After Patrick lead the students out of the multipurpose room in a quieter, straighter line than Elena had ever seen during any week of camp, Elena stepped closer to Michelle and Dr. Baker, though her legs shook. Her voice caught in her throat, so Michelle spoke first. "Dr. Baker, before you say anything—"

"Elena, you're fired."

For one second, Elena felt like her chest was being electrocuted, then she only felt numb.

Michelle's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

Dr. Baker turned to Michelle. "Based on everything I've seen today, she's a danger to the campers and to the host school."

"This is an off day, but you don't know Elena like I do. She's a brilliant engineering student at San Jose State—"

"And clearly over confident in her abilities. Michelle, you're liable for any damage she causes. Is that a risk you're willing to take?"

"Absolutely."

Elena winced—she didn't want her boss to get in trouble for her. "Michelle—"

"Well, you're not the one covering the insurance," Dr. Baker said, "and I can guarantee you that our sponsorship department won't feel the same way when I bring them my report. I just watched her pour potassium chlorate over sugar until it exploded." He turned back to Elena. "Your services are no longer required. Please collect your belongings and vacate the premises immediately."

Michelle's breath caught, and she crossed her arms. "With all due respect, you don't have the authority to fire my employees."

"Elena clearly doesn't know what she's doing. You say she's studying engineering at San Jose State? You ever done a fact check on that?"

"Her work speaks for itself. I trust her. You don't know—"

"It's okay, Michelle." Elena took a deep breath—she didn't want Michelle to be looking too deeply into her past, either.

She would survive losing Camp Universe. It would be a rough summer if she couldn't find anywhere to stay and ended up having to return to her mom's house, and it might be years before she found a place that felt as much like home as the camp trailer. But Michelle was reacting emotionally to the situation instead of being rational, and if Elena didn't stop her now, Camp Universe was going to get shut down. Elena couldn't watch that happen to Michelle.

Elena looked Dr. Baker in the eyes. "I'm sorry for everything that's happened today. If there's any damage to the school property, I'm willing to pay for it."

Silence for a moment.

"So, I'll go get my things."

Michelle shook her head. Elena could almost see the gears in her head turning—she had to know that Elena was doing the only thing that could be done, but still she wouldn't give up on trying to figure out some other way. Before Michelle could say something she would regret, Elena turned to go.

"Wait," Michelle said.

She stopped, facing toward the doorway.

"It's going to take us some time to find another camp technician. Patrick and I can't run the camp alone."

"We can find you a volunteer intern," Dr. Baker said.

"For the next few weeks, yes, but not today or tomorrow. Elena will probably need to stay for at least the rest of this week."

Elena very slowly turned back to face them. It was her turn for the gears in her mind to spin at top speed. Faced with everything else—having jeopardized Michelle's job and her own, not to mention the campers' safety—the pain of losing her job and having to leave Camp Universe seemed to shallow. Still, she couldn't help but feel it. This was home, and an extra week was a chance to say good bye. "I'd be willing to stay for the rest of the week as a volunteer."

Dr. Baker's eyes narrowed. "I'll allow that, but I'll be observing again tomorrow. If anything like this happens again, I'll be escorting you from the premises."

"Understood." Elena's voice broke, but there was nothing else she could say.

Dr. Baker straightened up and turned to Michelle. "It was good to meet you."

Michelle nodded, and he left the multipurpose room.

As soon as the door shut behind him, Michelle placed a hand on Elena's shoulder. Elena's eyes stung, and Michelle pulled her into an embrace, whispering, "I'm so sorry, Elena. He didn't have the right to do that to you."

"You couldn't have talked him out of firing me."

Michelle let go and stepped back. "Not while that show was fresh on his mind. But I could have talked him down and held off any decision making until tomorrow. After he'd had a chance to cool off—"

"Michelle, all he's seen of me is my mistakes. Messing up all the demos this morning, the show this afternoon . . . I don't blame him."

"But that's not normal for you. What happened today?"

For a moment, silence hung in the air like the last few wisps of fog that remained from the show. Elena wished she could give Michelle some kind of explanation, any explanation, but without better evidence, anything she said was going to sound crazy.

She couldn't explain to Michelle what had happened. But maybe, with a couple more days to experiment, she could show her. She could keep an eye on Sam, figure out what was going on, maybe find a way to systematize it . . .

Elena pushed that thought out of her mind. It didn't matter. Being preoccupied with whatever was happening with Sam was what had gotten her into this situation in the first place.

"I don't know," Elena said. "But I do know we've left Patrick alone with the campers for long enough."

Michelle stared at Elena for a long time—she could always tell when Elena was hiding something—before sighing and leading the way out of the multipurpose room and toward the classroom.

