stuff from the garden, so... sorry if I sneezed in it." Sadie poured two more bowls without asking and handed them down to the two girls.

"She did not sneeze in it." Sadie said and gave them spoons. "So what brings you two down here?"

Autumn gave her a look. "Am I not allowed?"

"Course you're allowed. You're one of us. You just... tend to keep to yourself."

Riley nudged her a little.

"I... we came down here because we wanted to ask Abigail something." Abby looked up from her bowl of soup.

"Hm?"

"We want to have a..." Autumn began, but didn't finish her sentence.

"A sleepover with Riley." JP finished her sentence.

The entire table went quiet. Even Marigold stopped mid-sneeze to stare at them. Riley felt her face growing hot.

"A... sleepover?" Abby repeated, a small smile forming on her face. "You two want to have a sleepover?"

"I've never had one. And with the storm coming I could use... some company." Autumn admitted quietly.

"And you want my help planning it?" Abby's smile grew wider. "Oh my god, yes! We need snacks, and movies, and-"

"Movies are out. We don't have a TV," Jacob added. "Or reliable electricity. Especially during a storm."

"Then we'll just do it old school!" Abby was practically bouncing in her seat. "I've done this tons of times with Emma and Olivia back in SF. Ghost stories, truth or dare, makeovers-"

"We're not doing makeovers." Autumn and Riley said simultaneously, then looked at each other but quickly looked away.

"You could come up with your own superhero identities." Marigold sniffled. "You both draw a lot, don't you?"

"I don't think that's a good idea. We're supposed to lay low."

"Nobody says you gotta... use it. Just come up with one. For fun."

"With a costume?" Jacob asked. "Cape and everything?"

"No capes" Marigold quickly answered, sniffling. "They just get tangled in everything."

"Wait" JP suddenly called out and raised his hand. Everyone went quiet. He closed his eyes and tried to listen to a sound only he could her. "Who's... Blink?"

Abby nearly choked on her soup. She coughed for almost half a minute, tears in her eyes. Riley was just grinning like an idiot. "You gotta tell them about Blink."

"I do not!" Abby forced out between pressed together lips at her friend. "It's embarrassing enough as it is!"

"Who is Blink, then?" Jacob asked and Riley started laughing.

"Back when Abby was twelve-" Riley started, grinning like an idiot.

"Ri, no!" Abby tried to stop her, but failed.

"-she thought it would be cool-"

"No! I'm telling you!"

"-to come up with a superhero identity." The table erupted into laughter. Even Marigold got a brief respite from her sneezing and coughing.

"That's adorable!" Sadie laughed.

"This is a nightmare. This, this, I'm in hell." Abby leaned back and rubbed her eyes. "Oh god."

"Come on, it was cute!" Riley said. "And the costume-"

"Don't-"

"There's a costume?" JP asked. "I gotta see this."

"I didn't... bring it with me." Abby said, her face redder than the tomato soup.

"You're lying" JP quickly answered. "Come on, show us!"

"Fine. FINE." Abby finally admitted, defeated. "I'll get it. But you all have to promise not to laugh."

"I promise." Sadie said.

"Lie" JP said, between spoonfuls of soup.

"Okay, fine, but we're not gonna make fun of you."

"All right. Gimme a moment." Abby stood up, closed her eyes and teleported over to her own treehouse. The costume was still hung up on her clothesline, and she took it down, quickly changed out of her hoodie and warm pants to put on her improvised super suit. No use in not committing to the bit, so she tied up her hair as well and put on the pink gloves. She closed her eyes and teleported back to the common treehouse.

But something was... different.

Usually, Abby didn't see anything during a teleport. She kept her eyes closed, and only felt the world warping and snapping back into place around her, like she was a piece of taffy being pleasantly stretched out.

Not this time. First, something was wrong. Off. It didn't feel right - something she'd felt on the long haul teleport to New York too, but now the sensation was ten times stronger.

A lightning bolt hit. Not Abby, at least she didn't think so, but the camp. A booming thunderclap shook the tree, and for a split second, Abby thought she could see something in the dark behind her eyes. A face of some kind. Not one she recognised, but definitely one that felt familiar.

The world snapped back into focus - but not where she expected. Instead of Sadie's treehouse, she found herself in a dark, cramped space. The air felt thick and stale, and there was a strange humming in her ears. She reached out, hands finding rough stone walls.

"Hello?" She called out, her voice sounding oddly muffled. No echo. That wasn't right - stone should echo.

