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seat and ran it all through my head, trying to figure out how it had happened.  
    I’d slipped into thought.   I’d imagined her shining like the Virgin Mary.   I’d said to myself that she should be lit from within.   And then she was.
    I pressed my hand to my shirt and could feel the amulet’s warmth.   I didn’t understand it, but I couldn’t deny it.   It was me.   I was responsible.   I caused this even though I hadn’t intended to.   And there was something else I couldn’t deny.   The light she emitted only had grown in strength.   If I hadn’t shaken myself out of that moment, something terrible would have happened to her.   She could have combusted.
    And here’s the dirty truth—whether I liked it or not, knowing I was the catalyst for what just happened made me feel something I’d never felt in my life.   Power.   For the first time ever, I felt invincible and I liked it almost as much as I was scared of it.  
    With the exception of her new shorter hair, Sara hadn’t been physically injured.   Maybe emotionally scarred for the rest of her life, but there are counselors for that.   Still, I’d been able to shut it off.   I’d shaken myself out of whatever haze I was in and it stopped.   That was something I’d need to remember—how to turn it off.
    Alex looked at me.   “This is nuts.”   And then he really looked at me.   “Are you alright?”
    I shrugged.   Yes and no.   Mostly no.
    What the hell had creepy Jim given me?

 
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    When the bell rang, it marked the beginning of a new school year, but what did that year hold for me now?   Certainly not what I was thinking earlier this morning—pending death.   Certain destruction.   A fist to the gut.  
    But what now?
    Without being conscious of it, I’d just turned someone into a spinning sphere of light.   Until I learned exactly how to use this thing, I’d need to monitor all my thoughts, which was scary because doing so was next to impossible when most of the school had it in for me.
    What if someone came up behind me and punched me and I had one of my usual thoughts—die!   Would they?   Was this thing that powerful?   Could I kill someone with it?   The whole thing made me uneasy and, frankly, kind of scared.   What were its limits?   Did it have limits?
    Did I have limits?
    I needed to speak to creepy Jim now—not later—but since I didn’t own a cell, there was no way to reach him, so I’d need to suck it up and try to keep things under control until later, when I could speak to him.
    That is, if he’d talk to me.   I was told to figure this thing out on my own.   Somehow, I’d need to do that.   But how?   Would today’s incidents with Sara and Jake create enough attention to move the target off me for the next several hours?   As I moved toward the door, people were still talking about them, so I was able to slip under the radar as we all shuffled into the hall.   I caught a few looks shot my way, but none of them lingered—the interest was elsewhere.   For once, I wasn’t the focus.
    But I was curious.  
    English was first and I had a few minutes to get there.   Ahead of me was the boy’s bathroom.   I stepped inside, saw no one there.   I went to one of the mirrors and looked at myself.   Face covered with acne.   Hair a thick, wiry mess.   Tooth missing thanks to one of Dad’s drunken benders.
    Could I change it?
    I stood there, staring at my face.   How would I even begin to change it?   Could I change it?   When I turned Sara into a menorah, I’d been in my head, thinking that she should have an aura of light about her since she was so goddamned perfect.  
    And so that’s the tactic I took now.   I looked at myself and thought that my acne should disappear and never come back, that my tooth should return, that my hair should have smooth, natural waves.   Minutes passed.   I studied my face and thought long and hard, willing it to