It was still hot out.

Southern Ontario in the last couple weeks of June, sans air conditioning. Pandora had woken up feeling like she would have been much more comfortable as a corpse and then immediately took a cold shower. It had been around seven o’clock on a Saturday, which was existentially abominable on its own, but the chilled water on her skin put up a fight against the humidity for about sixty seconds before succumbing to the heat. Hher body had tasted quenching moisture, which made the juxtaposition worse by handfuls, and she was damp as well as hot. Like a cognizant swamp. It had just made everything worse.

Now, she was messaging the group chat to see who was up. An instant and angry response from Shannon.

Go back to sleep you asshole. You woke me up

Pandora had a sudden remembrance of her friend saying she slept with her ringer on. She didn’t like to miss calls or messages. Oops.

P: Sorry

Couldn’t sleep

Was hot and thinking

Had a cold shower and now I’m really awake

S: I can tell

Stop messaging now so I can sleep in peace

Her stomach growled. She put the phone down and look around. The once-delicious snack of yesterday was now just a piece of stale cheese and sealed saltine crackers. Although one of those was still edible without pushing any boundaries of the word, she wasn’t in the mood for something that sad.

And she was also comfortable now. The shower had dropped her temperature and it was currently rising (very rapidly) to meet the heat of the room. But the fan she had facing her bed was catching damp skin and hair, and the gathering of pillows and blankets felt more like a cozy nest than a tool in which to smother herself with. She ignored the lazy commands of a hungry stomach and settled in.

It was twenty or thirty quite useless minutes of scrolling. She’d been doing that a lot. Twitter or Reddit or Instagram. She used to listen to things, to scroll with purpose; to find a reference or inspiration. Then she’d grab the pad and the pencil and select some long background noise and hunker down.

Now it was just pointless. There was a lot of things that pulled at her brain in just the right way. But it wasn’t a strong enough come-hither to move her from the sticky, staticky stasis her brain fell into. Other times, she’d stop and stare and consider, and the most her brain could produce was a tiny no. As in, no, I can’t do that right now, please don’t make me. So she didn’t.

But at least it was quiet. Her dad and her were alike in one single, nocturnal way. Awake late and up late, when given the option. There was no footsteps wandering through the kitchen or the hall. She wasn’t deep-down worried about a knock at the door followed by minutes of silence (from her, not him) as he stood in her doorway and had her listen, enraptured as an audience of one solely from lack of escape. Where else would she go?

No hearing him yell because his laptop had the gall to not follow orders. No sitting with one earbud always slightly out so she could catch when he called her name from downstairs, because if not, you always have those headphones so loud. They weren’t even headphones. Earbuds. There’s a difference.

She’d broken whatever spell her phone had on her. She didn’t want to keep scrolling. No longer peace time. Just minutes she could be spending getting ready to leave in silence, without questions and comments. So she got out of bed and pushed through ancient dresser drawers and eventually just threw a baggy white t-shirt and some jean shorts on the bed. She knew she owned things that looked a lot better. And she knew because she used to wear them frequently. But she didn’t have time to care.

She also knew that wasn’t the real reason. But it was easier to not dissect that right now.

After dropping the clothes she’d slept in on the floor, she gave herself a test-y sniff and figured she didn’t smell. And if she did, well, it was summer in Ontario. Everyone smelled. She tucked the shirt in to the waistband and decided it looked fine without consulting a single reflective surface.

She was quiet with the bedroom door and quiet on the stairs and quiet with the front door. None of them slammed or emitted traitorous groans of alarm. All she had was her keys and her phone and her earbuds. All of which kind of (almost) fit into the (stupid) pockets on her shorts. If she had the sort of figure that dude’s clothes draped attractively over, she’d wear them instead. As it was, her butt had gotten hit with too much puberty for unisex shopping. And even a lot of female shopping, if she was being truthful.

Her wallet had nothing but a debit card and old receipts at this point, and it had been made clear as crystal that the former was very empty. Shannon never ate all her toast when they got breakfast anyways.

It was quarter to eight when the sole of her right foot hit the outside world. She wasn’t against walking for fifteen minutes. The library had air conditioning and internet, but it was more than a fifteen minute walk. And also definitely closed. Maybe.

She'd be knocking on Shannon’s door at eight. That would probably cause immense displeasure. But, the world was going to bend to her will today. She demanded it. If Shannon had went to bed late, sucked for her. Pandora needed to talk about this.

