The unexpected ring of the doorbell caused the living room to fall silent. Who would be showing up in the middle of Thanksgiving? Chloe’s aunts, uncles, and grandparents had all arrived hours ago and the family had just finished dinner. As the most likely answer dawned on her, she shared a look with her mother. Together, they made their way to the door. However, before opening it, her mother placed a hand on Chloe’s shoulder and gently guided her to the side.

“Not yet, nena. Remember, I said she would come back when she has a solution, but let’s make sure she has one, yeah? I don’t want her dragging you into more drama that’s just going to lead back to you crying in your room in a week.”

Chloe opened her mouth to protest, but then nodded silently. Her mother was right. If Sophie wasn’t ready to stand up to the Heathers, then reuniting now would only hurt them both. She stood aside so that she would be behind the door when her mother opened it.

“Hello, Ms. Gutierrez,” came the voice. Chloe shivered at the sound, instantly regretting hiding. It took everything she had to resist running out and hugging Sophie.

“Is Chloe home? I know this is a weird time, but…” Sophie paused. “I really need to talk to her.”

“You hurt her pretty badly,” Chloe’s mom said. It was a statement, not an accusation.

“Yeah, that’s one of the things I wanted to talk about. I messed up really badly and I want to tell her that I’m sorry. I know we might not be able to go back to how things were before, but she at least deserves an apology.” Sophie’s voice sounded tired. Had the Heathers been running her ragged?

“I like you, Sophie,” Chloe’s mom said. “You’ve been putting a smile on my daughter’s face for a long time, and that smile only got bigger when you started dating. But according to Chloe, you’ve been going through some difficulties lately. I hope you’ve got them sorted out.”

“A few, yeah,” Sophie admitted. “And no, I haven’t quite figured them out, yet. But I finally realized that I need to face them directly instead of just putting up with them.” She stopped for a moment. “Which... is another reason why I was hoping to talk to Chloe.”

That was good enough, wasn’t it? Sophie was finally admitting that she needed to stand up to the Heathers. They could make a plan and resolve it together. But Chloe’s mother held firm to the door.

“I’m sorry, Sophie. She’s not in right now.”

“She isn’t? But today’s…” There was a pause. “...I understand. When she gets back, could you tell her that I stopped by? And that I’m sorry?”

“Of course I will,” Chloe’s mother said warmly. “And, listen, I hope you can work through whatever you’re going through.”

By the time her mother had shut the door, tears were already streaming down Chloe’s cheeks. Chloe rushed from the room, leaving her mother and her extended family staring after her as her bedroom door slammed shut.

“Aimee,” one of her uncles began. She held her finger up.

“It’s none of our business, Louie. Let’s have some pie and give her some alone time.”

 

* * *

 

“Numb” wasn’t powerful enough a word to describe the crushing defeat engulfing Sophie as she remained still, even minutes after the door had closed, staring straight ahead. If every piece of her body was forcibly returned to normal by Heather M., bit by bit, she wondered if she’d even notice at all.

None of this was worth it without Chloe. Without someone to share it with. She backed off the porch and sucked in a sharp breath before turning around for home. She clutched at her thin sweater as she poured over her options. While she wasn’t wholly sure they were Chloe’s exact feelings on the matter, it was safe to assume that until she figured out some way to separate herself from the Heathers, Chloe wasn’t going to reinvolve herself with Sophie, lest she risk being…

Sophie sighed. She wouldn’t do that to Chloe ever again. But she had to prove it. Awash in her thoughts, she found herself back home quicker than she’d realized.

“So?” Her grandmother stood expectantly in the doorway. In only a moment her hopeful demeanor faltered. “Oh, Sop—“

“Grams,” Sophie interrupted her with a determined tone. The hint of an idea was clawing away in her mind.  “Can you teach me about our powers? All of them. I want to know everything.”

“Everything?” Her grandmother raised an eyebrow.

“Everything. You mentioned clairvoyance being one of our powers?”

“The power to sense the world around you, yes. Why?”

Kicking off her shoes, Sophie lowered her stocking covered feet to the cool tile floor and smiled at her grandmother. “Can it be used to find something specific?”

