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came around the corner of the winding road, they found a column of abandoned cars. Several of the cars had their headlights on, providing some illumination as Dr. Porter carefully loaded a man into the back of a truck on a makeshift stretcher. 
    Patrice stamped on the brakes and was at the doctor’s side in a moment. “How can I help?”
    The doctor looked up at Patrice. His normally-ordered dark hair was askew. “I’ve got this. But there could be more injuries. Ruth is checking to see if there’s anyone on the other side. But the rocks are unstable and if she falls …,” his voice faltered. 
    Patrice laid a hand on his shoulder. “That won’t happen. I brought supplies. Bandages, antiseptic. What do you need?”
    Dr. Porter blinked twice, seeming to drag his thoughts back to the matter at hand. “I’d like to splint Bill’s arm. And some morphine, if you’ve got it.”
    Patrice opened her trunk and Dr. Porter grabbed what he needed. “Now go,” he said. “You and I are the only people in this town with any medical knowledge, and if something happens, I need you to take care of it.”
    Patrice was a little pale, but she nodded. “You can count on me. Girls, help me carry this stuff. We’ll leave the car here.”
    Briar wondered, not for the first time, why Patrice treated her so differently than she did everyone else in town. To Norine, to the doctor, to their neighbors and friends, Patrice was kind and helpful. But to Briar ….
    “Stop lolly-gagging,” Patrice said sharply, giving Briar a little shove in the back as she stalked past her, weaving through parked cars. “This is important.”
    To Briar, she always acted like that.
    Briar glanced back at Norine, who was carrying less and moving slower than she was. There was no point in complaining about the unfairness. It wouldn’t change how Patrice acted. 
    The old adage didn’t lie. The truth hurt.
     
    When Briar emerged from the maze of cars parked in the road, she caught her breath. A massive pile of rubble stood in the road, limned by moonlight.
    Briar felt an inexplicable jolt of relief. 
    It took her a moment to find the truth in her reaction. Now she had a good reason not to see Arthur. She could stop feeling guilty about leaving him at Ridge Home alone. 
    Beside her, Norine was whining. “What are we going to do?”
    Patrice began to push her way through the crowd that was huddled around the rockslide. “Excuse me, I’m a nurse,” she said authoritatively, and Briar and Norine followed in her wake. All the faces in the crowd were turned up, and Briar tracked their gazes to the top of the rockslide. 
    It took her a moment to discern the figure moving carefully up the side of the rocks. “Who is that?” she asked at random.
    Her question was answered when the figure held up one arm and it burst into flame. Ruth? Two months ago the girl had been scared of her own shadow, and now she was bright and bold. Briar wished her powers made her feel the same way.
    The crowd cheered for her. “That’s a piece of luck,” said Peter Powell. “No one else was hurt.”
    Almost before his words were out, the cheers turned to screams. Ruth’s other hand went up, and now there were two pillars of flame on the ridge. 
    There was a thunderous noise as a spotlight clicked on in the sky. It fixed Ruth in its glare. For a terrified moment, Briar thought of the stories she’d heard about UFOs, which seemed to her even more fictional than her own lies. But it almost looked like Ruth would be sucked up in some sort of force field. 
    Then the beam moved over Ruth onto the road below, and with it came a ferocious blast of dusty air. The crowd pressed back, shielding their faces from the light and wind, ducking behind the first cars and trucks parked on the road. 
    Briar heard someone yell, “It’s a helicopter!”
    “Not at this altitude,” someone else replied, but sure enough a huge silver machine was descending from the sky. It looked like a