Free Look Both Ways by Jacquelyn Mitchard

sorry,” Merry said. “Did I wake anyone else up?”
    “No, they’re out cold, and I wasn’t even asleep yet,” Neely said. “Do you want some water or some hot chocolate?” Neely’s hazel eyes, so haughty in daylight, were soft and gentle with concern. “You were crying too, Merry.”
    “I’m okay,” said Merry. “It was the Bailey’s. I felt so strange, I must have dreamed I got up.”
    But when Merry looked down, her breath stopped for an instant and then began to come faster and faster. For when she put her hands together, she saw that her fingers were bruised, as if she really had pounded madly on panes of glass.

EDEN’S GIFT
    T he following Sunday was the big fall sidewalk sale, the biggest day of the year at Domino Sports. Mally was out in front, stacking shoe boxes in a pyramid, when she heard a soft voice behind her murmur her name.
    Eden.
    “Hi,” she said. “Boo. Aren’t you going to run away?”
    Mallory shocked herself by starting to cry, making this about five times more than she’d cried in the previous five years.
    “Eden, I didn’t mean to.”
    Quiet for a moment, Eden nodded. “I know that. I know why you did.”
    “But there’s no reason for me to be afraid of you.”
    “Well, there is, Mallory. I have to be afraid of the same things about me that you do. But I would never hurt you or your sister or anyone you love. No matter what it cost me. And it could cost me everything.” She held up one hand. “I can’t tell you any more. It’s just like you can’t tell people about you and Merry. Do you trust me?” Eden’s eyes grew darker and brighter, like wet stones.
    “Of course I do,” Mallory said.
    “Help me find a sleeping bag.”
    “I already have one picked out,” Mally told her. “It’s wrapped and in the back.”
    “It’s a Christmas present, but I’m so excited I might have to give it to him before. How much is it?” Eden asked. It was filled with two kinds of down and cost $299 on sale. Mallory counted up what was in her own bank account. She was a bit of a hoarder, and Eden couldn’t read minds. “It’s a hundred dollars!”
    “Oh, Mallory! That’s less than I thought! How long is it going to take you to stack those shoes?”
    “Years. I haven’t even got the ladder yet,” Mally said.
    “Well, it helps to have tall friends,” Eden said, laughing as she attacked the four-sided pyramid. “I’m putting the fives on top. Who wears size five? Cinderella?”
    “Me,” Mallory admitted.
    As they worked, Eden explained, “You know that the cat is a symbol, right? We’re Bear Clan, my family, but the mountain lion is a symbol of power. In the old times, people thought human beings would shift into animals, and that shape-shifters—that’s what they were called—brought luck to the tribe. It’s like mythology. Every tribe has stories like that one. They’re like the stories in the Bible.”
    “How,” Mally asked, “did you have any idea I was thinking about the mountain lion?”
    Eden sighed. “A guess. You brought up the dream when I talked about James. You know, all people have their superstitions. Your family has superstitions, right?”
    “You could call them that,” Mallory said, standing on tiptoe to hand Eden another box.
    “Eden,” Tim said. “I was coming out here to help this one finish up the stack but I guess she doesn’t need me.”
    “Hi, Mr. Brynn.”
    “We’ve got your pretty red sleeping bag all wrapped up in back. Must be one special couple for you to spend—”
    “Dad!” Mallory warned Tim.
    “Oh, right,” Mally’s father said, without quite knowing why he was agreeing. “Uh-oh. Here come the Delsandros. All five boys. Five bats, five cleats, five jerseys.”
    “I’ll be right in, Dad,” said Mallory.
    “No, it’s good. The store is pretty quiet otherwise. Mrs. Delsandro’s got a system with those kids. She must assign them numbers, like you get at a deli. Besides them, there’s just Caitlin and Jackie