by Megan Linski
Esis buried his face in my hair, and I stumbled backward, completely shocked. The back of my knees hit into one of the couches, and I fell onto it. My eyes widened. Every inch of Naomi’s fur lit up with orange flames. I could still make out the shape of her face through the fire, but the blonde fur was nowhere to be seen, as if the fire had replaced it all.
Holy guacamole! Had I lit Naomi on fire? I didn’t mean to!
Except… Naomi didn’t scream. She didn’t back away in pain. It was like the flame engulfing her body didn’t hurt her at all. Instead, she stood rigid, her flaming eyes fixed on me.
“I’m sorry!” I cried. “I— I didn’t mean to.”
The whole class watched as Madame Doya stepped forward and placed a calm hand on Naomi’s flaming body. “Calm down, Naomi.”
Naomi’s ragged breathing slowed, and the flames died down. Her blonde fur returned, untouched, but she never took her eyes off me. I was frozen in shock, though my heart hammered. What had just happened?
Madame Doya whirled toward me, her lips tight. “We do not harm other people’s Familiars, Sophia.”
Except that Doya looked like she was two seconds from ripping Esis off my shoulder and snapping his neck in revenge. I held him closer to me, just in case she decided to try anything.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated, stumbling over my words. “I don’t know what happened.”
“I think it’s obvious,” Madame Doya raged. “You burnt Naomi’s paw.”
I did what?
“So… those flames… I didn’t do that?” I asked slowly.
Madame Doya furrowed her brow. Then, realization dawned. “You can’t even light a simple piece of wood on fire. Naomi is a fire lion. It takes much more power than you’re capable of to engulf a creature like her.”
I stared at Naomi just so I wouldn’t have to look Doya in the eye. Naomi’s gaze was almost as equally terrifying. When my eyes jumped to the other side of the room, I saw that Haley was standing with her arms folded over her chest, a look of amusement on her face. I should’ve burnt her instead.
Madame Doya turned to the other students. “We’ll pick up here later this week. I expect everyone to be able to accomplish this task by the end of class on Thursday. Class dismissed.”
Everyone scrambled across the room to grab their things and hurry out the door. I was still shaking in shock, though Esis tried to comfort me by rubbing his fluffy belly against the skin on my neck. It helped a bit, but I wasn’t about to waste any more time. I wouldn’t be left alone in this room with Doya.
I hurried to my feet and grabbed my bag at my desk. I filed out of the room with everyone else. In the wide hallway, I felt like I could finally breathe. Students broke off in both directions. Some headed to the cafeteria, others to their next class, and some back to the Koigni dorms.
I tried to stay away from the dorms as often as I could. The Koigni common room wasn’t a welcoming place, and when I tried to find some peace and quiet in my own room, there was usually someone giggling in the hall while the scent of smoke wafted from under the crack in my door. They thought they were hilarious. I thought they were idiots.
I quickened my pace toward the doors at the end of the hall, but I stopped dead in my tracks when I caught sight of a man with dark hair and a strong build.
Liam.
He leaned against the big stone lip that outlined one of the tall castle windows. He was surrounded by a group of five other people. A large, multi-colored bird that fluttered around like a hummingbird hovered above one girl’s head. A guy almost as big as Jonah was petting the ears of a stag that appeared like it crawled straight from Mother Earth’s lair. It had forest green fur, with twisted antlers that looked like bark-covered tree branches sticking out of its head. I wasn’t great at spotting the differences between Houses yet, but judging by the guy’s size and his Familiar, he was definitely Nivita.
Liam faced away from me, but I could tell by the way his shoulders shook that he was laughing at something the Nivita guy said. Of course. Because he only acted like he had a stick up his ass when he was around me.
He didn’t notice me. Now would be a perfect time to finally catch him and apologize. My feet started moving in his direction before I even decided to approach him.
I cleared my throat. “Liam?”
No way was he escaping on me this time. I totally had him cornered.
