The air was thick, and it felt hard to move through. Abby was glued to the door, looking outside through the improvised acrylic window, carefully peeking outside just enough for her to see what was going on down on the surface of the clearing.
Riley turned on the light next to her bed. "What's going on?"
"Turn that off!" Abby whispered urgently. "She can't know that we're here!"
"Who's her?" Riley asked, but turned off the light anyways, just to be safe. "What's happening?" She stepped over, slowly, quietly, trying not to step on the planks she knew would creak.
"This girl has been... following me." She whispered and nodded in the direction of the clearing. The girl had started moving around the clearing, on occasion stopping and turning. "Since the fair."
"That's why you were so jumpy?"
Abby nodded. "And now she's here."
Riley thought for a second, then grabbed her shoes and a hair tie. "I'm teleporting to Sadie's house."
"What?! Are you crazy?!"
"She's the leader! She knows what to do-"
"Riley, do not leave me here!" Abby whisper-yelled, angrily.
"I'll be back in a second!" Riley closed her eyes, focusing on the spot next to the tree trunk in Sadie's treehouse and the spot where she was standing.
"Riley!"
She displaced herself into an eerily quiet common house. It looked was different when it was quiet. Unlike Riley's treehouse, it wasn't mounted between two trees. Instead, it was build around the trunk of a large pine, the supports anchored into the trunk itself, fused to itself through spokes that held up the ceiling. Marigold's work, it looked like. The wind made it sway uncomfortably.
Sadie's bedroom was in the back, behind a door. Riley had never been. She approached, knocked against the door. No answer. She knocked again, harder this time. Riley heard movement inside, and the door swung open. Sadie looked out at her, hair messy and unkempt. Riley could barely get a glance inside, but she did see Marigold lying in Sadie's bed, curled up under the blanket.
"What?" Sadie asked. "Why are you in my house?"
"There's... someone on the clearing." Riley whispered. "Abby says-"
Sadie immediately grabbed her jacket and went over to the other side of the common room, Next to the door, where one of the slits between the planks was just big enough to peek through.
"You see her?" Riley whispered. Sadie nodded and pulled away from the wall.
"Yeah. Stay here." She went back to her bedroom, whispered something to Marigold and came back out with a baseball bat.
"What are you-"
"Take it." She gave the bat to Riley. "And then teleport us down."
"You said we're not gonna hurt-"
"We're not. We're intimidating."
"Are you sure? We-"
"We're not going to hurt her. But if it comes down to it, I vote for us." Sadie sighed. "Just let me do the talking."
"You have some nerve lecturing me about-"
"We're only going to have a problem if you actually hit her, Riley. Now teleport."
Riley’s stomach twisted as she gripped the baseball bat Sadie had thrust into her hands. The wood felt foreign, heavier than she’d expected, and her palms were slick with sweat despite the chill of the night air. She glanced at Sadie, whose jaw was set in a hard line, eyes fixed on the figure in the clearing below. The sway of the treehouse faded as Riley focused, picturing the snowy ground beneath them - right in the center where the girl stood.
They materialised in the clearing, the snow crunching under their boots. The moon hung low, casting a silver glow over the scene, and Riley’s breath caught as she saw the girl up close for the first time. She was small, fragile-looking, with white-grey hair that shimmered unnaturally in the moonlight, spilling out from beneath a dark hood. Her coat was tattered at the edges, blending into the shadows, but her pale face stood out starkly - wide eyes darting between Riley and Sadie, radiating fear.
"Hey" Sadie said, firm but not harsh. "Who are you? Why are you here?"
The girl flinched, stumbling back a step, her hands flying up to shield herself. She didn’t respond - just stared, her breathing rapid and shallow. Riley tightened her grip on the bat, though she kept it low, her heart pounding.
Riley realised what she was seeing in the girl's eyes. She didn’t look threatening, although it might've been mistaken for that. She was like Riley. Closed off, careful, distant. She was terrified.
Riley dropped the bat on the ground. "Sadie, she's scared." Riley approached the girl, slowly, carefully, like a wounded animal. "It's okay, we're not going to hurt you."
Abby teleported down as well, appearing with a soft pop next to Sadie. The girl flinched. "Why have you been following me?" She asked, without introducing herself.
