Call Spirits in Your Past **Book Two**

Chapter 62 (Wednesday)

Ryn hobbled to where Dryda knelt on the patio, crutches clickety-clacking. "Hey, Dryda," she said, leaning heavily against the edge of the house.

"Hi," Dryda closed her eyes, resting her head against the patio's banister. A breeze swept over her, stirring the dust on the ground, billowing her leafy hair.

"So, um," Ryn tapped her crutches on the wood, "Niko has three-sixty vision now. That's what he calls it. I say he just has eyes in the back of his head."

Dryda opened her eyes to find Ryn's smile slowly fading.

"And Chamrik hit that woman with super speed," Ryn rushed, "he threw a green knife down an empty street." Dryda carefully nodded, and Ryn coughed quietly, "just...thought you might want to know."

A pause.

Ryn opened her mouth again, but shut it.

"How'd you break your foot?"

Dryda already knew, of course, Ana had told the five of them through their telepathy.

Ryn leaned her head against the wall. "It was the guy who controlled robot copies of himself. I had a forcefield up since he was shooting all these blasters at me, and Sorano was sneaking up on him," she giggled. "I didn't know she could wield a mace like that... Anyway, I didn't think he would aim for the roof, so I fell through that."

"Why were you on the roof?" Dryda asked.

"He was boxed in by illusionary houses. So the only way to prevent him from knowing which ones were fake was to get me on an actual house and distract him. So Xander boosted me up there, and I yelled at the robot guy and called him a spineless coward," she tapped the patio with the heel of her gray cast. "By the way, Ella told me she met you by the teleporter those robots came through. With...um.

"So, Ella totally lost her spear by ramming it into one of the robot's throats. She told me not to tell anyone, but I think it's because she's trying to be humble."

The patio fell quiet. Somewhere, somebody yelled about water, and through their telepathy Ana and Verspri sent shock at getting drenched.

"So, how about you?" Ryn asked softly. "Are you okay? With..."

Dryda focused on the sun reaching her leaves under the shaded patio. She focused on Kwayo, actually sitting on the roof above them as a cactus wren. Teremki, waiting at a bedside, shivered with hope and also utter fear.

She glanced up. "I think I will be."

"Are you--" A loud bang echoed from the house behind them and Ryn half-stumbled away from the illusion-less house. "What was that?"

"Some new people," Dryda said. Addie yelped and a loud crash thumped against the window. "From the other school. They left with us, with Lina."

Ryn shook her head. "What's with the crashes?"

Dryda shrugged. "That's gravity tag. Kwayo and I joined, but we got eliminated first so we came out here to wait for the next round."

Ryn's eyebrows furrowed. "You and Kwayo?"

Dryda nodded. "He turned into a bird and flew off," only to the rooftop, but he couldn't hear anything from there--either that, or he was hiding it super well.

"Ah," Ryn nodded. "Makes sense," she glanced at the door. "I'd join to, but..." she wiggled her cast-bound ankle.

Dryda smiled weakly. "At least you get out of Aito's games too."

Ryn rolled her eyes. "Everyone gets out of those now."

"At least you get out of helping fix the town," Dryda amended.