CHAPTER 2Mara dashed across the yard and up the three steps to the porch. Sam had solidified but looked bug-eyed as he took inventory of his body by patting himself. Diana held him by the shoulders, did her own assessment and said, “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. I think I’m all here,” he said. “I don’t think anything dissolved, at least not permanently. No thanks to Mara.”
Mara looked relieved but said, “It was your bright idea. I told you that I didn’t want to use the Chronicle.”
Diana looked at the depression in the grass and said, “All in all I think it worked out for the best. You two get ready for dinner.”
As they turned to go inside, they heard the front doorbell chime.
* * *
Mara crossed the wood floor, passing behind the couch that faced the fireplace, as the
