"Then you get down the mountain and everything goes back to normal, the same limitations, same insecurities and same impossibilities." He was still smiling although not as brightly. Sasha was thoroughly confused as to who she was sitting beside. He was morose one second and wistful the next. Who was this guy? What was he trying to tell her?

"Still interested in me?" he said suddenly his eyes hard and cold like ice. His gaze was penetrating and uncomfortable. Sasha shivered and wasn't sure if he was trying to scare her on purpose.

"Are you trying to scare me?"

"Maybe," he said. She sensed he was being truthful when he shifted his eyes back to the dark lake. The twinkling of lights from the houses dotted the long snaking lake and created a beautiful landscape like stars on water.

"You're going to have to try harder," she said in a shaky voice. She cleared her throat and continued. "I'm not going to give up on you. We might not be dating but that doesn't mean we can't be friends. You sound like you need one."

Evan laughed heartily again. "I'm alright," he said standing up and pulling her to her feet. "Teebow's trying to straighten me out."

"How's that going?" She said as casually as she could. She knew exactly what he meant but he didn't know that.

"I'm working on it," he said and didn't say more.

They didn't talk in the car drive to Sasha's house. He pulled up slowly in front of her home with the lights blazing on the porch. Sasha couldn't see anyone through the window.

"Thanks for the lift," she said reaching for the door.

"Wait," Evan said putting a hand on her arm. She paused expectant. She couldn't stop a tiny flare of hope blossoming in her heart. His soft touch made her flush with excitement and she crossed her legs to squelch her desire. She tried to get angry at her body's reaction to Evan's closeness. The flush and goose b.u.mps on her skin kept defying her orders to not react to his touch.

He dropped his hand when she turned in her seat and stared into the blue lakes of his eyes. He averted his gaze and seemed uneasy, shifting in his seat.

"I can't promise you anything," he said suddenly. His eyes bore into her and she couldn't look away even if she wanted to. She sensed pain and anguish in his eyes as if his words and the need behind those words were causing him equal amounts of anguish.

"Don't give up on me," his voice cracked at the request although there were no tears. She felt relieved that he was asking something of her that she could give.

"No worries," she said. "I don't scare off that easily although I won't be here forever."

Evan grimaced. "So I've heard."

Sasha nodded and opened the door. She was blown away by her nerve and couldn't believe she gave him a warning. It was as if the words had a mind of their own and came out of her mouth without any help from her. She walked to her front door and didn't look back at the car. She didn't want to spoil her 'holy s.h.i.t I am so cool' moment.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

Surprisingly the Internet didn't have much on a new age crystal shop on Fifth Street. Sasha did her research after track practice. It was strange the shop didn't have a web presence. Sasha found a mention of the place on Yelp. It was sandwiched between a taco stand and a yoga studio.

Sasha searched for the bus schedule online figuring she could go on Sat.u.r.day. She didn't want to go by herself. She called Cady and left a message asking her to go with her. She hadn't seen Cady at school that day, but that wasn't unusual. Sometimes Cady wasn't there for several days. She never explained her absence and Sasha didn't pry.

After dinner Sasha went into the backyard. Even though it was January, the weather had warmed up and it was balmy enough for Sasha to walk barefoot in the gra.s.s. Winters in Austin were unpredictable. Sometimes it would be freezing, the next week it was in the 70s.

Sasha dragged a lawn chair to a secluded corner of the yard. While a.n.a.lyzing how to protect herself without help from her mother, she realized she needed to control the blue sparks and call on them at will. Her biggest stumbling block was figuring it out. They had emerged twice when she was in danger. Was that the key?

She laid a piece of wood at her feet and concentrated on it. She laid her hand, palm up, over the wood and thought about lifting it without touching it. She urged the blue sparks to appear. Focus. Focus. Focus. Nothing happened.

Disappointed Sasha scrutinized the yard for another object. She heard barking from her neighbor's yard but didn't pay it any attention. The little purse dog next door was very yappy but harmless.

Where were the squirrels when you needed them? Sasha scanned the tree limbs but saw no movement. She wasn't sure how to trigger the blue sparks. It was obvious she needed some kind of threat otherwise they wouldn't appear.

