Sally didn't need to understand a word of what Riley was saying to see that she was frustrated and confused by the questions she was being asked. The sisters were sitting in a large room around a small table. This wasn't exactly what Sally had been expecting. She had been picturing long white halls and windowless rooms. But that was very different from the room that they had been shown to.
It was cozy and filled with a soft, warm light. Then there was also the food. They had been given a whole meal, shortly after arriving. At first, Sally had felt panic rising up in her. It was a familiar emotion and sensation. A growing sense of dread. But it had faded quickly. Her fear of unease hadn't totally faded away. But she didn't feel like a prisoner. She and Riley had been allowed to play outside as much as they wanted to. They had just now sat down to answer questions. Sally slid over to her sister. Riley didn't understand the mind forming. She probably had no idea what she had done, and she probably felt crazy.
Every once in a while, Jorden and Lisa would add something into the conversation. Two of the Formas were sitting across from them. They appeared to be just as confused as Riley and Lisa and Jorden were. Sally felt helpless. If only there was a way for her to explain things. Riley was raising her voice now. Sally nudged Lisa gently, trying to get her attention. She began tracing shapes on the table.
"You want to draw?" Lisa asked. Sally nodded and frowned down at the table. "You need to draw?" Lisa said. Sally nodded excitedly. Lisa turned to the Formas and said something that Sally couldn't understand. One of them left the room, then returned a little bit later with drawing supplies and a new Forma that Sally hadn't seen before. The new Forma was a woman who looked to be around Lisa's age. This new Forma gave Sally a bright smile. It was a smile that instantly reminded Sally of Lisa's smile. So, naturally she instantly liked the Forma. That felt very unlike how Sally normally reacted to new people. How strange.
"Hello there. Your name is Sally, right?" said the Forma in perfect Spanish. "My name is Kate. I'll be happy to translate for you if you don't understand something. Do you like to draw?" Sally nodded. Riley leaned over and said something to Kate. "Oh! I see! So, you like to create stories with your drawings. Maybe that'll help us answer some questions," said Kate. Sally smiled. She hoped so. "Perhaps we might also be able to answer some of your questions. I'm sure you have many," Kate added. Sally nodded.
"Are you still hungry?" Lisa asked quickly. Sally shook her head. Her tummy was full of warm food. She felt happy and fed and excited to finally get some answers. It was shocking how safe she felt here. Sally was surrounded by Formas. Weren't these people meant to be her enemies? It didn't feel that way.
"You two are both half Forma, and half human, right?" Kate asked. Sally nodded. Riley could have told her that.
"How much do you know about this woman?" Kate showed her a picture of Inola. Did Sally really know her? That was the woman who had raised her, cared for her, hated her, betrayed her, and disregarded her. Sally shrugged and then shook her head.
"This woman, Inola, was part of a very large group of Formas who had their hearts set on destroying the world," said Kate. That made sense. "This group was focused on recreating an old folktale that used to be told all across the world." So, a cult? That was what it sounded like to Sally. But Inola had been right about something. She had been right about the powers. They were real. “These people had been trying for years to stir up trouble between the humans and the Formas,” Kate kept saying. Kate was talking to Sally as if she was a normal girl. She was smiling and looking at her with warmth. These people weren’t looking at her like an animal. This was just a normal conversation. At least that was how it felt. She should feel frightened and confused. But Sally felt right at home. Almost as at home as she had felt at Jorden’s house. Aside from Jorden and Lisa, Sally hadn’t met any new Formas who had shown this much respect for her.
“Do you know about the nine wars? The ones that were fought between the humans and the Formas,” Kate asked. Sally nodded. “Those wars have been encouraged by this group. For decades and decades, these people have fought and died on both sides because of a folktale,” Kate went on. Sally caught sight of the look on Lisa’s face. Her eyes looked empty and sad. It was as if she was looking at something far, far away. It was something that Sally couldn’t see. Whatever it was didn’t seem to be a pleasant sight. Lisa shook herself and turned away.
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There was already so much tension between the Formas and the humans. Sally couldn't count all of the awful things that the Formas had done to the humans. Inola's group had probably added even more. At least that explained all the random attacks. All of that effort, for a story? All those deaths, for a folktale. Perhaps Inola had really believed that the only way for the world to be saved was to almost kill it. Riley was meant to be dead, right? But the world wasn't gone.
"We don't fully understand these powers that you and your sister have been given. But we do know that you did something amazing yesterday. I would love to understand what exactly you two did. But first, I want to thank you for whatever it was that you did," said Kate. "I'm certain you saved many lives. There is no telling what could have happened if it hadn't been for you." Kate was talking to her as if she was a superhero.
Sally leaned over her paper. How could she explain? This time Sally would begin with words. What we did was called Mind Forming. It’s similar to Natural Forming that is mentioned in Inola’s folktale. That was a good start. It is where you share a little bit of your mind with someone. You show them your emotions and thoughts and memories. I had never been able to do it before. I had never even tried. Now it was time for Sally to ask one of the questions that had been on her mind for a while. How many people felt it? Do you know? We didn’t share our minds with everyone in the town, did we? At that, Kate burst out laughing.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I-I didn’t mean to laugh. You didn’t just share it with the town. People overseas felt the effects and saw the same things!” Kate burst out. Sally’s jaw dropped. She hadn’t even known that was possible. She had shared her thoughts and feelings with people all over the world. She had shared them with both humans and Formas. You said that we saved lives. What do you mean? What effect could our thoughts possibly have on so many random people? I just don’t understand. Sally needed to know. Kate smiled at her again.
“So many fights just stopped. People saw your dreams. They saw what you wanted. They saw a peaceful life and there is a chance that your desire for peace rubbed off on them. They saw a glimpse of happiness and security. Fights are still happening all around the world. But you did impact them. So many people have been doing interviews describing their experience with the Mind Forming,” Kate said. Sally looked at Riley as one of the other Formas translated things for her. Riley’s eyes went wide. They had done all that, just by thinking. All she had done was think about home. That wasn’t how the folktale had gone, right? Sally felt Lisa’s arms around her.
“See dear, you’ve become something of a hero,” Lisa whispered.
“We don’t want war,” Kate said. “Many Formas do, many humans do. But not all of them. What you have done has been very helpful to us. I wish there was something we could give you.”
Freedom. If you don’t want war, you have to treat the humans as equals. We are both living things. We both deserve respect. We need each other. That was Sally’s answer.
“We’ve been trying to make things easier for humans. But you must understand how much evil there is in the world. We have so much to fix and change. There are years of cruelty and horror to be undone. But I’m sure what you and your sister have done will help change how Formas see humans,” Kate said. Lisa frowned.
"I thought that Inola was working with the government. She had those posters made after all."
"She was working with that state's government. Things work a little differently here, especially when it comes to treatment of humans," said Kate. Sally hadn't thought about it. She had spent most of her life in the same place. She was used to the rules and expectations that surrounded her. But it made sense that the rest of the world wasn't like that. There was so much cruelty out there there in the world. Both Formas and humans had hurt her. But there were little bits of hope and goodness here and there. Maybe she just needed to look a little more closely at the world around her.
"We'll talk to the Illinois officials," Kate smiled. "Something tells me they'll be willing to treat you with a little more kindness now that they know what you're capable of."
Sally smiled. She had helped people. That was enough for her. Now… what else did she want? What did she really want? She still wanted peace. She wanted to go home. War could fix things, but it didn’t last. All wars should end. Then there should be peace. Maybe there was a tenth war coming. But Sally wanted no part of it. She just wanted to be with her family. Riley, Lisa, and Jorden.