Shannon’s place wasn’t even a ten minute walk away. So she dawdled. Walked slower than she usually would. Which would normally annoy her (places to be so might as well get there fast) but she was still in her post-sleep catatonia. So she kicked at stones and took a bit of a weird route. There was a tabby cat roaming a driveway a few houses down, and she took some time with that. Not a lot, though. She didn’t need someone yelling at her for crouching conspicuously beside their car.

The only reason she could so confidently walk up to the door and knock was because she knew mom Shannon and dad Shannon’s schedules. A plethora of weekend sleepovers behind the kids and no change in jobs for the adults. Her dad worked a mostly normal schedule. Occasional days of going in early or staying late. Her mom woke up at six, though. And didn’t tend to sleep that much later when she could.

Her mom answered the door. She looked like she had coffee in her already and was only a little surprised. She changed her reaction quickly enough.

“Did Shannon invite you for breakfast without telling us?” she asked. It was playful. Pandora didn’t think Shannon had ever forgotten much in her life. That was what made her so fucking annoying.

“The three of us are getting breakfast. I decided she’s slept enough. She doesn’t know that yet.”

“Ah, yes, there was something like that mentioned last night.” She stepped aside and herded Pandora in with a flap of her hand. She closed the door once everyone was in and safe from the sun-punched nightmare outside. Air conditioning. Maybe they should have breakfast here.

“What did you three get up to in-” she thought for a moment, “-not even an hour, if I’m remembering right? Shannon came in and went straight to her room. No talks or real hello’s like she usually gives. Her little debriefings about her day.”

Well shit. Pandora hadn’t thought of an answer to that question. Her dad had been too worried about the parts of dinner she couldn’t stomach to ask about it.

“I forgot Shannon isn’t a hiker like me and Ellie. We all ended up walking around town. Talking. None of us had water.” A stupid lie. Bit awkward. It had happened before though. Not in a few years, so, embarrassing for Shannon. Pandora would forget to apologize later.

“Ah, that’ll do it. Hope she didn’t get a sunburn.” She frowned deeply for a moment. Worried over it in her head. Pandora could see the train of thought gliding smoothly along its rails. Just like her daughter. She remained patiently silent during the Worried Think. Shannon’s mom finally arrived at a station of thought she deemed appropriate to stop at, and remembered the seventeen year old looking neutrally in her direction.

“Go on up and try to wake her, if you can. Check for that sunburn first before you jostle her.” She smiled. Pandora flashed her one back. Knew she’d hate it before it happened. She did, in fact, hate it. She never felt them reach her eyes anymore, and it felt like everybody could tell.

She made her way up the stairs, avoiding the creaks she knew were there. Mucho time had passed and yet she was hit with a wall of immediate and intimate familiarity. The big square landing and the off-white walls and the big bathroom just across from the top of the stairs. The thing hanging next to it that she’d described as a tapestry that Shannon had punched her in the arm for, because it sounded pretentious (it was a tapestry. At minimum tapestry-adjacent). The bookshelf on the wall beside Shannon’s room that honourably held all the books no one read, and therefore did not want in their rooms.

And her door. She’d actually taken some stuff off it from when Pandora had last seen it. Her locker was completely bare. No pasted art or cut-outs or even doodles with pencil. Really clean. So you wouldn’t expect the organized mess of all the little things on her bedroom door. Magazine covers she liked and doodles Pandora had drawn on corners of sheets and pictures they had taken all sat a bit askew, purposefully chaotic in the way that a handsome guys’ hair is messy in movies. Attractively messy.

Inside, her warm white walls and shelves and light wood desk and paintings that added a splash of colour. And her queen-sized bed that could fit two of them comfortably. It was always a bit of a squeeze in the other two beds. But they managed it. One person was always on the floor. That was the rule. Didn’t matter whose house it was, they'd always keep the turn order going. Just because it was your bed doesn’t mean you got to sleep in it.

She woke up as soon as Pandora opened the door. Eyed the intruder warily from under bedhead and blankets.

“I hate you.” She said. She didn’t throw the blankets over her head or try to hide under a pillow. They had played this game many times, and really, no one was the winner.

“Told your mom you basically got heatstroke. Me and Ellie walked you around Atwood too much yesterday gossiping.”

“Aaaand now I don’t have to have that conversation,” she grated out through dusty throat muscles. A bit groggy, “Good. Pass those.” She pointed at a vague spot and it took Pandora a couple seconds of stupid-eye for her to see the bundle of clothes. She grabbed them. Pajama shorts and a matching t-shirt. Shannon threw the covers back and revealed the not-at-all matching tank top and cozy underwear.

