Lies

herself, of becoming “normal,” evaporated.
    She had fallen in love with Brianna at first sight. Even back then, long before Brianna became “the Breeze,” she had a swagger and a style that Dekka found irresistible. A feeling she had never shared with Brianna. Probably never would.
    Where Dekka was gloomy and internal, Brianna was loud, brash, and reckless. Dekka had looked for some evidence thatBrianna might be gay, too. But when she was honest, Dekka had to admit that this didn’t seem to be the case.
    But love wasn’t rational. Love didn’t have to make sense. Neither did hope. So Dekka held on to her love and to her hope.
    Did she dream about Brianna? She didn’t know. Probably didn’t want to know.
    She rolled out of bed and stood up. It was pitch-black. She found her way to the window and pushed back the blinds. Dawn was still an hour off, at least. She had no clock. What was the point?
    She looked toward the beach. She could just make out the sand and the faint phosphorescence of the water’s edge.
    Dekka found the book she was reading, The Unknown Shore . It was one of a series of seafaring books she’d found in the house. It was an unusual choice, but she found it strangely reassuring to inhabit a very different world for a while each day.
    She carried it downstairs to the one light in the house. That light was a small ball that floated in midair in her “family room.” A Sammy Sun, kids called them. Sam had made it for her, using the weird power he had. It burned night and day. It was not hot to the touch, had no wire or other source of energy. It simply burned like a weightless lightbulb. Magic. But magic was old news in the FAYZ. Dekka had her own.
    Dekka rummaged in her cupboard and found a cold, boiled artichoke. There were a lot of artichokes to be had inthe FAYZ. Not exactly bacon and eggs and hash browns, but better than the alternative, which was starving. The food supply in the FAYZ—the mordantly named Fallout Alley Youth Zone—was tenuous, generally unpleasant, and, occasionally, literally sickening, but Dekka had endured protracted hunger in earlier months, so a breakfast artichoke was fine with her.
    In any case, she’d lost some weight. She supposed that was a good thing.
    She felt more than heard a rush of air. The door slammed, a sound that arrived at the same time as Brianna. Brianna came to a vibrating stop in the middle of the room.
    “Jack’s hacking up a lung! I need cough medicine!”
    “Hi, Brianna,” Dekka said. “It’s kind of the middle of the night.”
    “Whatever. Nice pj’s, by the way. You pick those up at Gap for Truck Drivers?”
    “They’re comfortable,” Dekka said mildly.
    “Yeah. For you and your twelve closest friends. You’ve got curves—unlike me—you should show proud, that’s all I’m saying.”
    “Jack’s sick?” Dekka reminded her, hiding a smile.
    “Oh, yeah. Coughing. All achy and grumpy.”
    Dekka suppressed her jealousy that Brianna was caring for a sick boy. And Computer Jack, at that. Computer Jack was a tech genius who, as far as Dekka could tell, had absolutely zero moral center. Wave a keyboard under his nose and he’d do whatever you wanted.
    “Sounds like the flu,” Dekka opined.
    “Well, duh,” Brianna said. “I didn’t say he had anthrax or black plague or whatever. But you don’t get it: Jack coughs, he doubles up, right? Maybe stomps his foot or smacks the bed, right?”
    “Ah.” Jack, much to his own dismay, had developed a mutant power. He was as strong as ten grown men.
    “He broke my bed!”
    “He’s in your bed?”
    “He didn’t want to smash any of his stupid computers at his stupid place. So he came over to my place. And now he’s smashing my place. So here’s my plan: You come over, right? And you levitate him, right? If he’s in the air, he can’t do any damage.”
    Dekka peered at Brianna. “You’re loony, you know that? If there’s one thing we have plenty of, it’s houses. Stick him somewhere unoccupied.”
    “Huh,” Brianna said, sounding a bit deflated. “Yeah.”
    “Unless you just want me to come over and keep you company,” Dekka said, hating the hopeful tone in her own voice.
    “Nah, that’s cool. Go back to bed.”
    “You want to check upstairs for cough medicine?”
    Brianna held up a half-empty bottle of some red liquid. “I already did. You were talking. Saying something. Thanks.”
    “Okay,” Dekka said, unable to entirely conceal her disappointment that