Michelle sat at the table with Sam and her first aid kit. Patrick and Elena waited for them on the couch. For the time being, the camper sat at a rest stop. They'd gotten lucky not to be spotted thus far, but Elena was always nervous about staying still for too long a period of time.

"So," Patrick said. "Looks like Sam's got his powers pretty well under control. He just has to push that feeling out instead of in."

She nodded. "We're making headway. I'm looking forward to taking some more measurements, running some more calculations."

Patrick grimaced. "Why?"

"Because we still don't understand the anomalies."

"He changes the colors of things a little. Sometimes makes light kind of invisible." He shrugged. "It's kind of cool, but I think if Tech United found out, they'd be disappointed."

"No, I don't think so. Don't you see?" She shifted her position on the couch to face him. "This is new. It's something we've never seen before."

"Okay. So is everyone."

"Not like this!" She stood and began to pace. "The frequency of light matters. Some frequencies of light transmit radio, some of them are in microwaves, some of them give you sunburns, some of them give you cancer."

"I see."

"So if Sam is changing the type of light, that could be seriously dangerous. We can't just—"

"Hey." Patrick held up his hands. "I'm just saying, the only time I saw anything dangerous happen was at that table, just now."

"But that's how powerful he is. Naturally powerful. He could hurt someone with those kinds of abilities."

"He just did. He hurt himself."

"Exactly. Can you imagine what could happen if he went on unable to control himself?"

"I can imagine what happens when he tries to control himself."

Elena crossed her arms. "We'll try it your way, then. Tell him to just release control of his powers, forget everything we taught him. See what happens then."

Patrick held up his hands. "I'm just saying, he was doing fine before."

"But he wasn't, Patrick! Sure, the ability itself had never caused any light bulbs to blow up, but it got people to notice him. People who were afraid of him, and people who wanted to use the anomalies for something—I know, we still don't know what, but they scared him enough to make him jump out of a third-story window."

"His powers didn't cause any of that, those people were crazy!"

"People are crazy! That's the problem. No, none of those things were his fault, but none of those things would have happened if he could control the anomalies."

"Fine!" Patrick took a step closer. "Maybe you're right. That's not the problem I'm having with this whole thing."

"What whole thing?"

"You. You trying to control Sam's powers."

"I'm trying to get him to control his own powers!"

Patrick rolled his eyes. "But that's not why you want to do it. You're scared, just like that lady. She burned Sam to try to chase away the demons. But it's the same thing, you're putting him at risk to control him."

"I am not!"

"The ability itself has never hurt him. Or anyone else. It just makes people go crazy when they see it."

"It's chaotic, Patrick."

"I know." He turned away from her. "You can't stand chaos. It's the scariest thing in the world."

Elena breathed in to retort, but her breath caught in her throat.

How could he not understand? It wasn't about the anomalies themselves. It was all about who found them. They had a responsibility to him, to themselves, to everyone else, to make sure the abilities were contained. And that required knowing what the anomalies were. How they worked. How to stop them.

"Elena," he said, "if there was a way to ensure Sam would be safe without learning anything more about them, would you do it?"

She whirled to face him. "It doesn't matter!"

"What doesn't?"

"It doesn't matter why I'm trying to do this. It still has to be done. He needs to be able to control himself. Whether the anomalies are dangerous themselves, or it's just people's reactions." She shook her head. "At the end of the day, they're still dangerous."

The look Patrick shot back at her was venemous. "You have to get your way, don't you? No matter how you spin it, you always get your way."

Elena had never had to work so hard not to punch someone.

Michelle emerged from her room. "Okay, you two. Break it up."

Patrick glared at her, then he walked away.

"Elena." Michelle turned on her, fire in her eyes. "Sam's a human. Not a science experiment."

"I know—"

"Do you?"

The words stabbed her in the chest. "I—I'm sorry, Michelle."

Michelle whirled on Patrick. "Patrick, Elena and Sam are trying to do something no one's ever done before. It might be impossible. When Sam gets frustrated, you've been encouraging him. When Elena gets frustrated, you've been insulting her. That stops right now."

Patrick's cheeks turned red. "Yes, ma'am," he muttered.

She took a step back to face them both. "And both of you. I don't know what's up with you, but you haven't stopped bickering since we started this year of camp. Sam's behaved better than either of you on this ride, and he's eight years old. Knock it off."

Both Elena and Patrick were silent. Elena couldn't bring herself to lift her eyes from the floor.

Michelle breathed in for a second wind. "Now, you're very different from each other, I get it, but that means you're good at different things. Neither of you is better. I needed both of you for Camp Universe, and Sam needs both of you now."

Elena winced. "I'm sorry, I—"

"No. Both of you get in there and apologize to Sam. He's the one who's worried about you."

Elena forced herself to look at Patrick, whose face looked about as miserable as she felt. She'd seen other people face Michelle's anger, but she'd never had to experience it herself. She'd imagined it would hurt, but nothing like this.

They opened the door to Michelle's room. Sam huddled on a chair in the corner. Elena was the first to kneel down in front of him.

"Hey, Sam." Her hand hovered for a fraction of a second too long over his shoulder before coming to rest. A little electric shock made her pull her hand away. "I'm sorry I haven't been the nicest to you. I'm going to let you make more of your own choices, okay?"

"Yeah," Patrick said. "I'm sorry, too. Sorry we were fighting and scaring you."

Sam shrugged and let go of his knees. "It's okay. Boyfriends and girlfriends fight sometimes."

Elena stood. They'd pretended to be together when they were passing by the school, but Sam wasn't there. "How did you know—"

"Ha!" He giggled and bounced in his chair. "So it is true!"

"No." Patrick stepped back from Elena. "Never."

Sam laughed and sat cross legged. "Patrick and Elena sitting in a tree!"

Elena groaned and left the room.

Michelle sat at the kitchen table with a mug of coffee. She was laughing.

"Thanks a lot." Elena leaned against the counter. Patrick hung back, keeping distance from Elena.

Michelle shrugged. "You know what, we're all getting cooped up in here. Let's go find a remote little park and spend some time outside."

Elena nodded, and Michelle returned to the driver's cab.

Patrick sat next to Sam and offered him a game on his phone, then returned to the kitchen. "Yeah," he whispered. "We definitely need to get outside. We all need a break from . . . all of this."

Elena nodded, but she couldn't help it: she was already thinking of tests they could do for the anomalies out in the park.