“Thanks.” The single word was bursting at the seams with hints of no-caffeine-fatigue and frustration. Trying to speak and catch the wad of cloth and stay awake at the same time.

"Did you tell my mom we’re getting breakfast?”

“Mhmm.”

“I may have to make her not come then, she likes the Ruddy Gull a lot.” The fabric over her mouth auditorily swaddled the words. If Pandora closed her eyes she could imagine the conversation was being had over a drive-through microphone.

“Oops.”

“It’s fine. I’ll promise to bring her something and she’ll grumpily accept. We’ll just have to come back here first before anything else.”

“We told Lady we’d meet her at three thirty. Think we got time.” Shannon grunted at that in a similar way you wave your hand dismissively at a question you don’t like. Her just-awoken hope she had dreamed yesterday evening had been slapped out of her hands and shattered on the floor.

“Text Ellie and try to wake her up like you did me. Someone else can suffer too.” She pulled the shorts on and looked down at a pair of slippers. Decided against it. She left the door open, assuming Pandora knew the physics behind a door if she wanted it otherwise

Her room was spotless. Or rather, the spots that were there sliced through the white-and-sandy-wood with neat aplomb. Even when they were young it had been like that. Three girls worth of energy in a room with lots of pillows and dolls and toys and game consoles. Then maybe one-and-a-half girls worth of energy when Shannon had them help put it all back. She’d been less, “Personable seventeen year old who had learned to wield a tongue of silver,” and more, “Decisive dictator in her element,” back then. The first bitch Pandora had ever spat out into this world had been at Shannon. She’d been more prone to physical violence back then, so it earned Pandora a much-too-enthusiastic slap.

Pandora followed her instructions (as she had been since they were kids, and would probably continue to until she died). An automatic Wifi connection had earned her one notification from Reddit, three from Twitter and one from Google telling her to back up her data, please. No Ellie. She pulled up her texts.

Shannon wants you up

I had the audacity to wake the dragon from her slumber early so she wants you to suffer with her

No response. She waited and stared at the screen for a minute (but actually only about ten seconds). She could hear water on porcelain and a plastic handle tap-tapping the sides of a cup.

Still nothing.

Hey

Hey

Hey

Shannon will make us walk over to your house

She won’t be nice about it

Hey

Hey

Hi

I’m awake now

You’re still at her house?

Yep

Okay

Give me ten minutes

I’ll be quick

She walked out of Shannon’s room and stood in the bathroom door. It was medium sized. Both the door and the space beyond. Bigger than Pandora’s. Had a nice tub for lounging and a showerhead with settings she wouldn’t know what to do with if you gave her five minutes alone with it.

“She says she’ll try to be quick. Ten minutes.”

“She’s probably gonna run here and be all sweaty when she comes in. Dork.”

“I threatened her. Said you’d make us walk to her house.” Shannon tilted her head and widened her eyes at that in an accepting gesture. She agreed.

She finished up in the bathroom and then immediately went back into her room. She took a few minutes to pull out and put back clothes while Pandora sat on the bed and watched and scrolled on her phone. She’d hold something in Pandora’s direction every thirty seconds and receive an opinion she usually ignored. Eventually she settled on a white tank-top and yellow skirt that sat just above her knees. She pulled some ankle socks on et voila, she was done.

“You take too long.” Pandora said this more to her leg, as she was trying to pocket her phone without dropping it on the floor, but Shannon knew who it was really addressed to.

“I’m not putting on makeup for another hike through the woods so I want to look mostly cute at breakfast still.” Pandora shrugged at her and accepted the point. Accepted she hadn’t had to sit through the, “I want to put eyeliner on,” situation. Pandora would have been made to do it. She had steadier hands. And a greater grasp of symmetry.

“Oh! I would have gotten dressed if you’d told me you’d be this fast.” Her mom said as they descended into the foyer and by extension, the kitchen.

“Can I convince you not to come with us just this one single time?” Shannon asked.

Her mom deflated a bit, mostly on purpose and very dramatically, and Shannon put her hands together in front of her chest and tilted her head a bit. Her mom began to pout a little.

“Promise to buy you something and bring it home mostly-fresh.” Her mom ruminated on this for a few seconds. Still in the same sad position.

“We’ve got to talk about some stuff just us three.” Her mom straightened a bit.

“Fine. You have a deal. I’d like the smores French toast then. My treat today, for acting as my delivery girls.”

We followed her to the front door. She grabbed her wallet from a purse hanging above the wood rack of shoes and presented a fifty to Shannon. Then immediately pulled out another ten and put it in Shannon’s hand.

