Chapter Seven

Madeline sat in a chair blindfolded. “Introducing… my unnamed science exhibit!” Varian cheered.

She pulled the blindfold off of her eyes and looked at it curiously. “What is it?” she asked. It was a strange shape, almost like a mini octagon-cannon with wheels.

“You’ll see,” he said, pouring a bag of sand into it. Turning it on, it spun. She stared at it until she was dizzy. Madeline was just about to avert her eyes, lest she throw up, and finally, he pulled a blue crystal out of it. “It’s a new element! Madelinium!” He held it up and then gave it to her. “You can keep it.”

“Y-you named it after me?”

He scratched the back of his neck. “Well, yeah. I considered naming it after my cr- friend Cassandra, but you can’t really compare to her.” He clapped a hand over his mouth. “I absolutely did not mean to say that out loud.”

She blushed and looked down, shuffling her feet. Then she smiled at him, holding the gem to her heart and tucking it carefully into her pocket. “I love… it,” she whispered, not willing to say the words she knew lay between them.