Call Spirits in Your Past **Book Two**

Chapter 14 (Friday)

Ripple rolled over in her bed, yawning, trying to recall the last scraps of her dream. Something about...walking somewhere. In some building. She blinked a few times. Her door looked like a trapezoid, not a rectangle. Same with the tilted door frame. How strange.

Wait. Her door shouldn't look like that.

She bolted upright. She leaped from her bed and lunged forward, the ground tilting up at her, then caving away. Her stomach roiled in her throat.

"Addeline!" she shouted, stumbling to the door. A deep pounding thrum answered her. "Addie!" she shouted again.

The air warbled, and Ripple yanked open the door.

She swam underwater. No, she ran. She was floating down the hall towards Addie's room. She was sprinting, gasping for air. A dolphin sped past her. A lamp flew over her head. She ducked.

"Addie!" the water absorbed her shout and water filled her mouth and air filled her lungs and she tried turning the door, then shoving it open. It didn't budge. "Addie!" she pounded on the door. The vibrations from her pounding carried into the water and she paused, holding her breath. Bubbles floated past.

She pounded on the door again, latching onto the ripples and vibrations spreading from her fist. She stopped them, holding them in stasis, feeding them into a single resonance. Then she pushed them out, and the door exploded, wooden fragments clattering the wall.

"AAaahh!" Addeline shouted, sitting up in bed. Her eyes darted wildly, sweat dripping down her cheeks. She stared between the wood chips littering the dry carpet and Ripple panting in the doorway. Water dripped from Ripple's fingers.

Addeline's hand flew to her mouth. "Ripple...I, I'm so sorry. I thought I had it..." she fell silent, eyes wide and wrists shaking.

Ripple fuzzed out. Mina pushed up to the front, past her, leaving her dizzy. Something in the sight of Addie's stooped shoulders, her frazzled hair, the defeated look in her gaze--Ripple lost control. She fell inward. She tried to remember the last few seconds. Something about blue sheets...

She grunted, stumbling backwards into her orange chair, by the window. She sucked in air, working to get her breath under control, as if she'd just been running for a terribly long time. She put a hand above her heart and it gradually slowed. She glanced around her bedroom. She was safe this time. Not in the canyon, where Winnie had to fly her out.

A knocking came at the door and she spun around. "Who is it?"

"Cory."

Ripple folded her arms. "What do you want?"

"I was just with Mina," he said. "But then she left. So I was wondering if you were in here."

"If Mina fronted," Ripple said, "then of course I'm here. Where else would I be?"

"A little while ago you were down in the canyon. So I was checking on you."

"Well, I'm okay," she marched away from the window, plopping to her bed and tugging out a wrinkle in the quilt.

No footsteps announced Cory's exit, so Ripple figured he was still standing outside her door. She sighed.

"Can I come in?" he finally asked.

Ripple shrugged, even though he couldn't see it. "I guess," she muttered.

The door creaked, and Cory stood there, hair disheveled and stubble showing on his jaw. "I heard we have a mission assignment tonight."

Ripple nodded, and he came and sat on the edge of her bed.

"And you don't think you're ready," he said.