That afternoon, Alma’s mother picked her up, and they headed—finally!—to the office.
“How was the day, Alma Llama?” Alma’s mother asked as usual.
“Not bad,” Alma replied. “Not too bad. My Astronomy Club friend and I had lunch together. And don’t forget, the lecture is tomorrow, and then the club is working on a project, so can I maybe come home at dinnertime?”
Alma hadn’t said so much on a car ride home since before the move, and she had never had multiple social engagements in one day.
For a moment, her mother seemed stunned. She kept glancing over at Alma: quick, probing looks.
“Astronomy Club, huh?” she finally said. “This club is really—well, you seem so different than you did only a week ago!”
“I’m the same,” Alma said. “It’s just nice to have something fun to do.”
But she wasn’t the same, and she wasn’t surprised that her mother was noticing. Alma felt like she was just waking up after a long, long sleep. She felt like she was stretching out stiff muscles, shaking the fog out of her head.
She felt restless too. At the office, she didn’t want to do her homework. She didn’t want to sit quietly and work on her English essay while her parents typed and highlighted and occasionally murmured to each other from their desks. There was so much she needed to be doing, so much she needed to be figuring out. She needed to talk to the ShopKeeper again.
“I think I’m going to go for a walk,” she said. She hadn’t even sat down yet. Her backpack was still on.
Alma’s father looked up from his papers, brow furrowed. “Alma, I think it’s great—I mean, really great—that you’re suddenly so active,” he said. “But what about your homework? It’s imperative that you do not fall behind again.”
“I don’t have much,” Alma said. “And I’ve been sitting in class all day. I want to move around.”
“Well, okay. Maybe just a quick stroll?” Alma’s mother suggested. Then she frowned. “Oh, except it’s raining now! This weather!”
Alma turned to the door and saw that it was true. It was a light, misting rain, the kind of rain that could have been snow but wasn’t. From the south came a crack of thunder.
“How about if I make you some hot chocolate to drink while you do your homework?” her mother said. “I think we have some packets in the back. Want more coffee, Peter?”
Alma sighed as she sank into her usual chair at her usual table. As soon as she sat down, she realized how tired she was. She wasn’t sure how much sleep she’d gotten last night, but it wasn’t enough. She knew she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on her homework.
Instead, her fingers traced the old map again.
She started downtown as usual, but this time at the Fifth Point instead of Lucas Law. The Fifth Point, she noticed, was at the exact center of the map. The four neighborhoods and their surrounding areas curled out from that center, like the petals of a flower—green-hilled First Point to the north; rocky Second Point to the east; farmland-bordered Third Point to the south; and then the stream-filled woods of Fourth Point to the west.
After she made her loop, Alma moved her fingers back to the outskirts of Second Point and then farther east, where the mountains began. She traced the ridges and wondered if true wind was there, waiting for them even now.