When Joey knocked on my door, I flung it open. "You are not going to believe this."

He opened his mouth and then shut it. "Believe what?"

I dragged him into Dad's office to show him the two phones, but Dad was on his phone talking excitedly. "Did you get the photo?" he was saying. "Did you get it? Well, look at it! It's the damndest thing..."

"Okay, I can't really show you right now, but look at the logo," I said. "Really look at it."

"What? It's the Apple logo." Joey shook his head. "What's the big deal?"

"It's backwards, that's what."

Joey looked at it again. "No it isn't."

"Okay, smartypants. Look at your phone."

"I have an Android."

"Then Google the Apple logo! It's backwards." I glanced at Dad, hoping he would get off the phone. Instead he plugged his free ear and left the office.

Sighing, Joey pulled out his phone. "Ugh, my phone is so slow," he said.

"Whatever, never mind," I huffed. "Let get to work. I'll text you a pic when Dad stops freaking out about this. He says my phone has an operating system that was never released to the public."

"Weird," Joey murmured.

"Right? Ever since I almost got lost in the mist again, things have been really weird. You know the Instagram site doesn't work? Google is acting like it doesn't exist."

"No, I mean my phone is being weird. I'm not getting any signal at all."

I glanced over his shoulder. "That's what my phone was doing!" I turned and yelled, "Dad!"

"I'm on the phone, Bree!" Dad snapped.

Joey widened his eyes at me.

"Okay, I'll tell him later. He's all wound up about this." I led him out of the office. "I've got all my stuff here—"

"Actually, can we go down in your basement for a minute? I think I saw something down there last time that we could use. I mean...." Joey paused. "If you wanted to try a new idea for your project?"

I nodded and we headed to the basement. I opened the door then hung back while Joey started down the stairs, stopping when he realized I wasn't following. He turned to look up at me. "Uh, aren't you going to come with me?" he asked.

"I trust you."

Joey looked into the basement, then back at me. "It feels weird. I don't want to take something that I'm not supposed to."

Sighing, I descended and stood there, rubbing my arms. The chill was worse down here, even though I was wearing a thick cable sweater and fleece-lined leggings.

Joey waded into the piles of boxes and things. He bent over and picked up something I couldn't see until he held it up. "Rope?" I asked. "That's a hard pass for me."

"Not for tying anyone up," Joey said, weaving back. "Picture this: you're in the mist. But you're not scared about not finding your way back, because you've got this—" he waggled the coil of bright yellow rope in his hand— "tied around your waist."

I considered this, and nodded. "Okay, that is a good plan. And maybe we could use those flashlights, too." I pointed to the heavy-duty flashlights on the shelves beside my box of Pony Pals.

Only the box didn't say My Little Ponies anymore. It said Pony Pals.

Joey was reaching up to get the flashlights when I shouldered past him. "What – I was getting them, Bree! Geez!"

I yanked down the box and unfolded the flaps.

The contents looked almost exactly as they had the other day. Almost. Princess Sparkle was the color I had remembered: white with lavender hair. Moreover, her eyes looked normal, not the weird eyes of the My Little Ponies.

"Do you see this?" I held Princess Sparkle up to Joey. "Do you see now?"

He flinched away from the plastic pony. "See what?"

"Princess Sparkle! She's a different color."

"If you say so."

I put her back into the box and tilted it so he could see the words. "What about this? It said My Little Ponies before. Now it says Pony Pals! How do you explain that?"

He stared at the box. I waited for some kind of reaction. Any kind of reaction. Finally, he shrugged.

"Ugh!" I slammed the box back on the shelf and pushed past him to go up the stairs. I was so mad I couldn't even speak. I didn't know how to explain how frustrating it was to have proof that things weren't right and still no one believed me.

Behind me, Joey clodded up the stairs. "What? I don't remember, okay? I remember you said it was something it wasn't. Obviously, they were My Little Ponies. That's what they are. I've never heard of Pony Pals or whatever."

I whirled around at the top. It felt good to have some height over him, since usually I was about half a foot shorter. "They are Pony Pals. I was right. Is it so hard to admit that I was right?"

"Okay, okay." Joey held up his hands. "You were right."

"Good." I spun back around and stalked over to my equipment. "Let's just get this over with."

We took everything outside to a spot roughly halfway between our houses, before realizing there wasn't a clear place to tie the rope to. "Maybe it would be better in the backyard," I said. "We could tie the rope to our old swing set."

I led him around the back of the house. Cam and Dom hadn't used the wooden swing set in years. They had taken down the swings and replaced them with a single rope that they liked to Tarzan on, taking running starts and rope-burning their hands. They had also removed the slide so the side of the swing set looked like a tower. There was a short fake climbing wall and they would pretend to siege the tower. Usually someone fell and got hurt.

All of this was new to me, because I hardly ever went out into the backyard. Usually, when I let Betsy out to go the bathroom, I just opened the door and out she went. I didn't like to stay and wait for her to be done; when she started barking that was when I knew it was time.

The backyard had always felt a bit small compared to the front, and that was where we had played frisbee and had cookouts. Out back, the trees felt like they were looming over me.

"This is really close to the woods," Joey said, wrapping the rope around one of the posts on the swing set. "Like, if you actually had swings on here, you could hit a tree."

It was true. It was almost like the swing set had been moved closer to the tree line. Or that the trees had crept closer. I shook my head to dispel that image, but it stuck there. The trees could move when the mist was thick. Their roots hidden, they could pick up and inch forward, little by little, until one day—

"Hey, you good?" Joey asked.

I blinked and smiled automatically. "Sure, I'm fine."

"Are you going to wear that dress again?" He sounded hopeful.

"Nah, I was thinking something more like your idea. Trees in the mist." I shuddered. I was going to have go in there. Be near the trees. "I don't know. I think I just need to get in there and look at it through the lens."

Joey nodded. "Cool."

I made sure my film was ready, and set my notebook of information for each exposure on the platform of the swing set's tower. Then Joey held up the rope, and I let him tie it around my waist. "Is that too tight?" he asked.

His eyes were so amber.

"It's okay," I said quickly. "Just make sure the knot is tight. I don't want the rope to come undone out there." Suddenly I realized: "Is there another rope for you?"

He laughed under his breath. "I don't need a rope."

"Yes you do!" I slapped his shoulder as he stepped away. "You remember how thick that fog was, right? How easy it is to get turned around?"

"Okay, I'll just hold onto your rope, then."

Then I glanced at the knot around the post. "Maybe you should stay here and make sure that doesn't come untied."

"Bree." Joey took my shoulders. "It's a little bit of mist, not some malevolent spirit. That rope isn't going to untie itself. And it would take an animal hours to chew through it. We'll be fine."

"Okay," I muttered, shrugging off his hands and picking up my camera. I looped the strap over my neck. "Let's go then."

Joey held the rope a couple of feet behind me.

I took a deep breath, and plunged into the mist.

___

Here we go again... do you think Joey's plan will work?