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"... and Chris is super cool," Wisp was saying. "I can't wait to see how big he's grown. I bet he's humungous. I mean, I hope he's not too big, because if he's, like, the size of a mountain Missy and Mr. Tyler'll have to build him a barn, and he won't be able to fit inside. Anyway, I'm so excited!"

"Yeah, you've only said about a billion times."

No matter how mean she was to Wisp, there were very few lines Jacoba Darnell could cross with her. The only lines appeared to be Christian, Missy and Tyler, because whenever her older sister disparaged them Wisp immediately flew into a little hallucinogenic rainbow rage and jumped up and down demanding she took whatever she had said back. The one time she had refused, Jace had woken up with a permanent set of glasses and a mustache on her face courtesy of Wisp's messed-up power, with her little sister frightened and furious at the same time about what she'd said. She'd apologised. The glasses had been removed. So had the mustache.

("Do you realise?" she'd said. "You can do tattoos. C'mon, give me a Dark Mark."

"LOL, no way," said Wisp. "Not until you're eighteen."

Annoying or what?)

The realisation came that she didn't have to be driven over to the Deakon household any more: she could walk there! The entire way Wisp had lamented and celebrated the fact that Chris would've grown too, and now they could have adventures and do things, even if they couldn't go back to the daycare center any more and meet with their beloved Xi and Evan. Jace sighed deeply and stuck her hands in her pockets. Maybe it was possible to die of boredom. If it was, she was pretty doomed.

Dressed in her best jeans and her best blouse with the Colour Belt looped around her waist - she was wearing it as a brooch, now, too - the slight blonde hop-skipped her way up to the Deakon's front door: she was so excited that little red-and-blue sparkles were dancing around her head. She rang the doorbell and stuck her hands behind her, probably to stop herself from ringing the doorbell a second time.

Wisp was still bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. It was Jace who looked over and noticed, fairly dispassionately, that Chris looked like he always looked: she'd caught sight of him at the treasure hunt, after all. She ambled away from Wisp, who also paid no notice to her sister moving from her side to over the side of the yard, and crouched down by the enormous golden-horned toddler to watch what he was doing.

"Hey," she said. "You're pretty strong."

She took the 'horsie' from him and turned it over in her hands. It was heavy, too, she had to use her arms as well as her wrists to keep it up straight. The redhead pushed at the metal herself: it had absolutely no give for her. It might have as well been poured and moulded into shape for all the rigidity Chris had given it. "That's really cool," Jace said. How come Wisp chose the neat friends? "Can I try?"

His friend didn't even notice his voice; she was too much paying attention to the rehearsing going on inside her head, what she would say to Christian when she saw him, what he might look like, all the cool things they were going to do together and how fun it was to be grown-up. At the sound from indoors, she glowed further. Wouldn't Missy be surprised, too?

Pretty sadly uncaring for her sister's plight and letting her continue on in the dark, Jace was pulling off her sneakers and revealing what Wisp called her "robot feet." They didn't look exactly like feet. They looked maybe like feet, really. She flopped back on the grass and took the metal bar between them, carefully applying pressure - and it was so awesome to actually be able to put pressure down, not having to be gentle! - to shape the bar into a very crude C. "Yeah, she got big a couple days ago," she said carelessly. "She's also really excited about you getting 'big'. You totally didn't, did you?"

Wisp's head turned so quickly towards Chris that her jaw nearly fell off: her expression first was one of absolute excitement, and then one of absolute dismay. Her mouth opened and closed a little like a fish's. She looked totally crushed, and the little sparkles dimmed and died. Jace was now attempting to shape the metal bar into a pretzel: her artistry was not quite there with Chris', but she was enjoying herself.

"But," her sister said, nearly in a whisper, "but - but - Missy, he hasn't - why hasn't he grown yet? What's wrong?"

"But..." Wisp's voice was a little wavery: she looked absolutely crushed, and was trying very hard not to look absolutely crushed. "But I, I mean... it was only a week, wasn't it? Once he came out the cabbage? I don't want to be grown-up if Chris isn't!" Suddenly, it wasn't that fun any more. "I thought he'd be grown-up too, and I..."

"Well, he isn't," said her sister, trying to twist the metal yet again. "He's nearly big as you anyway, why do you care?"

Why did she care? Wisp racked her head for a reason. "I can't jump on him any more!" she said.

Wisp's head was still droopy, but she nodded. And Missy had thought she was pretty, hadn't she? That was still something. "Yes, please, Missy," she said. "Thank you very much."

"Thanks, Mrs. Deakon," yelled Jace, over next to Chris on the yard. Dinner! That would be excellent. Beatrix was great with little things - like grilled cheese, and toasted sandwiches and soups - but with dinners, she was a little bit sucky. She stood up and grabbed her shoes, and nudged at the toddler's shoulder with her foot. It was great to not have to really worry about hurting someone. "C'mon, Charcoal."

"His naaame is Christian," her sister corrected her, a little haughtily. She was feeling slightly jealous: Chris was her friend. No matter how much she loved her sister, she'd seen Chris first!

"You'll still be my friend, right?" the blonde girl asked him, fairly anxiously. "Because you're still my friend! You're my best friend. I'll be checking every day to see if you've grown, okay? I mean, if you don't want to grow, that's fine too. I'll still be your friend. We'll have fun together, no matter what!"

This sweet speech was slightly ruined by Jace saying, "Wow, something smells good!" and hopping inside the house. It smelled like Missy could definitely cook. Excellent.