by Martha Carr
“That’s so mean.”
“That’s how high school works, okay?” Grace’s grip tightened on her arm, and they stopped so the witch could turn toward Amanda and look her straight in the eyes. “So here’s your first lesson about dating.”
“Ew.”
“Well, now you know. Next time someone asks you out, and your immediate answer isn’t yes, tell him no. Sometimes you have to be a jerk to save them from a lot more misery later. Don’t worry. You’ll learn how to—”
“Coulier!” Jackson called from the middle of the lunch line. “I saved you a spot. Get over here.”
Grace headed toward him without a word, and Amanda stayed where she was for a moment, trying to process everything the older girl had told her.
Dating? Yeah, right. That’s the last thing I wanna do. I should tell Brandon thanks but no thanks to his face.
Deciding that in her mind didn’t make her feel any better about any of it.
When she reached Jackson in the line stretching away from the buffet table, the wizard grinned and slapped a hand down on her shoulder. “Thought you were gonna take forever. Here. You’re in front of me.”
“Dude.” The sophomore behind Jackson glared at him and gestured at the girls. “You said one.”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry, Grace.” Jackson shoved her playfully away. “I held a spot for Coulier. You gotta go to the back of the line.”
“What?” Grace’s blue eyes widened.
“That was the deal,” the sophomore said. “Back of the line.”
“Jackson…”
“You didn’t even try to help me in Augmented Technology this morning.”
“No, I didn’t let you cheat off my test.”
The wizard clicked his tongue. “Should’ve thought of that before you covered up all your answers. Just lost all your friend privileges for…I don’t know. As long as I feel like it. Go on.”
He pointed at the back of the line, and Grace rolled her eyes before stalking off to take her place behind Alex.
“You too, huh?” the half-Wood Elf said dully.
“Did Amanda let him copy her answers?”
“No.” Alex shrugged. “I think he likes her.”
“Well, he better not ask her to Homecoming.”
“What?”
“Never mind.”
Chapter Twenty
The day before Homecoming was even worse. None of the students could keep their heads on straight, and the teachers were equally distracted. That was unbearably apparent in their last class of the day.
Amanda had only been half-listening to Ms. Ralthorn ramble on and on about whatever the woman thought was important about the history of Oriceran, not even trying anymore not to drift off into boredom-inspired dozing. Until the teacher mentioned the kemanas.
“As I’m sure you all know, these kemanas were created centuries ago by ancient magicals who crossed through the gates straight from Oriceran. They knew all too well that when those gates eventually closed, it would cut off the magicals who stayed here on Earth from their original magic sources on the other planet. As far as we know, these ancients are the ones who created the giant crystals powering each kemana on Earth. Including the one beside which this school was built.”
Amanda whipped her head up off her stacked arms on her desk and quickly wiped the line of drool that would have eventually made it out of the corner of her mouth.
“These crystals are, of course, our only truly sustainable source of magic on this planet,” Ralthorn continued. “While we know very little about their true origins beyond a few educated guesses or the occasional historian professing their undying beliefs about the way they work, we do know their purpose here.”
The teacher didn’t say anything else remotely interesting after that, but Amanda’s mind was already racing. She was vaguely aware of Summer turning around and shooting her a wide-eyed glance before the girl thrust her hand in the air.
Ms. Ralthorn was too engrossed in her lecture notes to notice, so Summer shouted, “How big is the smallest crystal?”
“And it’s—I…I’m sorry?” The teacher looked up from her notes and finally scanned the class to see Summer’s raised hand right before she dropped it onto her desk with a smack. “The smallest crystal?”
“Yeah. In the kemanas.”
“Well, I…” Blinking furiously at the unexpected interruption, Ralthorn removed her reading glasses and gazed blankly at the back of the classroom. “Honestly, I’ve never been asked that before. I do know they’re all fairly large.”
“You mean way bigger than anything that could be picked up and carried off, right?”
Amanda stared at Summer’s profile, finally realizing what the other girl was trying to get at.
No, we didn’t find a kemana crystal underground. I think. I don’t even know what a kemana really is…
“Miss Flannerty, there is no conceivable way on either world that a kemana crystal could ever be picked up and carried off.” Ms. Ralthorn scowled. “Beyond their enormous size, the crystals have literally been built into each kemana and are firmly rooted in their locations, both by time and ancient magic. The idea that they’re transferrable is…ridiculous at best and life-threatening at worst. So throw that idea right out of your head. Don’t even try it.”
“What?” Summer barked out a laugh. “I never said I wanted to—”
“As I was saying.” The teacher returned her reading glasses to the bridge of her nose and kept going. “The kemana crystals harness and store magic from Oriceran while also fueling magic reserves on Earth. This—”
“Where’s the closest one?” Amanda blurted.
Ralthorn drew a deep breath, then looked up at her. “The closest what, Miss Coulier?”
“Kemana. You said there was one next to the school.”
“Yes. The location of every magic school on Earth is chosen based on an area’s proximity to a kemana.”
“So where is it? ’Cause we’re kind of in the middle of nowhere.” Amanda’s mind raced as she tried to figure out where one of these hidden magical cities could be. Unless that temple was a dead, empty kemana with a shriveled-up crystal inside, we’re not close enough to any major city.
