Anxiety and tension woke us all early the following day. Cove and I dressed in the clothes we’d arrived in, and then Cove shoved his stuff into my backpack as I took it out and organized it properly, lest it bulges and snaps the zipper. Jack and Mattie made breakfast as we worked, and we all shoveled it down in thoughtful silence.

When we all piled into the car, Mattie made no move to grab her own backpack, instead packing her pockets full of stones and a slingshot. Clearly, she would be returning with Jack. With a grin, Jack tossed the rifle with the modified EMP attachment into the trunk, slipping magazines deep into his pockets. Catching our wary faces, he joked, “Don’t worry; your phones aren’t the target this time.”

It wasn’t funny, and Cove and I slipped into the car while ignoring him, Ani and Ranch leaping eagerly into our laps. I had no doubt they’d escaped and gotten into trouble the days we’d left them behind, but they acted as though we’d abandoned them and buried themselves deep into our sides.

Jack stopped outside the house to pick up Bearard, who, per my dream, sat between Cove and me in the middle seat. The wind was bitter and stung our faces, so we reluctantly rolled up the windows, sacrificing the fresh air for the old and musty smell of the car. As my cark sickness returned, I pressed my too-warm forehead against the refrigerator-cool glass, focusing on the scenery passing before my eyes.

The scenery began to blur as I fell half-asleep, staring blankly out that window. For a second, in the haze, I thought I saw myself. The moment passed, and I realized it was just my reflection. I pressed my fingertips to the cool glass and pushed my forehead off, turning to the right to see Bearard zoned out. I blinked and looked down at my phone. Picking it up, I scrolled to the map function, shifting through the settings to set it to the current time, watching as almost a hundred red dots appeared on the map.

Currently, there were no unexpected movements.

When I looked at Bearard again, his golden eyes were unusually bright. I opened my mouth to speak, and everything but the golden lights of his eyes faded around me.

Reality rebuilt itself, and the metallic chrome of the robot's cranium formed itself around the golden lights. The robot’s gaze focused on me; the fragment reached out desperately from behind the cold body.

It couldn’t speak, but I heard the ‘Help me’ all the same.

I’d seen this vision before

Tiny bits of golden dust, like golden strands of sand or stardust, trickled steadily out of the eyes, almost like the fragment was weeping.

I reached my hand out, catching some of the stardust. It felt warm, and sad, and lost.

Why was I watching it again?

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“Hay-”

An immeasurable pain and sadness radiated from where the fragment frantically tried to keep as much of itself together as it could.

‘Help me.’ It cried.

“Hayden!” they called.

I was. That’s why we were on our way.

Light gathered in my hands. Ever so slowly, the fragments tricked back up into the chromium skull. In this dream, there wasn’t much more I could do.

“More.”

I would be able to do more in person.

“Hayden?” Again came the distant voice.

Golden particles swirled around me once more as the background details faded to black.

I stood in an infinitely starry sky that stretched forever in every direction.

A star shot down from the heavens, and I caught it in my hands.

“Hayden?!”

Bearard’s glowing and worried eyes snapped back into place before me. I rapidly blinked the vision away, bringing my hand to my forehead and dropping my phone to steady myself as a sudden bought of dizziness struck.

Worried faces spun in a kaleidoscope before my eyes.

“Are you okay?”

My throat burned, and my hand shifted to my mouth as I swallowed the rising bile back down. Jack pulled as much ‘off’ the road as he could get, twisting in his seat to see me.

Focused on keeping my breakfast down, I couldn’t answer, and they grew more worried.

“Hayden!”

I held up the hand I’d used to steady myself in a ‘stop’ motion, praying they’d be quiet for a second as I collected myself. Sweat dripped from my nose onto the hand covering my mouth.

I took a ragged breath in, then released it.

“Are you going to be sick?” someone asked.

I raised a finger, silently begging them to give me a minute. My heartbeat slowed, and the nausea receded further.

When it had receded enough for me to speak, I ran a shaky hand through my sweaty hair and said, “That was terrible.”

I took another breath and met their worried looks.

“You remember that vision I’d written down pieces of?”

They all nodded in unison, looking like bobbleheads.

I fiddled with my earring, twisting it, unsure how to describe what had happened. “I saw parts of it again.”

Cove leaned over Bearard, and the cool brush of his magic chilled my skin.

“I’d forgotten, but in the initial vision, I’d seen us in the car before I saw the robot.” I dropped my hand from my ear and clasped them in my lap. “I was drawn in with…him,” I said, the final word tasting strange on my lips. ‘Me’ perhaps would have been more accurate, but that was an even more terrifying word to use.

If this had happened when I was caught up in a fight…the consequences would be dire indeed.

I was coated in sweat and exhausted, feeling like I’d run a few laps around the gym, unlike most encounters with the fragments. Cove confirmed my fears. “Your magic is slightly depleted.” When the others turned his way, he quickly reassured us all, “Not a lot–certainly not enough for you to have powered your vision on your own–but enough to notice.”

Bearard rubbed his chin with a paw. “Interesting,” he said without clarifying.

Cove ruffled his hair, frustrated. “It doesn’t make any sense,” he said against his palms.

You’re telling me.

Jack placed hesitant hands back on the wheel. “So we’re good to go?”

Mattie looked at him helplessly. I turned to Cove, hoping he would have some ideas, but he looked even more confused than I felt, if possible, and I was left to answer. “I suppose.”

As Jack put the car back in drive, I leaned against the door, catching Bearard’s eyes in the window’s reflection.