She turned to see Zadie approaching, drenched in sweat and squeezing a cramp in her right side. “I ran all the way here,” she said, her breathing labored. “Are you okay?” She leaned over and felt her sister’s forehead.

“I’m not sick,” Finn said with dry amusement.

“I know that.” Zadie pulled her hand away quickly and shifted awkwardly. “I tried to stop you—”

“From running out of my own party like a crazy person?”

Zadie nodded. “Hold on. I need to sit for a sec.” She collapsed next to her sister on the concrete and hung her head between her legs.

“Are you okay?”

“Yep. Never better.” She sucked in a deep breath. “So that must have been a pretty intense one, huh?”

Intense was not the word Finn would have used. Exhilarating, reaffirming, even comforting: these were all words that described the experience she’d just had. But as eager as she was to tell her sister about the echo, the secret stuck like flypaper to her tongue. “Yeah. I don’t remember how I got here.”

Zadie raised her head, frowning. “You blacked out?”

“I guess so.” Finn shrugged.

“Does that happen a lot?”

“No. This is the first.”

Zadie looked like she was about to feel Finn’s forehead again, then thought better of it. “Just … be careful, okay?”

“I will.”

Zadie nodded despite looking unconvinced and dropped her head back between her legs.

Just spit it out! Finn wasn’t sure why she was so hesitant to tell her sister about the echo. Zadie’s feelings about their mom were complicated, but complicated feelings or not, she still deserved the truth. “Hey, listen. I kind of have something big to tell you. Like, maybe you should just stay like that to brace yourself.”

Zadie’s head snapped up. “Okay … Now, you’re making me nervous.”

But before Finn could respond, Steve came stomping through the palms toward them, even more sweaty and out of breath than her sister had been. “Finn! There you are! What happened?”

Finn tried to not let her disappointment show on her face. Her news would have to wait. “Uhh, sorry. I wasn’t feeling well.”

“So you ran … here?”

Finn shrugged. Nothing she could say would sufficiently explain her strange behavior, so she didn’t even try. Steve, mercifully, didn’t press her. “Want to head back to the party? I saved you girls each a piece of cake.”

“Sounds good.” Finn stood, swiped the dirt off her dress, then held out a hand to Zadie. As she helped her sister to her feet, Finn leaned in and whispered, “Let’s talk more tonight. Over Froyo?”

Her sister examined her curiously, then said, “Uhh … sure.”

“Meet me there at eight.”