Sheena looked up from where she'd been studying her feet, taking everything in. "We weren't given the ability months ago," she said to no one in particular, "because we had to face that part within us first and acknowledge it." She glanced around.

"I'm probably wrong, but if the Calamity inside us is that which we don't admit to, then wouldn't the feelings we've felt--fear, distrust of our comrades, hatred--since the beginning of the year fall into that category? And the Calamity around us came straight for us."

She wondered what would happen this year around that Christmas holiday.