When the Sky Fell on Splendor(42)

My throat ached. “Arthur, there’s something I have to tell you.”

Sofía stepped into the mouth of the tunnel, Levi and Nick close behind her. “It wasn’t us who did that,” she said, quickly, like she was ripping a Band-Aid off on my behalf. “It was Franny. Only Franny.”





FIFTEEN



THEY STARED.

Scared? Mistrustful? Angry?

Nick stepped back, looking queasy. Levi peered at me sidelong, like he was searching for hidden tentacles, and Arthur’s brow hunkered low, his mouth wrinkling.

I was the problem he was trying to solve.

“How do you know?” he asked Sofía, like I wasn’t even there.

She sighed. “Because I saw her do it. Every time she uses . . . the energy, I see it happen. In my head.”

My gaze snapped toward her. “You see what, exactly?”

Sofía folded her arms, and her eyes glinted like emeralds. “Whatever you see. Actually, sometimes even when you’re not using the power, I see what you’re seeing. I can’t control it much yet. Just . . . one minute, I’m asleep, or at home or practice, and the next—I’m not. I’m watching whatever you’re seeing play out around me. I saw you pick up that bullet right after the accident, and I saw you talking to Remy the other night at the tracks, and I saw you in the Jenkins House earlier, and then the cave.”

How was that possible?

My mind felt like a dandelion blown apart, every thought traveling out in a different direction. I latched on to one: She saw me talking to Remy?

She knew, not just that I’d been shocking myself on doors and sending power surges through the wiring in abandoned houses, but possibly—probably—what Remy had told me, and what Black Mailbox Bill had said.

“And you saw me in the woods tonight?” I asked, voice tight.

She looked quickly away from me and nodded at Levi. “I saw what you saw, actually,” she told him. “It’s sort of . . . been happening with all of you, and Remy. It’s like—I’m tapping into your channels, watching your lives like they’re TV shows. I guess that’s what that thing did to me.”

“But . . . but you said you heard her leave . . .” Nick said, disbelieving. “You said it woke you up, and then you saw Levi sleepwalking from the window . . .”

Sofía sighed. “I lied.”

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” I demanded.

She studied me with pursed lips, silently communicating something along the lines of I could ask you the same thing.

“I wasn’t sure,” she said. “I thought I was imagining it. Like vivid daydreams. And I figured if you were experiencing something like that, you would tell us. You would tell me.”

Guilt sank like an anchor in my stomach. It was our non-fight from last year all over again. Sofía inviting me in; me having to shut her out; her unable to understand, with her beautiful house and her beautiful family and their beautiful closets full of shoes.

“Then I saw you going into the cave earlier,” she went on. “You know, in my head, and when I found you there, it seemed like proof. But you still didn’t say anything.”

I had no idea what to say. I could’ve dealt with her anger, but she just looked hurt. The whole point of keeping things from people was to avoid that look. My body felt too small, shrinking in tight around my heart.

Sofía turned to focus on Arthur. “And then tonight, I knew Levi was outside that creepy little house, even though I’d never seen it before.”

For three complete seconds no one spoke. I looked to Sofía, expecting to find her staring daggers at me. But she wouldn’t look at me.

I wanted to tell her this time was different. The last time I’d pulled back on our friendship was to protect myself, but this was to protect them.

But from what? If the alien was in me, then how had Sofía gotten powers too?

“So . . .” Levi began. “Fran is electrokinetic . . . and Sofía can hack our eyes . . .”

Sofía shrugged. “A bit reductive, but essentially.”

“Awesome,” Arthur murmured, eyes saucer wide.

“Is it, though?” Nick deadpanned.

“Of course it is,” Arthur said. “We have to figure out what the rest of us can do!”

“I already know what my ability is.” Nick’s eyes fixed in the distance as he scratched his head. We all stared at him until he blinked clear of his daze. “The piano!” he said.

“The piano hallway?” Sofía said flatly.

“Yeah . . . like . . . what?” Levi said. “Your superpower is being able to dream about pianos?” He added quickly, “No offense, dude. You’re great at other stuff.”

“No, smartass.” Nick smacked the back of Levi’s head. “The piano’s just some kind of cover. Probably Arthur’s little gray hid something in it, or some shit, and now he wants me to retrieve it. Probably he left a little code in my brain or something!”

“Can we not say he when we’re talking about this alleged alien?” Sofía requested.

“Yeah, because saying alleged alien three times in a sentence won’t get old,” Nick fired back.

“We don’t know if there is an alien,” Sofía said, “let alone its gender, or whether it even has one.”