The barking got louder and Sasha rose from her chair and followed the snarls. It wasn't the little hairless dog next door. It was something more vicious. Sasha strode down the path between her house and the neighbor's. She stood on the sidewalk scanning in both directions listening for the source of the snarling.

She walked down the street, stones poking into the bottom of her feet. She barely felt them as goose b.u.mps rose on the back of her neck. The barking grew fiercer the closer she got to the dog. She could see it. It had brown spotted fur over its muscular body. Compact and efficient, it radiated strength. White foam gathered in the corner of its mouth. She wasn't sure if it was hot and thirty or had rabies.

As she approached the dog, she felt fear but wasn't paralyzed by it. It made her hyper sensitive, every nerve in her body aware and on edge. She felt super alert; sweat beaded on her forehead and upper lip. When she unlocked the gate around the house and stepped inside, she felt power surge in her limbs.

She saw the hair on the dog's neck and back rise. It was afraid too. Could it sense her energy? It approached her slowly. Its lips were pulled back over its teeth. A snarl escaped its throat as it prepared to charge.

Sasha crouched and raised her hand. She felt sparks crackle at the end of her fingertips. She didn't want to hurt the dog but sensed it was an opportunity to practice with her power.

When the dog lunged, she was ready. The sparks flew from her fingers in a stream of blue sparking light. The sparks coalesced together and pushed the dog's muzzle.

The dog was startled by the light and the shock of the touch of the spark and skidded to a stop. It remained fixed on a few stray sparks that lingered near its nose. In her head, Sasha directed the sparks to zap the dog's muzzle and then pull back.

The sparks followed her direction and remained visible. Zap. Zap. Zap. The dog cried out and scurried away into a dark corner of the yard. The sparks fizzled from sight.

Pleased with her experiment she left the yard and relocked the gate. The dog had ceased barking and stayed in its corner whimpering. Sasha regretted any pain she caused the dog but she had learned a lot from her experiment.

Her sparks only appear when she's facing danger. The sparks do respond to her commands no matter how direct or intuitive. The a.s.sault on the dog happened just as she directed it.

In the coffee shop, she wanted to make the gun useless but didn't know exactly how to do it. The sparks sensed her command and operated independently. She marveled at whether that meant the magic had some intelligence.

Sasha shook her head as she walked back to her house. Her experiment worked but raised as many questions as it answered. She needed to find this Fifth Street guy. She needed answers.

She walked into her house through the front door. She rubbed her feet on the carpet to remove grit when the doorbell rang.

She pulled open the door to find two policemen on the doorstep. Stunned Sasha gaped.

"Sasha?" one officer asked.

"Yes," she said timidly. What had she done? Did someone see her with the dog?

"We need to talk to you about your friend Cady," one officer said. "Can we come in?"

Sasha pulled the door open. "Sure," she said and closed it after they walked into the foyer. She led them to the kitchen where her father was making a snack. He was about to take a large bite out of his sandwich when he saw the police. He put his untouched snack on the counter.

"Officers," he said. "Is something wrong?"

"We are investigating the disappearance of Cady Hatwell," one officer said.

Sasha gasped. Disappearance? "What?" she said. "How?"

One officer smiled tightly. "That's what we are trying to find out. She hasn't been seen since she spoke with you yesterday," he said. "We're here to talk to you about that."

Sasha's mind swirled. Did she see Cady yesterday or was it Monday? No, Monday was the birthday dinner. Sasha nodded and told the officers about Cady picking her up and the two of them going to a local park.

"What time was that?"

Sasha shrugged. "C'mon Sasha help these guys out," her father said testily.

"I don't know what time," she said.

"Can we check your phone?"

Sasha dug her hands in her pockets. It wasn't there. Confounded she tried to remember when she last had her phone.

"I think it's in my room," she said and ran upstairs. The phone was on her bed. She scrolled through her phone and her chest tightened when she realized Cady hadn't returned her messages. What could have happened to her?

She flew down the stairs and dropped the phone in one of the policeman's hands. She stood by fidgeting as the police went through her phone.