A faint blue glow caught her attention. She turned, and through what seemed like a doorway carved into the rock, she saw something impossible - a perfectly spherical chamber, its walls smooth as glass. In the center, floating in mid-air, was a point of light that seemed to pulse in time with her heartbeat.

Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the vision vanished. She was back in Sadie's treehouse, still wearing her Blink costume, surrounded by concerned faces.

"Abby?" Riley was at her side instantly. "You okay? You kind of... flickered for a second there."

"What? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Abby lied. "I'm fine. Just... teleported too quickly."

"That's the costume?" Marigold asked. Right, the costume. Blink. That's what they were talking about.

"Yeah, this is... this is Blink." Abby managed, still trying to shake off the unsettling vision. She did a small twirl, partly to show off the costume, partly to ground herself in reality. "Ta-da?"

The costume wasn't exactly professional-grade - the pink jacket over the yellow-and-white suit, with matching gloves and a big lightning bolt on her chest. The whole ensemble looked exactly like what a twelve-year-old would think was the height of superhero fashion.

Her friends grinned. "That's... so awesome" Marigold finally broke the silence. "Very... late 90s X-Men."

"Really?" Abby brightened slightly, though her hands were still shaking. "You don't think it's totally lame?"

"Nah, it's got charm." Sadie grinned. "So, you knew about this?" She glanced over at Riley.

"She showed me back in San Francisco. Made me come up with my own superhero identity as well."

"Which was?"

"Quantum. But... nothing beyond that. No costume. Certainly didn't make one" Riley explained. "My dad could find it, so it wasn't really worth it. I was just hiding." Abby felt herself relaxing slightly. But she couldn't quite shake the image of that strange spherical chamber, or the way the air had felt so wrong. She caught JP looking at her with concern and subtly shook her head. Not now.

"So," Jacob said, clearly trying to move the conversation along, "what other sleepover activities are we thinking about? Besides superhero costume shows?"

"Ghost stories?" Autumn suggested quietly. "I know a few good ones."

"Oh no," Marigold groaned. "Your ghost stories are terrifying. I couldn't sleep for a week after the last one."

"That's... kind of the point of ghost stories."

Riley perked up. "I'd love to hear them."

"Of course you would," Abby muttered, but she was smiling. She'd never seen Riley this... engaged before. Usually at school, she kept to herself, barely talking to anyone. But here, with Autumn...

A crack of thunder made the whole treehouse shake, and the lights flickered ominously. Jacob immediately got up to check the solar battery setup.

"Maybe we should move this party to your place?" Riley suggested to Autumn. "Before the storm gets worse?"

Autumn nodded. "We should probably get supplies first though. If we're doing this properly."

"I'll help!" Abby volunteered, perhaps a bit too quickly. "I mean, I am the sleepover expert here."

They all got up, and JP put the used soup bowls into the kitchen. He volunteered for the task. Autumn was trying to get a feel for the group, trying to stretch a field large enough to protect all of them from rain as she made them float up to her own treehouse. Jacob was not used to flying, flailing around like he was about to fall, when the literal opposite was the case.

Abby went through the pantry, grabbing the snacks they had gotten from Keystone and taking a few blankets and pillows from Sadie's sofa. Still, her vision kept creeping back into her head. The empty circular chamber, illuminated only by the tiny star inside, or whatever it was. She hadn't been there before, but still it felt familiar, like something from a half-remembered dream, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recover the memory-

"You saw something, right?" JP asked, quietly, snapping Abby out of her thoughts and startling her. "When you teleported."

"I- I guess I can't hide that from you."

He shook his head. "No. But... I think I know."

"About what?"

"About the place you saw. The place you went. The face you saw."

Abby shook her head. "Not the time right now, JP." He look like he wanted to argue, but Riley called from the doorway.

"You two coming?"

"Just a second!" She turned back to JP. "Please don't say anything. Riley's happy. I don't want to have her spiral again. Not tonight."

He nodded reluctantly. "But tomorrow we talk about this."

"Tomorrow," Abby agreed.

The climb up to Autumn's treehouse was tricky in the strengthening wind, but Autumn's power kept them steady, creating invisible paths of altered gravity that they could walk up like stairs. Riley went first, then Abby, with Autumn bringing up the rear, making sure neither of them fell or got wet from the rain.

As they reached the platform, another flash of lightning illuminated Mount Rushmore in the distance. For just a moment, Abby thought she saw that same blue glow she'd seen in her vision, dancing around Roosevelt's stone eyes. But when she blinked, it was gone.

"You okay?" Riley asked, noticing her hesitation.

"Yeah," Abby said, forcing a smile. "Just... thinking about ghost stories."