Head to the side of the house, climb up the giant crabapple tree that grew near the back to get to the roof, and parkour her way onto a telephone pole.

She’d been doing this for three years. Of course she still had it.

Outstretching her arms, Sam began walking, the warm summer breeze blowing through her hair as she made her way out of the neighborhood and into town, the super-thick powerline making small noises under her shoes as she walked, staring down into Hatchwood.

God, Hatchwood, Ohio. What a town.

It wasn’t huge by any means, but the community constantly bustled with friendly energy; Mrs. Bozzeli was sweeping outside her cafe, while Senor Garcia was starting to open his mercado. On the corner near the bus stop, Samara saw Olive Huxley walking xir dogs while Mr. Koch sat down on a bench drawing, waiting for his bus to work.

Everybody was familiar with each other, and Samara was one of the individuals in town who knew everybody personally. She’d fallen in love with Hatchwood ever since she was a kid—from the thick, endless woods surrounding the town to the history that she’d hyperfixated on for years; Sam just couldn’t imagine not loving her home.

“Good morning, Hatchwood!” she said aloud, not quite speaking to anyone in particular.

“Hey, get down from there before I call the cops!” Mr. Santini, an older man in his late eighties, shook his cane at a laughing Samara as she bounced across the powerline and landed on one of the telephone poles. She raised one leg in the air as she balanced on it, trying to imitate the ninjas from the weird Japanese films that Peyton’s friend Fabian showed her once.

“Well, someone’s out early, aren’t they?”

Samara glanced over, noticing a familiar face setting up a telescope on the roof of a tall, tan apartment complex. “Hi, Mr. Red! Good morning!”

He laughed, adjusting his sunglasses. “Morning to you too, kid! Enjoying your summer vacation?”

“Yeah! I’m doing a lot of exploring!” she replied. “Yesterday, I found a huge cave in the woods, and I’m going to go in there later to try and find some cool rocks! Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll find some geodes….”

“Maybe, maybe…or maybe the cave is a geode.”

“Wait, what?”

“Don’t believe me? It’s true!” Mr. Red tapped on his phone for a moment before turning the screen towards Samara, revealing a photo of himself in a cave full of shiny crystals protruding from the floor and ceiling. “See, back in 2012, I did some backpacking in Mexico with my brother, where we explored this giant crystal cave that’s actually one of the world’s largest pyrite geodes! A beaut, eh?”

“Woah, that’s so cool!” Samara’s eyes sparkled with wonder. “Those crystals look super sharp, too! Like, if you and your brother moved the wrong way, it could stab you until your internal organs came out of your body or something.”

“But we didn’t!” Mr. Red chuckled. “I think it was one of the highlights of our trip. My brother and I collected a lot of crystals from that cave…just like the one in your pocket.”

“What? I don’t have a…” Samara felt at her jacket pockets, trailing off once she felt a small lump. Gasping softly, she reached inside and pulled out a hunk of pyrite, the crystal glimmering endlessly in the summer sun. “Woah! How did—”

“A magician never tells, Sam,” the red-haired man chuckled, peering at the teenager through his sunglasses. “Consider that a gift for listening to an old man’s rambles.”

“Why wouldn’t I? I like hearing your stories!” Sam replied. “Besides, I know everyone in town already, so….”

“Well, not everyone.”

“Huh?”

Mr. Red gestured down to the sidewalk below where Samara stood. She followed where the middle-aged man’s arm was pointing, noticing a girl she hadn’t seen before, staring through a store’s front window.

That was new. Tourists didn’t come into Hatchwood too often, not unless they had family in the area. 

The girl was short and plump, and looked around Samara’s age. Her curly red hair was pulled into a pair of space buns, some of her bangs falling into her dark eyes. She wore a light blue overall dress over a seafoam sweater, with pink socks decorated with pale yellow butterflies.

Woah, Samara thought, her face heating up. She’s kind of—

“Uh, kid? Kid!” Mr. Red’s voice snapped her out of it. “Sam, you’re gonna fall!”

Sam only registered what he said as she lost her balance, screaming as she fell into the row of flower bushes planted outside the building. The lanky teen coughed, spitting out petals as she blinked hard, trying to make the world stop spinning.

“What in the—oh shit!” the mystery girl rushed over to Sam, parting the bushes with a worried look on her face. “Oh my God, are you okay?! M-My dad was a volunteer EMT, I can do first aid if you need—”

“N-No, no, I’m gay—okay! I-I’m okay. Don’t worry about me.” Wow, Samara. That’s so smooth your words should be butter. “Sorry, I’m just a little scatterbrained today. Probably why I fell, heheh…” STOP. TALKING.

“It’s okay, I’m just glad you’re okay—oh, sorry, do you need help? Here, I got you.” Mystery Girl grabbed Samara by the hands and pulled her to her feet, the scrawny girl gasping as she was lifted in one fluid motion. “There we go! You can stand, right?”

“Yeah, I can,” Sam whispered. “Wow, you’re really strong.”

“Oh, thanks! My dad’s super into nature and survival stuff, so my family goes camping a lot.” Mystery Girl looked up at the roof. “Did you fall from the roof? You live in one of these buildings?”

“Nah, I fell off the powerlines.”

The other girl blinked. “You what.”

“The powerlines! They’re only really dangerous if you step on some exposed wiring or something,” Samara explained. “It takes some practice, but it’s pretty fun to see the town from a different point of view.”

“Isn’t it kinda scary?”

“Not really, unless you’re scared of heights. Besides, I kinda feel like a tightrope walker up there.”

“Huh, so kind of like Gairil Gaillot—”

Samara’s eyes instantly filled with stars as she cut Mystery Girl off. “The leader of the underground circus coven and later main antagonist of The Clawthorne Covens’s third book, The Curses of Astral Astrid?”

The other girl smiled. “You know those books?”

“Know them? They’re one of my favorite fantasy series!” Samara bounced on her toes; sure, she told the rest of her family about what she was reading often, but she hardly ever got to ramble to someone who shared her interests. “In my opinion, one of the best parts of the series is how the covens set the scene for the books’ theme about conformity; how it feels safe and familiar, but at the same time can be harmful and even dangerous to society. I think the author’s approach on the pros and cons of the covens helps flesh out the theme further and set up—” She paused mid-rant, glancing over at the girl staring at her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ramble like that.”

“No, it’s okay, really! My parents don’t really ‘get’ the kind of stuff I like to read, so I don’t get to engage in these conversations very often.” Mystery Girl chuckled, holding out a loosely clenched fist. “I’m Basil Sinkes. My family’s visiting this place for a few days to check out the town before we move.”

“Samara Thornbury,” Samara said confidently, fistbumping Basil with a smile on her face. “You can call me Sam if you want, though. I don’t mind.”

“Okay then, Sam, you mind telling me about this place? Uh, Hatchwood, right?”

“Oh, I can tell you all about it! C’mon, this way, I know a shortcut to a really good sandwich place where my brother’s friend works…”