"You've placed a couple of calls to her today," one police officer said.

"I got her voice mail," she said. "I left messages."

"That would explain why the calls were only 30 seconds," he said. "The log has you talking to her for three minutes at 7:24 last night. Does that sound right?"

Sasha shrugged. "Don't be difficult Sasha, answer the men," her father barked. Her father was angry. He never got angry with her.

"Yes. If that's what the phone says," she said stumbling over her words. "I'm not being difficult. I just don't remember when it was. It was dark and after dinner. That's as specific as I can get."

"What did you talk about?" one officer asked.

Sasha didn't know what to say. Her throat got dry and she coughed to cover up her nervousness. She couldn't tell them about the blue sparks or the attacks. Was Cady's disappearance related to Nefar? Sasha didn't think so. Evan was the only person who'd been present during the attacks. Unless she'd been followed, Nefar wouldn't know Cady existed.

"Boys," she said, using a tried and true subject that parents avoid.

"Can you elaborate?" he said.

Sasha sighed as if the policemen were invading her privacy. "I like a guy who doesn't like me," she said with a touch of anger. She and Cady had not talked about Evan but the situation was still true.

"Oh," the officer said. "What about Cady? Was she seeing someone?"

Before she answered her father broke in.

"She left your birthday party early didn't she?"

"Yes but I don't know where she was going," she said as the officers wrote something down in their notebooks.

"Do you know where she was going after she dropped you off?"

Sasha thought back to her interaction with Cady. She hadn't wanted to meet Sasha because she said she was busy.

"I have no idea," she said honestly. "She's been very busy lately and hasn't had much time for me. At the party she said she had an appointment. She said she had the date set for weeks that's why she couldn't go to my party."

"But she came to your party..." he officer said trying to prompt her to finishing her story.

"Yes but she said she couldn't stay for the whole night. I think she left while we were eating dessert," she said cautiously.

"Can you give me the names of some of her other friends?" an officer said.

Sasha put out her hand for her phone. She scrolled through the numbers and realized that most of the other people she knew weren't friends with Cady. She tried to recall who else she's seen with Cady and drew a blank.

Cady had set her up on a date with Sean but she couldn't remember which of Sean's friends was dating Cady. She gave the police Sean's name.

Then she remembered that at her birthday party Cady was asking about whether Evan was single. She didn't want to get Evan in trouble so she didn't tell police.

"I didn't see her at school today," she said. "That's not too unusual."

"Why's that?"

"I'd say she's absent a lot," Sasha said.

The officer snapped his notebook shut.

"Ok thanks," he said walking with his partner toward the door. "If you think of anything else give me a call." He gave her his business card and left.

Her dad was standing beside her as the front door shut behind the police. He gathered Sasha in his arms and hugged her tight.

"I'm sure it's nothing," he said into her hair.

"Probably," she said. She tried not to think about all the horrible things that could have happened to her. Should she have told the police that Cady liked to smoke dope? Would that have helped?

Uneasy Sasha went to her room. She slept fitfully that night dreaming about her missing friend.

"Have you heard from Cady?" Sasha asked Jenna once they were settled in her car on the way to school.

"Cady and I aren't on a texting basis," Jenna said. "If you haven't noticed she doesn't like me and I don't like her."

"I noticed," Sasha said dryly. "It was hard not to. You've been so mean to each other."

"Clarification," Jenna said as she made a turn."She started it."

Sasha groaned. For the millionth time she wished her two close friends could get along. Anytime the three of them were together, Jenna and Cady bickered like sisters and rarely expressed any concern or affection for each other. Sasha suspected they tolerated each other when Sasha was around and hated each other every other moment. Sasha couldn't figure out where the hate came from and how to make it go away.

"I haven't heard from her in a couple of days," Sasha said ignoring Jenna's animosity. "The police came by the house last night and questioned me. Have you seen her around school?"

Sasha had texted and called Cady but to no avail, there was no response.

"No and who cares," Jenna said. "I've never understood why you are friends with her."

Sasha twisted in her seat to face Jenna. "She could ask me the same of you."