Madison stopped.

“Listen, you don't need to ——"

Heda put one finger to Madison's lips, effectively hushing her.

“Listen, I think you're pretty cool. And I think the way other people treat you is shit. I'd like to hang -

“Me too," Madison replied. Having another friend would SO not suck, especially one like Heda.

"And if anyone has a problem with that, then I wouldn't want them as a friend anyway. I honestly don't think any of them will though. You might have to fight to keep Anthony from humping your leg ——"

“Ewh!"

"Hey, I've almost got him to leave me alone."

"How'd you do that?" Madison laughed.

"Being gay."

Madison's mouth dried out.

"You are?"

Heda heard that pause.

“Crap, I should've told you," she said, heading for the door.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"No!" Madison said.

"I guess I just didn't guess. I mean, I've got sonar, not gay-dar."

Heda actually broke out laughing and, try as she might, Madison couldn't help but join in. Madison was wondering if she should say something. ‘No,* she decided. ‘You don't want a pity date, and she probably wouldn't be interested in you anyway. Just . . . play it cool.'

“Okay," Heda said at last, “Friday evening at nine p.m. Invite Sasha and Billy if you like, but you ARE going!" She wasn't sure if it broke blind-but-not-really-blind person protocol, but she gave the girl a friendly hug.

"She feels nice,' Madison thought.

"Meet you here?"

"Sure, I'll pick you up. Later!" And with that, Heda was gone. She was feeling so much better than she had earlier, and was humming a song all the way back to her own dorm.

The Cold swept along the ground, drifting through the empty night towards a particular place. The first message had been sent, but only the first. It didn't think the message had been understood, so he would make the next one louder . . . more powerful. The sound of it would curl up in their throats and sing. Oh, how it would sing. The Cold was in front of a building, and it knew it would find what it was looking for inside. It made sure it was alone, then blew down the door and hurried inside. There was something it needed to find, and it did not have much time.

"Crap crap crap crap crap!" Madison said, before finally acknowledging that she had nothing really good to wear for a night out dancing. Billy and Sasha were in the room somewhere, and she was sure they were making fun of her somehow. Since she'd been cursing up a storm for about ten minutes, she hadn't been using her echolocation to keep track of them.

"Sweetie, you can borrow something of mine if you like, but I think you look adorable right now," Sasha said, grinning from ear to ear.