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“Yes, but I’m working on that.”

“And how’s that working out for you?”

My smile wobbled. “I guess you already know the answer to that question.”

“Yeah,” he said. “But don’t worry so much about it. You shouldn’t try so hard to be what other people expect you to be.”

“Easy for you to say,” I muttered. “You have all this powerful magic. You can make yourself invisible!”

“Oh, I can do a lot more than just that.”

“Like what? What other spells can you do?” I asked him, not caring how eager I sounded. I’d never met another magical person before. “Can you command the oceans? Or fly? Or control time and space? I’ve always wanted to control time and space!”

“You definitely dream big,” he laughed.

“Come on. Tell me all about your magic. Or, better yet, show me!”

“All right.”

The tree’s shadow shifted. Correction:allthe shadows around me shifted. I looked up and saw the moon was setting as the sun rose. The sun shot across the sky, like the day was playing out in fast-motion.

“Wow,” I gasped.

“You wanted to see someone control time and space.”

“Yeah…”

I watched the sun kiss the horizon. Stardust streaked across the dark blue sky, like a waterfall of diamonds crashing against a sapphire lake. It was the most beautiful, most magical thing I’d ever seen.

“But that’s not what you’re doing,” I realized. “You’re notactuallycontrolling time and space.”

“Sure I am.”

“No, you’re not,” I told him. “You didn’t speed up time. You only made it look like you did. It’s just a trick using light and shadows.” I pointed at the branches of the Spirit Tree, which were rustling in the wind. “You can see it there. If you’d really sped up time, those branches would be moving faster too.”

“Unless I put us and the tree in a protected time bubble.”

“Ok, but then what about those leaves on that scrawny tree all the way over there? They’re swaying slowly in the wind too. And the birds overhead are flying at the same speed they always do.”

“Interesting.”

That must have been his favorite word.

“What’s interesting?” I asked.

“You are,” he told me. “The girl who uses logic to interpret magic. The girl who can hear the spirits’ voices.” I heard some rustling, like he was moving toward me. And when he spoke again, his voice was definitely closer. “Do you often speak with the spirits?”

“I…”

When I didn’t finish, he prompted me, “Yes?”

“Well, I haven’t exactlyspokento the spirits.”

I drew in a deep breath. I’d never told anyone about this—or about my magic. Not even my brother. Not even my mom.

I’d discovered my magic during my first year of school. Even way back then, I’d realized I had to keep this to myself. Because as soon as it got out that I wasn’t normal, the Government would put me in a lab and run all kinds of experiments on me. Or maybe they’d just put me in an insane asylum and run all kinds of experiments on me.

But there was no danger of that here. The invisible stranger was either a magical being or a figment of my imagination.