 

* * *

 

The small break her school afforded flew by faster then she could have anticipated. Using Lars’ room, her grandmother had announced that she felt lonely living in her commune and wanted to stay with her family for a little while. Lars had grumpily posted up on the couch for the remainder of the weekend before returning to school while her parents, surprised as they were at her sudden request, seemed nevertheless enthusiastic about having her around. Especially, they noted, as she seemed to rouse Sophie from the funk she’d been in.

For her part, her grandmother wasted little time in onboarding Sophie to what she proudly coined “Broomstick Bootcamp”. Unfortunately, Sophie learned, broom flight was quite impossible as far as her grandmother had been able to ascertain. 

Insisting her parent’s backyard was nowhere near suitable, both Saturday and Sunday were spent embarking on long treks through the fiery autumn woods beyond their home. She kept her hands stuffed into the pockets of the tan drapey trench coat she wore and nestled her nose into the wool scarf around her neck. For the first time in what seemed to Sophie like an eternity, she could feel a small glimmer of graciousness at Heather M. who’d insisted they purchase her the thing during their last shopping excursion.

“Keep up, Soph,” her grandmother called back to her as she surged forward through the underbrush. “There’s a clearing I found  several years back when we were helping you guys move in, it’ll be perfect for training.”

Feeling weary from the wet and windy weather, Sophie groaned and followed suit. Her grandmother stationed her at one end of the clearing and spun her toward the vegetation ahead.

“Okay, just a warm-up so I can see where you’re at, sweetie. I’m gonna be throwing a ball at your back. Try and catch it without looking. Think you can handle it?”

Sophie rolled her eyes and nodded. “Yes, Grams. Give me all you’ve got.”

“You asked for it,” she heard her grandmother chuckle. Sophie only heard the crunching of leaves next before pinpricks and...

The ball was rushing towards Sophie, not at her back as Grams had told her, but instead, it was aimed to pass over her right shoulder. She reached up and caught it, though in the process of doing so unknowingly put one of her painted nails in the way of the ball.

“Ow!” she yelped, holding her now-broken nail between her lips. “Grams! That was really hard!”

Her grandmother walked over, beside herself with laughter. “I told you, you asked for it.” For someone in her sixties, she seemed surprisingly spry as she pulled the ball up into her hand in one fluid motion. She gave her a strange look. “Come on, woman up and forget about your nail. We’ve got training to do!”

Sophie dropped her head. “Heather M. is gonna kill me…”

Her grandmother placed her hands on her hips. “Now, you’re doing very well with your intuition, barring the nail incident,” she said, emphasizing the word slowly as a small smile curved over her cheeks. “But that’s not all there is to this game. You and I are part of… something.” She scratched at the back of her head absentmindedly. “Honestly, I’m not quite sure what we are. Witches? Something else entirely? If I’m being honest, I can’t help but wonder if there isn’t some sort of lineage in our blood from a past ancestor. My grandmother was an orphan, so we’re stuck unless we give our blood away for studying.”

Sophie frowned. “Yeah, maybe not a great idea?”

Her grandmother nodded. “That’s my opinion as well. But for the sake of brevity, let’s stick with witches, yeah?” She gestured at the forest around them, her arms open wide.

“The rough hypothesis is that we’re supposed to protect spirits — that is, the glowing animal-like creatures you’ve been seeing lately. You have been seeing them?”

“Yeah.” Sophie nodded, recounting her experiences with them at the lake and fair.

Her eyes widened. “Oh! A behemoth! That must’ve been an old baby!” Seeing the confusion on Sophie’s face, she clarified; “The older they are, the larger they get. Usually, they reset themselves before they get that big, but I suppose some like the view.”

“What are we protecting them from?” Sophie asked.

“For the most part, those who would do them wrong. There’s little stuff like picking up any kind of trash humans have dumped into their habitats as well as aiding any in trouble. Most egregiously, we’re here to serve as both an ambassador to them and Spirit Wells…” She gave Sophie a long look.

“What exactly are the Wells, anyway? Where do they come from?”

