Prologue
Daphne Vasquez stepped back, wide-eyed and surprised when the young boy with fiery red hair stood next to her, back straight as a ruler, mouth open as wide as it could stretch. The way he moved, she could tell he was screaming -the way the other third-grade girls were staring back, then turning to run the opposite direction told her he must have been screaming. He stepped forward as if to chase after the girls but stopped a few feet away instead raising his fist in the air in a way that reminded Daphne of movie scenes where the character would yell, "AND STAY OUT!"
After a good minute of watching the girls run away, the boy turned to face Daphne. He had the biggest grin on his face. He lifted one hand to his chest and then tapped his two fingers and quickly moved his right fingers and mouthed some words. Daphne watched him, mesmerized by the quick motions of his hand. She knew from that moment, everything would change.