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She screwed her eyes tightly shut

"Relax a little Believe it or not, the harder you try, the ets"

Her face so

"Good Now, think of somewhere you’d like to be Somewhere fun"

"The beach" Each summer, the Santinis spent a week’s vacation on Cape Cod

"Good choice Now, iine you’re there Feel the sand under your toes, the warulls And the waves co into the shore" She turned her head a little and sniffed "Vicky! I can smell the salt water!"

"Perfect Hold all that in your mind" As she did, a seascape sketched itself around her Colors and shapes filled in--a beach umbrella, a plastic bucket, a sandcastle decorated with shells "Ready? Open your eyes"

She did, and her eyes ith a suit, and pinkfralasses perched on top of her head She spun around, laughing, and ran to splash in the water "It’s cold!" she shouted "Just like at the Cape!"

"You can warm it up if you want It’s your dreaain Then she opened them and threw herself into the water She dived into the waves, arcing through the porpoise superimposed itself on her as she swaht now

Interesting Maria’s shapeshifting abilitiesfaster than we’d realized

But when she ran back up the beach, water streairl having fun She looked around for a towel, but there wasn’t one She closed her eyes, and a towel patterned with seahorses draped itself around her shoulders

"That’s what your e of your dreams Eventually, you won’t even have to close your eyes to s happen"

"Cool!" She sat down on the sand and tipped her head back to look at the clear blue sky "Thanks for teaching ood first lesson Noe should both get soer Studying thereat-aunt? When she ht about--Maria shouldn’t hear that story I did ood person Aunt Mab is a good person But there’s abetween thes happen that way"

"If it’s a , can’t you talk to Mom?"

"I don’t think it would help Not after all this time"

"Aunt Mab’s colors were so pretty And she wanted to help you I don’t believe she’d do anything bad"

"She didn’t But you still have to obey your mom When she says that she and I are the only people you can talk to on the dream phone, you listen" In her current condition, I didn’t think Mab had the strength to use the drea to call her

"Okay But e her mind"

Not on this issue Not unless she could travel back in tihtto show you how to hang up the dreaht about your colors"

"Do that again" She immediately closed her eyes "In yourin the fog" As she concentrated, her own colors rose up around her where she sat in the sand They swirled around her waist, then her shoulders When the pink and blue tendrils of ht, Maria"

My dreaht I heard the faint cry of a seagull, and then Maria’s voice, like an echo froht

28

WHEN I WOKE, IT WAS LATE AFTERNOON I REMOVED THE splint from my wrist and moved my hand It was a little weak, but it felt fine I crept down the hall to check on Mab, who slept I couldn’t see her in the darkened rooht, but I listened to her breathing for a while Slow and even, punctuated fro for air Mab was hanging on It was the best I could hope for right now

I pulled the bedroom door shut and went back down the hall I brewed a pot of coffee and turned on the TV to see what the press was saying about the Reaper murders Mostly, it hat you’d expect: shots of the latest murder site, a profile of the victim (Mack had been in his fifties, unmarried, and a member of Humans First), and a summary of the other murders CNN aired an intervieith aon Storrow Drive and claih the trees at the tile" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>