“Well, it’s… Now let me see.” Ralthorn opened the center drawer of her desk and pulled out a large three-ring binder before dropping it on her desk with a loud thump. The few students whose attention hadn’t been caught by Summer’s interruption of the teacher’s lecture jumped and jerked their heads off their desks at the sound. “Obviously, our closest kemana is in the Everglades. Although that doesn’t narrow it down by much—ah. Yes. Here it is on the map. Right by…hmm.”
“By what?” Amanda almost shrieked it as she leaned forward on her desk.
Ms. Ralthorn looked sharply up at her. “Watch your tone, Miss Coulier.”
“Sorry.”
“Thank you. Our closest kemana marks what looks like the final corner of a square between the Academy, Everglades Town—”
“You mean Everglades City?”
“Yes, excuse me. Everglades City. And Miami.” The teacher’s frown deepened. “I’m sure that was to create equal access to magicals on the east and west ends of Florida’s peninsula. Admittedly, I haven’t seen a kemana removed from major cities quite like this. Then again, the locals here seem rather unamused by the idea of traveling from these remote parts to Miami…”
Amanda couldn’t help a snort. Because of all the tourists, I bet. Johnny’s not the only one who hates them.
“Be that as it may, the kemana is still entirely accessible to magicals in this area of the world. Including students at the Academy of Necessary Magic.”
“Wait; what?” Tommy sat up perfectly straight at his desk. “We get to go there?”
“Not you.” Ralthorn took off her reading glasses again and lifted her chin to gaze at the half-wizard at the back of the classroom. “Not this year, anyway. I believe the other three grades will be making a school-sanctioned trip som
etime this semester, if not in the spring. Then, only upperclassmen and the occasional excelling sophomore will have open access to enter the kemana outside school hours.”
Tommy scoffed. “Figures.”
“It’s an earned privilege, Mr. Brunsen—”
“If we haven’t earned it,” Jasmine said from her desk in the front almost directly centered with the teacher’s desk, “none of the other grades have either. We all got here at the same time.”
“True, Miss McVar. But we have to start somewhere, and these are guidelines set out by other magic schools across the country—”
“That’s such bullshit,” Summer muttered. Everyone stared at her, including Ms. Ralthorn, but the girl either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “The whole point of this place is that it isn’t like every other school. You’re grooming us to be bounty hunters, not pencil-pushers at some stupid magical desk job. Right?”
The teacher’s smile tightened into a grimace as her eyelids fluttered. “Those are not the only two options for young, graduating magicals—”
“I’m right.”
“I don’t make the rules, Miss Flannerty.”
“Yeah, I know. Glasket can’t make up her mind about which rules matter and which ones are a load of crap.”
“That’s quite enough!” Ralthorn’s chair screeched behind her as she stood, and she slammed a hand down on her desk. Crackling lines of orange light snaked across the surface of her desk, and a brighter orb of warning orange grew over the back of her hand. She didn’t seem to realize what she was doing until Summer folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. Then the teacher cleared her throat and slowly removed her hand. Her magical warning faded. “This class is History of Oriceran. Not Debate Club. Not a speculative disassembly of current school policies. When this class is over, feel free to take your complaints to Principal Glasket although you’re more likely to waste both your time and hers in the process. Now, if you don’t mind, I would very much like to move on with today’s lesson.”
No one said a word, and even Summer managed to hold back whatever she was bursting to say in reply.
She’s gonna get kicked out if she doesn’t stop. At least out of the class, if not the school.
Amanda tried to settle back into her chair again but couldn’t get comfortable. How had she not known about a giant magical city in the middle of the Everglades powered by a crystal with magic straight from Oriceran? Did Johnny know about it?
“There’s an incredibly long and rich history of not only Oriceran magicals making their way through the gates to Earth but Oriceran artifacts as well. Some of them, of course, are purely cultural, and getting into those details would be an entirely different class on the subject. Most of these artifacts, however, have magical properties that remain intact after passing through the realm between the gates. A kemana in Wisconsin showcases a selection of some of the very first-known artifacts that were brought across, and some magical historians believe these artifacts may predate the formation of the kemanas themselves. And the crystals that power them, of course.”
“Why Wisconsin?” Evan asked.
“We can’t be sure of the answer to that, Mr. Hutchinson.” Ralthorn finally sat and readjusted her reading glasses. “At the time they arrived in that part of the Continental U.S., it wasn’t the Continental U.S. There is, of course, some speculation of a more concentrated community of magicals way back when who’d chosen the region as some form of landmark. Of course, that kemana is partially beneath what we now call Milwaukee. It’s become something of a hub for displaced magicals now trying to find their way through society like the rest of us. Of course, as all of you know, there are displaced magicals everywhere—”
“Because we lived underground doesn’t mean we didn’t have anywhere else to go.” Corey grunted and folded his massive, shockingly hairy half-Kilomea arms.
“Well, of course not, Mr. Baker. But there is a certain level of—”
“Discrimination?” Grace asked. “Because that’s what it sounds like.”
