Shattering Crystals

"Arizona," I say, opening and closing the refrigerator door. I don’t know what pleasure this brings me, but I keep doing it. "We're about to leave for fucking Arizona and they still won't talk to us."

"Lorraine said hi to me the other day," Connor offers.

"Yeah, but she doesn't hate you,” Cody says. He shuts the fridge and pulls me away. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"We didn't either," I remind him, also convincing myself. "And it's been almost a month. It’s kind of surprising how determined they are, though… I thought someone would break sooner or later."

“I don’t know how she’s doing it.”

"It's almost Thanksgiving. Shouldn't everyone be happy?" Connor says. “Giving each other thanks or whatever.”

"Doesn't seem to apply to us," I respond. In truth, I find myself missing Lorraine. We were friends for a reason, anyways. But I am not going to be the first one to admit that.

"I don't know, let's just get them and go," Cody says. "Sooner the better, you know?"

"Are we gonna leave today?" I ask. I think about the stuff I have to pack up to get ready. Then I remember that I don’t really have anything I care about enough.

"Why not?" Cody says. "It's not like we have anything to do here. Other than sitting around and having anything ignore us, I mean..."

"I guess," I say. "Well, like you said, why not? It’s not like we have all the time in the world. Although sometimes it seems like it."

“We’ve got what, two and a half more years? Up to your sixteenth birthday or whatever you said. It would just save time.”

"I'll go tell everyone,” Connor says eagerly. It occurs to me that he's actually sad about this - he finally starts talking again, and then just gets ignored. I wonder if he blames himself for this, even if there's no reason to.

"Well," Cody says, leaning against the kitchen counter as we wait, "what now?"

"I don't know," I say honestly. I find myself inconveniently thinking about how he can be that attractive. "We don't really have a plan, do we?"

"No. But we didn't have a plan for finding Ashlee either. She just kinda came to us."

"I wonder why it was that easy," I say thoughtfully. "I don’t really think we’re that lucky. I think magic attracts each other or something."

"I know that I'm attracted to you," he says, pulling me in for a kiss. I don't fight him, and the words make my heart flutter, but it feels different. Empty. Not as magical as our first kiss. But maybe that's why - aren't first kisses the most amazing?

"Uh, Cody," I say pulling away. "We should get ready. It's really just gonna be the three of us, if the others still won't talk to us."

"I'm not worried," he says, flashing his perfect smile that still makes me feel like melting on the spot. "I'll be fine as long as I'm with you."

----

"Again with the hot places," Cody says under his breath.

"Deal with it. Can’t do anything about it," I say. "At least we didn't come here in July." The air is unnaturally hot for this time of year. Isn't November supposed to be cool?

"I think we should go to that library," Lorraine announces. She points across the street.

"Yeah," I agree. She completely ignores this and continues walking.

"Fine," Cody says under his breath, just loud enough for me and Connor to hear, "if you're going to ignore us, we'll ignore you too."

The library isn't much better. Apparently, the A/C is broken. Lorraine, Dean, and Elise are huddled at the back of the room, whispering about something.

I wish I could make myself not care, but part of me still wonders what they're saying. I decide to make a stop at the bathroom before we have to leave.

It consists of two small stalls and a dirty mirror. Once I step inside, I hear someone crying inside one of the stalls.

The door opens to reveal Ashlee, her face streaked with tears. I don't say anything - she wouldn't listen anyway.

----

"They're winning," Connor mutters. "They know that even though we're ignoring them, we have to follow them anyways."

"Ugh, why do you have to be right?" Cody says. We're walking about ten feet behind them.

"Because I'm smarter than you."

"Guys, I think the real question is why they're leading us into an empty field," I say. I feel the now-familiar tingling, but I'm not sure if this is the right way.

"To kill us, probably," Cody says. I slap him on the arm. “What? With the way things are going now, it’s not unlikely.”

"Why are they stopping?" Connor asks.

"How should I know?" I answer. "They're... they're looking up at the sky." We all turn our heads up to see what's worth looking at.

"Some type of bird..." Cody says. “Where is it going?”

"Where? I just see fire in the sky!" Connor exclaims.

"It doesn't look like it's... in pain," I note, but I know the pain must be unbearable. "Connor, how can you not see it? It's a bird on fire!" And suddenly my magic sense goes haywire. Sparks fly from my hands, but they seem harmless.

"What the hell?" Cody says, holding up his hands. The same thing is happening to him. Suddenly the bird does a sharp dive.

The flaming bird lands before us.