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hated needles, and had never even gotten her ears pierced.
    “Can I help you?” said pierced student. He frowned. “Are…you okay?” 
    Ally stammered. “It….those lip rings…” 
    A memory of iron claws ripping through flesh shot through her mind…
    The cashier grinned. “You like them?” He fingered a lip ring with a red stone. “I just had this one done last week.” 
    Ally shook her head. “How can you do that to yourself?”
    The cashier rolled his eyes, his eyebrow rings glittering. “You sound like my parents.”
    “I mean, just…just the feeling of metal ripping through your skin. How can you stand that?” Ally began to shiver.
    The cashier looked frightened. “You sure you’re okay?” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Is it a bad trip? Are you having a bad trip?”
    Ally’s unease vanished with a laugh. “Oh, God, no. I’m sorry. Just a long day, you know?”
    The cashier grinned, his lip rings gleaming in his beard. “Amen and hallelujah to that. So…um…you doing anything later?”
    “Yes,” said Ally. “And I’ll take a grilled cheese sandwich, an apple, and a regular coffee.” 
    The cashier sighed and took her order. A few moments later she took her tray and navigated through the crowd. She found an empty two-person booth in the corner and sat down, dropping her backpack and the tray on the table. Ally sighed and put her feet up. She had to stop skipping meals.
    “Ladies and gentlemen, if I may have your attention!” A male student in a dark suit stood atop a table, waving his arms. He had Wycliffe/Jones and Gracchan Party campaign buttons on the lapels of his coat. 
    “You and I are the future of this nation,” said the Gracchan student, his eyes wide and fervent. “We will, one day, be the United States of America. And our future has been mismanaged. Greedy businessmen and corrupt politicians are bankrupting the country, destroying the environment, and plundering your natural resources.” He sounded like many of the other campus radicals Ally had heard in the last few weeks. “Are we going to just sit back and let them despoil our future? I urge you, in the name of all that is good and right, to join the Gracchan Party Students’ Organization.”
    A few students cheered. Most ignored him. Ally shivered and huddled deeper into her booth. She remembered her conversation with Dr. Francis and what her parents had told her about Wycliffe. Perhaps Wycliffe had been involved in Katrina’s stay in the hospital or perhaps not. 
    She didn’t want to think about it too much. 
    “All alone?” 
    Ally glanced up. The Gracchan student stood over the table, his eyes gleaming with intensity. 
    “Yeah,” said Ally. “I’d prefer to stay that way, too.” 
    “But it needn’t be that way,” said the Gracchan student, leaning forward. “The Gracchan Party can build a better future for America.”
    Ally rolled her eyes. “Oh, that sounds splendid. Are you going to break out a little red book now? Quotations of Chairman Wycliffe?”
    His eyes narrowed. “Senator Wycliffe and Senator Jones are great men.”
    “Sure,” said Ally, another retort on her lips, and she froze. 
    A shadow writhed around the young student, dancing around his head. The echo of Wycliffe’s voice, strong and powerful and resonant, rang through Ally’s head for an instant. She jerked back into her booth, revulsion spreading through her.
    A puzzled look came over the student’s face. “What is it?”
    “Just go away,” whispered Ally. The student hesitated. “Go away! Just leave me the hell alone!”
    The Gracchan student cringed, fearful of making a scene. He turned and hurried away. Ally sighed and pressed the heels of her hands into her temples. A sharp bolt of pain dug through her mind and then faded away. The dreams were bad enough. But if she was starting to see things in the daylight…
    Maybe she really was crazy.
    Or maybe she had a brain tumor.
    Or perhaps she was only