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“For a minute there, it was like falling—” Ling said, excited.
“Then floating—” Evie added.
“In a warm bath made of stars that you felt joined to?” Memphis finished.
Sam jerked a thumb at the others. “Uh, what they said.”
“Yes,” Theta said so quietly that no one heard.
Henry’s eyes widened. “Is it just me or is the credenza rather… un-credenza-like?”
Across the room, the antique oak table bowed out in the middle, as if trying to give birth to some other form. And then it contracted and settled back to its proper table shape.
“Will…” Sister Walker whispered.
“I know,” he answered. “Incredible.”
Ling moved as swiftly as she could. She touched the credenza gingerly. It was still warm. “It’s pos-i-tute-ly solid now.”
“You’re using the word!” Henry beamed. “I taught her that word, you know.”
Ling’s excitement bubbled out of her in a torrent of words. “Everything radiates. The radiation we emit isn’t visible to the naked eye, but it’s there. This is incredible. Our combined energy can disrupt electromagnetic fields or create one!” She burst out with a rare full grin. “We’re an unimaginable source of energy!”
“Diviner Industries—powering the nation! Charleston, Charleston!” Evie sang, pulling Henry in to dance with her.
“People who could do that would be pretty valuable,” Memphis said.
“Yeah. And dangerous,” Sam said.
“What do you mean?” Evie had stopped dancing, but she still held Henry’s hand.
“I mean, either everybody would want ’em around, or nobody would. We were created for national security, right?” He looked to Sister Walker, who nodded. “Well, what happens if somebody decides we aren’t so secure? What happens if somebody decides that a bunch of people like us with Diviner powers are a threat to that new, special America they’re trying to build?”
“Ice Man, you okay?” Memphis crouched down in front of his brother. Isaiah was breathing heavily. He seemed frightened. “What’s the matter?”
“Anybody else see something scary while they were under?” Isaiah asked.
Will moved closer. “What did you see?”
“It was real dark. And then I could see there was a rip in the dark, like when I tore my shirt on a branch one time and Octavia fussed at me for it. I could feel that there was something inside the rip trying to get out. Something bad.” Isaiah swallowed. “I heard a voice.”
“What did it say?”
“It called me the clairvoyant,” Isaiah said, sounding out the unfamiliar word. “It said, ‘I see you, Clairvoyant.’”
“Something made contact with you,” Sister Walker said. “We should go back in.”
“No,” Memphis said.
“I understand that you’re concerned about your brother, Memphis. But something from the other side wants to talk with Isaiah. This may be our best chance to talk to that entity.”
“What if that something…” With a glance at his brother, Memphis moved to Sister Walker, whispering, “What if that something wants to hurt him?”
“Do you trust me, Memphis?”
If they were on the street or in church, Memphis would back down from Sister Walker’s imperious gaze with an I didn’t mean any disrespect, ma’am smile. Smile. Nod. Look away. Get along. But Sister Walker had gone to jail for sedition. She and Will had lied to them about their origins, about what Project Buffalo really was. Hadn’t Blind Bill and Aunt Octavia said that Sister Walker couldn’t be trusted? And from what Memphis had heard on those recordings, Sister Walker, Will, and the others hadn’t been able to look out for poor Guillaume, and he was a Diviner—a powerful one at that. But if Sister Walker was right, and this was a chance to find out how to heal the breach Memphis’s mother had talked about, then they had to take it. For now, Memphis needed to believe that once they closed the door between worlds, things would be better. The ghosts would go away. Isaiah’s seizures would stop.
“He’s not going in without me,” Memphis said finally.
