# Excerpt from the Wisp  Bara took one last look back. Ms. Korey still watched her. She pushed at the door harder and broke through the wind resistance. Followed by Amy, she went out onto the stone steps. A cold wind hit her full on, giving a mouthful of unwanted air, and almost sent her reeling back in. Ms. Korey was right. There was a storm coming, and it was robbing the day of the last of its light. Bara regained her breath and ran down the steps.  “Why did you lie?” Amy called after her. Bara wasn’t stopping. She barrelled across the square. Amy ran to catch up. “Why did you have to lie?” she repeated. “Lay off," Bara threw over her shoulder. “If the book isn’t part of the collection. What does it matter?” She continued across the square and then started down Windfall Boulevard, still rushing but no longer running.  Amy caught up again.  “I just don’t see why you couldn’t have told the truth.” Bara stopped and rounded. The cold wind whipped through her hair. Wisps of red-gold fell on her face.  “Tell Ms. Korey about my dreams and how they led me to the diary? Seriously? She’d have thought we were lying, on drugs, or plain crazy.” “Okay, maybe not the dream part.” “She’d have claimed the diary! If we told her we’d found it in the library, she’d have said it belonged to the library.” “No, she wouldn’t have. You’re being paranoid.” “I’m not! Besides, it’s mine. Sedgewick said it himself. I found it. It’s mine.”  Amy looked unconvinced. Bara’s frustration grew. She reached into her bag, brought out the diary, and gestured it roughly.  “I get it. You want it for yourself? Here! It’s yours!”  Amy took a step back and held up her hands defensively. “I don’t want it,” she said rather vehemently. Bara saw her obvious reluctance to take the diary and finally relaxed. She realized then she’d been acting the drama queen. She returned the diary to her bag and looked back at Amy. Amy was shivering, her coat too thin and worn for the weather. She didn’t have a large wardrobe. Back when they were preteens, growing spits and spurts, she’d been forced to wear pants torn at the knees and short at the hem. The terrible twins would ask her when the flood was coming. Bara made a mental note to give Amy one of her heavier coats. Her new cashmere would go great with Amy’s warm skin. Courtney had picked it out and it was pink. But Amy liked pink.  Bara smiled guiltily. “I’m a total loser. Total. It’s cold. Let’s go back to the dorm. We’ll see what the diary has to say together.” Trying to lighten the mood, she added, “For all we know, it’s some mushy romance or something.” Amy agreed and they made their way back to St. Cat.
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