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  CORA

  Torrents of water beat against me over and over, wind whipping my hair against my face. It hurt, but something pulled me on. I couldn’t stop. Darkness ahead, then a flash of pale skin.

  I stretched towards that glimpse of white, and song poured from my fingertips. The world settled. And in the quiet, surrounded by a storm that shouldn’t exist, sat a tiny girl, clutching a teddy bear, eyes clenched.

  I swirled around her, a soft lullaby, and she slept.

  Bong! Both of our pads rang out as I finished scrawling the last dream in my notebook. They were endless. It was taking longer and longer to record everything that happened while I slept.

  Night after night. Scenes shifting, always someone reaching.

  “Barely even light outside,” I grumbled sleepily, opening my messages.

  Rhoda: First snowfall. You promised.

  “Come on, love,” Sam encouraged. She was just as tired as I was from the dream walking, but kept that smile on her face as always. It was so easy to love Sam, with her quick cheer and endless enthusiasm. “First train’s in thirty minutes. I’ll get the coffee going.”

  I rallied, “Wanna pick up hot breakfast on the way?”

  She nodded, not surprising me with her request, “Bagel sandwich. With cheese.”

  I smiled and put the order in at Chopping Block. Then threw on all my winter garb. I’d need it. Minutes later, we stepped out into the early morning light, and I lifted a gloved hand to the sky.

  A single white flake landed on my palm, and I grinned at Sam. Her face was to the sky, open in a smile, cheeks pink from the cold.

  She turned to me, “Make a wish, Cor.” Then, sliding her hand in mine, added, “Mine’s already come true.”

  Every want I’d ever had in my life was already there on the sidewalk with me, but I wasn’t gonna let Sam down at first snowfall. She wanted a wish? I’d come up with one.

  I looked at my open palm, finding a melted snowflake. A not-quite puddle.

  The little girl in the dream popped into my mind, unbidden. I closed my eyes.

  Let it be enough.

  I made the wish with my whole heart, then squeezed Sam’s hand. We’d gotten good at speed walking to Chopping Block, and that morning was no exception. Our breakfast bagels awaited us in our fave cafe, then we booked it to the train station to meet the rest of our friends.

  And I mean all of them. The whole Earthen crew, including HC and Paddy’s family. Plus a couple of Joons: Pitch and Tyne. We bustled onto the train but didn’t have far to go. Just to the first agro-dome.

  We stepped out into the growing orchards, and damn if I wasn’t hot in my parka, but Tyne led us on. He was the reason for this little excursion after all. There was something he wanted Rhoda to see.

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  The meandering path took us to an exterior door where we stepped into the full light of day, snow still falling.

  “Did everyone make a wish?” Rhoda asked.

  “Candy for dinner!” Filly screeched.

  The most adorable little sweater covered his mirka pal Georgia, and HC’s granddaughter Anya giggled, “No! Candy for lunch!”

  The ground was dusted with snow, but I wasn’t sure why we were all out here in the cold, looking at an onion-shaped building. I mean, the gardens were amazing and all. And they fed us. And lots of other people.

  But my feet were cold.

  I drank my coffee, smothering the impulse to say something obnoxious.

  “So, the agro-domes are rounded, making it easy for the snow to slide off?” Sam suggested. She probably wondered what we were doing out here first thing in the morning too.

  Tyne just raised an eyebrow in response.

  Great. Another mystery to solve. What was it with these people and their never telling us anything straight? Didn’t they wanna gloat or brag or something? Like, ever?! Come on! Pontificate, Tyne! Show me how much you know for god’s sakes. . .

  Tyne and Pitch faced the dome, so I studied it.

  I heard Sam gasp at the same second I noticed it. The reason we were all there: snowflakes landed on the dome. But they didn’t slide off. They turned to mist and wafted away.

  “Magic!” Sam grinned at me, and I had no doubt my face bore a smile as goofy as hers.

  “Is it heated or something, Tyne?” I wondered.

  “Well, now, what would that do to the plants inside? Can’t have a building hot as a skillet, can ya?” he smirked.

  “No, it’s the Talented, isn’t it?” Sam exclaimed, wonder clear in her expression. “Is this like Rhianne? Rory’s friend? Evaporating water?”

  Tyne grinned. Good job, Sam.

  “Not ‘like Rhianne,’” he snickered. “The very real Rhianne, some offspring, and plenty of friends.”

  “So, it’s a combo thing? Like Uru? What do they do? Mix Talents?” my girlfriend asked again. She was probably already writing a story in her mind about all of this.

  Tyne nodded once.

  Sam walked towards the dome, holding out a hand. “So, the dome. . . It’s like Ronnie’s VR world, isn’t it? From Book 3? And what, did Borden grow it out of the ground, then someone added evaporation?”

  “Close,” Tyne appreciated. “Yeah, Borden grew the earliest of the domes for the gardens. Had to, right? So we could grow food. And round? Worked well for the deep snow. But the evap came later. The domes all had to be adjusted for that. As you know, Borden wasn’t the only one with an affinity for minerals buried underground.”

  “So, they make this clear dome out of something like the minerals used for glass, shape it, and mix it with someone else’s evaporation Talent?” I asked, floored. The sky was the limit for these people!

  “Took time and practice, but they worked it out,” Tyne grinned.

  “Amazing,” Nanna appreciated. “Think of what all we can do with these Talents. Why stop? Just keep going and going!”

  Marjorie looked like she wanted to break out in song, and if she did, I’d join her. These people were so amazing, the whole Known Cosmos should be celebrating! Instead, we were hiding on a frozen tundra no one wanted, willing miracles into existence.

  “On Earth, there are traditions about the Four Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water. But, I’m seeing. . . I don’t even know how we’d categorize this stuff!” Sam exclaimed.

  Tyne laughed, full and free. “Categorize? What? Like, it needs rules or something? Girl, I was sending messages to my telepathic parents before I was even born. What’s that called, hm? I say we call it: ‘human being.’ World’s fucked up. Got people thinkin’ life is nothing but work and making money to survive. But we know better, don’t we?”

  He paused a minute, looking at Pitch, then continued, “Yeah, cousin. Your song lyrics, Cora? ‘Dream Walker.’ Not just a pretty song, was it? Now you’re doin’ things in your sleep no one would believe. Except all the people who need ya. They know in their hearts they’re not alone in their nightmares. What’re we gonna call that kind of magic, eh, Sam?”

  Sam hugged me and pecked a kiss on my cheek.

  “The only kind that matters,” she said, and I went warm inside.

  I’d never thought of myself as a magical girl. Dreaming things long before they happened didn’t seem like a power that meant anything. Not like feeding a sphere’s worth of people by growing a building that could shelter the food supply.

  But standing there, snow dusting our hats and eyelashes, I looked at my miracle. The one who held me in the dark of my own nightmares years ago, and I knew it was true.

  Magic was real, and it had been holding my hand for ages.

  “I love you, Samantha Mooneyhan.”

  She grinned, “Love you back, Cor.”

  And we needed mornings like that. With simple things like snowflakes and cold noses. Because wandering through darkness during dreams took more than a little light.

  It took guts and resilience I hadn’t known I’d possessed before Sam. But together, we were really doing something.

  And maybe, just maybe, it would be enough.