Riddle in the Wires

Sixteen-year-old Maya gripped the coaxial cable like it was a lifeline, which honestly, it kind of was. The house party of Destiny Reynolds—the actual Oracle of Westwood High—raged inside, while she stood in the backyard, supposedly fixing the WiFi. Again.

"You're not actually gonna do it, are you?" Leo appeared beside her, holding two lukewarm sodas. His vintage band tee and carefully mussed hair screamed I don't care what people think, which was exactly why Destiny had noticed him last week. Unlike Maya, whose entire personality could be summarized as good at fixing things other people break.

"The cable's loose," Maya muttered, avoiding his gaze. "Just securing it."

"Riiight." Leo sat on the porch steps. "You know Destiny's doing palm readings inside, right? She's apparently predicted three breakups this semester alone."

Maya's stomach did that familiar flip—half nerves, half longing. She wanted to be seen. Really seen. Not just the quiet girl in AP Calc who became useful when technology failed.

"Palm readings aren't real," she said, but her fingers uncurled instinctively, tracing the lines on her own palm. Heart line. Head line. Life line. All supposed to reveal who she was, who she'd become. But she didn't feel like the girl they described—confident, destined for something more.

"Maybe not," Leo said softy. "But sometimes having someone else name what you're already feeling makes it more real, you know?"

Inside, Destiny sat like a sphinx on a velvet armchair, surrounded by a semicircle of mesmerized teens. Her dark eyes held secrets—or at least, the appearance of secrets. Something shifted in Maya's chest.

She didn't need her future predicted. She needed to claim it.

"Leo?" Maya stood up, brushing dirt from her jeans. "Help me with this cable?"

He blinked. "You just said—"

"I said I'm fixing it." She met his eyes, really looked at him, something fierce and unafraid rising inside. "Then we're going inside. I want Destiny to read my palm."

Leo's slow grin answered something in her she'd been hiding all year.

"About time," he said, and reached for the cable.