“Get your dad some eggs and sausage. He’ll be extremely unhappy if we leave him out of this.”

“Okay. Thank you. Love you.” This was said on an immediate heel-turn to the door which honestly left Pandora a bit discombobulated and distraught. She managed to follow without running into a wall. The heat was like a gloved punch to the face. Pandora gave a longing glance to the door, where Shannon’s mom now stood. She could swear there was a difference in the visible quality of the air between inside the foyer and out here. Maybe she already had heat stroke.

“You and Ellie are invited for dinner, Pandora, anytime. Not just tonight. I feel like I haven’t seen either of you in ages.”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“Okay. I’ll let her know.” Pandora said back. Waved at her a bit. She smiled and waved back and closed the door. Leaving just them. In the scorching heat.

“Things seem okay.” Pandora said after a minute of steps. It was partially because this wasn’t a conversation for parental ears and partially because she was pretty sure her brain was melting like plastic left on a stovetop and she had been assessing the neural damage.

“Yeah.” She didn’t say it begrudgingly or sadly or with a sigh. Just stated it. “I can tell they want to know more. Even when I said we needed to talk about things, just us three, my mom wanted to ask. But Dr. Obando told them that was the opposite of what they should do. They wanna overcompensate but they can’t, so it feels like they’re walking on eggshells around me.”

“They’re asking. At least.” Pandora thought that was a fantastic response. In a completely facetious way, though. Good friends check on their good friends, so she had to make an attempt.

And she was still unnerved she hadn’t noticed. Shannon had heard about the- whatever, with Pandora’s dad. Ellie’s coming out. Ellie’s coming out again. She’d been slowly melting down like a nuclear reactor with a leak, unnoticed by the emotionally-spiraling maintenance crew around her.

Fuck, did nuclear reactors leak?

“They treat me like I’m gonna start crying again at any random question. Fucking hate it. I was able to do my own thing and deal with whatever I needed to without people treating me so-“ She paused. Seemed to come back together. “Treating me like a child.” She’d crossed her arms again at the start of the sentence. Now she was leaning her right elbow on her left hand and upon closer inspection by Pandora, was not chewing her nails. The edges of teeth were pulling at little pinpricks of skin beside the beds. She’d be tasting blood soon if she kept at it.

“Hey.” Pandora said without much of a tone. Gave her a little slap on the hand. Shannon blinked and looked down.

“Shit.” She tucked her hands into the pockets of the skirt. Took a deep breath. She didn’t blush, a higher being such as Shannon had overcome bodily functions like that long ago. But the language of posture was letting loose long whispers of you weren’t supposed to see that.

And then they saw Ellie running up the road. Good form, like always. She wasn’t even breathing that heavy, even though Pandora was sure the air was solid enough to form hands and throttle her if it wanted to. It gave the peaceful summer day an edge of danger.

“Hi.” She was panting lightly. What a champ. Wearing something very similar to yesterday. Forest green shorts and a white athletic-wear t-shirt, with the sleek lining and material that absorbed moisture and all that. Hair up in a bun with a few loose strands from the activity.

“All of us wearing white tops. Matching clothes is a crime, at least one of us has to go home and change.” Shannon said. Ellie looked down. So did Pandora. Ellie rested her hands on her knees and stuck her tongue out at Shannon.

“My mum gave me ten dollars.” Ellie said. Shannon waved the syllables away before they even reached her face. Pandora had a sudden and intrusive imagining of Shannon literally waving away words. When they dodged her hand, they threw her against a set of lockers and chased her the rest of the way down a hall. Words hurt.

“My mum gave me sixty because she wants us to grab breakfast for her and my dad, so it’s cool. We just can’t take too long now.” There were no complaints from any party involved at this statement.

Pandora made them walk probably at a speed of roughly too fast for this heat. She was going to throw a tantrum if she didn’t get water. Either in her mouth or on her fucking body at this point. She’d bathe in the cup like a baby bird if she must.

Pandora must have looked determined enough it was radiating from her, because someone was waiting for her with menus in hand at the door. Either the woman was psychic or she felt Pandora’s need for liquids from around the corner.

Or maybe something else. Whatever.

They were seated. Smiled at in the happy but not too happy way that weekend waitresses do. Drinks taken (coffee for Shannon, orange juice for Pandora, just-water-please for Ellie), menus propped open and looked at. There was the silence of a group of people being too interested in their menus because they didn’t want to start what they’d came here to talk on, for a hot minute.