The campers remained busy with their activities as Michelle and Elena entered the classroom. Elena locked eyes with Patrick for just a moment. Her face must have said it all. He winced sympathetically and went back to his work.

Elena paced around the classroom, half expecting the campers to shy away from her, but unlike Dr. Baker, they didn't seem to fault her for the disaster—to them, she was just another victim.

One boy sat beside the door, facing the wall, arms wrapped around his knees, facing the wall. She couldn't see his face, but the red curly hair told her all she needed to know.

She knelt beside him. "Sam."

He stood and ran out into the hallway. She followed him, and he plunked back down on the floor. "I'm sorry, Miss Elena!"

"For what?"

"For breaking the science!"

She breathed in to insist that he'd done nothing, but stopped herself. Maybe he knew more than he'd let on earlier in the day. "What did you do?"

He pressed his forehead into his knees and rocked forward and back.

She must have come off as accusing. She lowered her voice and tried to speak slowly. "Sam, has this happened to you before?"

"I'm trying so hard to not to."

"Not to what?"

"Break the science. Uncle said I could get better at science. He said I had to have . . ." He squinted. "Growth mindset?"

She nodded slowly. "Sam, science isn't really something you can break. You can do something wrong in an experiment, or you can break equipment, but that doesn't mean science is messed up."

"I know. It just means I am."

"No, no, just—" She sighed. "Look. I know some of the activities haven't gone well for you today, but I don't think it's your fault."

"You sound like Auntie." His voice lowered to a whisper, so soft she almost couldn't hear it: "She said I had demons in me."

Elena blinked. The kid was clearly going to need some therapy. But if his aunt had believed he was possessed . . . that meant someone else had seen what Elena had seen. Sure, they might have had a crazy interpretation, but they had seen things go wrong when Sam was around. Elena wasn't the only one.

Well, it was herself and a crazy woman. But it was a start.

"Sam, could we talk to your aunt about it?"

He grabbed her arm, shaking his head, his eyes piercing hers.

Footsteps down the hall. Sam whimpered and disappeared into the classroom, and Elena stood to see Dr. Baker headed toward her.

"I thought you were going," she said.

"Stopped in my car to look you up."

She let her breath out. She should have known this was coming. "What'd you find?"

"You're the girl that solved the Navier-Stokes equations."

She shoved her hands in her pockets and looked down at her shoes.

"Does Michelle know?"

"I never told her."

"You solved one of mathematics' unsolved problems at fifteen. It was a million dollar problem."

"So?" Solving that stupid problem didn't impress her mom, and the money hadn't been enough to save her dad.

"So you're one of the smartest people in the world. What are you doing working here?"

She set her jaw. "I don't work here anymore. Remember?"

"You know what I mean. How does a person like you end up in a place like this?"

"You landed a job as an engineer for Tech United and you're evaluating camp counselors at kids' camps."

"Camp Universe is my project."

"Why?"

His eyes flashed. "It looks good for PR."

Elena set her jaw. "You've got your reasons to be here, I've got mine."

"Just saying. Seems like an awful waste of a brilliant mind."

She didn't have to be polite to him anymore—she had nothing to lose. "Don't you need to get back to your company so you can come back and evaluate us again tomorrow?"

He let out a short laugh without smiling. "This isn't over."

Once he disappeared behind the corner, Elena felt her muscles relax and she leaned against the wall. The door to the classroom creaked open, and Sam stepped out into the hall.

She raised an eyebrow. "How much did you hear?"

"You're the smartest person in the world."

She grimaced. "One of them, kind of."

"You can help me. You can help me practice my science so I stop breaking things. Then Auntie won't be mad at me, and the bad guys will go away."

"Bad guys?"

"People are chasing me."

She sighed. The kid had an imagination, but she could play along. "What do the bad guys want from you?"

"To hurt me." He held up the palm of his left hand—it was red and blistered.

Elena gasped and took his hand. "Who did this?"

He shook his head and pulled his hand back.

"Sam. What happened?"

"You can't tell anyone. The bad guys will send me back."

She couldn't keep it to herself, either. Part of working for a kids' camp was being a mandated reporter—by law, she had to report child abuse. But he hadn't claimed to be abused, not exactly. She could take a little time to think about her next course of action.

"Please help me. I don't want to go back. Auntie said they might have to kill me if I couldn't get better."

"Who might have to kill you? Why?"

Sam wrapped his arms around himself and dropped his head, then he darted back into the classroom.

Through the cracked door, Elena could hear Michelle asking the kids to wrap up their activities. Day one of camp was over.

Elena stood slowly. Sam had entrusted her not to talk to anyone else about the situation, but she was in way over her head—she had to get help from someone.