by D. R. Perry
"I guess our work here is done, girl."
Ember peeped happily from her perch on my shoulder, and we headed out of the bathroom. By that time, the presentation was over and I'd missed my chance to put all the faces together with the names of the visiting students.
I watched as Elanor introduced Jonah to Noah. The two of them acted like bosom buddies. Hopefully, I'd made the right call. I headed toward where Cadence stood with Dylan, Logan, and a couple of familiar characters. I'd seen them before and meant to reintroduce myself but never made it over there.
Grace unleashed her secret plan.
It wasn't as devastating as the scene outside the Engine House, but just as unmistakable to everyone in the room. Dorian Spanos was getting dumped by Grace Dubois. She shook her finger at him, eyes narrowed and color high. He leaned back slightly, arms crossed over his chest, staring down his nose. Mercy perched on his shoulder, cawing at Lune, who turned his back on the gryphon and leaned against Grace's calf.
She rolled her eyes one final time. He shrugged in response. When they parted, the room went silent for almost five seconds. After that, a cacophony of whispers, speculation, and rumor filled the air. Finally, a bell chimed, signaling that the guests' rooms were ready.
I yawned as the visiting students got their room assignments at the pneumatic tubes. I supposed that one upside to the drastically reduced enrollment at Hawthorn was that we had the space for an event like this.
When Grace came to collect me and head back to our room, I was so exhausted I took a nap, something that hadn't happened in years. I didn't wake up until it was time for lunch.
Chapter Nine
At lunch, the cafeteria wasn't filled to capacity, even with all the visiting students. The Gallows Hill corner was loud and tight-knit. I wondered what it would've been like if we'd visited their campus instead of the other way around. I laughed, trying to imagine it, which wasn't easy because I'd only ever seen pictures of their athletic facilities.
"Aliyah, hi." Azrael Ambersmith stepped up behind me in the food line. "Can I sit with you guys?"
"Let me guess, you need a break from that noisy crew?" I raised my eyebrow at his classmates, who had pushed several rectangular tables together to make one enormous seating arrangement.
"Bingo!" he exclaimed. "I'm from a big family, but my classmates take the cake. I'm glad you understand. But mostly, I wanted to ask something if it was okay."
"Why wouldn't it be okay? You're my friend."
"There's a little more to it than that."
He glanced toward the row of booths, including the one Hal had staked out for us at the beginning of last year. The kids from our year had taken them over, turning around to chat with each other. The one exception was Grace, who paced in front of them, stopping at each booth to socialize with everybody.
"Wait a minute." I put my hand on his shoulder. "Wait just a minute there, Az. Are you trying to tell me—"
"That I want to ask Grace on a date?"
"Well, no, I thought it was maybe a little bigger and more long term than that."
"She doesn't seem to be very long-term right now." He shook his head. "But do you think she'd say yes?"
"Well, she just broke up with Dorian." I jerked my chin at everyone's favorite goth kid. "But they were only platonic, really."
"Yeah, I saw." Azrael composed his face, speaking flatly. "And plenty of people have deep connections without romance. There's no "only" about it, you know?"
"I don't." I sighed. "I'm probably the worst person to talk to about relationship stuff. Have you tried Cadence?"
"You're Grace's roommate and one of her closest friends, so I figured you're the best person to ask."
"Az, she's not following her heart right now. I don't want either of you to get hurt."
"I know. This last month and the whole situation with Dylan was hard on her."
"Nowhere near as hard as it was for him, though." I blinked.
"No, you're wrong." He shook his head. "I worked with her all summer, so I saw it. She was busted up weeks before they split. It wasn't easy for her."
"She's run everything strategically since then, like a computer." I sighed. "I mean, she talked a little with me, but like it happened last year instead of last month."
"That's Grace, for you." He shrugged. "Keeps anything thorny at arm's length. Anyway, if you think she'll listen, I'll go ask."
"Right now?" I blinked. She'd planned the breakup with Dorian but had said nothing about Azrael. "Are you sure?"
