With a pained sigh, Evie left the comfort of her chair and came to sit beside Sam. She liked the way he smelled, like spicy aftershave and something else, something she could only describe as Sam.
Sam squinted at her. “You jake? You look funny.”
“I’m fine. Just … don’t steal anything from me,” Evie warned.
“Here goes.” Sam thrust his left hand toward Theta. “Don’t see me.”
Theta blinked and Sam’s shoulders sagged. She could see him losing confidence.
“Try again,” she urged. “Go all out.”
“You sure?” Sam said quietly.
“Yeah. Think about putting me right to sleep.”
“Sam’s good at that,” Evie grumbled.
“Okaaay,” Sam said, breathing deeply.
Theta took hold of Sam’s other arm, and he looked into her eyes, thinking of every time he’d been doubted. A memory swam into his head. The night his mother kissed him good-bye. I must do this, Little Fox. Our country needs me. But I will be home soon enough. He never saw his mother again. He would find her. He would get stronger and he would find her.
“Don’t. See. Me,” Sam growled.
Static charged the air, raising the hair on Evie’s arms and the back of her neck. She blinked, a bit dazed. Sam was no longer beside her. Had she gone under?
“Sam? Sam!” Evie called as she turned in her chair, searching.
“You already tried that little stunt, Evie.”
She could hear Sam’s voice, but she couldn’t see him. At his desk, Will had gone slack and glassy-eyed, as had Mabel and Jericho. Theta stared straight ahead. Even Henry, Ling, and Isaiah looked dazed. Other than Evie herself, only Memphis and Sister Walker were alert.
“I’m not pulling your leg, Sam. Honest!” Evie put out a hand and yelped when she touched something solid. He was right next to her. “Sam. You’re … invisible!”
“I am?”
“Yes, you’re—aaah!” Evie shrieked, and leaped from her chair. “Stop tickling me!”
“This is the best day of my life!” Sam’s laughter rippled the air where he sat, and then he began to reappear like a ghost image on film until he was fully restored.
“Twenty-two seconds,” Sister Walker said, clearly excited. “That’s how long you were invisible.”
“Five seconds. That’s how long it’s gonna take me to give you a black eye,” Evie said.
Ling blinked, coming fully around. “Wh-what happened?”
“Sam went invisible. Unfortunately, he came back,” Evie told her.
Ling opened her notebook, excited. “Where—where did you go when you disappeared? Do you feel strange in any way?”
“Sam is strange in every way,” Jericho said, shaking his head and getting his bearings. Mabel and Will were still under, Evie noticed.
“I didn’t go anywhere. I was right here. But it’s funny. I felt really alive—like I was hitting on all sixes!” Sam scratched at his arms. “Jeepers, that smarts. Aaah! Feels like ants!”
“That could be an aftereffect of the invisibility,” Sister Walker said.
Sam left his chair to rub his back against the grizzly bear’s stiff hide. “Wait—my swell new power gives me a rash? Aww, that ain’t fair at all!”
Theta snorted, drawing Sister Walker’s eyes. Too late, Theta realized that she should have faked going under for longer. The Metaphysickometer hummed loudly as the needle shot to the other side for a second, then settled.
Sister Walker eyed her suspiciously. “Theta, have you ever experienced any abilities?”
Theta tucked her hands under her thighs in case they got the idea to heat up. “No.”
“Were either of your parents gifted?”
“I wouldn’t know. They left me on a doorstep when I was a baby.”
“Oh. I’m sorry,” Sister Walker said.
“Why doesn’t Sam’s power affect you, Miss Walker?” Evie asked. The others were starting to come around now, and Ling was filling them in on the breakthrough.
“Training,” Sister Walker said. “I suspect Memphis’s healing powers make him immune. As for you, Evie, it would appear that you and Sam share a special bond.”
Evie looked over at Sam, who was still scratching himself against the bear. “Swell,” she said.
Sister Walker still scrutinized Theta. “It’s possible that you have some latent power you’re only now coming into, Theta. If you could let us test you—”
“The only test I’m doing is a screen test for Vitagraph. And then it’s on to Hollywood, to one of those pretty bungalows with a lemon tree out back. They say the sun shines out there all the time, Miss Walker. I like the sun. So, please, just look after my pals and leave me out of it,” Theta said, grabbing her pocketbook. “’Scuse me. I need to powder my nose.”
Theta sneaked out to the small scrap of garden behind the museum. She unfolded the note that had been left on her makeup table back at the theater. Somebody knows.
“You ever gonna tell ’em?” Sam said from behind her.
Theta quickly stuffed the note deep into her purse. “You might warn a girl before sneaking up on her.”
“Defeats the purpose of sneaking up.” Sam folded his arms and leaned against the cold brick. “Asked you a question.”
Theta squished a mealy acorn under her shoe. “Tell ’em what?”
“About what happened down in those tunnels, how you set fire to one of those wraiths with your bare hands.” When Theta didn’t answer, Sam pleaded with her. “Theta, you got a big power. Bigger than mine. We might need it?”
“Shhh!” Theta hurried over to Sam and lowered her voice. “Whatever this disease is inside me, I just want it gone.”
“Maybe they can help you with it,” Sam tried.
“Nothing doing.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m the only one of us whose powers are bad!” Theta blurted. “Makes me feel like I’m dirty or something. Like a killer.” Theta looked Sam in the eyes. She hated feeling so vulnerable. “You gonna snitch on me?”
Sam let out a long exhale. “Nah. I’m no snitch. But I really wish you’d tell the professor and Miss Walker about what you can do.”
“Yeah. Well,” Theta said sadly. “We all wish for something, don’t we?”
Before heading out, Evie paused at Will’s office door. The light from his lamp bled under the crack, along with the sound of his old Victrola playing a classical record, and Evie could imagine Will staying up half the night, reading spooky ghost reports in the deepening gloom while a Chopin nocturne kept him company.
Evie knocked and poked her head in. “Mind if I come in?”
“Make yourself at home.”
“Same old Creepy Crawly,” Evie said, taking in the mess of papers and books and odd supernatural knickknacks. She picked up a book from the edge of Will’s desk and was surprised to discover it wasn’t some macabre ghost tome but Dickens. “A Tale of Two Cities?”
Will managed a fond smile. “That happens to be my favorite book.”