Mercedes is just trying to make her way through life: taking classes, working her shift as a barista, and, when she can squeeze it in, writing short stories. Inoculated with a pencil favored by her literary heroes, she finds herself imbued with startling abilities. She can write the imagined future into existence and rewrite the past but with disastrous consequences. When a hate crime erupts in her neighborhood, Mercedes is certain that it's her fault. But does she have the power to right the wrong?