As the bus reached the hospital, Emily heard clicking from Wonderball in the backpack resting next to her. She pulled open the zipper -

Trust… me.

Emily signed in at the nurse’s desk and proceeded down the hall. Room 32, room 33 – and there it was. Her stomach did one last back flip before she nervously poked her head in the door.

Dana was lying on the bed heavily wrapped in bandages, while her mother sniffled in a chair next to her. Upon seeing Emily, Mrs. Poole jumped up and hugged her tightly.

“Mrs. Poole, I’m so sorry! What happened?”

Mrs. Poole was pale, and shaking. “It was such a freak accident. Dana bought one of those new fortune-telling bowling ball things, and she tried to open it up to see what was inside. The liquid was pressurized, or… oh, god. I don’t know what’s in those things, Emily, but my baby has burns on sixty percent of her body!”

As her voice trailed off, Emily felt the blood drain from her face. From inside her backpack, she both heard and felt a lot of clicking.