“LAMONT! GET ME out of these rags!” shouted Margo. “I smell like mothballs.”
Maddy had raided her grandmother’s meager closet that morning when she’d gone back to retrieve Bando. She figured that Margo and Grandma were about the same size. But nothing in the selection came close to Margo’s fashion standards. Not the housecoat. Not the pom-pom slippers. And definitely not the threadbare flannel nightshirt she was reluctantly wearing.
“Your dress is still drying!” Lamont called back. He had rinsed the delicate frock the best he could in the industrial sink. Now it was hanging from a crude clothesline strung between two massive wooden posts.
Seeing Margo in her grandmother’s clothes gave Maddy a pang of guilt. As if she’d given up on finding Jessica again. Which she hadn’t. But since finding Margo, she’d been helping make a new home out of nothing. And now it was too late to go out searching. Too late and too dangerous.
They had all settled into the warren of small rooms at one end of the vast upper floor. Lamont had pulled desks and chairs out of an office to clear a private space for himself and Margo. It was furnished only with a flashlight and a pile of thick packing blankets. Maddy had created a nook of her own against the wall on the opposite side of the floor under a clouded skylight.
Lamont headed for the door. “I’m going out for wood,” he said.
The wood was for the massive factory stove that sat at the back of the warehouse space. Early in its life it had been fed with coal, but Lamont had discovered that it burned scrap lumber just as well.
After Lamont’s footsteps receded down the stairs, Margo waved Maddy over to the corner where she was sitting. She sat down next to Margo, with Bando nestled between them. Maddy had told Margo all about her grandmother and how scared she was for her. And now it seemed like Margo was trying to take her mind off it a little bit.
“So. Maddy,” Margo said. “Lamont tells me you’re a woman of many talents.”
Maddy shrugged. “Pretty good with scooters,” she said. “Not so great with cars.”
“So I heard,” said Margo. “But I’m talking about mental skills. The power of the mind.”
“You mean getting people to do what I tell them to do?” said Maddy. “Yeah, I’ve always had that. My little mojo.”
“It’s called mind control, darling. And it’s nothing to sneeze at.”
Maddy realized that other than Grandma, she’d never really had another woman to confide in, and Margo seemed eager to listen. Sharing felt nice.
Maddy moved a little closer.
“There’s another weird thing about me,” said Maddy, “and Lamont.”
Margo tilted her head, curious. “Go on,” she said.
Maddy cleared her throat, then paused. She felt awkward.
“Okay,” she said. “When Lamont turns invisible…”
“Yes?” said Margo, leaning in. “I’m listening.”
“Well,” said Maddy, “I…I can see him the whole time.”
Margo sat back. She tapped her chin.
“Now that is interesting,” she said. “God knows I can’t.” She turned this new information over in her mind, then reached out to hold Maddy’s hand.
“Have you ever tried it yourself?” she asked.
“What?” said Maddy.
“Invisibility.”
Maddy scratched her head. “Uh…no. Never. Lamont’s the Shadow, not me.”
Margo stood up and pulled Maddy to her feet. She placed her hands on Maddy’s shoulders.
“Stand straight,” said Margo. “Get balanced.”
Maddy rocked her hips and shifted her feet a few inches farther apart until she was in a solid stance.
“Now,” said Margo. “All I know about this is that it has to come from inside you. You have to will it. You have to feel it. You have to believe it.”
Maddy felt awkward, not really sure what was going on.
“Wait,” she said. “You want me to try to turn invisible?”
“Why not?” said Margo.
“Right now?” replied Maddy nervously. This felt ridiculous.
“No time like the present,” said Margo. “It’s about accessing a part of your mind that you’ve never touched before. Maybe it’s possible for you. Maybe it’s not. But you won’t know if you don’t try.”
“Okay,” said Maddy. “Then I’ll try.”
She closed her eyes. She concentrated on disappearing. She pictured herself disappearing. She whispered the word “disappear” over and over. She felt her mind straining, like trying to remember a trig formula. She clamped her eyelids even tighter. She let out a slow breath.
“Well,” she asked. “Am I gone? Am I invisible?”
Margo patted her on the shoulder. Maddy opened her eyes.
“Sorry, dear,” said Margo. “You’re still here.”
They heard Lamont’s shoes tromping up the staircase.
“The noble woodsman has returned!” Margo called out. Lamont walked in with a stack of flooring strips in his arms. He dumped them on top of the pile near the door and brushed the wood dust off his sleeves.
“What are you two up to?” he asked.
“Just girl talk,” said Margo.
“I tried to turn invisible,” said Maddy.
Lamont raised an eyebrow. “And…?”
“No go,” said Maddy. “I guess I don’t have the genes.”