It was as if it made both objects happy to be joined together. I didn't understand it, yet somehow, I didn't think of questioning it either. It just s...emed natural for them to be together. Too many unexplainable things had occurred in my new life over the last six plus weeks.I knew now that it had been the joining of the twin rings and the sword that had allowed me to become invisible when I erected my shield yesterday on the train. As if it was taking something I did and ramping up the power. When I got home that afternoon, what I found in my email box shocked me. There was an email from each person in the France gang. All except Brittany, and she was online. I instant messaged her immediately."OMG!" she immediately replied. "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S YOU!" How are you?" Great, how about you? How's France?" It's amazing thanks, how is everyone in BH?" They're doing good. I heard you talked to Leo." Yep, he sounds like he's doing well." Yeah, well he sat at the popular table, so I would. . I run out of words, and if I say some of them out loud, I get this somewhat athletic, delectable body plastered against me, her teeth and tongue teasing at my ear, knowing that I can't control what happens after that.Nikki's going to college. Nikki, who is fifteen, precociously graduated from high school, the mind under those brown bangs in the last, tippy-top percentile in intelligence, is going to interview with the Engineering Department at Auburn University in Alabama. Interviews aren't. We were sharing the love seat perpendicular to the big couch that our parents were lying on while the movie droned on. They’d fallen asleep half-way through the movie, and I’d been ready to sneak off and go to bed.I squinted my eyes to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, but no, the blanket was moving rhythmically, and faster now. How did I not notice that before? My eyes moved up to see his head was turned to the side, intently watching our parents, probably to make sure they were still.