Liam turned around... only it wasn’t Liam. I mean, he looked like Liam. He had the same muscular build, same long black hair and dark skin. He even had the same eyes. But the shape of his nose and his jawline were off by just a hair.
Liam Clone smiled at me. Inside, I was screaming in embarrassment. Instinct told me to flee, but before I could, Liam Clone spoke.
“Sorry to disappoint you.” He smirked.
I took a step back. “I’m so sorry.”
He shrugged. “Hey, it’s okay. I can pretend to be Liam if you’d like.” Liam Clone stood straighter. His eyebrows tightened, and the corners of his lips turned down as he deepened his voice. “I’m Liam Mitoh. I swear by the ancestors that I will sulk around until the day I die.”
I totally lost it. His voice was spot-on, and he looked exactly like Liam when he scrunched his face up like that. I could almost believe I was looking right at him. Liam Clone’s face relaxed, and he laughed along with me.
“That was a really good impression,” I said, giggling.
“I would hope so,” he replied. “I’ve had a lot of practice imitating my brother. It gets on his nerves.”
“You’re Liam’s brother?” I shouldn’t have been shocked. I mean, the guys were practically identical twins.
“Yep. Ezra,” he introduced, sticking his hand out.
I shook it. “Sophia.”
“Ah.” He nodded his head in recognition. “You’re the pain in his ass.”
Esis drew in a breath of surprise. He didn’t take well to crude language.
My shoulders slumped involuntarily. “He calls me that?”
“Not directly,” Ezra said with a roll of his eyes, like it was just a joke.
Still, the statement bothered me. What if Liam hated me? I mean, it explained why he’d been avoiding me. I wasn’t sure what I’d done wrong besides mention his Familiar, and I’d been trying for three weeks to apologize for it. Was it really that bad?
“Hey,” Ezra said softly. The laughter in his voice had vanished. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just—”
“Ezra,” the Nivita guy interrupted. Ezra looked at him. “We’ve got to head to class, but we’ll catch you later, okay?”
“Yeah, no problem.” Ezra waved as his friends headed down the hall.
He turned back to me, but I knew he was just going to say something about his brother. I didn’t want to talk about Liam, so I spoke before Ezra could.
“That guy with the stag is Nivita, isn’t he?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Ezra confirmed with a shrug.
“I thought people from different Houses weren’t supposed to be friends.” I’d been sure that was one of the reasons people stared at Imogen and me so much at dinner.
“Where’d you hear that?” he asked. “My brother?”
I nodded, though Haley had mentioned it, too.
“Don’t listen to him,” Ezra said. “He takes things like that way too seriously. He makes a bigger deal out of most things than they are.”
“Oh,” I said flatly. Liam sure sounded serious about… everything.
Ezra’s gaze traveled past me, and his eyes lit up. “Speak of the devil…”
I turned around to see Liam— the real Liam— headed down the hall toward us. He took one look at me and whirled around in the opposite direction. He wasn’t even sneaky about it. It was obvious he saw me.
“What’s up with him?” Ezra thought aloud.
“He’s mad at me,” I admitted in a small voice. “He avoids me every chance he gets.”
Ezra looked amused. “My brother can be a real… eh-hem.
.. sometimes. Come on. He’s not getting away this time.”
Ezra jogged forward, calling out Liam’s name. Liam quickened his pace but didn’t look back, pretending as if he hadn’t heard him. I followed quickly behind. Ezra reached Liam and draped an arm around his shoulder.
“Hey, brother,” Ezra said casually just as I caught up with them.
“Hey,” Liam replied without emotion.
“Sophia tells me you’ve been acting like a dick lately.”
“I did not!” I objected.
“Yeah, well, it’s true, isn’t it?” Ezra glanced between both of us, grinning.
Liam stopped walking and stood rigid. He still hadn’t looked at me. “Maybe you should mind your own business, Ezra.”
“Maybe you should learn some manners,” his brother bit back. “Sophia said she’s been trying to apologize, and you’ve been avoiding her. The least you can do is let her say what she wants to say, and then the two of you can go your separate ways.”
