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developing the film that was in it; I couldn’t bring myself to. I was sure it held images of my birth mother, but I didn’t want her image to cloud the memories of the woman who saved my life, who gave me a home.
    What was even more terrifying was that I saw nothing when I touched that camera. That didn’t make sense to me because that was truly the only possession I had that connected me to my bloodline. So, it should be the only item in my life that birthed vivid images.
    I knew in my dream that it was the camera I was going back for, that I was willing to die for.
    I clenched my back teeth as I thought of the ice I had to swim past in that dream, how I couldn’t get Mason to the surface. I wondered why the one time I would need to create ice, I couldn’t. Why I couldn’t just dream like a normal person.
    I reached for the camera, and with my touch it froze over; the entire table did. One lonely, angry tear came to the edge of my eye. I was losing control, right when I needed it.
    I heard a familiar whisk of wind and turned to see Skylynn. She looked just as frazzled and confused as I did. I was starting to think she really was a figment of my imagination, a front I hid behind, and that front was crumbling like I was.
    “Why are you here?” she asked in a tone that was full of bewilderment.
    “This is my darkroom.”
    “That is not what I mean. Why are you here? What happened?” she asked breathlessly.
    I glanced back at the table. The ice was gone now, but that wasn’t odd. Usually, as soon as my touch left, the ice did, too. My gaze found hers. “I had a night terror—words with Rasure—a lot on my mind.”
    “Night terror,” she said, angling her head down but letting her eyes hold my gaze. “Explain,” Skylynn said shortly, which was odd. She was usually so calm with me. I knew she had a fierce, protective temper laced with impatience, but it had never been directed at me.
    “There is nothing to explain. I was in a car, a train came, and we dodged out of the way into the icy lake. I had to save my friends. I woke up in the rafters of my room after Cadence turned on a light.”
    If Skylynn could have turned paler, she just did. “Listen,” she said, stepping closer. “I’m going to help you deal with this. I promise. But right now I have something else that I have to do.”
    “Then why are you here?” I said as I turned away from her. She was in front of me before one beat had passed.
    “I need that scarf.”
    “Now? You need it now? Are you crazy? I almost froze the entire room in front of Rasure. I basically breathed out fog. She is looking for one thing to hold against me. I can’t give it to you.”
    In that beat, the scarf was in her hands. I didn’t even feel her touch my skin or see her move. I did feel something, though: emptiness. I felt hollow, lost.
    “I told you I needed that!” I bellowed.
    “And I told you that I did, that it was not mine to give. Listen to me. I will be back. I will protect you.”
    “Knock knock,” I heard Mason say from the stairwell, beats before he appeared.
    When he landed on the bottom step, I was astonished to see his chocolate eyes meet Skylynn’s, then move to me. “Am…I interrupting something?” he asked with a boyish smirk as he looked over Skylynn once more.
    Skylynn sighed. “Some dream you had there, Indie,” she breathed. She glanced back at me. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” And with that, she vanished.
    “Skylynn!” I yelled after her, still feeling the emptiness that surfaced when she took that scarf away. I circled in place, calling her name, demanding that she appear again.
    Mason was at my side instantly, pulling me to his chest.
    “So that was the elusive Skylynn,” he said as he caressed my short blonde hair.
    “You really did see her,” I whispered tearfully, pulling his lean body closer to me, gripping him for dear life.

     
     
    Chapter Three
     
     
    Mason didn’t shiver as my touch all but froze him.