Ms. Ralthorn frowned. “I’m not discriminating against anyone, Miss Porter. Merely stating conclusions that have already been drawn based on gathered data over the last several decades.”
“What about shifters?” Summer piped up. The classroom fell silent.
“What about shifters, Miss Flannerty?” Ralthorn said it slowly, trying not to lose her composure as her freshmen actively engaged in her class for the first time since the semester started.
Amanda automatically sank lower in her chair and stared at her desk. No, no, no. Did she seriously have to bring that up right here in front of everyone? It has nothing to do with anything.
Summer shrugged. “I mean, everyone else pretty much discriminates against shifters, right? I bet there’s a bunch of them running around Milwaukee.”
“That’s an entirely different subject,” Ralthorn barked. “There’s still some contention around the idea of whether or not shifters should be considered magicals at all. If you ask me, they’re not. As a general rule, they lack any inherent understanding of magic itself despite being the only race who can actively shift their entire form at will. Of course, it’s still an ongoing debate. Mostly perpetuated by shifters, of course. There’s something of a radical group of them who recently banded together to—”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Summer snorted and held up a hand to stop the teacher before breaking into a wide grin.
Amanda wanted to sink through the floor and disappear. Why does she love this so much?
“Miss Flannerty—”
“No, hear me out for a sec. So you’re trying to say right now that if some shifter kid showed up at this school and wanted to get in, you’d turn them away because they’re not magical enough?”
Amanda closed her eyes.
“Well, that would be—” Ms. Ralthorn stopped abruptly and stared straight ahead at the back wall of her classroom. One eye twitched behind the narrow frames of her reading glasses, and she cleared her throat. Her gaze flickered briefly toward Amanda. “That would most likely be a decision made on a case-by-case basis.”
Summer leaned forward toward the teacher, her devious grin growing still wider. “Even at a school that takes in a bunch of homeless kids no one else wants? Are you sure?”
Ralthorn’s mouth popped open, her lips soundlessly working before she found her voice. “This is—”
“Can we drop this whole thing?” Amanda blurted, staring at Summer despite feeling all the other students’ confused gazes on her now. “I mean, we’re gonna miss lunch if this keeps going.”
“Ha.” Behind her, Jackson folded his arms and muttered, “Right there with you, Coulier. Wait, you won’t keep us here through lunch, right? I can’t skip a meal—”
“No, Mr. Pris. Still, if we’re to stay on track with the syllabus for your first semester, I would very much like to return to my lesson plan for the day.” Ralthorn swept her gaze across the room and let it linger a little longer on Summer than anyone else. “Without interruptions.”
Summer shrugged and slumped back in her chair.
During the rest of the interminably long class, Amanda tried to ignore what felt like all the other students’ eyes on her. They have no idea what I am. Jackson didn’t pick up on it. He’s only worried about food.
When she shot Grace a quick sidelong glance, the witch smiled at her, nodded toward the droning Ms. Ralthorn, and playfully rolled her eyes.
Or if they do know, nobody’s gonna say anything. At least I know how Ralthorn feels about me being here. Jeeze.
When class was finally over at 4:30 p.m., and the alarm bell made all the thoroughly bored freshmen jump in their seats, Amanda was the first to grab her backpack and head for the door. However, Ms. Ralthorn asked her to stay back, and she couldn’t pretend to ignore the request because she’d been looking right at Ralthorn when she’d said it.
The witch waited for the classroom to empty, drumming her fingers on the desk while Amanda stared at the
floor.
“Miss Coulier—”
“It’s fine.” Amanda shook her head. “I get it. It’s not like I expected everyone to want me here.”
“I want to apologize.” Ralthorn cleared her throat. “I’ve been studying Oriceran and our shared origins almost my entire life, looking at things from a purely academic perspective. Obviously, it doesn’t help my awareness that I don’t see many…”
“Magicals like me?” Amanda met the woman’s gaze.
“Shifters. Correct. Honestly, I’m a little embarrassed to say you’re the first I’ve met face to face. And you’re so, well…normal. It’s easy to forget what you are.”
Amanda opened her mouth, realizing her lips were moving on their own despite a complete lack of words coming out of them. What the heck am I supposed to say to that?
“Okay, well… Maybe you should—”
“Do more research on modern shifters on Earth? Yes, that’s the exact idea I had when I asked you to stay behind. I promise to share with you anything I find that may end up being useful to you. Enjoy your lunch, Miss Coulier. I’ll see you at the match tonight.”
“Right.” Amanda turned with wide eyes and headed for the open classroom door. I have no idea what just happened. I only hope nobody else picked up on how seriously weird that was.
Chapter Twenty-One
All through lunch, as Grace and Jackson got into an argument about what constituted decorating for the Homecoming dance the next day, Amanda couldn’t stop thinking about the purple crystal, which she still had with her after her turn to use it in Augmented Technology class that morning.
Somehow, after Ms. Ralthorn’s blunder about shifters, using the crystal to power the magic she had seemed more important than ever. She’d come to this school to learn everything she needed about becoming a bounty hunter like Johnny—better than Johnny. Now, she had to be the best in the entire school, so she could go right into the job as soon as she graduated.
