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the zooming rock. She fell to her knees on the ground.
    “Yes it is,” Abdul replied calmly, flicking his wrist again. “Those sparks actually hurt.”
    “Ouch! Stop it! What are you doing in my house anyway? Are you here to throw rocks at me, or is this a bonus?”
    The rock fell to the ground with a small thump, looking as normal as ever. Abdul smirked at her, offering her his hand to help her up. She shook her head and continued to kneel in the dirt of her front yard.
    “Well, we have a problem. Most people who see us are addled old folks who no one would believe anyway. I mean, that bar last night was filled with people who could talk all day about our power and not a single normal person would think twice about it. The rest of the time, when a functioning, intelligent human sees us they tend to uh...lose their mind. Then they go right back into the first group.”
    “That is...not comforting.”
    “Exactly. But here you are, completely fine! You watched everything and seem completely unfazed. On a scale of one through ten, your surprise registered only a three. Seriously? What is wrong with you?”
    “What is wrong with me? What is wrong with YOU?!” Celia was angry now, her face becoming flushed and hot.
    “We just can’t have you going around talking about us or the things you’ve seen. It is important we finish the job that we were sent here to do.”
    “Right, but you had time to do a little dancing?” Celia considered picking up the rock and hurling it at Abdul’s foot.
    He threw his hands up in exasperation. “So I flirt with the prettiest girl around. Listen, you have no idea how important this is. I need you to cooperate, and we will make all these memories go away.”
    “Excuse me? You are not touching me,” she growled, scooting backward over the ground to distance herself from him.
    Abdul looked slightly pained. “Listen, I didn’t mean we will hurt you.”
    “I said don’t touch me! I don’t trust your magic. You got your ass kicked last night!”
    Abdul froze and narrowed his eyes. Looking intently at her, he took a large breath. His hands were completely still at his sides with his fists clenched. He held his breath for five long seconds, and the entire desert seemed to be still too, waiting for him to move next. Celia realized that she was also holding her breath in anticipation. Then he released the air in a noisy rush, throwing his arms out dramatically as he did so.
    Off in the far distance stood a single mountain, lonely in the shimmering heat. As Abdul exhaled, the mountain began to shake, its top blowing off in a plume of smoke that was visible for miles. Celia could just barely make out flashes of red as the volcano erupted, and then dark billowing clouds of smoke rose up and obscured it from her view.
    “Holy. Crap,” she whispered, feeling the rolling rumble of the explosion in her feet as the shockwave moved through the earth.
    “Powerful enough for you?” he asked, his eyes taking on an inscrutable, sphinx-like appearance.
    Before Celia could answer, the door to her trailer slammed open, and genies began pouring out of it like a horrible clown car. Their eyes danced with the fire she knew all too well. Hints of colorful auras were beginning to show as well. The men all ignored the plumes of smoke in the distance, and only briefly gave Celia a glance where she sat huddled on the ground.
    “He and his crew have taken off into the desert. Four black cars left the main road,” reported a man with a long black ponytail breathlessly, staring intently at Abdul.
    “Where is he heading?” Abdul was obviously in his element, taking on the commanding tone that rubbed Celia the wrong way.
    “It was hard to catch. So far away and with the sound vibrations...”
    “Say it.”
    “The sparrow? That’s all we got.” The man looked embarrassed. “But I’m sure it is code for something. Sparrows is the name of that gang in Oakland. Maybe they are heading north towards the