Piper jogs down the narrow streets, and back to the block that was destroyed by earthquakes. She is almost to the windowsill when her foot gets caught in a crack about the width of a small tree. That is great. Truly amazing. 

“Turn invisible.” Echo says, sighing. 

“Why?” Piper whispers.

“Just do it.” Piper closes her eyes and soon she is back in the strange gray world. She hears footsteps, and looks around. A squad of police have their flashlights on, and are searching the street. Piper gets her foot out of the crack, and runs towards the house. She climbs up onto the windowsill in record time, and jumps down to the dark cellar. 

“Wow, Echo.” Piper whispers, out of breath. “How did you know they were there?”

“Unlike you, I am not limited by human senses.”

“And now you have a cocky side. Great.”

“Do you think I’m real now?”

“There is a possibility, but I need more evidence first.”

“There’s time.” Piper waits for the footsteps and noise of the police to go away, then whispers, 

“Are they gone, Echo?”

“I think so. We should send you upstairs to check.”

“Hilarious. And you say Phantoms are the murderous ones.” Piper lets go of the breath she is holding, then regains visibility and sits on her bedroll to rest. “I’m not going to turn invisible again. It’s too much work, and I refuse to be a Phantom.”

“Fine. There might be someone coming. I need to go check it out, okay?”

“Wouldn’t that involve me going too?”

“The small minds of mortals.” mutters Echo, then his voice is gone. 

“Echo?” Piper whispers to nobody after a few minutes. “Are you there?” She hears no answer. Piper rubs her arms to keep the cold out, and worry starts creeping up around her. 

“Hide.” Echo’s voice comes out of nowhere. Piper almost screams. “Shh! Do you want them to find you?”

“Jump scares aren’t good for a paranoid mind,” Piper explains, calming down her breathing, then slides between a block of stone that came up out of the floor during the earthquakes. She hears footfalls on the cellar floor, and holds her breath as they get closer. 

“Hello?” A voice asks. It sounds like a girl to Piper. So they’re hiring little girls to be police now? Piper thinks, edging further into the shadows. Suddenly there is a burst of light. 

“Turn invisible. Your life depends on it.” Piper shakes her head. The girl turns on a flashlight. The beam of light shines around the room, and it falls on the bedroll and stove. The girl bends down and feels the bedroll, which obviously still had some warmth from Piper sitting on it. 

“I know you’re here. I don’t want to hurt you.” The girl says. Yeah right. She has that city accent. Probably the daughter of a policeman. Piper picks up a piece of rubble and throws it to the other side of the room, where it knocks on the floor stones, making a loud noise. The girl turns to look at the stone, and Piper takes the chance to start running towards the ladder. Her foot kicks a stone, alerting the girl to her location, and Piper stops in her tracks. First I go crazy, then I’m actually thinking about believing her? Are all Phantoms like this?

“I know you’re a Phantom. I want to help you.” The girl turns off her light. “They took my brother. He was one of you. I just want to help you where I couldn’t help him.” 

“I trust her.” Echo says. 

Yeah, well you aren’t exactly an expert on people last I checked. Piper thinks, edging towards the ladder. She gets onto the first rung just as the girl turns towards the ladder. 

“Please.” The girl pleads. “I swear on my life, I just want to help.” Piper pauses. She looks back at the girl, whose eyes are a honey color visible even in the night. Piper silently curses Echo for being right, and steps down from the ladder into the beam of light.

“Finally you listen to me.” Echo says. The girl smiles.

“Thanks.” She says. “I’m Aurora.” 

“Piper.” Piper responds, awkwardly. Aurora turns the flashlight on again. 

“So, I saw a ton of police outside. I think they know someone lives here.” That makes sense. “I have a cool place I know that’s really far out into the woods. You can stay there until the revolution starts up.”

“Revolution? Sounds like a good book idea.” 

“Shut up, Echo.” Piper says. 

“Who’s Echo? Is there another person here?” Aurora asks, shining her flashlight around. 

“Oh. He’s just this voice in my head. I guess living alone for so long gives you imaginary friends.” Aurora laughs. 

“If I could kick you right now I would,” Echo says, again sounding offended. Piper ignores this and walks over to Aurora. 

“If you hear me talking to myself I’m really talking to him,” Piper says. “Just saying.” Aurora smiles. 

“You’re fun, Piper.” Aurora starts walking towards the ladder. She climbs up slowly, for the ladder is old and broken. Piper follows, no longer wary of this overly nice girl. Echo keeps on talking to Piper about random nonsense, annoying her almost to the breaking point as Aurora leads them out of the city and into the woods. 

Please go away, Echo. Piper thinks, once they are about half a mile into the woods. The voice goes away. She sighs and steps over a tree root.