Make Dominic be nice to me for twenty-four hours straight.

Give Jack and his band a good gig that makes them some money and gets them a little exposure.

Help Sierra completely get over Dominic's bullshit and recover from her one bad quiz grade.

Give Dr. Reed the courage to do what we all know she wants and cancel our class next week.

And for me, send me a check in the mail from my parents. Oh, and let me finally figure out how I'm supposed to get my way when I make these. I'm getting real tired of messing it up in an exciting way every single time.

I opened my eyes and gave the talisman one last look, and I couldn't help but feel that if my parents knew that I was essentially praying to a piece of gold, they would give my money to the church instead. I wasn't making any progress in the learning process, and although I had worked more on this than school, I was getting nowhere.

It was always easier to fail because I wasn't trying than to fail after pouring my heart and soul into a project, but unlimited power was a good motivator for me. All I had to do was master communicating my thoughts to an inanimate object, and whatever I wanted was mine.

Like the daze after a sneeze that started in the toes, I froze with that thought.

That was literally the most excellent thought ever.

With Halloween getting closer, the stars and full moon had to be aligning for me, and although I was just about ready to give up a few days earlier, the beginnings of that feeling were coming back. It was the same one that pressed the buy now button on the metal detector and the same one that told me the pond was the place to dig.

It seemed that I got the better end of that deal as opposed to Dominic. I wasn't sent into a worthless panic from that feeling; instead, it told me which way was up. And what was up? The fact that I was in good shape, even if I had no money (yet).

Sierra wanted it, Dominic wanted it, Dr. Reed wanted it, and Jack probably did too but didn't want to tell me. I was in a damn good spot, and I was too caught up in what was wrong with the details of my life to see the big picture.

How stupid was I? I let one comment from Sierra get to me. I wasn't a failure. I had the key to everyone's well-being and happiness in my pocket as soon as I learned to control it. All I had to do was keep it in my hands, learn its ways (which, of course, was easier said than done), and manipulate the world so it was just the way I wanted it. And what did I want? It didn't matter. I could change my mind.

With the high I was on, Dr. Rainier's ASL didn't seem so bad, and I headed there to waste some time and see if Dominic was actually going to be nice to me like I asked from my talisman.

Would a failure conduct such a wonderful science experiment? No.

I walked into the classroom, where Dominic was early like always. No one else was there, and he kept the lights off like a vampire in his lair.

"Hey Dominic," I said loud enough that he had to hear me.

He flipped the page in his notebook. "You don't have to yell at me."

"I thought you told me that you don't like studying where it's too quiet, like an empty classroom. Wasn't that the whole reason that we went to the pond and started this whole mess?"

"Yep."

I waited for him to elaborate on that, and when he didn't, I took the seat next to him. "Can I ask you something?"

"I'd prefer if you didn't," he replied.

"Do you think I should be more paranoid about the talisman? I mean, if someone found out what kind of power it has, they would want it, wouldn't they?"

He looked up at me. "What?"

"It's just that at first, I thought my enemies were going to be the academics and the government, but I think more people are gonna care about what it is now. It's not just some trinket from the Oregon Trail or whatever."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Not everything has to do with you. We're talking about me right now."

"Then I'm not interested."

"Oh my god, Dominic. You really should be concerned too. You're connected to this talisman, and it's very possible that if someone kills me and steals it that they're not gonna be nicer than me."

"I'll take my chances on the murderer on the off-chance that happens."

Well, wish number one from earlier was a bust.

"But seriously, Lindsay, you should be careful. There are a lot of people you shouldn't even entertain trusting," he continued.

"Like who?" I said.

"Just about everyone besides me, Jack, and Sierra. And I wouldn't even blame you if you cut Sierra out of that list."

"She's my roommate, and she means well. And she's not an idiot. She gets all A's."

"Oh, I know she's not dumb. That's why you have to watch out with her."

"And what about Jack?"

"He's stupid and nice. You can trust him."

"And you?"

"Well, you don't really have a choice there, do you?" He smiled.

Before I could give myself and the new coin away, another student walked into the classroom. She ignored the two of us and took her seat in the back of the room.

Of course, he got the last word. Why wouldn't he?

As the classroom began to fill up a few minutes before ASL was set to begin, Dr. Rainier came in, took a look at me, and smiled.

"Lindsay, right? It's nice to have you back," Dr. Rainier said.

"She occasionally gets abducted by aliens. I'm sure Dr. Roberts will explain if you ask," Dominic said.

I looked over at him as Dr. Rainier laughed. Sucking up to the substitute professor with my joke. Real nice.

