"You don't have one?" asked Meg as they skirted a muddy patch in the thoroughfare.

The camp was divided into a grid, almost, with clear throughways for traffic. There weren't many cars to speak of—hardly any, in fact, besides some overgrown abandoned R.V.s, plus the humvees which were still around from the National Guard. It wasn't easy to get a car over to this park, between the Jackson-caused landside and the roadblocks, so most of the pilgrims and vendors had trekked out on foot, parking on the road up into the hills.

"No?" said Alden with a shrug. "Rika awakened me off a copy of the first page."

"Scraps can be copied?" asked Meg with a shock, startling a nearby Mexican food vendor. He grumbled something about teenagers as they wandered past. Alden wasn't sure what he was looking for yet, but he figured he'd know when he saw it.

"Yeah?" Alden glanced around again, and spotted a tent teaching magic. It seemed as good a place to start as any. "So?"

"Kinda… I dunno, ruins it?"

"Well, they're worse, I guess," said Alden. "You don't get anything from the copies like you do from actual Scraps, you just awaken."

"And Scraps teach you whatever magic's on 'em, right?"

"Right," said Alden.

"What about all the people you and Hailey were running around finding?" asked Meg, a little too loud for comfort.

"Shh," said Alden.

"Huh?"

"Hailey's in prison, remember? And I was 'never' around her," said Alden pointedly.

"Oh… right," said Meg. She sighed. "That's so stupid. When's she gonna get out anyway?"

"No idea," said Alden glumly. "They gotta make an example of it, and show she's being treated fairly. No special privileges so nobody can complain."

"Ugh. She doesn't deserve that."

They'd reached the tent now. A huge sign on top read AMATEUR MAGIC LESSONS in crude black paint on a bedsheet, stretched between two wooden poles embedded in the earth. There was a bullet hole through the top, but otherwise, the place looked pretty intact. Underneath the title, a second line read AWAKENED ONLY, PLEASE.

It was the "please" which really drew Alden in. Every other tent was practically screaming at them to come buy their wares, but this one was different. He liked the polite air about it. Problem was… as soon as they walked in, it was obvious they weren't going to find what they wanted.

"Can't do it," said the vendor in a bored voice. He rolled his eyes. "Look, kids, you saw the sign. I don't got anything. Nobody does. I can't help you."

"But—" said Alden, but Meg cut him off.

"Like hell you don't," she growled. "I watched people walk in here totally normal and came out chuckin' fireballs like they were born doing it only minutes later."

"Because I'm a good teacher, so what?"

"So nobody gets that good, that fast," said Meg. "Trust me, I've studied this crap all day every day since before the rest of the world even found out. So you're tellin' me you don't got a Scrap that teaches you exactly how to do Elemental fire magic like riding a bike?"

"Sure don't."

"Well, look who it is," said a voice behind them. The tent flap drifted open, and another figure stepped inside. As soon as the bright light dimmed away, Alden recognized the toothy grin of Julian Black, even through the cheap disguise. "Ease up, Randy. They're friends."

"Really," said Randy, raising an eyebrow. "These two kids?"

"That there's a veteran of this damn town, so show some respect," said Julian sharply. Alden winced, but there wasn't anyone else in the tent, and Julian had spoken low enough that nobody outside would hear. "So whatever he and his girlfriend want, show 'em the stock, got it?"

"Sister," Alden mumbled, while Meg's mouth fell open.

"...Oh, shit," said Julian, wincing. "Y'all don't look anything like each other, you know that?"

He shrugged, trying to move past it. Meg was torn between laughter and indignation. To Alden's relief, she didn't land on either. Instead, she spun back to the vendor, obviously just trying to get past the moment and back to their real goal.

"So what d'you got, Mr. Randy?" she asked pointedly.

Randy sighed, and pulled out a small metal box. He wiggled his fingers above it, his eyes closed while he worked. Alden briefly reached out with his own magic and could feel a complex spell on top of the box, layers all linked to a power source inside. A moment later, it popped open.

Inside was a pile of gemstones, weighing down four different Scraps. Randy pointed at them one by one as he spoke.

"Elemental fire, telekinesis, hydrogen creation, and… hell if I know what to call it. It makes stuff dry."

"It makes stuff dry?" asked Alden dubiously. "Like… an area, or what?"

He shrugged. "Basically, yeah. Sucks moisture out of the air. So uhh…"

"A dehumidifier?" Meg smirked.

"Sure, whatever." Randy rolled his eyes. "They aren't interesting, but who the hell cares? You're still getting awakened. Anybody can use pretty much any magic, and it doesn't affect your affinity, so don't think about it too much."