Liam’s nostrils flared. He and Ezra stood eye-to-eye, staring at each other. “Fine.”
Liam looked down at me expectantly. It suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea what I wanted to say to him. I just knew I had to say something or I’d never get the chance.
I swallowed. “I’m sorry.”
“Is that it?” Liam asked with raised eyebrows. He turned to leave.
“No,” I said quickly, stopping him. “I’m sorry I freaked out about your Familiar. I know it really has to hurt, and I get why you’re upset. My reaction was uncalled for. I hope we can still be friends… if you’re okay with that.”
Liam’s features hardened when I said the word friends. I wasn’t sure if he’d ever considered us friends. The realization broke my heart. I waited for him to actually admit it out loud, but before he could say anything, a voice cut through the silence.
“Liam. Sophia. Just the two people I was looking for.”
A man with messy gray hair and salt-and-pepper stubble approached us. His eyes were young and free of wrinkles, though they looked tired. I guessed he was around my parents’ age, despite the premature graying of his hair. The man wore khakis and a baby blue button-down shirt tucked into his slacks. He had one of the sweetest, caring smiles I’d ever seen. He seemed like the kind of person who was always under constant stress but told the best dad jokes.
I immediately noticed Imogen and Jonah following behind him. Jonah’s hippogriff glanced up at a small dragon statue and almost tripped over her own feet.
“What is it, Baine?” Liam suddenly seemed less annoyed.
Baine. Where had I heard that name before? I quickly recalled that he was the one who sent the peryton for Liam and me to get to school.
“We were headed to lunch,” Baine said, gesturing to Jonah and Imogen beside him. “Would you like to join us?”
“He says he has great news!” Imogen bounced on her toes. Sassy peeked out from the bag hanging from Imogen’s shoulder.
“What kind of news?” I asked curiously.
“We can talk about that once we get our food,” Baine said kindly.
“I’m not hungry,” Liam declined.
Baine shot him a look I didn’t quite understand. “You should come along anyway. How about you, Ezra? Are you hungry?”
“Nah,” Ezra replied. “Thanks for the invite, but I’m actually going to be late for History of the Hawkei as it is. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Ezra strolled away casually, walking in a cocky manner with his head thrown back. As he walked down the hallway, about ten different people from all Houses waved or acknowledged him in some way. It was clear Ezra was the golden boy— the Academy’s most popular student. He had this air around him that was hard to resist. It didn’t matter what House you were from, it was obvious people loved him and wanted to be around him.
Unlike his brother. He and Liam were totally different.
He said he was going to History. Why wasn’t I enrolled in that class? I was sure it’d be helpful. The library didn’t exactly have many published books on the Hawkei. I’d tried looking for them and didn’t find any.
“Shall we go?” Baine suggested, like he wasn’t giving Liam a choice. We followed behind him.
“So, what do you think of Baine?” Imogen whispered to me from several paces back.
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“He's hot, right?” She wiggled her eyebrows.
My eyes darted to the back of Baine's head. “He's the professor you think is hot?”
Imogen blushed.
“Ew, Imogen. He's like… fifty.”
Imogen grinned. “Yeah, fifty shades of sexy.”
I almost gagged. “If you're into the disheveled look…”
“He’s not disheveled,” Imogen argued. “He’s… sophisticated.”
“When you said an older guy, I thought you meant in his thirties. Not old enough to be your father!”
Imogen smirked. “All I'm saying is that if I needed to sleep with someone to boost my grade, I would—”
“Dear Lord,” I cut her off as we reached the cafeteria. “Please don't finish that sentence.”
Imogen just shrugged and hurried into the line.
Baine suggested we eat outside, so we all grabbed premade wraps from the takeout line. These weren’t like the usual wraps I ate back home. They were made with a fried flatbread and filled with beef, beans, corn, and a delicious seasoning that was the perfect blend of sweet and spicy. I wasn’t sure if the cooks at Orenda used magic in the food here, but sometimes, I wondered. It even beat my dad’s cooking, and he was the best cook I knew.