Her grandmother shook her head. “I don’t know. From what I’ve been able to gather, they were originally made by humans. They appear in a location along with a few coins. Once the coins are used up, the Well becomes dormant, then moves to a new location. If we find one, the best thing we can do is find one of the corresponding coins if we can and use it to release the spirit within.”

Sophie felt her stomach tighten. “So there’s a spirit trapped in the Well?”

“Not trapped, exactly. At least I don’t believe so. It wants to help people. But it’s like a child. Imagine if you gave a child power over the world like that. This child sees that there are people starving and concludes that they need help growing more food. So she makes it rain more in the desert. Do you know what would happen then?”

“The desert would be destroyed and no one would be helped,” Sophie replied thoughtfully.

Her grandmother nodded firmly. “Exactly. The child wants to help, but she doesn’t understand the full effects of what she’s doing. The spirit in the Well is the same way. And it gets even worse when it isn’t allowed to go dormant as normal.”

The relief she had begun to feel turned back into tension. “Why? What happens?”

“It becomes increasingly dangerous for the other spirits in the area,” her grandmother replied, her voice quiet and small. “The Well traps them. Uses their energy to grant wishes. That’s why I was asking about the amount of wishes made, Sophie. If too much of their energy is drained away...” her eyes dropped uncharacteristically towards the ground.

“They die?” Sophie whispered.

Her grandmother nodded sadly.

Sophie fell into her grandmother’s arms, tears springing forth from her eyes before she ever felt the sting of sorrow clawing up her throat. “I’m so sorry,” she sobbed, tears running off her nose onto her grandmother’s tasseled scarf. “I — I didn’t know. I had no idea!”

Her grandmother pointed Sophie’s face upward with a hooked finger beneath her chin. “I’m not gonna chide you, you didn’t know. But now you do, and what you do with the knowledge will ultimately be up to you.”

Still sniffling, Sophie nodded. “Okay. So you said we had other powers, right?”

“Sure as rain. There’s clairvoyance, mostly manifesting in dreams, there are light spells, too, like the tracking one I cooked up as well as a luck one and a few others. Plus we can actually activate the supposed power of gemstones.”

Sophie’s brow furrowed. “What does that mean?”

Her grandmother grinned and, fishing beneath her shirt, pulled out a silver necklace with a smooth, shiny black stone embedded into a small pendant. Sophie was sure Heather S. would know what it was right away. Onyx, maybe? 

“I’m assuming that has some sort of passive buff?” she asked.

Her grandmother scrunched her face as she tried to parse the slang. “I suppose that’s one way to put it. Obsidian strengthens and enhances your natural abilities. You likely won’t notice much of a change in your intuition, but it will make it easier to learn your other skills, such as clairvoyance.”

She removed the necklace and handed it to Sophie who put it on.

“Now, sit down,” her grandmother said.

Sophie hesitated. “But it’s wet.”

Her grandmother raised her eyebrows, a reaction Sophie was well acquainted with.

She hurriedly sat cross-legged in the grass.

“Close your eyes. And keep them closed.”

Sophie closed her eyes.

“Hold your hands up.”

Sophie raised her hands to chest level.

“Now touch your fingertips together.”

Sophie did as she was instructed.

“Good. There are more than five senses. That’s true for everyone, not just us. As you’ve just demonstrated, the sense of the body’s position relative to itself is one of these senses, distinct from the sense of touch. What I am going to teach you how to do is to extend that sense beyond your body. Sense the position of the world around you.”

She heard her grandmother walking, circling around her. “The first step is the hardest. Once you know how to do it, it becomes easy to improve, but learning how to reach out is tricky. Most of your senses come to you. Light comes to you and you see, sound comes to you and you hear, the future comes to you and—“

Sophie felt the pinpricks and reached out to catch the ball her grandmother had thrown.

“—you intuit. But the position of your body is something you had to learn. When you were a baby, you didn’t understand how your body worked. You didn’t even know how to control your own muscles, let alone how to understand how your body was positioned. But you figured it out. And you’re going to start that process again today. You know what it feels like when your powers are active. I want you to conjure up that feeling. Make the tingling on the back of your neck happen. And while you do, sense the field around you. Not the feeling of the grass beneath you or the sounds of nature, but the presence of all of the things you can’t see or hear or touch.”

