The first twin leaned in and inspected the thing. “It could be anything: a crashed spaceship, a shriveled-up alien that couldn’t survive in our atmosphere…”

“Or a disembodied eye sent to spy on us by some weird old wizard!” said the second twin.

“You guys are so dramatic, it’s just a dried up rosehip,” said the girl.

The boys stopped and stared at her a moment before shaking their heads. “No way. If that’s not worth a fortune in some wizard’s herb shop, I’ll eat my shoe.”

The girl reconsidered. They were the only other kids in the neighborhood. She wanted them to like her, needed them to like her if she wanted to have anyone to play with. “Well, did you know rosehips can cure scurvy?”

“What, like in pirates?”

“Yeah, like in pirates.”

“Whoa.” The boys looked at her with a new respect.