Call Spirits in Your Past **Book Two**

Chapter 39 (Friday morning)

"Psst. Teremki. You in there?"

Teremki glanced at the door, and then back at the dust...drawing on the floor. Or more like scrawling. "Yeah, I'm in here," he said. Trying to draw in the dust before they had to go to lunch and then work on chores and participate in Aito's games before this evening came--

"Oh good," Dragonfly skipped through the doorway. "I was worried for like two seconds that I knocked on the wrong door."

Teremki smiled, looking up from the stick figures in the dust. He stopped and stared. "What happened to your shirt?"

Dragonfly glanced down. "This? Oh, it was an accident. Jade spilled one of his experiments on it, so it got these bright yellow streaks," he tugged on the hem. "It reminds me of egg yolks."

Teremki dropped the stick he'd been drawing with, ignoring it rolling under his bed. "Was there bleach involved?"

Dragonfly bounced onto his quilt, wings fluttering. "I dunno. I don't think Jade takes the necessary precautions a scientist is supposed to take."

Teremki hopped over the bed frame, sitting beside him. "Does Jade even know what a real scientist is supposed to do?"

Dragonfly shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? I don't even know what a real scientist is supposed to do. But I don't think it's spilling things on my shirts."

Teremki stared out the window, biting his lip. "Do you go to school? At all? Or is it just picking melons all the time?"

Dragonfly laughed. "We have classes, yeah. Just usually not during harvest. Or planting. Or several weeks between the two."

Teremki planted his chin on his fists. "I can't decide if that sounds nice, or really frustrating. Do you ever get a vacation where you don't have to do anything?"

"I have never heard of this word in my life," Dragonfly announced.

Teremki glanced over at him, searching his face. "I'm...I think you're joking. You are joking, right?"

Dragonfly giggled. "You wish."

Teremki sat up, the mattress squeaking. "I have an idea."

Dragonfly slowly frowned. "About what? Are we going on vacation?"

"Sort of," Teremki grabbed Dragonfly's arm, pulling him to his feet. "Not really. Maybe. Is combat training a vacation?"

Dragonfly reluctantly followed him through the door. "I can fight," he protested, trying to free his arm. "I punch lizards and shadows on a daily basis!"

Teremki shook his head, breaking into a run. Until Dragonfly fluttered into flight and heaved Teremki from the ground by his shoulders.

"Paz!" he exclaimed, the rocky ground receding beneath his feet.

"What? This was faster!"

Teremki bit down on his panic, weakly flailing his arms. "You could at least do it so I don't feel so awkward."

"Well piddly puff. Where were we going?"

Teremki looked up, hoping his stomach would quit trying to plummet to the earth. "What did you just call me?"

"Piddly puff. That's a very real insult. But for reals, where are we going? Otherwise I'll have to turn around and start flying in circles."

Teremki pointed with his foot. "Over there. Where there aren't any buildings."

Dragonfly swooped down, and Teremki shut his eyes against the sudden sense of his internal organs wanting to squeeze out his throat. They slowed in a flap of wings, and solid ground scraped beneath his feet. His bare feet. He hadn't really planned that out, had he?