Sophie concentrated. She had never consciously made the tingling happen, except when tossed things into the air, but even then the tingling was a reaction. She decided to think of it as a reflex. Reflexes happened on their own, but the motion involved could be easily repeated. She thought about what she felt when the pinpricks started, imagined the exact position of where the first pinprick might occur, and tried to find whichever psychic muscle she needed to flex to make it happen again.

Nothing happened.

Inhaling deeply, she tried again. Just focus…

She frowned as crunching leaves disrupted her focus once more. “Grams…”

Her grandmother laughed. “I didn’t say it’d be easy, did I? You didn’t go from crawling to running in a single day, after all. Let’s scale down.” She crouched closer to Sophie’s level. There’s a tree behind you. It’s split in a funny way. What does its bark look like?”

Sophie turned to look, but her grandmother grabbed her shoulders, stopping her. “Ah, ah, feel it out.”

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Sophie closed her eyes again. Anxious energy was building up in her center as she tried a variety of different methods. Clearing her mind. Rhythmic breathing. Grounding. But none of it was working. She remained still and focused for what seemed an eternity but was, in all likelihood shorter, until her grandmother cleared her throat.

“That’ll be enough for today. I didn’t actually expect you to get very far. But you know how to meditate, which is a good start.”

Sophie stood back on her feet, a growing frown showing. “Sorry, Grams.” She began to take the necklace off, but her grandmother stopped her.

“Why don’t you keep it for now? We’ll try again tomorrow and over next week, and see if this helps at all, yeah?”

Staring for a moment, Sophie nodded. It was nice to know she didn’t have to be perfect. Not all the time. “Okay.”

They made their way back to the house where her grandmother regaled Sophie with tales of her youth, of the loves she once had, and the embarrassing ways her own powers had manifested, taking care not to be too specific when the rest of the family was around. More than once texts from a chat Heather M. had demanded send read receipts required her attention, something her grandmother seemed to pick up on.

“These girls are running you ragged, huh?” She said, reclining back on the couch as Lars and Sophie’s parents were occupied in the kitchen.

Sophie set the phone down on her knee. Her voice came out more frayed and patchy than she’d like. “Yeah. And nobody knows or, if they do, cares.”

“What about your parents?”

“They still think the Heathers are a good influence on me; they made a really good first impression on my parents that apparently hasn’t worn off. I half-wonder if that was a wish, too.”

Sophie’s grandmother smirked. “They’re all named ‘Heather’?”

With a longstanding sigh, Sophie nodded. “Yeah.”

Her grandmother rubbed at her chin thoughtfully. “Interesting. A well and group of Heathers does not a coven make. We’ll see if more turbulent weather can give them the shake.”

Sophie was left blinking. “What was that?”

A boisterous cackle erupted from her grandmother as she pulled Sophie close. “I just like talking in riddles and rhymes sometimes. Comes with the whole witch thing.”

“Right,” Sophie replied.

“But,” her grandmother continued; “I think it’s good that you’re trying to get out from under them.” She tapped her finger against Sophie’s collarbone. “You and I are very similar people. We don’t do our best work underneath someone else. We like the space to think and puzzle out. I think you’ll be learning more about yourself in the coming years than you ever have — even taking into account your most recent spate of self-discovery.”

“You think so?” Sophie asked.

“Positive.”

The rest of the weekend passed by far too quickly for Sophie. Sunday consisted of much the same schedule; waking up and training with Grams for most of the day in bursts before retiring back to the house. She was intensely relieved her grandmother was staying a few extra days. She’d made next to no progress at all on Sunday, either.

Chloe still wasn’t talking to her. It was clear that if Sophie wanted to fix things, the onus was on her. She fell asleep that night, her mind awash in the remaining options and plans she could pursue to retrieve the coin from the Heathers if her powers never manifested. She hadn’t planned to pin her hopes on that one option, but having such a leg up on them was immensely appealing considering their height and number advantage they held on her. Hopefully, it’d prove fruitful.

