If General Stone saw Ms. Lawrence's landing manual slide across the table, he hadn't shown it. Mia watched him take the manual from Trevor with a quick nod and turn abruptly on his way to the sick bay, she assumed. She turned to Trevor, who looked somehow worse than before, a grey color rising on his face. Her stomach hurt.

  "You just made that book move," Alex stated, his eyes darkening, focusing solely on Trevor.

  "Yeah, I did," Trevor said. "It told me to get the notebook."

  Nobody moved. The room seemed to shrink as an icy chill crept in, burying them in confusion.

  "What do you mean IT told you to get the notebook?" Kai asked, his tanned cheeks going white. "Stop playing, man."

  Trevor took in a long breath and waited before responding.

  "It's not a someone. It's a something -like a force. I can't explain it. I can only show you. Weird shit's been happening in my room. Things move around while I sleep. This is the first time I've been awake for it."

  "Well, we're not sure things move around while you're sleeping," Mia said. "Are any of you messing with Trevor at night?"

  No one said a word, which immediately angered Mia.

  "That's unbelievable. Do it again," Camden yelped, bouncing in his chair.

  "Why are you this way?" Mary Jane asked Camden.

  But Trevor seemed to want to do it again, fixating on one thing and then the next with no success.

  "Fuck, it's not working. I did it a minute ago. You saw me."

  Lilly rolled her eyes in disgust. Trevor lay his head down on the table just as Ms. Lawrence had done minutes ago, and a surge of dread pulsed through Mia's body. There had been no time to process Ms. Lawrence's having a breakdown, much less a second one. Why had Stone just left them to deal with this? What could she do to help?

  Mia leaned over Trevor, covering him with her arms. Sloan flinched, turning away to look down the table at Mary Jane, who raised an eyebrow.

  "Something is happening," Edward said. "Two of us are experiencing unnatural things, supernatural things. I think we should delay landing."

  "You're crazy," Alex said. "We didn't come all this way just to turn around."

  "I'm not saying turn around. We need some clarity about what's happening before being thrust into another high-pressure situation."

  "Well, last time I checked, you're not in charge, Edward. You've got no more say in anything that happens up here than the rest of us do," Alex said.

  Edward began to respond, but then seemed to think better of it. Instead, he stood and walked over to Alex, his body language open, his stature prominent but unpunishing.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "I want what's best for the group. A delay in landing seems like a reasonable request. And I plan to ask General Stone to consider it."

  Presley released a small sigh and reached for Max's hand, open and resting on the table. All eyes focused on Max, who didn't draw away but wrapped his fingers tight around hers. The night before landing was proving to be quite full of surprises.

  "That's pretty dramatic, Edward," said Lilly, pushing hair out of her face. "Ms. Lawrence is obviously having some mental breakdown because she's scared to land, and Trevor just showed us a party trick. It's called telekinesis. My Uncle can do it. He attends kids' birthday parties and gets paid for it. It's just a magic trick."

  Camden leaned in close to Lilly as if his following two questions were top secret.

  "How does he do it? And is it something he went to school for?"

  Lilly looked at Camden blankly, perhaps considering for the first time HOW her Uncle Jimmy moved things.

  "I doubt it. He barely graduated from high school, so whatever he does, it can't be that hard. The last time I saw him, my dad kicked him out for stealing money from my grandma's purse. You'd think if he could move stuff with his mind, that would have gone differently."

  Sloan smirked at both Camden and Lilly, drawing her full attention to Trevor.

  "Are you fucking with us, Trevor? Because if you are, tonight is not the night. You know we're all wrecked about landing tomorrow."

  Mia knew Sloan was especially distraught, having found out earlier today her little brother had moved in with their Aunt Grace, who'd been misnamed as she was full of shit and not grace. Sloan had confided in Mia that she was planning to adopt Michael when this was all over. It was the last thing she'd said to him the day they'd begun quarantine. She'd watched Sloan put something in Michael's hands as they said their goodbyes. Turns out it was a written promise from Sloan to come home and take care of him. There was no room for flying notebooks or mental breakdowns inside that promise.

  "You better say something, Trevor," Sloan demanded.

  But Trevor didn't answer. He was rubbing his head back and forth against the table under the weight of Mia's arms. She felt the rotation of his upper body as she held on tightly, terrified that something awful was happening to her boyfriend. The word "boyfriend" lingered in Mia's mind. He was still her boyfriend, whether or not he was losing it, whether or not she'd kissed someone else, and she caressed the back of his neck tenderly, inches away from Sloan, who completely disregarded the PDA.

  "Telekinesis is a real thing, dumb ass," Sloan barked down the table towards Lilly. "Whatever the hell your Uncle does is fake. You're saying you moved that notebook, Trevor? That General Stone saw it happen and just left us here to deal with it?"

  Mary Jane cleared her throat before speaking.

  "I'm not sure he saw it. I didn't see it because I was watching him deal with Ms. Lawrence. Let's ask him when he returns and not go crazy speculating."

  "Who else saw the damn notebook fly across the table?" Sloan asked, and several hands went up, making Mary Jane blush and look down at her lap.

  "You're a bunch of liars," Sloan screamed.

  Kai raised his hands in frustration. Alex stood.

  "Lying about what? I know what I saw. I'm just not being a goddamn baby about it," Alex said.

  "I think you should sit down, Alex," Max said calmly, rising to stand alongside Edward and Kai.

  "General Stone never saw that notebook move," Sloan said, ignoring the pissing war between the boys. "Why would he lie to us about anything? He left because he's concerned with Ms. Lawrence, who's currently losing her shit. Why should I sit here terrified about telekinesis when there's a chance we'll die tomorrow trying to land?"

  "We're not dying tomorrow," Presley said. "Please don't say things like that, Sloan. This is hard for all of us. We all want to see our families again."

  "I'll say what I need to and do what I need to as long as I get home safely to my brother. What you think of me is your problem," Sloan said.

  "We're all on the same team, Mike Tyson," Max said, in a way only he could get away with.

  Mia sat up and looked sheepishly at Sloan, who'd gone very still; her pink hair, dark at the roots now, hung limply around her face.

  "Hey," Mia whispered, "It's okay. Everything is going to be alright. I promise, Sloan."

  And then, her hands left Trevor and found Sloan.