“Only that I wanted to lose my feet. She said this was guaranteed.” She shook the little bag. “Which it better be, because her markup is beyond.” It was ketamine, she told us, a drug she’d never tried, one famed for its powers of dissociation.

“No,” Serena said, and I was ashamed at the relief that spread across my shoulders. I looked over at Janet, but she was absorbed in something else, pressing her fingers into her ankle, as if it pained her.

“You don’t have to do it, if you’re scared,” Laurel said. She opened the bag and poured out a little on the side of her hand, too expertly, I could tell even then. “We’ll let you know if it works.” For a moment, I thought Serena did look afraid, and then her face cleared and she slapped the bag out of Laurel’s hand, sending all the white powder into the dirt, like a magic creature’s trail.

“I said no,” Serena said. “That’s not the right way to do this.”

Janet was paying attention now. “What’s the difference between this and drinking?” she asked as Laurel sputtered and knelt to salvage what she could.

“You know the difference,” Serena said. “Don’t ask me any more stupid questions.”

The next morning, Serena caught us as we were heading to breakfast. She had a thin blue book under her arm. She had decided that we needed to fast. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before,” she said. “All the famous levitators have done it.” We wouldn’t completely starve ourselves, of course. We’d eat nettles, like Milarepa.

“Didn’t Milarepa turn green and furry?” Laurel said. She had not quite forgiven Serena for the night before.

“Yes, but we don’t have time for that,” Serena said, unmoved by Laurel’s bad mood, or the sunglasses she was refusing to remove. “We’ll have to combine it with the things we already know work.”

“Or sort of work,” Janet said. “Maybe worked, a little bit, one time.”

“It can’t hurt, anyway,” Serena said. “I found a recipe for nettle soup, and tea.”

“Buddhist Master Cleanse,” Laurel said. “All right, I’m in.”

“Shocking,” Janet said.

“It’s not so you can look hot in a bikini, Laurel,” Serena said.

“I already look hot in a bikini, Serena,” Laurel snapped.

“Where are we going to find nettles?” I asked.

“We’ll just have to start looking.”