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boy.”
    â€œFalcon,” said Megan. “Don’t.”
    Falcon wasn’t sure he wanted Quimby to do his fortune, especially since the ones he’d given Pearl and Megan were nearly incomprehensible. They were worse, in some ways, than no fortune at all. Then he remembered the thing he had seen in the graveyard that morning, the cloaked figure covered with snow. He stepped forward and placed his hands on the lid of the large jar. “Tell me,” he said.
    â€œI always warn them,” said Quimby, “but they never listen. All right then. Relax, and focus on the beyond.”
    Falcon closed his eyes. He felt as if all his thoughts were draining out of him.
    â€œFalcon Quinn,” said Quimby, and paused.
    Falcon opened one eye. Quimby’s forehead was creased with lines. “Falcon Quinn,” he said again, more thoughtfully.
    â€œWhat?” said Falcon. “What is it?”
    â€œFalcon Quinn,” said Quimby, “gets—ripped—in half—”
    Quimby paused again. He looked confused.
    â€œRipped in half?” said Pearl.
    â€œFalcon Quinn gets ripped in half, makes his choice, and—uh—” Quimby’s eyes suddenly shot open. The man’s eyes were as wide as hard-boiled eggs. “No!” he shouted. “No!”
    â€œWhat?”
    All at once Quimby screamed. It was an ear-shattering scream, so loud that it knocked Pearl out of the air. Quimby vanished. His crystal went completely dark, then fell over on one side.
    Pearl got herself up off the floor. “Whoa,” she said.
    Falcon stood there with his mouth open. Then he shut it. He thought of his grandmother and his home. Was the fate that Quimby foretold the one that would befall him if he remained here at the Academy? Or the one that would only come to pass if he somehow made his way back to Cold River?
    â€œOur futures,” said Pearl, “seem—unfortunate.”
    â€œLet’s get out of here,” said Megan. “You want to go downstairs, check out the cafeteria?”
    â€œRipped in half? ” said Falcon. “What does that mean, ‘ripped in half’?”
    â€œFalcon,” said Megan. “Come on.”
    â€œSeñor,” said Pearl. “We shall not suffer these fates so long as we are here to protect each other. To you I pledge my stinger!”
    â€œAnd I’m not leaving my friends,” said Megan.
    Falcon looked at Megan, more than a little surprised. “Your friends?” said Falcon. “I thought you hated me.”
    Megan looked at him as if he was even stupider than she’d thought. “ Hated you?” she said. “Are you serious? You’re the only person who’s ever been nice to me.”
    â€œAgain we make this pledge,” said Pearl. “We put our hands together and say, we look out, you for me, and me for you.”
    Megan put her hand onto Pearl’s. Then Falcon put his on top of Megan’s. He looked over at her, and she nodded gently.
    â€œOkay, okay,” said Pearl. “There. I tell you this. I prefer the fortunes we make, better than the ones made by Quimby. He said one true thing in the midst of his lies. We control the future, not Quimby.”
    â€œI never knew a goatsucker before,” said Megan thoughtfully.
    â€œAnd I—I have never met—whatever it is that you might be. Come now, we fly to dinner.”
    â€œWe can’t fly,” said Falcon.
    â€œI fly you, all of us, together,” said Pearl.
    â€œFly us?” said Megan. “You can do that?”
    â€œExactamente,” said Pearl. “Put your hands upon mine, and I shall uplift you, into the sky.”
    Falcon looked at her, astonished. “You’re full of surprises,” he said.
    â€œOf course I am full of surprises,” she said. “I am la Chupakabra ! The famous goatsucker of Peru!”
    She took Megan and Falcon by the hands, and all three of them rose