I heard my sister talking to a friend on the phone when I made my way past her room. I didn’t stop to talk to her at the moment. I could also hear Max and Mom in their room talking. Even though they were trying to keep their voices low, it was clear Mom was upset, and Max wasn’t getting very far in trying to console her. I went into my room, trying to for

Sam was out in the yard when we got there, but he wasn’t chopping wood. Thankfully, he had his shirt on. I’m not sure what he was doing--maybe waiting for us. I noticed he had his truck keys in his hand, though, and that made me nervous.“Hello, Samuel,” my sister said, sashaying her way over to him, her hands folded behind her back.

I stood there, watching Raven chase after the truck with my sister in it for a few moments, contemplating what to do. Ben had said he’d be right here, but I didn’t know if there was something I could do in the meantime, like throw a fireball at the back of the truck and take the tire out. That seemed kind of risky at this distance, especially since Raven was between me and them, and the truck was almost out of sight, so I didn’t do it.

There was no way I was letting these jerks get away with this. I needed to make sure Ben didn’t get hurt before I did anything else. I imagined that piece of metal flying at him taking an alternate route, up into the air and over the side of the road, into a field.The Parkers stopped laughing.

A blur of lights and sirens surrounded us as the sheriff and his deputies blocked off the road on both ends. Sam moved his truck out of the way so that they could get to the accident scene, and some of the deputies who were trained in emergency medical procedures attended to the two hurt men.I wasn’t sure what I could say to them. Did they have any idea that I was a