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the others against her, playing the same Us vs. Them game Oakhurst played so well. But to her surprise, Teddy gave Dylan a stern look. “I didn’t have a Gift while I was at Oakhurst, either. I didn’t get my powers until I was twenty. But Doc A knew they were there, and Mark always believed in me. You all have to believe in each other.” He smiled at Dylan, softening the lecture. “Doc A doesn’t make mistakes.”
    It would be nice if that were true, Spirit thought. But there was no reason to think it was any more true than anything else Breakthrough was saying.
    Because if “Doc A didn’t make mistakes,” where had all the Shadow Knights come from?
    *   *   *
    “A new town library’s next on Mark’s list of building projects,” Teddy said as the Humvee pulled into the parking lot behind the Radial Association Library.
    That was another thing Spirit would like to believe, because even by her old standards, the Radial library was a small and squalid place. It had obviously started life as a house; now the white clapboard siding was desperately in need of paint, and the clear plastic sheeting nailed up over all the windows was tattered and fogged.
    Teddy looked out the window, frowning, then snapped his fingers as if he’d just thought of something (Spirit bet he hadn’t). “I don’t see any reason for you to be stuck here. Hey guys, are you up for a little adventure?”
    “Hell yeah!” Dylan said, and even Chris nodded.
    “Why don’t you go on in and get the rest of the Dance Committee, Hailey?”
    “Yes, sir.” The voice of the chauffeur came over the intercom. Spirit watched as the woman walked into the library.
    “What’s the adventure?” Dylan asked eagerly.
    “Hey, big guy, it wouldn’t be much of an adventure without a surprise,” Teddy said. “Patience!”
    A few moments later, Hailey returned with seven Radial kids in tow. Spirit only recognized two of them: Juliette Weber and her twin brother, Brett (who was so not a member of the Committee). Brett and Juliette were clearly the king and queen of Macalister High, and they weren’t really happy about being upstaged. Everyone scurried across the gravel and tumbled into the back of the limousine, which was big enough to seat all of them without crowding.
    As soon as Hailey got behind the wheel again, she drove off. She obviously knew their destination without being told.
    So this is what “normal” looks like. Even though she’d been to Billings only six weeks ago and Brett and Juliette had tagged along on that field trip, it had been a shock when Spirit realized the “magical” Oakhurst students really were different from “ordinary” kids, and the Radial Dance Committee might have been chosen to illustrate the difference. After she’d spent so long seeing nothing but other Oakhurst kids, the Radial kids looked as though they came from the cheap knockoff version of real life.
    “Hey, wow, this is great!” a plump girl with terminal acne said.
    “Big enough for your fat ass, Couch.” The speaker was a skinny dark-haired girl, the only one of the seven Townies not dressed for the weather. She wore a denim jacket, and she must have been freezing. One of her eyebrows was pierced, and her makeup was as heavy as Muirin’s—heavier. Her foundation and concealer were obviously worn to cover the pitting of acne scars.
    As the Macalister High Dance Committee settled in (half of them overawed and trying not to show it, the other half chattering nervously) Spirit was able to match names to faces. “Couch” was Veronica Davenport—plump, spectacularly acne’d, and with a permanent nervously hopeful expression that made Spirit’s stomach twist in sympathy. Veronica clearly knew the only way she could be included in anything was to agree with everything anyone else said. The girl who’d called her “Couch” was Kennedy Lewis. She was evidently the closest thing to a “bad girl” Radial could offer. (She did her best to be