The Thornton backyard felt like another world, especially while standing in Elena’s body. Everything was sharper. The air smelled like pine and night dew. Crickets hummed softly under the wooden boards of the old treehouse. I remembered this place from Blake’s memories, warm and bright like sunlight. Max laughing. My mother handing us lemonade. My father pretending not to be proud of the crooked stairs Max and I insisted on building ourselves.

I climbed up the ladder, familiar with each ...