Chatoyant College Book 7: Upon What Soil

Chapter 42: Thread

Dawn was very happy not to leave Rico's room until it was time for dinner. Afterward, they all headed up to Corrie and Edie's room to see what would happen when Edie took out the things she'd put into her bag from the craft fair. Dawn had already told Rico about everything else that had happened at the craft fair and that day (leaving out her birthday present for him, of course), and he was as interested as any of them to see what would happen.

"I put in a paper clip, a pen, and a scrap of blue yarn," Edie explained to the rest of them as they climbed the stairs. "I figured those were the things I could go without if they got turned into something else, and if they exploded or something, it wouldn't be too destructive."

"I don't know," said Roe. "I mean, paper clips tend to have pointy ends. That could make some unpleasant shrapnel."

"It's small and light, though, so I doubt it would be too bad," said Corrie. "Maybe we should have something to protect ourselves with, though... no visions, Roe?"

Roe shook her head. "I promise, if I have any new ones that you guys are in I'll tell you about them."

"You could see something happen with Edie's bag without necessarily seeing us in the vision, though, couldn't you?" Dawn asked.

"I guess I could," Roe said. "Yeah, stuff like that has happened before. Do you want me to check my dream journal? I don't remember any dreams or visions that seem like they could have had anything to do with this, but I do write everything down."

"I don't think we need to bother with that," Edie said. "Not everything is some grand fate."

Corrie laughed. "I hope not. But I also hope that everything Roe has visions about is connected to a grand fate. I mean, glitter exploding?"

Dawn grinned and shook her head. "I don't know, that one might have been a warning about the stuff at the craft fair being magic."

"How about this?" Roe suggested. "If anything really, really weird happens, I'll go look in my dream journal and see if there are any hints of it. If not, I usually review my dream journal before bed anyway—it's supposed to put my mind in more of a state to remember my dreams. So I can let you guys know in the morning."

"That works for me," Edie said, opening the door. "Now come on, I'm really curious if anything's going to happen."

They arrayed themselves around the room—Corrie and Roe on Corrie's bed, Dawn and Rico on Edie's bed, and Annie on Edie's desk chair. Grinning, Edie took a place in the middle of the room. She planted her feet widely on the floor and held up the bag so it dangled from her hand. "Is everyone ready?"

"Yes," said Corrie, leaning forward with her hands pressed against the side of her mattress.

Roe looked at her, wrinkling her eyebrows. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to tackle Edie if anything explodes," Corrie said.

When everyone had finished laughing, Edie lifted her right hand theatrically and reached into the bag. First she pulled out an ordinary ballpoint pen and shrugged. "No change here." She handed it to Annie, who placed it carefully on Edie's desk, then reached into the bag again. This time she pulled out the paper clip and held it up to the light before nodding. "This looks the same too." Again she handed it to Annie, then went into the bag for a third time. It took her a little longer to find the last thing, but when she pulled it out, her eyes widened.

"It changed color?" Dawn asked. Edie had said she'd put in a blue thread, but the one she pulled out looked green.

Edie nodded. "It's the exact same color as the bag. Look." She laid the thread against the side of the bag; Dawn and Corrie both got up to look at it. Sure enough, it matched the green parts of the checked bag exactly. Edie picked it up again, frowning, and rubbed it between her fingers. "I think the fiber changed, too."

"The fiber?" Corrie asked, accepting the yarn as Edie handed it to her. She rubbed it between her fingers, then shrugged and handed it to Dawn.

"Yeah. It was a wool yarn. Now it feels like cotton, just like the bag."

Dawn rubbed the yarn as well. "I guess it feels like cotton. I don't know the difference, though."

"They're pretty different fibers. Here." Edie handed Dawn the bag as well. The two fabrics did feel similar. She turned as Edie hurried past her and into her trunk. After some rummaging, she pulled out a blue knit hat. "See, the yarn was left over from this hat. They feel really different."

"They do," Dawn agreed. "Weird."

"Well, that was something," said Roe. "I guess if you're ever in need of green cotton yarn, you have a ready-made supply."

"I wonder if it would work on fabric too," said Annie.

"At least it's more useful than the other stuff from the fair," said Rico.