Angel inhales long and deep—the leaping of the catamaran slows to a crawl. Still bucking in the air. Still careening onward recklessly but to her senses, every movement is drawn out. The colors of the twilight explode before her eyes. The stars begin to twinkle an array of complimentary neons. The Nevers curves upward in gentle smooth peaks of waves.

A flood assaults her senses all at once. The copper smell of the electricity pulsing through the motherboard in the dash. The faint crackle of the relays. The taste of salt in the air. The rise and fall of her hair. She rubs her finger on the arm of the chair and feels the subtle grain of the leather.

“What was that?” She asks as Elias leans back in his chair recorking the bottle that dangles around his neck. He wears a contented smug look on his face. “Was that a drug?” She self-examines as she asks. She doesn’t feel sluggish or dull. She doesn’t feel foggy, she feels more focused but not amped. She is at peace, but not euphoric as other drugs had done to her. She feels more alert and more aware.

“I don’t know,” Elias answers honestly. “Try to move your arm.”

She moves her arm but feels nothing out of the ordinary.

“Do you see the light?” He leans in excitedly. “Down inside?”

She gives him a puzzled look. “Inside what?”

“Inside you. Down in your chest and stomach. Or maybe your feet.”

“No. I see the light out there.” She points at the horizon beyond the mountains. “I’ve never seen those colors before.”

It's his turn to look puzzled now. “Do you not feel it? Like a bolt of lightning, driving you forward. Begging you to move?”

“No, I feel calm. Collected. Sharp. It's amazing really.” She feels pensive. Is that the right word? She remembers hearing Miss Orwell use the word in class. The memory crashes into her like a vision. She smells the chalk and the rubber from her rainboots dripping under her desk. She hears the thunder rumbling outside the classroom. She can taste the yellow paint and wood of the pencil she was gnawing on. She can remember every kid's name in the third-grade class.

Elias sits back and considers this. He lifts the bottle and looks inside. “It makes me feel like I could run up a wall, or bend iron. It heals me when I’m hurt.” His brows raise suddenly with an idea, “Let me cut you.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

This proposal draws a sharp glare from Angel. “Let me reconstruct your smile with my boot.”

Elias’ face snaps from an eager grin into a look of shock.

Angel is about to laugh when she notices something profound in his eyes—a hidden layer behind a wall of insecurity. She looks behind the veil like she is hacking into his soul. She can see a man staggering toward him, swinging at him, sneering at him. She can see him curled into a ball, wetting himself. It is such a disconcerting flash of degradation that she pulls her eyes away, feeling guilty for her intrusion. What was that?

Elias looks away as well shifting nervously in his seat. Angel searches for a way to diffuse the tension when she notices something odd. As she opens her mouth to speak there is a coalescence in front of her. A teal-colored light forms and swirls. She elbows Elias in the ribs and starts to speak again then the color of the light changes to a yellow color. The vibration of the light changes.

Elias stares at the light wide-eyed. He reaches out a hand to touch it. “What is it?” The light flinches and curls away from his hand.

“Don’t.” Angel reaches out, and the light gathers around her hand. Mesmerized she rolls her hand over and begins to hum to it. The light flickers and condenses, it swirls around her fingertips. It seems to dance to her singing voice. When she stops humming it seems to spread out, to fade. She sings louder, words she does not know. The light grows brighter and starts to take form.

Leaning forward Angel wraps both hands around the light and stirs the light with beautiful-sounding words that Elias has never heard. The light before her begins to spin vertically. She wraps both hands around the floating aura and closes her eyes tight singing loud. Then her eyes flash open and the singing stops. Her eyes glow bright white for a flicker of a second and she freezes sweating and breathing deeply.

Elias sits clenching the armrests of his chair. Angel lowers her hands and splays them open before them. In the center is a small yellow stone. A translucent stone the size of a match head. Elias lets out the breath that has been caught in his chest. “Did you just make that?” He chides himself as he asks it already knowing the answer.

Angel drops back in her seat exhausted. If she had sprinted a mile, she would have more energy left in her. She pushes the stone around in her palm with her finger, it is hard and jagged, it twinkles with starlight. Had she just made it? From thin air? She can hardly believe it herself.

Up ahead, the Triad mountains loom closer, and they both look up in alarm. Elias frantically grabs at the steering wheel and starts flipping switches. Angel looks around at all the flashing lights and realizes she knows what to do. She rests a calming hand on his arm and with a single look assures him before taking over. She flips three silver switches over her head. Then turns a dial between them and draws back a handle.

The catamaran begins to slow. The loud engines calm. She flips another switch and the lights on the front of the boat kick on. They can see the shore up ahead. She steers the ship toward a safe channel and soon they coast to a stop with the soft sound of sand dragging under the boat.