Sarah was wearing makeup again. Not as much as prom, but she had on a little bit of eyeshadow and mascara. It was probably a good thing she hadn't done the full foundation thing, given how much she was sweating. She and her mom were sitting in the summer sun waiting for the high school graduation ceremony to begin. She fiddled with the bracelet she had made out of Cuddles' bones, walking her fingers along the spine as it slowly crawled in a loop around her arm.

As the commencement ceremony, well, commenced, the marching band struck up a tune, and Sarah just stared off into the distance while she listened. Somehow she'd gotten through three years of high school and this was the first time she'd ever heard them actually perform. She'd hurried past them practicing more times than she could count, but she'd never actually seen them all in uniform playing a song they'd mastered. They were energetic, but Sarah thought that the choir and the prom DJ had both sounded much better. Maybe they were supposed to sound like that.

The last notes finally faded away, and the principal stood at the stand, sharing a few words before turning the microphone over to a student. Sarah didn't know the boy, he'd never been in a class with her and the only other seniors Sarah ever talked to were the ones in Alexa's circle. His voice echoed through the stadium, but Sarah wasn't paying attention. She'd never been to a graduation before, but somehow she already knew that he was talking about opportunities, and how great school was, and he'd probably share some quotes or poetry snippets about choices or opportunities.

Sarah glanced at her mom, and she could see tears glistening in her eyes. Her mom must be thinking back to her own high school days. Stifling a yawn, Sarah let her eyes scan the crowd. Lots of families were sitting in the sun too, the adults were mostly paying attention but the kids were restless. Sarah noticed Alexa's parents sitting way off to the right, only one of Alexa’s brothers had been able to come. Sarah smiled as she noticed a few other people examining the crowd instead of listening to the speech, their eyes finding more to interest them in the people around than the talking up front. One little girl in particular was staring at her and made eye contact with Sarah. Sarah scowled at the girl, clenching her lips and furrowing her eyebrows until the girl spun and turned her attention forward. The girl looked like she was maybe fourteen, so she was probably even more bored than Sarah was. The little girl glanced back at Sarah again, so Sarah stuck her tongue out, making her turn forward again.

The talking finally wrapped up, and the graduates' names were called one by one. Alexa walked confidently across the stage after her name was called, a bright smile adorning her face. The band had struck up another tune, this time playing "pomp and circumstance," and playing it much better than whatever it was they were playing before. The band played in the background as Alexa and the other seniors received their diplomas, officially marking the end of their high school journeys. When the ceremony concluded, the crowd erupted into cheers and applause, and Sarah spotted Alexa making her way through the sea of graduates. Sarah and her mom navigated through the throng of people to find their friend, wanting to celebrate this special moment with her.

"Congratulations, Alexa! You're done with this place!" Sarah said, pulling her friend into a tight hug.

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"Thank you," Alexa replied, her voice breaking with emotion. "I'm so glad you came."

"You've worked so hard, and we're so proud of you," Sarah's mom chimed in, her own eyes still moist with tears.

"Not as hard as all that," said Alexa, waving her hand with a laugh.

"Still, good job."

"Thank you," said Alexa before turning to Sarah. "Hey, I've got to run for a minute, you're sticking around, right? For pictures, at least. Can you stay for the party?"

"Yes, she can stay," said Sarah's mom. "Your phone is charged, right?"

"Of course," said Sarah.

"Good, I'm off then, it's way too hot today. Call me if you're out past twelve, ok? I know these things go late, just let me know." She didn't wait for Sarah to answer, just turned and left the field.

While Alexa mingled, Sarah found a tree and sat on the grass in the shade. Pretty quickly she found herself joined by other kids escaping the scorching sun. Most of them were choir kids that she'd gotten to know during lunch, and she smiled at herself as their chatter bounced back and forth. She was the first to sit under the tree, so she had claimed pride of place with her back against the trunk. She didn't really feel like participating in gossip about summer plans and new freshmen moving up and competing for spots, so she amused herself picking through fallen leaves on the lawn around her.

She was putting little pinches of blue light into the leaves, at least she was putting the fog into the leaves that let her. Recently fallen green leaves wouldn't take any light, it felt like they were invisible to her power. But the leaves that had dried out would each take a little pinch. She was sorting them idly as she powered them up, organizing them by how whole they were; little scraps went on the left of the line, unbroken whole leaves on the right.

Glancing up, she saw the little girl from before standing and watching her. Now that she was close, Sarah realized she might be a lot younger than she’d thought. She was taller than Sarah, but her pigtails and bright yellow dress made her look very young. The state made Sarah hold her hand up against her neckline, but the girl just kept staring at the hand Sarah was holding in her lap.

"What kind of bracelet is that?" she asked, pointing at it.

"I made it," said Sarah. "I used snake bones and did the wires and stuff for an art project. I call him Cuddles. Cool, huh?"

"Did you paint it too?" she said, squatting down to get a closer look at her arm. "Like how you're doing the leaves?"

Sarah clenched her hands into fists and leaned back hard against the rough tree bark. She'd only been using the fog for a few months, but she'd convinced herself that no one would notice as long as she didn't make stuff move too unnaturally in public. After all, no one had ever said they'd seen anything before, she’d never heard of anyone else seeing the glowing fog everywhere, and no one had ever really believed anything she’d said about what she could see, so she hadn’t ever really considered that someone would see her illuminated objects

And now this kid was holding up one of her blue leaves, moving it out into the sunlight to examine it. Sarah had to resist the urge to call the leaf back to her, she could probably even make it dart out of her hands and fly back to her. But that wouldn't accomplish anything, and could even make things worse if someone else saw. But before Sarah could say anything, the girl plucked another leaf from the tree and stared at it, concentrating. Suddenly the leaf was coated in a red mist, along with half the tree and the people sitting nearby in the shade, and the little girl collapsed to the ground.

"Shit," said Sarah, springing to her feet to reach the girl.