 On Monday, Sophie was back to being the Heathers’ prisoner. After a weekend of freedom, she felt more restless than ever under their thumb. Being picked up for school once felt like a luxury, but now she just wished she could walk. Heather M.’s gaze bored into her back harder than ever in Statistics. Having to pretend Chloe didn’t exist in Chemistry and Gym was endlessly frustrating. Her carefully-monitored lunch brought her no satisfaction.

However, she managed to score a small victory. She knew that Heather M. would never allow an excuse like “I want to spend time with my grandmother while she’s in town” so Sophie spent the day thinking up a better lie. In the end, she settled for explaining that her grandmother had just had surgery, and needed Sophie around as much as possible to help take care of her. Thankfully, Heather grumpily accepted this, but sternly reminded Sophie that they would be having another sleepover that Friday to discuss their plans for the upcoming Winter Formal. Her tone let Sophie know that excuses would not be tolerated. 

Unlike the days before Thanksgiving, Sophie now had something to look forward to each day, a reprieve from the emotionally exhausting job of being Heather M.’s accessory. For a little while, she could relax and forget about the act she put on each day as she and her grandmother made their way out into the woods for more practice. Unfortunately, even these breaks weren’t without their stress. Sophie seemed to be making no progress. No matter how she tried to approach it, whether she concentrated as hard as she could or relaxed and just let her senses do as they would, she couldn’t seem to develop clairvoyance. For her part, her grandmother never expressed any disappointment. Instead, she was cheerfully supportive, always ending their sessions by saying “You did well today. Keep practicing and it will come to you.”

However, Sophie wasn’t so sure. How could her grandmother be sure that what she was doing was the right thing? From her perspective, Sophie was just sitting in a field. She couldn’t see inside Sophie’s head.

Sophie felt glum all day on Friday, knowing that she would be under Heather M.’s heel all day and probably continuing into Saturday. Less time to train with her grandmother meant it would take longer for her to learn to use her powers, time which the Heathers would use to continue damaging reality with the Well. And... she clutched at her corduroy cardigan in a flailing attempt to stymie tears from flooding from her eyes; time she would be away from Chloe. She could feel a frantic need to act growing in her, but she forced herself to remain calm and keep up her act as Heather M.’s obedient friend.

The sleepover itself was much less tense than the last one, but there was still something sinister in Heather M.’s cheerful tone as she led them through the usual activities of pizza-ordering, movie-watching, and nail-painting.

Don’t they ever do anything else? she caught herself wondering more than once. At least let me do something besides solid colors if I’m stuck on nail-duty.”

 As the sun was setting, the group was lounging in Heather’s room, deciding what to do next.

“Donuts,” Heather M. said unexpectedly.

Everyone looked at her.

“I’m in the mood for donuts,” she elaborated. “There’s a bakery nearby that should still be open. Sophie, go get us a box.”

Sophie stood, then hesitated.

“Should I get enough for me, too? I — I don’t want to eat something off of your diet..” Sophie cursed herself. She was so wrapped around her finger, too afraid to say the wrong thing.

Heather M. rolled her eyes. “It’s a sleepover. You’re allowed to have some junk food.”

Sophie let out a soft sigh. She knew more questions would only annoy Heather M, but she didn’t want to do the wrong thing, either. “What kind should I get?”

“Just get us some donuts, Sophie. It’s not rocket science.”

Her annoyed tone had Sophie nodding and quickly making her way out of the room. Outside, she leaned against the door and groaned. She was turning into Heather K.

The bakery Heather had indicated proved to be a ten-minute walk. Sophie arrived just as they were getting ready to close for the evening and selected a dozen donuts of various types on display. An errant thought struck her.

“Do you have any old donuts?” she asked.

The young woman behind the counter made a face. “Like day-olds?”

“Yeah.”

“Er, sure. One moment.” She went to the back and returned shortly thereafter, carrying an assorted tray of donuts. “How many do you want? This time of day we usually give these ones away for free.”

“Just one,” Sophie answered. “Boston cream. But… can I ask for a favor?”

An intrigued smirk spread across the woman’s face. “Shoot.”

Sophie took the small box from her. “Can you charge me for two of these?” She produced the credit card Heather M. had given her. “This is the credit card of a really horrible person.”

