Free Wander Dust by Michelle Warren Page A

in this class?” she whispers. Her eyes shoot around the room, studying the options.
    “Uh—No. I’m not even sure he’s a student here—don’t know anything about him.” I roll my lips together into a line and raise my eyebrows.
    “That sucks!” She harrumphs. Her lips form a pout.
    “I know, tragic, right?”
    “Anyway, did you notice how many students were absent from Spanish earlier?” I say, and I glance around, trying to change the subject. “Even this class looks pretty slim.”
    “Yeah, I did. Really weird,” Macey says. I can see she’s counting the empty chairs.
    “You ladies know that some of the students switch to the east building, right?” Chris Kwan, the boy next to me, chimes in.
    “What do you mean—they switch? Isn’t it the same school?” I ask.
    “Yeah, of course, but the east building is for boarders. You know, like a boarding school,” he explains.
    “A boarding school?” I ask. I hadn’t taken much notice of the mirror building. There never seems to be any activity there. I guess I’ve been too caught up in my own craziness to consider it noteworthy.
    “Yeah, they have dorm rooms and take classes there. Kinda blows if you think about it. They’re always hanging around the same building,” Chris continues.
    “Seriously, that does suck. You’d have a hard time skipping wouldn’t you?” I say, and we all laugh together at the east building’s unfortunate, boarding students.
    Our teacher, Ms. Ames, slips back into the classroom, and we return our attention to her lecture.
    After school, I’m happy that Macey and Xavier walk home with me. Having them around to talk about normal things makes me think it’s impossible that the Lady in Black or anything else that has happened is real.
    Macey swoons over a boy in her biology class named Quinn Hayes. Since we don’t share the class, she insists on describing him in great detail every day. She rambles endlessly about his “perfect, surfer bod, and dreamy, blue eyes,” and how completely devastated she was when he hadn’t shown for class today. When she sighs dramatically, Xavier and I exchange a look.
    She continues rambling, but when I look over at Xavier, something’s wrong. He cringes at every remark she makes. I realize that he probably likes her, but he may be too shy to act on his emotions. He quietly listens to her babbling every afternoon. For this, I consider him sweet. It makes me sad that Macey is too caught up with Quinn to notice him.
    “You should come jam with the band later, Sera,” Xavier says, changing the subject. The Quinn topic is getting old, even for me.
    “If you’re going, I’m going too,” Macey adds, waiting for my answer.
    Xavier perks up and gives me a look of desperation. Yeah, he totally has the hots for her. “Sounds like fun. What time?” I ask.
    “How about in an hour?” Xavier suggests.
    “Cool, see you then,” I say.
    They turn away, and I watch them leave. Macey towers over Xavier by at least a foot. Her dark curls brush the top of his black knitted hat.
    Regretfully, I decide to make a fool of myself by running around the neighbor’s yard per British Stalker Boy’s suggestion. I pray no one else will be home to see my act of idiocy.
    A few minutes later, I stand in the Strovel’s front yard, gripping the now crumpled piece of mail. I’ve already read and memorized the directions, so I shove the green sticky note in my pocket.
    I focus on Mona because this is some kind of keyword. For what, I’m not sure.
    Mona. Mona. Mona.
    I take a deep breath and run as fast as my legs will carry me across the front yard, hoping something will happen before I plow through the opposing snow covered hedges.
    Mona. Mona. Mona.
    Lifting my knees to my chest and extending my stride, I fly. I look back over my shoulder, alarmed by a hideous sound of the earth ripping and moaning in protest. Townhomes and buildings crush in on themselves as they lift high into the sky. An oversized shadow