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.And why would he do that? She wondered.Herstomach, which had nearly settled after her crying fit,now knotted once again.Angry at the sensation, shetried in vain to fall asleep again.Sleep stayed itsdistance until 4:30 in the morning when she fell into aquiet doze.The alarm was unwelcome.The talk with her father, while not very helpful inher dealings with Jonathan, did serve to give Zelia anew and important idea about what to do with her gift.If she could have wished into reality one thing, itwould be her mother.She could think of nothing thatshe wanted, missed and dreamed about more.It tooksome time for her to get over the idea of wishing hermother back into her life.But, in the end, she had toadmit that there were too many risks and things thatcould go wrong.And while she didn t entirely give uphope, she had to put it off, at least for the time being.But a new idea came out of this.If there wassomething she wanted this badly, surely there mustbe things that other people wanted violently as well.She knew she shouldn t change things that were toobig, but try as she might, she couldn t think of any- 86 - reason not to grant some smaller, inconspicuouswishes here and there.After all, what good washaving a super power if she never got to use it forgood?So, starting the very next day in school.Shebegan watching people s minds.She hadn t donemuch of it, even after learning how to use her giftbecause she felt a little strange and wary aboutlooking at people s private thoughts.But shereasoned now that she was doing it for the good ofthose around her and that it would be okay.With thatjustification, she began to watch carefully whenevershe could spare some concentration.The best time to watch people was in study hall.Each day, for 35 minutes, Zelia and her classmateshad to report to a study hall.There, they could workon homework, read, draw or do anything that didn tinvolve talking to one another or making any otherkinds of noise.Zelia took this time to watch.The people in her study hall were an array ofinteresting, creepy, nerdy, cute, popular, aggravating,quiet, and sad looking kids.Zelia found herself utterlycaptivated by the things they thought and imaginedduring their 35 minutes of silence.Though there wereonly 10 of them their thoughts were vivid enough andwild enough to keep Zelia s mind entertained theentire period, day after day.Zelia mostly pretended towork or read while she watched and no one seemedto notice her.- 87 - The first day she watched the boy who satnearest the door.She didn t know his name and hadno other classes with him, but she found himinteresting because he was very quiet and yet prettycute.No one talked to or tried to talk to him in studyhall.He didn t seem terribly awkward or dorky, meanor popular.He was just average, an undiscoveredtreasure she thought.She watched the outside of him,what he did (homework and reading) and what heseemed to feel (content with the silence) for half ofthe period before she delved deeper.When sheopened her eyes to his thoughts, she was blown awayby the vividness of his imagination.The first timeshe d looked into his mind, he d been reading a bookabout a dragon.He was totally consumed with thebook and thought of noting else, so Zelia watched ashe imagined the story.The colors and shapes heimagined were consistent and confident.Thecharacters in the story seemed real to him and Zeliawatched them play out as if she were watching amovie.When the dragon spoke to her young friend,her voice was creamy and sweet, yet powerful andbrave.When the friend got hurt, Zelia could see thepain in his face.The surroundings and backgroundsin each scene were also well imagined.Sometimes,the boy even stopped reading for a moment toimagine distant places or make connections.Zeliawatched these, growing to understand and appreciate- 88 - the story.Before the bell rang, she managed to jotdown the name of the book for future reference.Thiswas one fantasy she wouldn t mind reading.It was only after that day ended that she realizedshe d accomplished nothing towards her goal.Shewasn t any closer to finding out what the boy reallywanted or even anything he sometimes wished for.Though she d been entertained by the story, shehadn t made the world a better place even a little bit.The next day, she vowed to try harder.When theboy pulled out the book at the very beginning, shelooked at him and fought the temptation to watch thenext chapter.Instead, she turned her attentiontowards a small, awkward kid in the corner who wasdoodling.Doodling, she soon realized, gave a personan excellent opportunity to think.The boy imagined the picture that he wascreating.It was complex, angry and dark.Zeliawatched this unfold for a moment, but then turned herattention to another stream of imagination emittingfrom his subconscious.This one was much morealive.The boy was imagining the rest of his day andhow he hoped and feared it would turn out.Zeliawatched through his eyes his trip home on the bus.She watched the faintly glowing outlines of two olderkids who sat behind him and dropped paper balls onhis back and head.She watched the boy s image ofhimself growing angry and embarrassed and watchedas he pictured his revenge.Zelia stopped herself from- 89 - making this happen for him.Revenge seemed like abad idea.She continued to watch him arrive home toan empty house.In his daydream, he let himself inonly to find a note from his father saying he d behome a little early.The boy seemed happy about thisand smiled as he pocketed the imaginary note.Zeliasmiled at the boy s happiness and willed the note ontohis counter.She felt good about her first helpfulaction.During the rest of the week, she watched avariety of thoughts and day dreams and even foundherself enjoying the Dragon Boy s story a few moretimes, though she felt a little guilty for what sheconsidered to be a waste of her time.She didn t helpout much more, though she did find some lost lunchmoney for one student in the class and she helpedanother remember a homework assignment.On thelast day of the week, Friday, she decided to take theplunge and watched the one imagination she d beenavoiding all week Amber Ziggleman.Amber hadbeen in her study hall for the part three years withoutfail.Zelia wondered if it was the guidance counselor ssick joke to always pair them up in classes.She hadsuccessfully avoided speaking to Amber for the pasttwo years and hoped to continue to succeed for therest of her life.For the most part, she tried not to eventhink of Amber, because it brought up painfulmemories and the distinct feeling that she had- 90 - somehow failed in her quest to destroy Amber.So,naturally, she d avoided Amber s thoughts thus far,but she knew it couldn t last
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