The woman blinked a few times but nodded slowly. “Sorry, I didn’t quite hear what you said to your phone there, hun. Anyways, I’m happy that you bought two whole boxes of donuts today,” she replied, her tone obviously faked. “Don’t go eating them all in one place.”

“We probably will.” Sophie smiled back at her. “Sleepover. You know how it is.” Sophie strode from the shop, a wide grin spread over her cheeks. It felt good to rebel, even if a little.

The pride only lasted as far as Heather M.’s front door.

“What if she hates it, and wishes they went out of business?” A cold sweat ran down her neck. She couldn’t let Heather M. have the old donut. She was too much of a wildcard; the risk was too great. Heart in hand, she opened the front door and headed towards Heather’s room, also worried she’d be punished for taking too long.

 She halted her gait at the sound of the voices inside, just past the closed door.

“I just don’t see why we need to do that to her,” Heather S. was saying.

Terror gripped Sophie. Were they going to do something to her?

“Because she completely ruined Thanksgiving with her stupid cold,” Heather M. replied, annoyed.

“She made Sophie sick, too,” Heather K. added, smugly. “She couldn’t talk and her brother almost called the police. Thankfully, I was able to get there and help her.”

Were they talking about Natalie? Was she related to Heather M?

“But none of that’s her fault,” Heather S. protested. ‘It’s not like she deliberately got sick. Doesn’t this seem a little extreme?”

“It’s not just Thanksgiving.” Sophie winced as Heather M. raised her voice. “Everyone in the family dotes on her just because she has anxiety and no one’s brave enough to tell her how embarrassing she is. It’s bad enough that she goes to the same school as me, but now she’s horning in on my territory by going to the winter formal. What even is there at a dance for someone like her?”

“So what if she goes? It’s not like anyone knows she’s your cousin.”

“But they could find out,” Heather M. hissed. “Especially if she decides to keep going to social events. Which is why we have to make sure this one is as miserable and humiliating as possible.”

“But even if it came out that she was your cousin, who would even care?” There was a note of desperation in Heather S.’ voice. Whatever fate she was trying to spare Natalie, it must have been terrible.

“I would care,” Heather M. snapped. “I get to decide who I’m connected to, not her. Not anyone else at school. I’m the only one who gets to sculpt my image.”

Sophie tried to think fast. She couldn’t allow them to hurt Natalie. True, she had stood by and allowed them to hurt others, and she could get herself harmed trying to help Natalie, but if she allowed Natalie to come to harm, she felt like the Heathers would be winning more than just a victory over some innocent girl. They would be claiming a part of Sophie herself. She wasn’t sure why. Natalie wasn’t someone she was particularly close to, they had never hung out and hardly talked to each other at all outside of the classes they shared, but Sophie instantly resolved to stop whatever the Heathers were planning.

But it wouldn’t do any good to just march in there and demand they stop. They would erase her memory again or do something even worse. There was a week before the winter formal. That was a week to figure out what they were planning, continue her training, and either steal the coin or find some other way to stop them. Taking a deep breath, Sophie plastered a smile on her face and stepped into the bedroom with the donuts.

“There you are,” Heather M. said, suddenly cheerful. She hopped up and snatched one of the boxes from Sophie. She flung it open and selected a donut, biting into it excitedly. The other Heathers made their selections almost as quickly.

Already regretting her failed attempt at a subtle rebellion, Sophie chose the nearly-two-day-old donut and bit into it. It wasn’t pleasant, but she was able to get through her first bite without losing her composure.

“So, we were going to talk about the winter formal tonight weren’t we?” she asked.

Heather M. shrugged. “That was the plan, but the truth is, us three have been to enough of these dances that we all pretty much know what to do. As for you, think of it as a test. A chance to put into motion everything I’ve taught you. Additionally, I need some full-body pictures so I can run swatches against your complexion and figure out necklines. I’m pretty sure a blue scoop is where we’ll land but, of course, it’s far more complex than that. I’ll just text you sometime when I decide what I want you to wear.”

