Page 83 of A Thousand Broken Pieces

We all did as she asked, then stepped back to await further instruction. Savannah looked at me and shrugged. She had no idea what this was either. Aika looked like an artist, and her studio could be for art too. Though nothing but white bare walls greeted us.

“Take a look at your plates. What do you see?” Aika asked.

“It’s a plate,” Travis said, clearly as confused as the rest of us.

“Yes,” Aika said. “And?”

“It’s smooth?” Jade said nervously.

“And?” Aika asked.

“It’s a perfect circle,” Lili said.

Aika nodded one quick, sharp nod. “Cracks?”

“No cracks,” Dylan said, searching his plate. I did the same. There were no cracks.

“It’s as perfect as a plate can be,” Savannah said shyly.

“It is,” Aika said. Then, “I want you all to spread out and get some space.” We did as she said. Aika nodded in approval, then said, “Now, lift your plates.” I did as she said, taken aback when she added, “And drop them to the floor.”

We all froze, unsure whether she was joking or not. We looked to one another to see if anyone was really going to do it. Was it a test? If it was, I had no idea what it would be for.

“Drop them,” she said again, gesturing with the flick of the hand to do it.

“Break them?” Lili asked, voice unsure.

“Yes,” Aika said bluntly. “Drop, smash, break—into pieces.”

Dylan was the first to drop his plate to the ground, the dish smashing into five pieces on the ground at his feet.

“Good,” Aika said, then turned to the rest of us. “Now you.”

One by one, the sound of smashing plates swarmed the room. I dropped mine, my six-foot-four height giving it some speed. Mine shattered into nine pieces on the ground. I counted.

Savannah was staring at hers. It was broken into six larger parts. Aika walked up and down the line, past the broken plates. “Now, fit them back together.”

I had no idea what was happening.

“How?” Dylan asked.

“Pick them up,” Aika said. “Put the plates back together.”

Doing what she asked, I bent down and picked up the pieces. Kneeling on the ground, I put them in the circle shape they had once been in. Chips of ceramic or whatever it was made of had disappeared from view, leaving smallchunks of the plate that couldn’t be restored. I put the broken pieces in the correct place, but the plate was broken. It was that simple.

“Pick the plate up as a whole,” Aika said, and only silence greeted her.

“We can’t,” Travis said. “It’ll fall apart.”

“Ah,” Aika said, hands behind her back and a knowing expression on her face. “Then we shall have to fix that,” she said and walked to a closed door across the room. She opened it. “Collect your broken pieces and follow me.”

“What is this?” Savannah whispered to me, and I shook my head. I had no idea.

I collected my plate pieces and followed the group into the next room. I was the last to walk through, but I immediately saw why they had all come to a stop. The room was filled floor to ceiling with pottery of all kinds. Pottery that was lined with gold and silver.

Aika walked to a round table with many seats. She gestured around her. “All broken pieces that have been repaired. Can be used again.”

“But even with that,” Dylan said, “they’re not as they were before.”

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