Cat blinked away the bitterness that had sunken into her pupils. It's summer... you should be enjoying yourself.

She combed the history book in her hand, skimming the pages. The subtitles ran into her head. Einstein. She slammed the cover down. But this IS what I enjoy doing... Xandra. Cat stilled herself and smoothed her pants. Why couldn't her mom accept that Cat wasn't her perfect step sister, Tally? Cat sighed and glanced over at the rosey-cheeked librarian, who was stamping the inside covers of books. Cat smiled; she loved the library. Why couldn't her mother just accept that Cat was different? Cat felt out of place at her home. She had been dropped in the wrong life. She didn't belong with perfect Tally and sexy Xandra.

"Cat?" Her mother's blonde head peaked through the grand doors of the library. The librarian shushed Cat's mother, and the girl had to hold back a chuckle.

"Babe," Xandra whispered, creeping toward the table. "There's a carnival Tally and I are going to." Cat rolled her eyes. Another one of Pickleberry's all famous monthly carnivals. Cat stood, the chair creaking beneath her.

"Mom, I'm fine here. I like it here," Cat tried to be reassuring.

"Oh, babe, what's wrong? Are you having friend trouble? Do you think you have enough?" Xandra pleaded. Nothing is wrong... Cat resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Xandra. She was just making a show for the librarian who's dull eyes were set on the mother and daughter.

"Nothing is wrong. I have plenty of friends."

"You call the characters in your books friends; I'm worried about you," Xandra's brow wrinkled.

"Yeah, yeah. I have Marvel, remember?"

"But Marvel is-" Xandra sighed.

"He's fine, he's a good friend. Now go have fun," Cat told her firmly, forcing a smile. Xandra grinned back and hugged Cat, who resisted Xandra's hands on her back. The hug was so forced. Cat was excited to pull away.

"You have fun, babe," Xandra gripped Cat's fingers in her hand. Cat winced. She hated it when Xandra called her "babe". Another one of her tricks to make people think that she even cared about Cat.

Cat returned to her book and flipped the page. The library was silent and empty except for the librarian and the occasional click of her stamp.

Cat moved to the far corner of the library far behind three trifolds of bookshelves. The librarian couldn't see her here.

She looked at her fingers and her gaze trailed down her index until her eyes caught on a ring. The gem in the ring was blue like the ocean. The band was silver and engraved with decorative swirls. She pulled her fingernail through the indents. The gem glowed and cast a shimmery gaze of blue on the ceiling. Cat smiled warmly and removed her fingers. The glow faded. She twisted off the ring and stuffed it in her back pocket.

Her hand lingered in her pocket. Spinning the ring over and over again. It held great power that no one, especially Xandra, could know about.

Cat felt chills crawl up her spine. No one. She dragged her fingers through her hair and pressed her forehead to the window. She saw Xandra and Tally skipping through the crowd in front of the "Beany Basket Toss" booth. Anger overtook her and she slipped the ring on her finger. She pressed the gem to the window and frost exploded from the edges. Engulfing the window and spreading to the skies. Intricate snowflakes fell from the clouds. Fright welled inside her and she pulled off the ring, shoving it in her pocket. The snow faded. She sunk to the ground, pressing her back against the wall. What had she done?