“I need you two to genuinely convince me that this is a great idea. So great it completely blows apart my hesitation.” Pandora and Ellie looked at each other. Pandora had purposefully not put her glass down and honestly, started chugging even faster when the silence hit. She motioned to Ellie. Her friend drew her eyebrows together and looked at her angrily. Then:

“I don’t know. I said my thing yesterday about how we can use this to help people and I stand by that. I don’t- I don’t know what else to say besides that.” She bit her lip again. And looked at both of them.

Then she placed her hands on the table and put them together into one big ball of fingers. She went to speak right as Shannon opened her mouth to respond. Ellie clammed up a bit. Shannon restarted her sentence.

“Okay, that’s really good. And I’m not being a bitch and making fun of you for wanting that. But this isn’t, fucking, Sailor Moon.” (Pandora wanted to retort it was a bit like Sailor Moon, but she knew the cost of pedantry at this point), “Lady stated she wanted us to fight. We’re being given power and we have to fight, and it doesn’t sound like something from an anime where we throw cards down or use magic that knocks people into cute dust clouds and then we tie them up. I care about these other people trapped in these places, but I-. I have things I want to do. Things I’d like to live for.”

Pandora hadn’t stopped sipping water and was frankly afraid she may never get hydrated again.

Ellie had started in the middle of Shannon’s speech. They all had a moment of silence. The waitresses decided, as they do, that the moment where two customers had liquid in their mouths was the perfect moment to appear.

“Sorry for the small wait girls, coffee machine was acting up.” Pandora rapidly choked down the last of the water from her mouth, trying to be free to talk before the server finished moving her lips. She had a whole you have to touch that pole before that car passes you or you’ll die moment.

Shannon spoke up first anyways, as she was wont to do. Once again, they went around the table. Oatmeal and Shannon, breakfast burrito and Ellie, and scrambled eggs sans toast and Pandora until Shannon gave her A Look she could feel the capital letters in, so breakfast poutine and Pandora instead.

“Food’ll be ready in a few.” They received another tip-worthy smile and off she went. Another moment of silence stretched out like a rubber band. Pandora forgot who had been talking because she’d been so focused on the social interaction with a person she barely knew. Ellie snapped the rubber band with:

“I just- I feel like this is something we can do that’s good. You’re going to become an awesome doctor and help a bunch of people, but I don’t even know what I’m going to do in the next few years. Maybe this is something I can do right now that can be helpful.” Ellie said. She took another icy sip that almost guaranteed chips of ice clacking against her teeth. Pandora needed a refill, and so therefore decided to awkwardly move hers to the edge of the table in the hopes she wouldn’t have to flag their server down.

“You’ve been quiet this whole time. Even last night, afterwards, after we set this meeting. Which means you’re thinking hard about it.” Shannon said. Pandora felt like she’d been caught in A Moment as her hand was still halfway to moving the glass where she wanted it. Which was in her mouth, as an excuse for why she couldn't speak. She stared into the pile of refracting ice as she settled the cup into position.

“I think Ellie’s right. Your direction is basically set. I don’t feel like that,” she closed her mouth a bit too quick after that. If those words were real, she would have crunched off that period and tasted some fantastic punctuation. The bone-on-bone of teeth meeting too hard was something she focused on as she got into the do not overshare mindset.

“It’s not school and home and repeat," pause, "And, like, magic. Woah.”

“You’re being entirely too casual about this. That’s literally what I’m telling you that I’m worried about.”

“Fuck. No. That’s not what I meant.” Pandora wrapped her fingers around the glass of orange juice in front of her and made finger-y streaks in the moisture.

And then like a succulent specter, their server. With a bowl of oatmeal in one hand and something suspiciously wrap-like in the other. Pandora was so not-hungry that she could probably bottle and unethically sell it, so she wasn’t exactly complaining.

They let the noise of plates being settled with circular sounds fill the quiet. Then they chewed and waited, because they knew Pandora’s dish wasn’t far behind. She cupped her juice again, feeling suddenly and entirely too much like a child at this moment. Unable to just get her mouth to say what she was thinking, leaving frustrated marks on her cup.

After another couple minutes, her poutine was put in front of her. She thanked the waitress. The woman probably could have put a carton of chewed-up erasers in front of her and she would have reacted with about the same excitement. She managed a hot, damp fry into her mouth and about twenty sips of OJ to wash it down before she continued.

“You want to become a doctor because you can help people. And you want to push for more women in science and sociopaths are also highly represented in the medical field or whatever so you being there makes sense.” Shannon rolled her eyes at that and Ellie smiled. Pandora counted that as a win. “But I know it’s also something that gets you out of here. It gets you away from your parents and this fucking town that has nothing to do in it but get fucked and get fucked. You have a thing. This can be my thing. Our thing.”