Riley held out her hand, motioning Abby to stay back. "Can you understand us?"
The girl shook her head frantically, her hands trembling as she made a series of quick, unfamiliar gestures. Riley frowned. “Is that… sign language?”
Sadie’s expression softened. “She’s deaf.”
"I... know a little," Abby said and tried to sign - clumsy, basic movements that she'd picked up from a middle school elective course she hadn't particularly paid attention to. I am Abby. Who are you?
The girl watched Abby’s hands, her brow furrowing in confusion. She signed back, her gestures fluid but unrecognisable to Abby. “I don’t understand her,” Abby admitted, frustration creeping into her voice. “It’s not ASL. It’s something else.”
Someone turned the lights on above, and moments later, JP climbed down from his treehouse, wearing soft pyjamas and slippers. His eyes narrowed as he took in the scene, then softened as he looked at the girl. “Whoever this is, she’s scared out of her mind,” he said quietly, his telepathy picking up the raw edge of her thoughts. “She doesn’t know what’s happening. And neither do I, for that matter.”
“She followed us here from the fair" Abby said. "And she's deaf. Can you... read her mind?"
"You tried sign language?"
"I... I'm not very good at it." Abby said. JP rubbed his eyes and nodded.
"Let me try." He signed back, his movements much more practiced than Abby's had been. My name is Jean Paul. She signed back, and JP grinned, signing to her again. Communication had been established.
"Can you understand her?"
"Yes" he said while signing. "That's LSQ. Quebecois sign language. She's from Canada and her name is Louise."
"Ask her why she's here." Sadie said and stepped forward. JP nodded and signed for her.
"She says she... hang on." They signed back and forth for a few moments. "She says she followed the echoes? I'll ask her-"
"Echoes?" Abby mumbled and watched them. They talked for a few more seconds, and JP nodded.
"She's like us. Powered. She reads the echoes, the... chronologie personnelle of people, objects, places. She can see the past of anything or anyone she touches."
Sadie stepped forward. "Prove it." She held out her hand.
JP shook his head. "She says it might be painful."
"I can take it."
Apprehensive, Louise looked into Sadie's determined, fiery eyes. She nodded and took Sadie's hand into her own. The moment they made contact, the air shimmered, and an illusory projection erupted around them - vivid, tangible, like stepping into a memory.
A narrow alley, smelling of garbage. Sadie - younger, maybe fifteen, with longer black hair - gripped the straps of her backpack as tightly as she could, the rough nylon cutting into into her palms. Her heart hammered against her ribcage, so loud to her that it drowned out the traffic from beyond the alley. She was on the verge of crying. Sadie wanted to disappear, to just melt into the ground, but there was nowhere to go.
Footsteps crunched, approaching rapidly. Three kids emerged from around the building, their silhouettes sharpening as they close in. The biggest one, Marcus, was at the front, his shaved head gleaming faintly in the summer sun. His broad shoulders filled the alley like a wall. All muscle, all menace, all ready to beat up the teen girl scrambling to get away.
"Look at her." His voice ripped through the alley, jagged, rough, with a backing track of vitriolic laughter from his cronies. "Thinks she's better than us, huh? Dirty little rez girl." The slur hit like a punch, sharp, venomous. Sadie's throat burned, bile clawing its way up, but she swallowed it down.
"Leave me alone" Sadie said, but her voice shook. She hated it. She hated how small it sounded, how pathetic she was.
Marcus' grin stretched wider, predatory and sick. He stepped closer, and his putrid breath washed over Sadie, stale cigarettes and energy drinks. "You don't belong here," he spit, words dripping with hate. "Go back to where you came from." His hand lashed out, thick fingers wrapping around the collar of Sadie's jacket. With a sudden jerk, he swung her around and slammed her against the brick wall. The impact jolted through her, a white-hot flash of pain exploding across her shoulder blades and down her spine.
Her knees buckled, hitting the pavement with a dull thud, the cold seeping through her jeans and into her bones. She tasted blood - her lip had split against her teeth - and the metallic tang mixed with the alley’s filth in her mouth.
The others cheered and whooped louder, their voices overlapping . “Teach her a lesson, Marcus!” the other boy shouted, his crooked nose flaring as he grinned. The girl clapped her hands, bouncing on her heels, her laughter high and shrill.
