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Somebody honked, but Rae ignored him. She slowed down and glared at the guy in the next lane until he let her over. Then she parked next to-okay, half on-the curb. “What’s wrong? What happened?” she deman ded, taking Mandy by the shoulders.
    Mandy didn’t answer, but Rae noticed her fingers tighten their grip on the silk blouse she held. Her nails had started to shred the delicate fabric. “Is it your sister?” Rae asked.
    “There’s something wrong with my eyes,” Mandy managed to get out. “I think-Rae, I’m going blind.”
    “What?” Rae cried.
    “Al of a sudden it’s like I can only see in two circles-like two spotlights. Everything else just went dark.” Mandy’s voice was sha king so badly, Rae could hardly understand her.
    “Al of a sudden?” Rae repeated. “You’ve never, ever experienced anything like this before?” Her own voice was shaking a little, too, even though Rae was trying hard to stay calm.
    “Never,” Mandy answered. “I was, you know, looking at my sister, and when I came back, there was al this blackness.”
    “Do you have an eye doctor?” Rae asked. “I can take you right now. Or to the emergency room.” Mandy’s face grew even more pale, if that was possible. “If something happens to me, my dad wil lose it. After my mom. And if Emma goes off with Zeke. He’l lose it,” Mandy said in a rush, ignoring Rae’s question. She rubbed her eyes viciously with the heels of her hands.
    “Stop it, okay? Stop it. That’s not going to help,” Rae ordered. She grabbed Mandy by the wrists and forced her hands away from her eyes.
    “It’s like everything’s dark and there are two flashlight beams and I can only see what’s in the light,” Mandy said, her hands sha king under Rae’s fingers. “What does that mean? What’s going on?”
    “And it’s never happened before?” Rae asked. She knew she was repeating herself, that Mandy’d already answered the questi on. But it was too bizarre for something like this to happen just bam! Wasn’t it?
    “No. Never,” Mandy answered, her voice rising. She was clearly on the edge. “I told you that.”
    “Did you hit your head today or…” Rae couldn’t even think of another possible explanation. What Mandy was describing was so strange. She eased her grip on Mandy’s fingers, slowly letting go and resting her hands back in her lap.
    “No,” Mandy said. “You’ve been with me most of the day. I’ve just been sitting around in my room.” She glanced down at the blo use, and it was like something clicked in Rae’s brain.
    “How many times have you used your power to see your sister today?” Rae asked. “I mean, just in the car you’ve done it like fi ve times, right?”
    Mandy frowned. “I guess. Every time I let go of the shirt, then touch it again, I’m there, I’m here. Sometimes I didn’t even decide to do it. So maybe more than five. I kept checking to make sure that she was stil at Virgin, even though checking every thirty se conds is stupid.”
    “That’s got to be it,” Rae murmured.
    “What? What’s it?” Mandy asked, the irritation in her tone dissolving back into pure fear.
    “I have this side effect when I do my fingertip-to-fingertip thing,” Rae explained.
    “Right. You said you get numb spots,” Mandy said.
    “Yeah. And maybe that’s what’s going on with your eyes. ’Cause the two little circles of vision-that’s weird. So weird that it ma kes weird sense if it’s a side effect of using your power. If it is, and it’s like mine, it should wear off pretty fast-in less than a day.”
    “Do you real y think that could be it?” Mandy asked.
    “It kind of makes sense, don’t you think?” Rae said. “Maybe you should give it a few hours to find out if you start to see a little better before you go to the doctor. You don’t want anybody thinking you’re having some kind of psychosomatic deal. Believe me, the mental hospital is not a place you want to spend time.” She