Sophie wondered if the real purpose of the donut trip was to get her out of the room so she could discuss her plans with the other Heathers.

Sophie smiled. “Sounds good. So what are we doing next?”

 

* * *

 

The rest of the sleepover passed without incident and the Heathers thankfully only demanded about half of her Saturday, allowing her to go home after lunch. At home, Sophie told her grandmother of her new deadline and insisted they continue her training right away. After another failed session, her grandmother told her it was time to go home, but Sophie insisted on staying to practice more.

“That won’t do you any good, honey,” her grandmother explained. “You need to let your mind rest.”

“But it doesn’t feel like I’m getting any closer, and there’s only so much time.”

Her grandmother nodded slowly. “I know, but with a skill like this, you have to allow it to develop at its own pace. You can’t force it. And who knows, you may find a solution that won’t require any supernatural powers at all.”

Sophie, however, did not find this satisfying, and after returning home, spent a couple of hours in her room, meditating as her grandmother had taught her. It probably wouldn't be as effective as training closer to nature, she realized, but perhaps it would bring her a few inches closer to figuring out her clairvoyance. She continued this behind her grandmother’s back on Sunday.

On Monday morning, she awoke feeling exhausted. She wasn’t sure if it was just the dreariness of the week’s beginning or if it was because of her extra meditation. The meditation didn’t seem to be anything more than sitting in place, but maybe part of her mind was doing something she didn’t realize. She decided to hope it was a sign she was making progress.

However, she didn’t let this tiredness stop her from pulling Heather S. aside as Chemistry ended.

“You’re planning to do something to Natalie,” she said grimly.

The look Heather gave her was sad and resigned. “You heard?”

Sophie nodded.

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” Heather said. “It’s not like I’m happy about it. It’s messed up, even for Heather.”

“Then why don’t you make her stop?” Sophie demanded. The combination of her physical and emotional exhaustion left her with little patience.

“Don’t you think I would if I could? I’ve managed to calm her down in the past. However, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I don’t exactly have a lot of pull these days.” She paused, but Sophie glared at her, refusing to let her escape from recognizing her own complicity. “Maybe I could talk to her. Get her to use the Well to make sure no one notices her connection to Natalie.”

Heather M. wasn’t already planning to use the Well for this? What was she going to do? Another important matter pushed the question out of Sophie’s mind. Was it better to let a little more damage to reality happen or to risk being unable to find another way to stop Natalie from coming to harm? Sophie recalled what her grandmother had said about everyone thinking their wish was important.

“No, don’t use the Well,” she said. “You shouldn’t be using it at all. You don’t even know what the consequences are.”

Heather gave her an annoyed look. “I didn’t hear you complaining a few weeks ago.”

“Just trust me? Please?” Sophie pleaded. “Keep everyone from using the Well as much as possible.”

“Just because I’m not happy about everything Heather does with the well doesn’t mean I’m on your side,” Heather S. snapped. “She’s my best friend.”

She stormed off, leaving Sophie feeling slightly sick to her stomach.

As the week crawled on, Sophie’s desperation grew, hampered only by her increasing exhaustion. Finally, she resolved that unless she had a breakthrough, she would just warn Natalie on Friday not to go to the dance and hope that the Heathers wouldn’t find out. Thankfully, she would find her breakthrough at an unexpected time.

It didn’t happen while she was in the woods with her grandmother, or while she was meditating alone in her room. Instead, it occurred Thursday morning as she was in Statistics. She was so exhausted that she struggled to keep her eyes open and her head aloft. Finally, thinking that she would feel better if she relaxed for just a few minutes, she crossed her arms on the desk in front of her and rested her chin on them. She figured the teacher wouldn’t complain as long as she was still paying attention, but of course, it wasn’t long before her eyes fell closed.

In her half-asleep state, she could still hear the teacher talking, but his words lost all meaning. The other students were hardly paying attention, anyway. One girl was reading fanfiction on her phone, a guy was busy working on an impressively detailed sketch of a dragon. Heather M. was giving her an annoyed glare, but Sophie was in no state to feel afraid or consider that she should sit up. Just as with the teacher’s voice, Heather’s expression had lost all meaning. Instead, she observed as another student, apparently bored out of his mind, pushed his book back and forth on his desk using his pen. Eventually, he pushed it far enough over the edge that it slipped off and Sophie traced its path as it fell to the ground with a loud smack.

