The look on her face almost amused me. “You don’t need to look that surprised.”

“No—I mean, you know—you just seemed more intent on getting out there and bashing the crap out of people.”

True. I shrugged. “I still am. But like you said, team stuff seems important too.”

She nodded slowly. “That’s really cool, Daya. Yolanda and Nana have been friends with those two for a while. You chose your mentors well, Grasshopper.” She nudged me with her arm.

We were quiet again after that, just taking in the rest of the groups wielding their skills on the rink. Potts kept swaying into me from my left side, banging away at that bruise, which made me lean more and more into Shanti on my right—no bruises to feel, just warm skin and muscle. I didn’t mind it.

After the dance-off, regular skating ensued, although this wasn’t like any roller rink I’d ever heard of. It was like the dance-off hadn’t even ended—groups of people formed into trains and glided around the rink, switching feet and directions perfectly in sync, with the kind of fluidity Alma had tried to show me in her driveway and that she herself had clearly mastered. Some skaters were doing things with their bodies I didn’t even know were possible on skates—splits, jumping, break dancing. It felt like a whole rink filled with professional roller skaters. I was surprised they’d let us on at all, even if for some brief moments of entertainment.

It was hard not to be caught up in the energy and looseness around me, so when Shanti grabbed my hand and led me back out onto the rink, I didn’t resist, even though my heart started beating faster. We circled with the crowd but kept ourselves out of the way of the folks who really knew what they were doing. We didn’t talk, just flowed around and around, listening to the music and taking in the buzz of everyone around us. I thought—maybe—I was starting to understand a little bit of what Fee meant when they talked about being part of some kind of synergy. It felt like we were part of one cosmic energy loop.

As soon as I caught myself thinking cosmic energy loop, I rolled my eyes. But the cheesiness didn’t make it any less true.

After a while, Lena shepherded me and the other rookies into a huddle in the waiting area. “Honey babies, you were a miracle of nature tonight,” she said, like she meant it. “Sometimes nature’s miracles are messy and maybe even a little hideous—like birth—but they’re still miracles. And so are you. All those things. Messy, hideous miracles. And now you’re our hideous miracles! Welcome to the Honeys, bumble-heads!”

Chapter Twenty-Two