"There's no time like the present." He grinned. "Thanks, Aliyah."
Before I could say anything else, he stepped out of the line and headed toward Grace. I stood there, staring so intently I forgot where I was for a moment.
"It's your turn, already." I glanced over my shoulder to find my brother, rolling his eyes at me.
"Sorry, Noah." I stepped up to the window and made my order, then moved over to wait and let him make his.
"I'll have what she's having," he told the cook.
"So, how are you doing?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but not bad." Noah studied his nails.
"Not bad is pretty good, right?"
"It isn't, but it doesn't totally suck either."
I laughed. I couldn't help it because Noah was just so contrary and perfectly himself right at that moment. Even though I missed how close we used to be, having this exchange with him, however brief, felt precious somehow.
He didn't laugh with me or even at me. I'm not sure he could have mustered anything as free and open as true laughter just then. Noah's biggest flaw might be holding grudges for too long, but the runner-up was taking himself too seriously. I knew that feeling all too well, which was why I felt a momentary surge of euphoria when he smiled.
"Maybe things will be pretty good, you know, eventually." My order came up, so I reached out to move my plate from the counter to my tray.
"Some stuff needs work, but yeah." He nodded, getting his own sandwich from the counter. "I think you're right for once."
He walked away before I did, not even stopping to get a beverage before heading to the biggest round table, where he sat beside Elanor. Jonah immediately defected from the cluster of Messing folk in the far corner to sit on his other side.
"Don't get too comfortable, Morgenstern." Alex tried his best to look down his nose at me.
"You have no say in how I feel about anything."
"This is a warning. Your brother had better watch who he spends time with."
"Your threats suck. I already said I'm not afraid of you."
"A warning, Aliyah." Alex stared into my eyes, unblinking. His were bloodshot and blotchy like Brianna’s. "About something. It's not a threat from me, and you'd do well to remember that."
He stepped across the way, stopping in front of the DIY sandwich station. He didn't even have a tray, just stuffed some bread and a handful of peanut butter containers into a paper bag and made a beeline out of the cafeteria.
"What was that about, I wonder?" Dorian held a pair of empty tumblers, waggling them at me. "Never mind. Beverage roulette?"
"Sure." I reached out, taking one of the cups and joining him at the soda dispenser.
"Ooh, it's good this time." He grinned at his improvised drink.
I took a sip of my own, then wrinkled my nose. "Too much orange soda."
"You can't win them all." He shrugged, then led the way toward our friends.
We sat with Logan, who'd been by himself at a booth. Hailey joined us, peering at our drinks before inquiring about what they were. Dorian explained beverage roulette, then got up to help her make her own. He seemed unperturbed that Azrael and Grace stood in the corner together, clearly flirting.
"Is he going to be to be okay with that?" Bailey asked from the booth behind us. "Dorian, I mean."
"Doesn't seem to bother him." Logan shrugged, bowing his head, but I noticed his face turning red.
"Goths, am I right?" Bailey snorted, t
hen went back to her food.
I didn't see how the incident started because my back was turned. I’d thought everything was fine, too. So much for all my practice at empathy.
A piercing shriek, the kind that makes rodents in an open field cringe with terror, almost dropped me to the floor. It was so loud and shrill it felt like an ice pick through my inner ear. The edges of my vision wobbled a bit.
Despite the dizziness, I turned and looked around. All I saw was a blur of white and blue circling the two boys in the middle of the dining room.
Dylan's fists were twisted in the lapels of Dorian's blazer. The fabric looked stiff like it had been in the freezer for a week. I couldn't see Dylan's face, but Dorian's face was a rictus of terror.
You can see his breath. Dangerous. Did your ersatz boyfriend ever talk to his professor about being an extramagus, I wonder?
"I said, sorry!"
"Not good enough, Spanos." Dylan growled. Like, actually growled, sounding like a wolf in winter, desperate for prey.
"What are you?" Dorian's eyes bulged, more of the cornea visible than usual. They rolled as he looked around for some way, any way, out of Dylan's grasp.