Ellie nodded a little at that and looked around. Shannon stare at Pandora. Pandora looked away from that basically immediately. Too much eye contact. Shannon wouldn’t be offended. When she let her friend drift back into the upper half of her gaze, Shannon was putting her very hot looking mug down on the table and swallowing.

“You want this? You’re not being dramatic?” She asked. Ellie said nothing, because words weren’t really being directed at her, right this moment.

“Yes.” Pandora responded strongly. Poor choice of words. Dramatic resonated like kernels of food caught in a cavity.

“You just press go and you’re off, Pandora. Even with homework and your art, it’s a quick-ass decision for you. ‘No, I’m not doing this,’ or, ‘Yes, this is what I’m doing, no further planning needed.’ If we could recall the last whatever amount of years with perfect memory, that’s probably been the source of ninety percent of the fights we’ve had.” Pandora stewed for a bit after that one, honestly. She wanted to make some pithy quip about how they should reboot that shitty show about Sherlock Holmes’ great-times-three niece and have Shannon star in it. Because fuck that show. And fuck Shannon.

Instead, she let none of that show on her face. She was good at that now. Had been for a while.

“We all had last night to think about it. My mind hasn’t changed.”

“It’s also really fucking hard to change your mind. I’ve maybe done it five times in ten years.”

Shannon, debate queen. They didn’t have a team at their school. If they had, Pandora was sure Shannon would have asked to join, and when asked why said, “So I can gaslight friends into agreeing with my beliefs but call it rhetorical efficiency so it sounds more palatable,” and they would have applauded and let her on. Pandora took an internally angry but externally stony drink of her juice in response.

Pandora was trying to follow the thread of this situation in her head behind the gulping noises she made as she swallowed. She was getting angry, in part because Shannon was correct and Pandora would bare-knuckle god to have that not be the case. She didn’t know how to phrase what she was saying. Her brain-to-mouth cable was frayed (which wasn’t a new thing) and she was going to flip the bolted-down table if someone threw another overdramatic accusation again. Especially from one of the two people at this table.

She wanted this. She just wanted to find the magic combination of words to make Shannon say yes. To not sound whiny and butthurt about her life when she tried to explain it to people.

“I can’t-“ Pandora stopped. Think before you speak.

She hated that those words popped into her head now. The mantra of her childhood. Nate hadn’t gotten it nearly as much.

“I want to do this. Your reason makes sense. Everything you said makes sense. So if you can’t do this then I won’t be mad at you. But I want this.” She’d felt the word need about to exit her mouth, and quickly broke its knees and threw it into the boot of her car before it was vocalized. Overdramatic. She’d been hearing that much too frequently.

Shannon played a silent harmony of quiet stares and toying with her mug handle for a couple beats. Pandora took another bite of food that tasted like bad emotions (although she admitted it wasn’t the food’s fault) because there was nothing else to do.

“That’s your final decision? With or without me?” Shannon asked. Pandora nodded. Shannon moved her eyes to Ellie. Who gave an unnecessarily panicked swallow in initial response.

“I guess.” She shrugged as she said it. Everyone at the table silently agreed to forget her almost choking there. “You say it like we’re breaking up. We’re all still friends.” Which was said somewhere in between the definitive punch of a period and the rising of a question mark. Unfortunately, man has yet to create punctuation for that in-between tone.

“Yeah.” Shannon’s sigh could have blown brick down and exposed the pigs inside. It could have finally given that last push needed to get that boulder up that hill. She put her spoon into her food like you would poke a finger into a close friend who uttered a joke that went a bit too far.

“Fuck, I hate both of you. Let’s finish this and then go.” She continued. Pandora and Ellie met gazes without moving much besides miniscule muscles in the eye socket, like there was a sleek predator cat eating oatmeal in front of them. Shannon, like the sleek predator cat, still noticed the hesitation.

“Yes, we were going to meet Lady a few hours from now, because I was under the impression this conversation would be a lot fucking longer. Instead, we’re gonna finish this and order my parents food, and then very quickly get it back to them before we head over to that clearing. I want to get this fucking over with.”

The shade still helped with the heat. The humidity was sky-high today and it almost felt tropical in the forest. The sun was off their necks, but it didn’t help the walking in a full pool sensation.

Shannon had grabbed Amy’s attention next time she made her rounds and ordered her parent’s food. It had come just as they’d finished. They’d paid and quickly downed the rest of their waters before heading back out into the heat. Her mom was lucky she hadn’t ordered ice-cream waffles or whatever other dairy-based dishes they had on the menu.

