A DAY PASSED WITHOUT ANYTHING coming from her room--none of the usual noises or blasting music, no requests for food... nothing. I was on my way up with a peace offering--olives, cheese, and raspberries on crackers, not that I understood why it was her favorite snack (I mean, seriously, ew)--when I ran into her coming down the stairs.

"Oh! Uh, Syrena, I was just coming to give you these," I said, holding out the plate. She looked at it, surprised.

"Um, thanks, but I'm actually all good."

"What are you talking about? You've been up there for a day without anything to eat--wait a minute. Weren't you the one who made the no-stashing-food rule?"

She glanced away, looking like a child whose hand had been caught in the cookie jar. "Maybe..."

"Syrena!"

"Sam!"

"What are you two doing?" Thomas asked, watching us, amused.

"I was bringing a peace offering!" I said defensively.

"I was coming downstairs," she said.

"And you two are yelling at each other why, exactly?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"Because she's a hypocrite and has a stash of food in her room," I complained.

"Sam!" she yelled, angry.

Thomas just stood there, rolling his eyes. "Alright, let's get downstairs. Syrena, what were you coming down for?"

"To talk," she said stiffly. "I have some questions."

"About what?" I asked, nervous energy slipping through my limbs.

"About the government. And... about your powers."

I looked at Thomas, surprised. He shrugged, then started leading the way to the living room. "We might as well talk about it," he said, "It's not like any of our problems are just going away."

Sadly true, I thought, claiming the corner of the couch for myself.

"Alright, so what did you want to ask?" Macey said, sitting down besides me. I wrinkled my nose, unhappy with someone sitting so close, but made no attempt to move her. She would've just smushed me further into the couch.

"How does the government know where to find these people? I mean, we've been saving them for weeks, but we still don't have a final solution. How do they know who has abilities and who doesn't? It's not like they're just busting in every house, looking for anyone. They know who has them and where they are--how?" she asked, looking at Aria.

"I... I don't know," she said, blinking. "I never really thought about it. I was focused on saving people who were taken, not stopping the whole process."

"Could you find out?"

"Probably," she said grimly. "though I might need to call in a few favors from friends.

"Do it. Another thing--we've been doing pretty well with everything over the past few weeks, but if Sam has powers, we should consider using them to our advantage. Is there anything you can do that would help during missions?" she said, looking this time at me.

"I've considered it, but never actually tried. I might be able to sense where people are so we don't fall for decoys, but beyond that, not really."

"Try it--anything helps."

"Sure. When are we going out next?" I asked, curious about this change in her attitude but not willing to do anything that'd change it.

"Tonight."

"Tonight?" Macey squeaked, her eyes huge. "But that's not enough time to prepare for all of the possibilities!"

Syrena looked at her, bemused. "It's always been enough time before. Why should this be different?"

"I need to run scenarios! We're in business with magic now, that changes everything! I don't know how this alters the percentages, and it might change the timetable for how fast we work, and I need time to run the numbers and experiment with Sam!" she said, all really fast.

"Breathe, Macey," Aria said, holding back a laugh. "It'll be fine."

"But this is serious! Why can't everyone see that? We joke around and risk our lives and all that, and I've learned to accept the fact that none of you have any regard for your lives or basic safety, but this is different! This is superpowers and ancient goddesses and more than just our lives on the line!" she exploded. I studied her, startled. I don't think I'd ever seen her so upset--Macey had always been the calm, level-headed one of us. I wasn't sure I'd ever seen her angry. Nervous, sad, happy, excited, calm... all things I knew like the back of my hand on my best friend's face.

But never mad. Not at any of us. Not at anyone.

"Macey," I said, gazing at her and carefully hiding all the worry suddenly crawling through my system. "Where is all this coming from?"

"Right, because it's so crazy for me to be worried. Don't you even start on that, Sam. Don't you dare."

"Macey, I don't know what you're--"

"I've got to go get started on figuring out what's the way that's most likely to succeed."

"What was that about?" Thomas asked, confused. I sighed, wishing we could go more than a day without someone getting mad about something.

"I don't know. I'll go find out, though," I said, starting to stand up.

"No, don't. You guys need to figure out how this is going to change things. She's my sister--I'll handle it," Aria said, standing up. Chris watched her, worried.

"You sure now's the best time for that? She seems pretty pissed."

"Yeah, well," she said, giving him a crooked grin, "it runs in the family."

"I know," he said dryly. "I figured that out after the first three times you threw things at me for speaking."

Her laughter echoed down the hall as she left, chasing down the ghosts of my destruction.