“We’ve been discussing it,” Serena said. She exhaled another stream of smoke at the sky. “And we’re going to learn to levitate this summer.” Her voice was flat, matter-of-fact, as if she were telling me that they were going to the beach this summer, or planning to perfect their bocce game, or finally master the French subjunctive. “Since we’re here,” she said. “At the Levitation Center.” She spread her arms. She had the glint of a zealot.

“Since we’re always here,” said Janet.

“It’s what this place is for, after all,” said Serena.

“I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors,” said Laurel.

Yes, I had heard the rumors, but which rumors did she mean? The small scratches, the movie star, the mental hospitals, the geological phenomenon? “I thought only certain people could do it,” I said. “The chosen ones, or whatever.”

“We’re going to choose ourselves,” said Serena.

“Since no one else ever would,” said Janet, tugging at a little plant that had risen between the rocks.

“Speak for yourself, darling,” said Laurel.

“It’s dangerous,” said Serena. “It will be difficult. Do you want to?”

Did I feel a sense of foreboding in this moment? Did I have any idea, any inkling, of what might happen to us? Did I think what she was offering me was truly dangerous, or even remotely possible? Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous. I wasn’t even thinking about levitation. I wasn’t even thinking about my father, although later I would, later I would tell myself that levitation was the key to truly knowing him at last, the key to his love, and to my own belief—to everything I thought I wanted. But at that moment I was thinking of nothing except for the girl in front of me with the dark hair and the dark smile and the dark eyes sunk deep into her head and her two dark friends, who were waiting for me to answer.

“I want to,” I said.

“Good,” she said. “We’re going to get everything we want this summer.” She looked into my eyes. “I promise.”

And why not? Even before I understood what Serena was really after, the appeal of levitation was obvious to me. Every girl wants more from the world. Every girl wants magic, to transcend the mundanity of her life. Every girl wants power, and Serena more than most. I had felt that about her immediately. Of course levitation, as a power, has a relatively limited phenomenal scope. But it is more than merely lifting into the air. It is a symbol of freedom (all little children dream of flight). It is a symbol of control (ditto). As in so many cases, the blurring of the sign and the signified simply cannot be helped.