They were all sweating at different levels now. It had been an on-and-off thirty minutes of walking, from the Gull to Shannon’s place to the convenience store. They’d raided the cupboards and grabbed whatever random bottles they had found and filled them at the tap. Shannon’s mom hadn’t even had to say anything; Shannon was the one who ordered it. Older Shannon had offered them each a couple oatmeal bars, however. They’d taken a backpack and thrown all their stuff in it. It was currently Ellie’s stretch of time to haul that around.

Shannon’s theory had been that Lady would be here regardless of time. She had admitted to sitting there for a couple weeks waiting for them, so where else would she go now. Ellie and Pandora had agreed. Disagreement wouldn’t really get them much anyways.

They entered the clearing. The sun was like a needle in the cornea. It seemed more direct here. The contrast of a few minutes under thick forest leaves. They all held up a hand to block the light. Like they were waving at some invisible giant.

“Oh! You three are fairly early.” Lady sounded genuinely surprised. She was sitting up in one of the lower branches in the big tree.

“The conversation about all this was done a lot earlier than expected. So I thought it made sense to come here and not waste another few hours.” Shannon said.

“Luck was on your side again; I was just about to leave to talk with another entity in these woods.”

Shannon faltered without showing much of it. Like tripping and continuing with confidence that no one saw you. Ellie looked around like something was going to come out of the trees.

“Not one of the dangerous ones. It’s something I was told to contact once I settled this situation with you three. Or found another group who was willing. It’s an ally.” A pause. Pandora wanted to look to see if anyone else was looking at her. She didn’t.

“What now?” She asked. A bit awkwardly. A bad segue.

“I was going to have this prepared for you before you got here, but it looks like you’ll see me do it. Stay there until I’m finished, please.” Lady hopped down from the tree and hit the ground like it had come up to meet her. She walked a bit away from the trunk and then turned to her left. Something was following her. Her tail was dragging and flattening the grass and where it touched it was trailing a line of blue light. The same colour as the world had been inside her pocket dimension and the same colour as her eyes.

Pandora realized silently what was happening. Lady was drawing a circle. She kept quiet after that revelation. It didn’t feel momentous enough to break the silence.

Pandora sat down and watched. Ellie followed her. Shannon stood for a minute more, and then gave in with the incredulous action of tucking her skirt against her legs. They were oriented in a shallow triangle as they stared. Shannon was at the head. Pandora said nothing. It felt right.

Lady finished the circle and immediately went inwards. Drew what ended up being three smaller circles. Three points of a triangle, with the base facing the tree. She connected those with straight lines. Then went directly into the center and drew another circle within that triangle. Her tail lifted after that. She took a seat in the last circle and turned to face us.

“Take any a spot in any of the three remaining circles, please,” she asked warmly. Again, the feeling of a smile without an expression.

They all got up. They all brushed the grass off their bottoms. Shannon did so cutely. Pandora did so carelessly. They walked forward and stood neatly before the diagram. The lines glowed blue. They were bright and harsh and peaked through the moving glass.

Shannon looked over her shoulder at Pandora. Then Ellie. Pandora nodded towards the drawing. Ellie just bobbed her head up and down a few times. A movement of only a few degrees. Permission from both of them for Shannon to step forward.

Her fists were clenched. It looked inconspicuous, but it really wasn’t for Shannon. When she released that tension, her fingers fell into full length. Small bits of skin were plucked beside her fingernails. A couple scabs. It broke up the otherwise well-kept skin.

Her steps forward weren’t tentative or shy. She just went. Directly into the top spot of the triangle. Ellie and Pandora settled on either side of her. Pandora, the right. Ellie, her left. Three eyes turned inward towards Lady.

“This is a ceremony. I can make this short and to the point. If you want to get this over with you can. But the old ways still apply to this, so stating your intentions and speaking your mind are encouraged. The forces that chose you saw traits within that they approved of, but telling them why you’re here or what motivates you to chase this power will let them know what kind of person they really chose.” Shannon said nothing. Pandora took that as a sign she wanted to go last. Or at most, not first. She took a shallow breath and opened her mouth, but Ellie fired off that metaphorical starting gun first.

“Uh, I didn’t say a lot in comparison to you two to argue for this. I agreed with Pandora. I said I wanted to help people and that this could be to us what Shannon’s career choice is for her. But, uh, before this I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I still don’t, I guess. I know this isn’t going to pay my bills and it’s not something to replace school or a job. But while I deal with that I can do this. And it feels like I’m moving forward now. That I can be more like my friend and more like the person I want to be because I’ve found something I can do that gives me a purpose and that I can say makes the world better.” She took a shaky breath after that. It was a lot of words for her. In a lot of different ways.

