He laughed. “I don’t normally want my people to be losers at anything, but in this case I’m delighted. Now,” he said, his expression softening, “why don’t you take some Tylenol and try to go back to sleep. I’ll hang out here, just to be sure they don’t come back.”

That didn’t exactly make me feel better, but what could I do? Saying I’d be fine alone and he should leave would sound silly, considering what had just happened.

Which reminded me that my neighbors had probably all called the police. A .38 makes a big noise on a quiet night.

But everything was still silent outside — no sirens, no Suzanne at her front door, hollering to find out if I was okay. In fact, when I went to the window, I didn’t see lights on in any of the surrounding houses.

Again, Graham seemed to know what I was thinking. “They were keeping things quiet. None of your neighbors heard anything.”

I must’ve still looked perplexed.

“We haven’t talked much about workings,” he said. “One kind is a noise-dampening field. Most of us learn to make those. I’m sure you’ll be able to do it yourself, once you get to that stage.”

“Wow,” I said. “That must come in handy. What else can I learn to do?”

He smiled. “Well, lots of us can open locks.” He gestured at my front door. “See? They didn’t have to break in. One of them did a working to unlock it.”

“Huh. I’m surprised more of you don’t take up lives of crime.”

He laughed a little too hard — it hadn’t been that funny. Maybe Graham was a notorious cat burglar on the side.

“Okay,” I said, yawning. “I’m going to try to get a little more shut-eye. There’s a blanket and an extra pillow in that cabinet over there. Or you can watch TV in the den. Help yourself to whatever’s in the fridge. Which isn’t much.”

“Great, sounds good. When you’re up and about, let’s discuss that abilities-testing I mentioned. I don’t want to let too much more time go by.”

“Okay. Good night.”

“Good night. And Elizabeth,” he said as I turned toward the stairs, “I’ll be having a talk with the others. This won’t happen again.”

I nodded. I hoped I looked grateful enough. The way he’d said it gave me a little chill, so I had a feeling the talk would be effective.

I headed up to my room. After a moment’s hesitation, I locked my bedroom door. After all, what if he’d told me that thing about opening locks just to make me think there was no point in locking my door? Probably dumb, but hey, it couldn’t hurt.