Page 47 of Ash Fall

His ears turn red. I bite down on the inside of my cheek.

Gigi smiles at him. Not her dirty joke smile, and not her I'm about to cause a problem smile. This one is warmer, and Anders's ears get even redder.

"Good to see you again," she says.

"You too."

Gage makes a low sound beside me.

I lean toward him. "Does he have a crush on my grandmother?"

"Don't."

"Oh my God, he does."

"Sweetheart, stop…"

"This is amazing."

"Please stop talking."

Gigi glances toward us. "What are you two whispering about?"

"Nothing," Gage says immediately.

She gives us a suspicious look that has me choking back a laugh while Gage looks at the sky for help that isn't coming.

Behind us, a car door opens and shuts with the specific slowness of a person who wants everyone to notice. Briar steps out onto the gravel in impeccable white sneakers that have a very expensive brand logo on the side of them, takes two steps, and stops with a look of disgust on her face.

"What is that smell?"

"Cows," Anders says pleasantly.

She makes a heaving noise and snarls, "It's in my mouth."

Kara doesn't even glance over. "Breathe through your nose, then."

Briar's expression suggests she's considering not breathing at all. She looks at the barns, the pastures, the grain bins, the dirt, and something in her face wobbles before the sneer locks back into place. She's fifteen, standing in a farmyard wearing Prada, thousands of miles from the fancy boarding school she just got expelled from. Kara warned me about her, but I notice the wobble and the panic buried behind the mask she’s trying to wear and can’t help feeling bad for her

Reid comes around the front of the Jeep with both hands pressed to his temples.

"Nope. Nope, nope, nope."

Jules is at his side instantly. "What's wrong?"

"There’s so many… Oh my God, it’s so loud!" Reid squeezes his eyes shut. "It’s the cows… Food Eat, Food Eat, over and over! That’s it, no other thoughts. It’s like the worst combination of chanting and throat singing that you could imagine straight into my mind…"

Anders's eyebrows climb toward his hairline in a What’s this about? look.

"Focus on me for a minute," I tell Reid, stepping in front of him and putting my hand on his arm. "Look at me and listen to my voice. Picture the noise like it’s a stream of water and let it run past you instead of into you. Don't fight it, don’t focus on it, just let it go by."

He breathes out, long and slow, and his shoulders come down by an inch. "Okay. Okay, that's a little better."

"You’ve got this, Reid. It’ll take practice but I bet it’ll be like sitting in a noisy restaurant and being able to ignore the conversations going on around you."

"One of the chickens has been screaming about not getting its share of bugs since I stepped out of the car."

"Baby steps."