"Okay, cool," said Meg. She reached forward, and Randy immediately slammed the box shut.

"Uh-uh." He shook his head. "Payment first."

"How much?"

"And keepin' in mind," added Julian from behind them, "special discounts and all that."

Randy nodded. "For a second-gen copy… six hundred."

"Six hundred dollars?" asked Meg, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, I gotta make a damn living here, you know." He shrugged. "Take it or leave it, that's way less than most people pay around here."

"Done," said Meg. She dug into her purse and pulled out a stack of bills.

Alden raised an eyebrow. "Where'd you get all that?"

"Saved up for years, bro," said Meg. She counted out the price in loose bills and passed it over. "Gimme the fire one, I want to be way better at it than you."

He rolled his eyes. "That won't just make you better."

"Watch and learn." Meg paused as Randy started digging through another box, almost like a file folder. "What d'you mean by second-gen copy?"

"One of Kyle's… err," Randy trailed off as Julian made a coughing sound. "It's a copy of the Scrap, only works once."

"Only once?" said Meg, obviously disappointed.

"What, you had a friend you wanna awaken or somethin'?"

"...Maybe," said Meg. Alden wondered… did she mean Kelly? He wasn't sure that was a good idea yet. Meg, sure—he trusted her, and she'd become a way different person over the last couple years, but with how much the two of them fought… he definitely wasn't sure about that.

"Here," said Randy. He handed it over—a perfect copy of the Scrap in shape and size, but washed out and modern, as though it were printed on a modern sheet of paper rather than the ancient parchment Alden remembered. "Do me a favor and don't read it here, all right? Unsettles the customers."

"Can do," said Meg. She slipped it into her purse. "Come on, bro. Let's get out of here."

To Alden's surprise, Julian followed them out of the tent and back into the crowds. The morning had started in earnest now, and the market was definitely thriving again. People were back in droves, despite the events of the night before. In a way, Alden was comforted by it—even with all that insanity, people were still willing to come here for a chance to awaken.

"Capitalism, ain't it somethin'," said Julian. "Got you a great deal, young woman."

"No shit," said Meg, smirking. "Six hundred for magic? How much do these usually go for?"

"Hell, if you used to be at my old casino, they ran for a thousand minimum. Now, though?" Julian grinned. "It's not unheard of to get fifteen or twenty thousand, if you can call the high rollers out."

"Nice."

"Don't swear," said Alden again, but Meg just rolled her eyes.

"So you're 'bout to meet miss Grey herself," said Julian, walking up alongside Meg as they started wandering the camp. "How're you feelin'?"

"What's she like?" asked Meg. "Alden never talked about her."

Julian glanced at him curiously. Alden shrugged. Didn't really seem like she wanted to be talked about…

"Well," said Julian, "honestly, you ain't gonna learn much about her. She pops in, does her thing, asks if you're okay. Apparently if you're all alone, she says a couple other things too, like what you just went through, and tells you to be careful." He scratched his head. "She added that last bit after… well, you know what happened, right?"

"Yeah, he told me everything," said Meg, nodding.

Not everything, mused Alden, but I don't think I understand everything myself.

"So yeah, ever since then, she started tellin' people to be more careful. Makes sense." He shrugged. "After that, she's gone. Never says another word, not once—and believe me, I've seen a ton of 'wakenins. It's always the same. Grey-eyes doesn't talk to anybody. Most I ever heard out of her was the meetin' we had in the library after it was all over, but that was a special case. 'Sides, she only spoke one damn sentence, so… yeah."

"Crazy," said Meg, obviously in awe.

She… she talked to me though. With Meg's awakening so near, Alden was remembering his own, back in Rika's apartment in May. Grey-eyes appeared, and she was… confused? He wasn't sure how to describe it. But she'd talked to him. She'd asked him if he was okay, just like Julian said, but… there was so much more.

Grey-eyes talked to Rachel too, plenty of times. I heard her. So maybe Julian just never saw it.

"So what do you think?" asked Alden, though his mind was still processing this new bit of information. Raindrops were starting to land on them, one by one, as thicker clouds rolled in far above. "Should we go back to the Greyw— Meg!"

His sister had already pulled the Scrap out of her purse, and without warning, she'd put it in front of her eyes. Apparently, she couldn't wait any longer. Alden panicked, but their guide was already there.

Julian caught her gracefully enough before she landed in the mud. With Alden's help, they managed to get her over to a nearby blanket. People were staring, watching her mutter the words over and over on the page. To Alden's surprise, she hadn't failed on the first sentence like everybody else—she'd barreled right through without blinking an eye.

Meg was reading the Scrap, and in moments, she'd be awakened—one of them.