Yes, but you're still going to her room.

Considering you can always claim anything you want later, you figure you might as well make a gesture of good faith. Even if you're not planning on stopping anytime soon. Though there's a problem.

"Can I even do that?" you ask, rubbing your chin. "I mean sure, I've been testing things on you all night and that's not fair, but the card says I could claim anything I wanted. It didn't mention anything about giving it back."

"If it's yours," says Pearl, slowly as if speaking to a particularly dumb child, "you can do anything you want with it. Including giving it to someone else."

"True. Guess there's no better way to find out than by trying," you reply. "Pearl, everything I've taken from you, it's yours again."

A look of extraordinary relief washes over Pearl. "It worked. Thank god."

You frown. "I thought you knew it'd work?"

"I figured it'd work," says Pearl. "I didn't know for sure." She unbars the entryway. "If you want to come up and hang out, I guess you can. But no more claiming my shit."

"No promises," you joke.

Pearl rolls her eyes. "God Chase, one drop of ultimate power, and suddenly you're insufferable. You better be fucking joking - if you claim anything while you're under my roof, I'm tossing you out."

Struggling with the urge to claim something of hers right then and there just to be contrarian, you follow Pearl upstairs to her room.

Pearl's room is, counterintuitively, boring. Her dark attitude, sense of humor, and fashion sense do not apply to home decor. The walls are barren of posters, and not a thing's out of place. The carpet's clean, the bed is made, and there's no dirty laundry. The only allowance for darkness is her bookshelf, which is crammed full of fantasy novels and art books, and her computer desk, where her headphones have skulls on them and her laptop case features a black rose on the back.

"My mom's out of town for a business conference," says Pearl, falling easily into her computer chair, "so we can stay up however late we want."

"Isn't your sister here though?" you ask, sitting on Pearl's bed.

Pearl's older sister Macy is in college, but she's usually home through the summers.

"She doesn't care what I do," says Pearl, spinning in her chair. "She's in the basement anyway. Want to see some cool videos I found yesterday?"

"Eh. Sure," you say, not super enthusiastic, but knowing if Pearl shows you something, it's guaranteed to be at least mildly interesting and/or amusing.

You drag the office chair out of Pearl's mom's office and join her in watching a selection of Japanese horror pranks perpetrated on hapless men and women. She's got a lot of them, too - before you know it an hour's gone by, passed laughing and making fun of guys who ditch their dates at the first sign of danger.

Midnight isn't late by any means, and your parents gave you permission to stay at a friend's tonight so long as you let them know where you're at.

But you didn't exactly get yourself into Pearl's room because you wanted to watch videos with her. You wanted to use your powers on her. And now you're not at a graduation part with friends - you're in her room, alone. No chance of interruption. Just you and her.

You sneak a peek at Pearl beside you, smiling, her black hair brushing barely past the tops of her eyes.

You've been in with her like this a hundred times, but right now, it feels intimate. Exciting. Like anything's possible. Your heart beats faster.