Sarah stumbled off of the school bus, dazed and out of breath. What was wrong with her this morning? This was more than lack of sleep. She looked around, trying to see if she could spot Jon anywhere, but before she could get a bead on him, she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, Sarah!" She could hear the smile in the voice before she even turned around. Amber Levine. Fellow cheerleader, and all-around ball of sunshine.
"Hey, Amber."
"Are you alright?" The beauty pageant smile didn't leave Amber's face, but her concern could be seen in her eyes. "You look really banged up."
"I'm fine," Sarah lied. "Just didn't sleep well last night." But as Sarah looked at her friend, Amber's smile became contagious and Sarah felt a similar one start to rise on her own lips.
In fact, an almost giddy bubbliness seemed to well up from inside of her, replacing the melancholy she'd felt all morning.
"Hey, girls!" Tiffany Sanders joined in. It wasn't uncommon for the cheerleaders to all group together before the first bell, but today Sarah was uniquely grateful for her friends' presence. Like with Amber, just seeing Tiffany made her feel better.
But there was a whisper in the back of Sarah's head saying that something wasn't quite right. Something felt off. This happiness felt somehow unnatural, like it was being forced.
And a moment later, an unexpected thought entered Sarah's head: "I really need to jump someone's bones today."
Sarah missed a step, but recovered before either of her friends noticed. Sarah wasn't a virgin, but she'd never been so cavalier about sex. That was less something she'd expect in her thoughts, and more something...
"I know this is TMI, but I just really need to jump someone's bones today." Hearing those words come out of Tiffany's mouth made a lot more sense to Sarah. Tiffany was, putting things lightly, rather sex-positive. Had Sarah somehow developed telepathy? No, she hadn't been reading Tiffany's thoughts, it was genuinely her own thought.
This was concerning. But why couldn't Sarah stop smiling? That was concerning, too.
A lightbulb went off in Sarah's head. She was smiling like Amber, and thinking about sex like Tiffany. Maybe this had something to do with the spell she'd cast on Jon? Could it be working in reverse?
"I just remembered I need something from my locker," Sarah said quickly, leaving her friends. They didn't give her a second thought, but the moment they were out of line of sight, the smile went away and the sex thoughts went away, and the exhaustion returned.
Sarah ducked behind a wall and reached into her backpack. She was glad that she'd prepared. She removed a small leather pouch filled with dried lavender and fresh white lily petals, and inhaled deeply from it. Then again. Then again. Slowly, she started to feel better. Started to feel more herself. After about a minute, she put the pouch away and closed her eyes in concentration. Slowly, the lines of energy around her came into focus.
FIVE LINES????
Sarah's eyes shot open. Why were there five different channels leading away from her? It should have only been Jon! No wonder she was so exhausted, she didn't have enough stores in her to support five people! With her own reserves so low, she must have started subconsciously drawing on the latent energy of her friends. Until she knew what was going on, she'd have to keep an eye on that. The pouch she'd breathed from would work as a stopgap, but its effects would diminish the more she used it.
Sarah closed her eyes again. Two of these lines ended relatively close by. Most likely somewhere in the school. One of them was probably Jon, but who was the other? Two lines lead a few miles away, but in opposite directions. The last line had to be at least twenty miles away. Who were these people?
Sarah took another breath from the pouch with the lavender and lily, and turned to follow one of the close-by energy lines. There was a 50% chance it lead to Jon, and a 50% chance it lead to a clue.
