self_composed | if i got three wishes, first i'd find out all about how wishes work

Bella brings two blank notebooks to school the next day. Her old one is safely computerized and boxed up with its predecessors.

At lunch, she sits with Angela; Jessica and Eric and Lauren sit at the same table but mostly talk to each other, and Mike is nowhere to be seen.

Bella is just about on time to gym, thanks to an overnight icing that means she has to pick her way with extreme care across the slippery grass or the slick sidewalks. The second time she falls down, she gives up on attempting any dignity at all, and, cradling her thwacked elbow, scoots the rest of the way to the gym on her rear. This leaves her with damp jeans but no further injuries, and they were a little damp anyway from the falls.

She doesn't have time to do more than smile and wave at Alice on her way to get her mat and get out of the way of careening balls. She spends the class doing the subset of her safe activities that won't stress her elbow.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

edgeofyourseat

"I dunno," he says. "Why not just ask it that one and see what happens?"

From:

self_composed

"You want me to test the square's information gathering powers by asking it if it has any?" Bella asks.

From:

edgeofyourseat

"No, but that's awesome and you totally should!"

From:

self_composed

Bella laughs. She tries it.

The square continues to exist.

"Argh."

From:

edgeofyourseat

"So much for that," he says, but he's laughing.

From:

self_composed

"A pentagon ought to be able to give me permanent cryptanalysis expertise," Bella reasons. "Maybe the square can do a temporary version of the same thing, even if it can't answer direct questions." She tries this.

The square disappears, and she blinks, and dives for her notebook. "I have no idea how long this lasts - pen, pen - where's a - there -" She finds a pen and starts flicking her eyes rapidly back and forth between cipher symbols and her growing list of notes.

From:

edgeofyourseat

Alice shuts up and watches.

...It's really cool.

From:

self_composed

Bella is muttering to herself rather madly. "Not enough for good frequency analysis - original spacing? Is it English-based, even? Numerical symbols..."

From:

edgeofyourseat

It is really cool. Alice is not even sure what he's feeling right now, but he likes it.

From:

self_composed

The temporary skill wears off before Bella has even transcribed the entire alphabet of the cipher. Her pen stutters to a halt.

"Okay," she says, clearly not liking the disappearance of the skill. "So. If nothing else, there's that. I can afford to blow the pentagon on the necklace because I don't need a pentagon in particular for the cipher..." She looks at her notes. "Even if it would be more efficient that way."

From:

edgeofyourseat

"I dunno," he says. "One pentagon from me would be more efficient than a shitload of squares, but you are obviously not into the idea of breaking your own leg and you seem to make squares pretty easily, so it kinda seems like they're more... fuck, what's the word... cost-effective. If all you wanna do is read that one map."

From:

self_composed

"Right." She shudders. "I just really don't like the feeling when all the knowledge goes out of my brain... and I don't know how many times I'd have to do it. Ten times? That's probably still better than handing over a hammer. Thirty? Not sure."

From:

edgeofyourseat

"Huh," he says, and thinks about it.

"...Can I try?"

From:

self_composed

Bella smacks herself in the forehead. Not even hard enough to get a triangle, but still. "Yes. Yes, please do." She hands over one of the remaining squares, the in-progress decryption, and the cipher.

From:

edgeofyourseat

Alice makes a wish.

"Whoa, rush," he says, and starts writing. Unlike Bella, he doesn't say anything, but he frequently draws things—charts, diagrams, sketches of parts of the map. Sometimes he writes new things down directly on top of old things. It's kind of a mess. He keeps the actual decryption reasonably neat, though, except when he makes a mistake and has to scribble something out.

From:

self_composed

When he slows down, Bella hands him the last square, and starts biting her hand again. She gets squares about half the time, triangles the rest of it.

From:

edgeofyourseat

He grabs it and wishes again. Torn-out notebook pages with things scribbled on them are starting to accumulate around him, and the cipher is nearing completion.

From:

self_composed

Bella continues supplying him with squares as necessary, biting her hand as much out of anticipation as out of a desire to generate wishes.

She's probably going to develop all manner of self-destructive habits.

From:

edgeofyourseat

Near the end, he does start muttering to himself.

"Then why the fuck is the map so big? Probably because he's an asshole." Another, much cleaner sketch, narrowing down to an area that encompasses Forks, the house, and some wilderness. And then, before his latest dose of cryptography juice runs dry, he grabs another square and draws a map. Perfectly precise, showing just enough of the surrounding area to matter.

The map has an X on it.

Alice drops his pen.

"Fuck me," he says, rubbing his head, "I feel like my brain just got hit by a bus."

From:

self_composed

"In a good way?" Bella asks, peering at the map. The X is within driving distance, but it might be a day trip. "Tomorrow's Saturday and your dad will still be out of town. We can go then."

From:

edgeofyourseat

"Sure," he says. "And I dunno, it's not hot or anything, it's just weird."

After a brief pause, he clarifies, "I mean it doesn't hurt or anything."

From:

self_composed

"Tomorrow it is," Bella says, taking back Elias's book and comparing Alice's analysis to the original. "That took fewer squares than I expected. Nicely done."

From:

edgeofyourseat

"Thanks, I guess," he says. "I used up an extra one so I could draw the map that well. I figured we didn't want to end up in the wrong place because I scribble."