As though feeling the tension, Callie’s glass tea kettle cracked with a loud pop. We both jumped. I let out a nervous laugh, and Graham smiled. Steam billowed up from the hot burner as the water drained onto the range.

“I’ll get it,” he said, standing up and grabbing a dishtowel. “Weird. These things are supposed to be just about indestructible. Anyway, we’re able to deal with troublesome Seconds because we’re actually like them: some human beings are also born with the ability to sense and manipulate essence. Those of us with the right abilities can meet Seconds on a more level playing field, especially if we team up. And since a number of powerful Seconds support our activities, they can back us up if we get in trouble.”

What kind of trouble? said an alarmed little voice in my head.

“What you said about being a cop … am I going to have to —”

Just then, Graham’s cell phone rang.

He pulled it out and looked at it. “I’m sorry, Elizabeth. Please excuse me.”

He headed into the living room and began a conversation I couldn’t quite hear. It lasted a while and seemed to prompt several other calls. Finally he wrapped it up and came back to the kitchen’s entrance, pocketing his phone.

“Sorry about that. Hey, why don’t we do a few tests to see exactly how your development is coming along?”

“Um, you don’t think I can ‘reshape reality itself,’ do you? ’Cause if so, I have some bad news.”

“Hold on,” he said, laughing. “Working essence can take a lot of different forms. Most of it isn’t so spectacular as that phrase makes it sound. Let’s just see what you might be able to do.”

I could’ve told him right then that I didn’t have any special abilities, other than possibly taking weird pictures. But I followed him to the living room. We settled on one of Callie’s comfortable white couches. Graham opened his mouth to say something, then froze, looking over my shoulder.

I turned to look. Kara was standing at the end of the hallway, looking as surprised to see Graham as he was to see her. He recovered first.

“Kara. It’s good to see you. What brings you here?”

Kara looked down at her hands, which were gripped together.

“Williams called me early this morning. Callie got hurt. I came to heal her.”

“Is she okay?” Graham said, sounding concerned.

“Yeah. I did some more work on her just now. She’ll be up and around soon.”

“Good, good. So, you’ll be heading back to the Twin Cities today?”

“I guess.”

“Best not to leave your area unguarded for too long.”

She nodded quickly and vanished into the kitchen.