I pushed the thought away. I couldn’t bear to think about my parents. I missed them too much.
“What’s wrong?” Imogen asked. “You don’t like the wraps?”
“They’re great,” I replied, glancing down at the wraps in my hand, one for me and one for Esis.
Baine led us outside to a grassy hill with a clear view of the ocean through the trees. A pleasant breeze passed through my hair as I sat. I handed Esis his wrap, and he jumped down from my shoulder. He pulled the plastic wrap off and gobbled his food down before I’d even bitten into mine. I giggled at him as he snuggled into my lap.
“So, what’s the news?” Imogen asked eagerly as she plopped down in the grass beside me.
Sassy rolled around in front of her. Imogen pulled a plastic container from her bag, and I nearly gagged when she opened it. The thing was stuffed to the brim with fluffy white carcasses. She pulled out a dead mouse by the tail and tossed it into the air. Sassy caught it in her mouth before it hit the ground. On the other side of Baine, where Jonah and Liam sat, Squeaks gave a jealous squawk.
“I’m sorry,” Imogen said gently to the hippogriff. She turned to Jonah. “Do you mind?”
Jonah answered with a full mouth. “Go ahead.”
Imogen tossed another mouse into the air. Squeaks swallowed it in one gulp.
“Ew, Jonah,” I complained. “Can you not chew with your mouth open?”
“Sophia hates it,” Imogen said with a teasing smile. She knew I couldn’t stand the guy who usually sat two tables away from us and always chewed like his parents had never taught him proper table manners.
Jonah took another huge bite and chewed loudly, taking extra care to keep his mouth open as much as possible, like he didn’t care in the slightest. A smirk touched the corner of his lips.
Liam scowled at Jonah’s gross display. Imogen just giggled.
Baine leaned back on one hand. “It’s nice spending time with friends, isn’t it?”
“Get to the point, Baine,” Liam groaned. He hadn’t taken a single bite.
Baine sighed. “I was getting there. You do consider each other friends, don’t you?”
“Of course!” Imogen said, before Liam could deny it.
He would’ve. I just knew it.
“Good,” Baine said with a nod of his head. “Because the four of you will be spending a lot of time t
ogether. I’ve requested you be placed on the same team for the Elemental Cup. I will serve as your mentor.”
“What?” Liam exploded, shooting to his feet. “This is bullshit! First I’m forced to participate. Now I’m placed on the reject team?”
Esis’ ears perked up. He didn’t like that comment. Neither did I.
Jonah rose to his feet beside Liam. “Calm down, dude. I understand that you’re feeling—”
“You don’t understand shit,” Liam snapped. “At least you have Squeaks. You might actually survive out there with her. For me, this is a death sentence.”
“There’s a reason I put you four on a team together,” Baine said calmly. “I’m aware of what happened at the tar pit. Based on what I heard, you four worked together well. No one’s going to let you die in the tournament, Liam.”
“Yeah,” Imogen agreed. “We won’t leave you behind.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Liam growled. “I still don’t have a chance.”
“You do,” Baine countered. “Do you know what the leading cause of injury during the tournament is?”
Liam’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t answer.
“Death and injury occur when teams don’t work together,” Baine explained. “Accidents occur when there are disagreements, when a team member runs off thinking they can get through an obstacle alone, or when someone tries to show off their strength instead of working together. If you let your team members help you, they won’t let you down.”
Liam’s hands clenched into fists. “I’m not sure I can believe that.”
The look Liam shot me was like a knife through the heart. My chest compressed. He had to know I would do everything I could to help one of my teammates.
The thing was, I didn’t think it was that he didn’t trust me. He didn’t think I was capable.
“Liam’s right.” My voice barely broke through the lump in my throat. “This isn’t a good team. We’ll never work together.”
It killed me to say those words. I didn’t even realize how true they were until they came out of my mouth.
“I’m sorry,” Baine said regretfully. “I didn’t realize you felt that way about each other. But there’s no changing teams now. You’re stuck with this team until the Elemental Ball.”
