Abelia tried to put aside her humiliation at having been mocked and ridiculed about her report, but it wasn’t easy with the other children hounding her about it at every opportunity both during school hours and afterwards on TREEfeed.

She’d decided then, for the past several days, to take an alternate route home and hopefully evade her tormentors. It seemed to be working, as they hadn’t found her yet. Someone else did, though.

As she cut through unfamiliar alleyways and walked streets she’d only been transported on, she felt watched. She couldn’t explain why, but she knew someone was following her.

Her suspicion was validated when a strange-looking transport unlike any she’d ever seen glided up beside her and slowed down to match her pace.

The thing was long, with strange fins on the back. It was black and shiny, and the windows were so dark she couldn’t see who…