"Your worst nightmare."
Before their exchange progressed, their familiars plunged down from somewhere near the ceiling. Mercy and Gale were a tangle of wings. Gale's tail lashed through the air, striking the furred part of Mercy's back. I saw why the next moment. Mercy's beak had scratched the scales under Gale's eye, leaving a bloody red welt.
"Peep!"
Ember leaped off my shoulder and rose high, hiding behind the light from the chandelier. I couldn't see her but felt the change in her gravity as she swooped toward the fighting pair.
Just in time, she grabbed them with her talons, pulling up to slow their fall as much as she could. It could've been worse since gryphons are fragile, and breaking a dragonet’s fall could severely injure them. Despite Ember making sure Mercy wasn’t crushed, their landing was still catastrophic.
"Ow!" Kitty jumped up, cranberry juice splashing all over the front of her blouse. She held one hand to her mouth as the other one dropped the fork she'd been holding.
"Paralysis!"
The voice came from the doorway where Professor DeBeer stood, feet planted. Her lightning bird perched on her shoulders with his wings outstretched. I could see a crackle of energy arcing from his beak to the polished length of wood in her hand.
Wandwork and familiar magic. She must have several advanced degrees.
The effect was immediate, Gale, Mercy, and Ember sprawled across the table, frozen in place, the three of them lying still in the now-ruined victuals. But the Professor hadn't gotten anywhere near the root of the problem.
"He started it." Dorian's eyes went wide, breath pluming like smoke in the space between them.
"You started it when you stole my girlfriend." Dylan's hair seemed to go white in places, while Dorian's blew back from his face.
"You split before I got here."
"Boys, no fighting." Professor Luciano paced from the food line toward my friends, hands outstretched. "You should know better, Mr. Spanos. You're on probation, after all. And Mr. Khan. You’ve worked so hard to be here. Don’t squander it on fighting."
A moment later, he placed his hand on Dylan's shoulder. Luciano's eyes went wide. He stared as though seeing him for the first time, then sighed, eyes going limpid with empathy.
"Enough." Professor DeBeer paced toward Luciano. After that, I couldn't believe my ears or my eyes. "My student, my problem."
She pushed him. Not some elementary schoolyard shove, either. Her hand channeled enough lightning to make me see spots.
Professor Luciano flew across the room, his back crashing against the table where Hal and Faith sat. He struggled to rise but winced and held his back with one hand.
"Professor!" Hal grabbed Luciano's free hand but looked at Faith. "Get Dad."
She sprang to action, leaping off the booth's bench and fleeing the cafeteria.
"You lying, scheming freak!" Professor DeBeer's eyes narrowed, her hands crackling with lightning as she homed in on Dylan. I never imagined she'd ever look this feral or threatening, especially not toward a student. Her temper was higher than Dylan's the moment before, and lightning was one of the most dangerous magics out there.
But I couldn't figure out why Dylan's teacher reacted with alarm. Hadn't he gone to her about his extramagus status the first week of school?
It doesn't matter now. You've got more power than anyone else in this room, even her. Use it unless you want this to get worse.
"No." I broke into a flat sprint, reaching my friends before Professor DeBeer. I stepped into the middle of the cluster, skin humping up into gooseflesh. It felt like the middle of February in a lightning storm, but I wanted to do this mundanely unless my hand got forced somehow.
"Get out of my way, Morgenstern," Professor DeBeer snarled.
"I want to help."
"That's what your kind always say." She turned, stretching one electrified hand toward me. "At least at the beginning. One of you on campus was enough. Two are untenable. See what happens when you lose control? Everyone's in danger, and it's your fault."
Every impulse in my body urged me to step back and drag the boys with me, away from the high-voltage magus, but I held my ground, shaking my head.
"We're kids." I couldn't look into her eyes, afraid I'd find something in them as terrifying to me as a slayer was to a vampire. "We make mistakes. Get in fights."
