ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴏɴɢ ꜱɪᴅᴇ

t a m

I'd been watching the new girl all day.

She was surprisingly brave, considering what she'd went through. Still, I could never be sure of anyone until I took a reading of their shadowvapor, which I hadn't done yet, leaving me scrambling for a hold on how much I should trust her.

At the end of the day, I watched her take her first bead, not missing her jump when the jolt of electricity shocked her hand. So she was willing to make the sacrifice. I couldn't help wondering what for. Did she have a place in the Lost Cities where she wanted, needed, to get back to? Was she just doing this because she had nowhere else to go?

I lengthened my shadow until it covered hers. "If you're thinking it'll get easier, it won't," I shadow-whispered to her, making her startle again.

She started to answer, but I urged her attention to the purple Coach, who was watching closely. "You should be careful," I told her. "The Coaches are very interested in you."

I could see her trying to process what I was saying, trying to figure out how she should respond. After a long pause, I pulled back my shadow and started to walk back to Linh. But then I heard her voice, somehow in my mind, making me remember she was a Telepath.

Wait.

I paused and glanced back at her.

She seemed to hesitate, as if weighing the pros and cons of talking to me, before finally transmitting, Can you tell your Hydrokinetic friend "thank-you" for saving me?

I took her words, turning them over and over in my head, my confusion on how to view her only growing.

Finally, I stretched my shadow over hers again. "You're different," I said hesitantly. "I can't decide if that's a good thing."

She held my gaze unwaveringly. It is.

Blowing out my breath, I turned and walked away.