the light, throwing a long line of my shadow into hers.
We sat like that, side by side, with only our shadows touching, until the sun went down and they stretched toward the black
trees and disappeared into dusk. We listened to the cicadas in silence and tried not to think until the rain started falling
again.
5.1
Falling
I n the next few weeks, I successfully convinced Lena to leave the house with me a total of three times. Once to the movies
with Link—my best friend since second grade—where even her signature combination of popcorn and Milk Duds didn’t cheer
her up. Once to my house to eat Amma’s molasses cookies and watch a zombie marathon, my version of a dream date. It wasn’t.
And once for a walk along the Santee, where we ended up turning around after ten minutes with sixty bug bites between us.
Wherever she was, she didn’t want to be.
Today was different. She had finally found somewhere she was comfortable, even if it was the last place I expected.
I walked in her room to find her lying sprawled across the ceiling, arms flung across the plaster, her hair spread out like
a black fan around her head.
“Since when can you do that?” I was used to Lena’s powersby now, but since her sixteenth birthday they seemed to be getting stronger and wilder, as if she was awkwardly growing into
herself as a Caster. With every day, Lena the Caster girl was more unpredictable, stretching her powers to see what she could
do. As it turned out, what she could do these days was cause all kinds of trouble.
Like the time Link and I were driving to school in the Beater, and one of his songs came on the radio as if the station was
playing it. Link was so shocked he’d swerved a good two feet into Mrs. Asher’s front hedge. “An accident,” Lena said with
a crooked smile. “One of Link’s songs was stuck in my head.” Nobody had ever gotten one of Link’s songs stuck in their head.
But Link had believed her, which made his ego even more unbearable. “What can I say? I have that effect on the ladies. This
voice is as smooth as butter.”
A week after that, Link and I had been walking down the hall, and Lena came up and gave me a big hug, right as the bell was
ringing. I figured she had finally decided to come back to school. But she wasn’t actually there at all. It was some kind
of projection, or whatever the Caster word was for making your boyfriend look like an idiot. Link thought I was trying to
hug him, so he called me “Lover Boy” for days. “I missed you. Is that such a crime?” Lena thought it was funny, but I was
starting to wish Gramma would step in and ground her, or whatever it was you did to a Natural who was up to no good.
Don’t be a baby. I said I was sorry, didn’t I?
You’re as big a menace as Link in fifth grade, the year he sucked all the juice out of my mom’s tomatoes with a straw.
It won’t happen again. I swear.
That’s what Link said back then.
But he stopped, right?
Yeah. When we stopped growing tomatoes.
“Come down.”
“I like it better up here.”
I grabbed her hand. A current crept through my arm, but I didn’t let go, pulling her down onto the bed next to me.
“Ouch.” She was laughing. I could see her shoulder shudder even though her back was to me. Or maybe she wasn’t laughing but
crying, which was rare these days. The crying had mostly stopped and had been replaced by something worse. Nothing.
Nothing was deceptive. Nothing was much harder to describe or fix or stop.
Do you want to talk about it, L?
About what?
I pulled her closer, resting my head on hers. The shaking slowed, and I held her as tight as I could. Like she was still on
the ceiling, and I was the one hanging on.
Nothing.
I shouldn’t have complained about the ceiling. There were crazier places you could hang out. Like where we were now.
“I have a bad feeling about this.” I was sweating, but I couldn’t wipe my face. I needed my hands to
We sat like that, side by side, with only our shadows touching, until the sun went down and they stretched toward the black
trees and disappeared into dusk. We listened to the cicadas in silence and tried not to think until the rain started falling
again.
5.1
Falling
I n the next few weeks, I successfully convinced Lena to leave the house with me a total of three times. Once to the movies
with Link—my best friend since second grade—where even her signature combination of popcorn and Milk Duds didn’t cheer
her up. Once to my house to eat Amma’s molasses cookies and watch a zombie marathon, my version of a dream date. It wasn’t.
And once for a walk along the Santee, where we ended up turning around after ten minutes with sixty bug bites between us.
Wherever she was, she didn’t want to be.
Today was different. She had finally found somewhere she was comfortable, even if it was the last place I expected.
I walked in her room to find her lying sprawled across the ceiling, arms flung across the plaster, her hair spread out like
a black fan around her head.
“Since when can you do that?” I was used to Lena’s powersby now, but since her sixteenth birthday they seemed to be getting stronger and wilder, as if she was awkwardly growing into
herself as a Caster. With every day, Lena the Caster girl was more unpredictable, stretching her powers to see what she could
do. As it turned out, what she could do these days was cause all kinds of trouble.
Like the time Link and I were driving to school in the Beater, and one of his songs came on the radio as if the station was
playing it. Link was so shocked he’d swerved a good two feet into Mrs. Asher’s front hedge. “An accident,” Lena said with
a crooked smile. “One of Link’s songs was stuck in my head.” Nobody had ever gotten one of Link’s songs stuck in their head.
But Link had believed her, which made his ego even more unbearable. “What can I say? I have that effect on the ladies. This
voice is as smooth as butter.”
A week after that, Link and I had been walking down the hall, and Lena came up and gave me a big hug, right as the bell was
ringing. I figured she had finally decided to come back to school. But she wasn’t actually there at all. It was some kind
of projection, or whatever the Caster word was for making your boyfriend look like an idiot. Link thought I was trying to
hug him, so he called me “Lover Boy” for days. “I missed you. Is that such a crime?” Lena thought it was funny, but I was
starting to wish Gramma would step in and ground her, or whatever it was you did to a Natural who was up to no good.
Don’t be a baby. I said I was sorry, didn’t I?
You’re as big a menace as Link in fifth grade, the year he sucked all the juice out of my mom’s tomatoes with a straw.
It won’t happen again. I swear.
That’s what Link said back then.
But he stopped, right?
Yeah. When we stopped growing tomatoes.
“Come down.”
“I like it better up here.”
I grabbed her hand. A current crept through my arm, but I didn’t let go, pulling her down onto the bed next to me.
“Ouch.” She was laughing. I could see her shoulder shudder even though her back was to me. Or maybe she wasn’t laughing but
crying, which was rare these days. The crying had mostly stopped and had been replaced by something worse. Nothing.
Nothing was deceptive. Nothing was much harder to describe or fix or stop.
Do you want to talk about it, L?
About what?
I pulled her closer, resting my head on hers. The shaking slowed, and I held her as tight as I could. Like she was still on
the ceiling, and I was the one hanging on.
Nothing.
I shouldn’t have complained about the ceiling. There were crazier places you could hang out. Like where we were now.
“I have a bad feeling about this.” I was sweating, but I couldn’t wipe my face. I needed my hands to
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