"Like the one last year when you nearly burned this room down? I've had enough of extramagi and their ruination to last a lifetime." Her eyes went wide, something in them broken. Her gaze turned inward, maybe at some future fear or past horror. "You should have been expelled ages ago."
I had nothing to say to that. Even the Evil Inside Voice stayed silent. I swallowed, unable to get past the lump in my throat, even if I'd had words at the ready.
It's easy to think of something after the fact, a zinger or defiant statement on your right to exist. But when I stood face to face with someone who considered me less than human, my ability to act narrowed. My options got honed down to a single point. I was lucky to just stay put.
So I stood and trembled. My entire body felt wavery, like heat rising off blacktop in the middle of summer. But it was cold, and finally, I had an idea. Simple, maybe too easy, but it'd have to do. I couldn't talk Professor DeBeer down, but she wasn't the only participant in this conflict.
"Dylan, let it go."
Professor Luciano and Hal leaned on each other, looking as unsteady as I felt. Kitty rushed to their rescue, inserting herself between them and getting her shoulders under their arms. The cranberry stain on her silvery gray blouse stood out like a wound.
"He has everything, Aliyah." Dylan's voice stretched almost pleadingly, like he wanted my permission to hurt our classmate. "And he hasn't worked a day in his life for any of it."
"Understood, Mr. Khan." Professor Luciano took a deep breath. "But this situation has more wires than a pipe bomb, and the only way to defuse it is if someone steps down."
"Ask your colleague." Dylan's gaze moved from Dorian to DeBeer. "I thought she was in my corner."
"Isn't that what they hired us to do?" Professor Luciano tilted his head, raising his eyebrow. "Support our students?"
"He is the bomb, Lucy." Professor DeBeer shook her head. "Not the situation. Look at him—both ice and air, and bound to do evil and harm."
Dylan's jaw dropped, his face paling as much as it could for someone with his complexion, and his eyes widened. The professor's words hit like a slap, and I knew too well how it felt when someone you trusted weaponized their words.
A moment later, his eyes narrowed. I watched him, wondering because it didn't look like anything I'd felt. Then I remembered the Evil Inside Voice and how it encouraged me to follow impulses. Did Dylan have one in his head?
"You want evil?" Dylan took a deep breath. The air around him g
ot so cold my eyebrows frosted over. “You want harm?”
Across the room, Izzy raised her hand. She held a card up, the Devil reversed. It meant I had to step up and try to take Dylan with me.
"No." I countered. "You're better than this." I stood up straight. "Stand down with me."
"I'm sick of it. Turn the other cheek, be the better man. With grades, with money, and now magic." He turned his head, arctic gaze meeting mine. "But I'll do it for you, Aliyah."
Just like that, the cold vanished. Dylan untangled his hand from Dorian's jacket. Professor DeBeer shut off her lightning, releasing the familiars from their paralysis at the same time. They scuttled across the table. Mercy came up covered in the remains of Kitty's soup, a crouton hanging from her beak.
"Mr. Khan. My office. Now." Headmaster Hawkins' voice boomed through the cafeteria.
"Sir, can I—"
"No, Miss Morgenstern. I'll talk to witnesses later."
"What about my colleague?" Professor Luciano rubbed his back, glaring at Professor DeBeer.
"As I said, later." Headmaster Hawkins looked at Dylan. "I'll listen to Mr. Khan's account of events before doing anything else.
Dylan followed the headmaster, glancing back over his shoulder before exiting the cafeteria. He looked shell-shocked, like he couldn't believe what had just happened.
In the far corner, Temperance Fairbanks held her grundylow and smiled. Alex leaned against the wall near her, gazing at the floor.
"Well, Izzy." I turned to look at my psychic friend, "you wanted to see how magi go to school, right?"
"Not like this." She shook her head, holding up her hand to reveal another card.
It was the Tower reversed, just about the worst card anyone with catastrophic levels of power could get. Dylan Khan, as it turned out, had that in spades.
Chapter Ten
"Thanks." Dorian caught up with me at the stairs, Mercy cradled in his arms. "For what you did back there, talking Dylan down."