Sophie jerked slightly and sat up. Aside from an ache in her neck from her awkward position, she felt lingering pinpricks, lighter and less insistent than the ones she was used to. She took a glance around the room. She could see the girl reading the fanfiction, but she couldn’t tell what she was doing with her phone. The guy drawing the dragon was barely visible, nearly in the opposite corner of the room. Had she done it? Was that clairvoyance? Her heart began to pound as she realized the power of this skill. If she could control it, she would be able to follow every move the Heathers made at the dance. More than that, she would be able to tell exactly where Heather K. was keeping the coin, and sense the perfect moment to try to take it.

When she got home that afternoon she found her grandmother right away and told her about the events in the classroom. Her grandmother listened with a widening smile.

“Wonderful! I must say, it's a bit of a surprise that it happened in the middle of class, but magic is strange like that. Congratulations.”

Sophie’s pride deflated as she remembered that her problems weren’t over. “But I don’t know if I can control it yet. And the Heathers are going to do something terrible to Natalie at the dance tomorrow. I wanted to use clairvoyance to figure out what it is and stop it without making them suspicious.”

“In that case, we’d better get out to the woods and run some drills,” her grandmother said cheerfully.

They left a note for Sophie’s parents and made their way out to their usual spot. Sophie sat in the middle of the clearing as she usually did and closed her eyes.

“Now, this time I want you to remember what you felt as you were sleeping in that classroom,” her grandmother instructed. ”Try to make that feeling come again.”

Sophie concentrates, recalling what had gone through her head earlier that day. There had been no emotions, so it was best not to focus on those. There had just been awareness. Observation.

“You know where your arms are. You know where your legs are. You know where the grass and leaves and trees are.”

That was right. The knowledge of what was around her had been just as natural as the position of her own body. She began to feel a slight tingling on her neck.

“Now, where is the object I set down?”

She had heard movement in the grass a moment ago. She pointed in that direction.

“Very good! You’re a natural!” her grandmother cheered.

“No, I’m not,” Sophie admitted, feeling a wave of shame. “I heard you set the magic 8-ball down.”

There was a soft laugh. “And how did you know it was a magic 8-ball?”

Sophie’s breath caught. How did she know? She wracked her brain, trying to recall if she had seen her grandmother with a magic 8-ball at any point in the last week, but she couldn’t think of any reason to imagine her grandmother had one. Yet somehow she knew it was there making a dent in the grass.

And, she realized, there were other things she was aware of, too. Leaves falling from the trees around her, animals moving beneath the ground, the proud look on her grandmother’s face. She wasn’t sure how far this sense extended, but it seemed to become vaguer the further it reached.

She opened her eyes. “I did it!”

Her grandmother knelt down and pulled her into a hug. “I told you it would click sooner or later.”

Sophie felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She took it out to find a text from Heather M.

“Those girls again?” her grandmother asked.

“Yeah. Heather just sent me a picture of the dress I’m supposed to wear to the dance.”

Her grandmother leaned over to look at the image of the sky blue dress that had been chosen. “It’s pretty,” she said in a flat voice. “A good color for you, at least.”

Sophie stared at the image. It was pretty, she supposed. She certainly couldn’t think of one that would look better on her. But it made her feel nothing.

“I guess. I just wish I’d gotten to choose it myself,” she said. Especially for her first dance.

“You’ll be free of them soon enough,” her grandmother replied. “With your intelligence and talent, they’re no match for you. Come on, let’s get home.”

Sophie stood and a wave of dizziness washed over her, forcing her to kneel back down in the grass. Her grandmother was at her side a moment later, feeling her forehead.

“Are you okay, Sophie?” she asked. “You’ve been pushing yourself, haven’t you?”

“Yeah,” Sophie admitted.

Her grandmother nodded curtly. “Let that be a lesson to you. Wear down your mind and you’ll end up paying for it. You’re going to bed early tonight, young lady. You need rest.”