Marcus straightened, towering over Sadie as she struggled to push herself up, her palms scraping against the rough concrete. He cracked his knuckles, the sound sharp and deliberate, and raised a fist. It hovered in the air, catching the last glints of sunlight. “You asked for this,” he said, his grin widening, his tone dripping with satisfaction.
Her leg moved before she could think, a wild, desperate kick aimed at Marcus’ chest. When her foot connected, it was with a thunderclap of power, a strength she didn’t recognise as her own. Her sneaker sank into his jacket, and the air itself seemed to ripple.
Within less than second, Marcus crashed into the brick wall with a sound that split the air - a wet, bone-shattering crunch that reverberated through Sadie’s skull. His head snapped back, striking the surface with a dull, final thud, and his body crumpled, sliding down the wall in a broken heap. It left a smear of red on the brick wall.
Silence fell immediately.
The other kids froze, their voices snuffed out. The boy with the crooked nose stumbled back, his face drained of color, his breath hitching in short, panicked bursts. The girl’s hands flew to her mouth, muffling a whimper, her wide eyes darting between Marcus' body and Sadie. The air grew thick, heavy with the coppery scent of blood and the raw, animal stink of fear.
Sadie didn’t move. Her leg still tingled, the echo of that impossible power pulsing faintly beneath her skin, but her mind couldn’t grasp it. She stared at Marcus, at the blood, at the stillness of him, and her chest heaved with shallow, uneven breaths.
Her hands shook violently. “No… no, no, no,” she whispered, the words spilling out in a broken sob. Tears streamed down her face, hot against her cold cheeks, and her stomach churned, bile rising in her throat.
"Marcus?" The girl whispered, slowly approaching him. "Marcus! Wake the fuck up!"
Panic clawed at her chest, sharp and relentless. She couldn’t stay, couldn’t face this. She scrambled to her feet, her sneakers slipping in the pool of blood that had began to form on the ground. Then, she ran.
The alley blurred past her, the cold air stinging her lungs as she burst onto the street. Minutes of running turned to hours. Her body screamed of exhaustion, but she didn't listen. Eventually, streetlights flickered overhead, casting pools of yellow light she barely registered. Her legs burned, her breath came in ragged sobs, but she didn’t stop. The city melted away - buildings gave way to bare trees, their branches clawing at her as she plunged into the woods. Twigs snapped underfoot, the earthy scent of pine overwhelming the blood she could still taste on her lips.
She ran until her strength gave out, until her legs buckled in a clearing deep within the forest. She collapsed to her knees, the snow soaking through her jeans, the cold biting into her skin like teeth. Her body shook, wracked with silent, heaving sobs. She pressed her hands to her face, fingers trembling, and curled in on herself, the darkness of the woods wrapping around her. The wind whispered through the pines, carrying her cries away, but it couldn’t erase the image burned into her mind.
The echo faded, mapping cleanly onto the same clearing they were standing on now. It was quiet now, save for the faint rustle of the wind through the pines. Sadie stood frozen, her face pale, tears glistening in her eyes.
By now, the entire camp had arrived on the clearing. Marigold rushed to Sadie's side. "Are you... okay?"
Sadie didn't respond right away. Her gaze was distant, still locked in the memory they'd all witnessed, but she alone had to live with. Then, she blinked, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, the tears sizzling on her skin.
"That's how it happened." Her voice was barely audible. "Four years ago. That's when I swore never to use my powers to hurt anyone ever again."
Riley swallowed hard. "I... get it."
Sadie just nodded. "Yeah. Now you all know." She sniffled. "I stayed out here, trying to figure out my power. Thought it would be easier to deal with it out here, where I couldn't hurt anyone."
Louise signed something, and JP translated quickly. "She didn't want to hurt you."
"It's fine." Sadie answered. "It's why I started living here. I should have told you sooner."
"And what about her?" Autumn said and nodded at Louise. "What are we gonna do?"
"She stays. If she wants. She's one of us," Sadie said. JP nodded and translated.
"She says thank you. She'd like that." JP motioned her to follow up the rope ladder.
"Welcome aboard." Sadie said, imitating JP's motions with her fingers. "Everything else we'll... figure out tomorrow."