Shannon still said nothing. She was looking at her feet now, after meeting Ellie’s gaze throughout. Pandora had been writing her script on the fly, editing and detracting in the moment, trying to figure out what she’d say in front of three other people and a theaters worth of gravitas. She’d also been trying to pay attention to Ellie. Like a poorly made pastry, as soon as a pint of pressure hit her she deflated. Her thoughts just stopped. Turned to mush.

She took a breath. Was too focused on the wet sounds her mouth were making. Took another. She felt very tired suddenly.

“I’ve lived in this town my whole life. With my mom and my dad and my brother at first. She’s dead. Nate’s in Toronto. And now it feels like everything around here is closing in on me. Because at home all my dad’s shit has moved up to eleven and I’m the only one there to focus on and outside we’re supposed to be thinking about careers and post-secondary and the rest of our lives being on the horizon. Ellie said she didn’t know what she was gonna do and I agree. It feels like quicksand dragging me down and I tried to struggle and now it’s just easier to stop and relax and ignore it and not care. I don’t care about any of it. I don’t want to do this for another ten or twenty or thirty or whatever years because it already feels endless. And because every adult I see looks like they want to do anything but what they’re doing.” She swallowed. A lot of words for her, as well. Like running a marathon when you only took brisk walks every day. She felt very suddenly underwater. She felt very suddenly seen. She ignored the burning pulls at the eyes and didn’t clench her jaw because she knew that would be noticed.

“I want this. Because I can try to do something good without getting dragged into whatever everyone else in the world seems to have been dragged into.” She looked down at her feet. Tensed and clicked her toes inside her shoes and visualized that.

There was arid noise from Shannon as a prelude to response. Rustling, scuffing of joints, teeth on flesh and other teeth.

“Both of you said you’d do this without me. You’re both assholes for that, I’d like you to know. Because now I have to join this whole thing. Both of you would have agreed yesterday without a second thought, I can for sure see that now. So I agree that we can do good. I’m never going to be against that. But I’m here because my friends need me, because without me they’re going to dive head-first into the fucking abyss with no one to hold them back. I could do what you guys suggested and stand by, and you could tell me stories of this between classes and after school. That would be fun. Like a movie or a TV show. I’d be safe while getting to hear all of this magic and this excitement. But if you guys died and I knew I could have been there to tell you not to do whatever you did that killed you, I’d never sleep again.”

Lady bookended that with a warm nod. Pandora very suddenly wanted to go home. None of the excitement had drained from this, nothing seemed to change for the worse. But she wanted that anyways. Not that home was really that for her anymore.

She rubbed her eyes and was startled with the realization she may look like she was crying. She stopped. Ellie had her hands folded in front of her, always demure. Shannon was standing straighter than Pandora thought she ever could, would’ve made a bet that posture like that wouldn’t have ever come from her friend, and she was looking down at Lady.

“These three magi have stated their desires and their motives. They have all been heard. None have been denied.” That auditory deadness was returning, like cloth being stuffed into ears. Like falling into a room covered in thick wood. Pandora’s eyes were beating like twin hearts as well. Shannon and Ellie were breathing heavier, like dogs panting for water and trying to hide their thirst.

“Do you three accept this power and the role that follows it, to seek danger beyond any being of this realm knows and do anything within your new power to stop it?” Lady asked. Her voice sounded stronger now. The tone hadn’t changed, and she wasn’t shouting. But there was something behind it.

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

The diagram flashed like someone had combusted chemicals beneath their feet. A sun exploding in the clearing, trying to take out Atwood with a white death. Pandora had a sudden thought, the feeling pushing through the crowd in her brain and taking an intrusive place at the forefront. Weird way to die, but at least Atwood is fucking gone.

It wasn’t. The three girls shared a single shaky breath, as if they shared one set of lungs and had decided to use them simultaneously. Pandora’s legs shook. Tentatively, gently, but noticeably. Her attempt to sit down was more like a controlled collapse. Shannon and Ellie did the same thing, all of them getting lower limbs tangled as they hit the grass.

The diagram was faded, now. More light gray than blue-white. Chalk smudged off the sidewalk by fast-motion erosion. A million footsteps in the span of a second. The thumping in Pandora’s eyes was gone. When Lady spoke, she sounded motherly and caring. You’d never know she just set a flashbang off in the forest.

“The contract is complete. Welcome, magi.”