Since we still had a few more minutes until class (and I was just about done with Dominic), I took out my phone and opened up my school email. There wasn't anyone who could get under my skin like he could, and even though I didn't like most people, I could laugh off their nonsense in a way that I just couldn't with Dominic.

And I still couldn't bring myself to get excited over the second coin that could keep him off my track. What was up with that?

Right at the top of my emails was one from Dr. Reed.

Lindsay,

Come to my office when you get the chance. Bring Dominic.

That was all the information she gave me, but that was good enough for me. I leaned over and touched his shoulder. He looked up, and I held out my phone for him to read.

"After class," he said.

I was really hoping that he would be willing to forget about ASL and go, but I knew who I was talking to. He and I were two very different people.

***

When Dominic and I got to Dr. Reed's office, Jack and Sierra were already there. Since when did Dr. Reed communicate with them directly instead of through me?

As long as I had the power, things would be fine. I just had to learn how to control it.

"What took you two so long?" Dr. Reed asked.

"We were in—why are they here?" I said.

"You're not the only important piece on this team, Lindsay," Sierra said. "I have more to offer than just my good looks."

With curly dark hair that barely brushed her pumpkin-colored cardigan, she was objectively adorable.

"The good looks don't hurt, though. At least we're cute failures," I said.

She laughed.

"So what's going on?" Dominic asked.

"Well, I was looking to find someone who might know more about talismans than I do, and I think I may have found someone who can help," Dr. Reed said.

My heart sank into my stomach. Didn't I just have a conversation with Dominic where we decided that we couldn't let anyone else in on our secret?

"Who?" Jack asked.

"Bridget Tucker. She's a witch from Sherwood, which isn't too far from here."

My heart dropped even lower. "Sherwood?"

I certainly didn't have anyone there waiting for me to call in tears about money and blubber a meaningless apology about not being good enough.

Dr. Reed's tone didn't even change. "Yep. Now, I'll let her know when we'll be there when you all decide on a date and time."

Did she really miss that I wasn't comfortable going home, or did she not care?

"Can it be on a weekend? I can't afford to miss any more points in my calc class," Sierra said.

And she didn't care either.

Well, I did refuse to tell her about my hometown. But she should have figured it out by my tone.

"Lindsay knows damn well I'm not missing any classes either. Saturday works for me," Dominic said.

He probably wanted me to suffer like the asshole he was.

"Lindsay?" Jack asked.

"I—" What was I supposed to say? Plot twist: that's where my parents live and I don't want to see them now or ever? "Saturday is fine."

Jack gave me another look. "You're sure?"

I nodded.

"Then Saturday it is." Jack smiled at Dr. Reed.

How could I have been more clear that I was not sure and that Saturday was absolutely not fine? I bit my cheek. And I thought Jack had my back.

"Good. The sooner Lindsay stops trying to kill people, the better," Dr. Reed said.

If I knew that was going to motivate Dr. Reed to focus on my problem, I would have tried it a while ago. Apparently, people responded to violence from plants.

I smiled anyway. "Are we done then?"

Dr. Reed nodded. "Yep. Get out. I have a lot of grading to do."

The four of us headed out to the hallway, and once Dominic shut the door behind us, I couldn't help but make a comment.

"Grading? She never grades the quizzes for my class."

"How would you know? You don't go to that class," Jack said. "I know you're just talking so you don't have to admit that you don't want to go."

"That's not true. I just think—"

Jack cut me off. "Lindsay, it's okay. Just tell me why you don't want to go, and I'll fix it."

"I don't want you to fix it. I just want to never set foot in that snotty rich town ever again."

"That's where you're from, isn't it?" Sierra asked.

I nodded.

"Who the hell cares? Can't you talk to one crazy lady and then leave?" Dominic asked.

"Well, yeah, but—"

Once again, Jack interrupted me. "She has a huge problem with the culture of the place. People care more about money than anything else there."

"She'll be fine. Would she rather keep hurting people?" Dominic said.

As much as I wanted to nod and gently remind him that those incidences were not my fault, I shook my head. "I just want to know how to control this. Then every problem I can ever have will just disappear."

"That's probably not how you should use the talisman," Sierra said, but I ignored her. She always thought she knew better than me.

"So you're okay with going?" Jack said.

"Nope, but I'm gonna do it anyway." I put on a smile for show. "What are the odds I'll run into anyone I know?"

"Now that you said that, pretty high," Sierra said, and I ignored her again.

She was probably right, but with the talisman in my pocket, what was the worst that could happen?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello everyone! How's it going? Thank you so much for reading! It recently hit me that it's absolutely wild that people like what I write and the made-up people in my head (well, sometimes haha).

So how do you think Lindsay's return to Sherwood will go? Do you think they'll get some good information, or will it just cause more problems?