"Those are reasons," acknowledges Mehitabel thoughtfully.

"They are," Aelise agrees. "But they weren't very good ones. Have you heard of Toronto?"

"Yes. It's not there anymore."

"That's right," says Aelise. "Some of those not-very-careful people dropped a nuclear bomb on it. It's all cleaned up now, but for a while afterward, nothing and nobody could live there at all. When trees started growing there again, I made it an imperial park."

"There were a lot of people in it, right?"

"About five million."

"That's a lot of people," says Mehitabel solemnly.

"It is," Aelise agrees. "But it's not the worst thing that could have happened. The way things were going, I was afraid there would be a war so big, all the people would get killed."

Mehitabel nods.

"And then I found Chelsa. Do you know what her Gift does, exactly?"

"You said her gift was to... be likeable," says Mehitabel slowly. "So - not exactly."

"She makes people like people," says Aelise. "Herself. Each other. So one day everyone was at war with everyone else, and the next day they were pretty much friends. And nobody dropped any more nuclear bombs, and the world didn't end."

Mehitabel stares at Aelise, holding very still.

"The reason your parents are worried about you," she says, "is because Chelsa can't make you like anyone."

Mehitabel relaxes visibly, although not all the way.

"They think you might be sick," she says. "But I'm not sure that's true. I think you might be Gifted."

"And my Gift is to be safe from that," Mehitabel surmises.

"Is 'safe' the word you'd use?"

"Yes," says Mehitabel firmly.

"Why's that?"

"It's my brain and I live in it and I don't want anybody but me to make it do things!"

"Can you make it like everyone?" wonders Aelise. "Me and Chelsa and your parents and everyone else?"

"If I want to," says Mehitabel, "maybe. I don't know about Chelsa. I don't think I want to like her."

"Why not?"

"I think she's doing a bad thing." Mehitabel chews her lip a little and looks with sudden suspicion at Aelise.