Am I really going along with this? Peri thought. But then she looked at Jenks and shut her mouth. It couldn’t be a dream, and she wasn’t hallucinating. No more impossible than being able to replay time.

Rachel looked up from picking the wick out of the tea light. “Thank you for believing in this,” she said softly, as if she could read Peri’s thoughts.

“I’m just curious how you’re going to take a radioactive stone and turn it into a crystal,” Peri said, and Jenks chuckled, rising up to look into the copper pot.

“Me, too,” Rachel said, then smiled grimly at Jenks. “Well, what do you think?”

He shrugged, still in flight. “Try it. There’re a lot more mystics than just an hour ago.”

Confused, Peri watched as the woman settled the large candle under the bowl, pinching the wick between her thumb and finger. Peri’s lips parted as Rachel let go, a tiny flame growing in strength between them. “H-how . . .” Peri stammered, shocked at Rachel’s long, content sigh.

“Damn,” the woman said as she perched herself on the edge of the seat. “That felt good.”

“Nice job, Rache,” Jenks said, then laughed at Peri’s open mouth. “You ain’t seen nothing yet, babe.”

“Magic?” Peri said, pulse fast. “I don’t believe it.”

“Fortunately, you don’t have to,” Rachel said as she pushed the melting tea light around. “Wax is a great inert carrier of intent. The stone represents the power of the accelerator we’re trying to duplicate.”

Peri jumped at the ting as Rachel dropped the stone in.

“Your phone is sympathetic to how the accelerator carries information,” Rachel said, sliding it off the table and watching Peri closely as she set it in the pot and wax slowly engulfed it.

“I’m not getting that back in working order, am I,” Peri said, and Jenks gleefully shook his head.

“And a drop of blood to activate it,” Rachel said, taking a diabetic stick from her bracelet. It had been hanging there all the time, lost in the bangles and trinkets. Charms, Peri corrected herself, lip curling when Rachel pricked her finger and squeezed a drop in.

Rachel smeared the remaining blood from her finger, her smile bland and without meaning. “Now all we need is your memory to give it substance,” she said.

“Me!” Peri exclaimed, and Jenks darted into the air.

Voice loud, he whispered, “Rache, this isn’t going to work. I thought you saw it.”

“I did, but it’s not what it looks like. It’s what it feels like,” Rachel said, waving him away. “Peri can do this. She makes reality out of thought all the time. It’s her job.”

“She does what?” Jenks shrilled, and Rachel calmly blew his dust away before it got into the pot.