by Chloe Garner
Valerie stood and went to unlock the door, closing her eyes for just a moment and pulling it open, ready to run, to fight, to do… she had no idea what.
“Valerie,” Ethan said, shoving his way through the door to hug her.
She hugged him back, hard.
“I… It’s so good to see you,” she said as Ethan stepped both of them out of the way so that Shack could come in. “Where’s Ann?”
“She wouldn’t come,” Shack said. Ethan shook his head.
“She said that you’re cursed worse than she is,” Ethan said. “I’m sorry. I know… I get why it was important, but we couldn’t talk her into it. Especially not without telling her more than I was willing to.”
“It’s just the two of you,” Valerie whispered. She shook her head.
It wasn’t something she could change. Not anymore.
“Come on upstairs,” she said. “How is Hanson? I half expected him to show up with you.”
Ethan looked over at Shack, then he put his arm around Valerie’s waist and shook his head.
“His mom showed up the day after you left and took him. They’re supposed to be out looking for you.”
“Looking for… Why?”
“Because you disappeared and no one knew who took you,” Ethan said. “I mean… We were afraid the Superiors had done it.”
Valerie turned her face into his shoulder, then sighed.
“My dad took me,” she said.
“I told you to be careful,” Ethan said. “How did you get away?”
“I didn’t,” she said. “He went out to do work, and someone came to the apartment where we were to get us. We only just got away.”
“Did they attack you?” Ethan asked. Valerie paused.
“Well, no.”
“How do you know they weren’t there to rescue you? Maybe the Council sent them.”
Valerie snorted.
“Rescue me? He’s working with my mom for the Council.”
“Your mom is AWOL,” Ethan said. “No one is talking about her turning, yet, but… She needs to be careful.”
Valerie put her hand over her face, then shook her head.
“I should have known,” she said. “Everyone wants to use me to control my mom. Both sides. It’s because she’s on a side of her own.”
“What does that mean?” Ethan asked as Valerie opened the door to the little office. Sasha sat up.
“What?” the redhead asked.
“They’re here,” Valerie said softly. “Well, Ethan and Shack, anyway.”
“Where’s Ann?” Sasha asked. “She has to be here.”
“Apparently her highness had other pressing matters today,” Valerie said. “It is what it is.”
“But… There’s only three of you,” Sasha said. “There have to be five. I mean… I thought Milton might come around, that they could go back and tell him, but…”
Valerie shook her head.
“It is what it is.”
There was a thud downstairs and Valerie straightened. Sasha staggered against the wall.
“They’re here,” Valerie whispered. “They followed you.”
“Nobody followed us,” Shack said. “I can’t tell you how careful we were. No one even knew we were coming but Ann and Lady Harrington, and Ann is locked in her room.”
“Then how did they find us?” Valerie hissed.
They were trapped.
There were two windows out of the office, but they were two stories high.
Shack went to go stand by the door, and Sasha slowly slid down to the floor against the wall.
Moments passed, and then minutes.
Valerie frowned.
“Maybe it was just someone coming in to work late,” she whispered.
“I’ll go look,” Ethan said, and Valerie shook her head.
“I’m coming with you.”
“We’ve played this game before,” he said. “You should stay here.”
“Not arguing this with you again,” Valerie said. “I’m coming.”
Shack opened the door quietly and Valerie and Ethan went out into the hallway. They walked very slowly to the railing that looked down into the storage space…
… and Hanson Cox looked up at her.
“Hanson?” she asked. “What are you doing here?”
Ethan put his arm across Valerie.
“You didn’t see her,” he said. “Shack and I came here to goof off and play hooky. Valerie wasn’t here.”
“I ditched my mom this morning,” Hanson said, still staring up at Valerie. “I’ve been wandering all day today, and I just… I kind of ended up here.”
The next moment, Valerie was running.
She went down the stairs three at a time, a miracle she didn’t trip over her own feet, and she hit Hanson at speed, sobbing against his chest. He held her tight for a long time.
“Are you okay?” he finally asked.
“I’m so happy to see you,” she said.
“Better greeting than I got,” Elton said from upstairs.
She ignored him.
“You were tracking me?” she asked. He shrugged.
“My mom is obsessed with finding your mom and bringing her back before the Council. She was just using me to try to find you faster.”
She hugged him again.
“Where is she?” Ethan asked.
“Don’t know,” Hanson answered. “I stole her money and I walked out the door before the sun came up this morning.
“Are you guys killing each other out there or what?” Shack called.
“Shack’s here?” Hanson asked. “What are you guys doing here?”
Valerie looked up to find Shack and Sasha looking down over the railing at them. Hanson let her go almost abruptly enough for her to fall, running up the stairs to hug Sasha.
“I was worried about you,” Valerie heard him say, as she followed him back up.
“I was so scared,” Sasha answered. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“No, seriously, wait a minute,” Shack said. “How did he get here?”
“Cabs. Hitchhiking. Walking a lot,” Hanson said. “Why are you guys out here? Shouldn’t you be at school?”
“She called and asked us to come,” Ethan said, putting out an arm as Valerie got close again. It felt good to step near him, even if she did need to separate herself once they got into the back room. She had things she needed to say, and it was too serious to do it from hip-to-hip with Ethan.
“Valerie,” Sasha said softly from somewhere beside Hanson. “There are five of us.”
Valerie blinked.
“There are,” she said.
“Is this about the curse?” Ethan asked, and she shook herself, going to stand against the wall to face the other four.
“Some,” she said. “A lot not, but some. So. Sasha and I have been learning a lot of interesting things, here this last week. My parents have been showing us a lot about how magic actually works, how the Council works, and how the politics on the other side of the war work. And we have so much to tell you about what we saw. Nothing… just nothing is the way they told us.”
“Nothing,” Sasha echoed.
“Okay,” Ethan said.
“Magic… it works differently than they’ve taught us, and there is no such thing as the Superiors - the Council is fighting a bunch of different groups who basically only agree that the Council is bad. And the big bads, the ones who actually show up to fight with the Council… they’re called The Pure, and they aren’t even trying to kill civilians. They’re trying to eliminate their ability to develop magic powers.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Shack said.
“I know,” Valerie said. “It’s really hard to believe that everything we know about the war isn’t true…”
“Are you sure?” Shack asked. “I mean… they’re your parents, and I get that, but… They’ve been off on their own for a while, and… I mean… Everyone knows about the war. How could your parents…”
“I saw it,” Sasha said. “We went to a Separatist school where they taught that there are three branches of magic, and everything just suddenly made sense.”
“You went to… To a what school?” Ethan asked.
“Separatist,” Valerie said. “They just want the Council to leave them alone. The Pure are involved with the school, and they use it for recruiting, my mom says…”
“Why were you at Ground School?” Hanson asked. “My mom couldn’t figure it out.”
Valerie felt her eyes go wide.
“How do you know that?” she asked.
“We were tracking you,” Hanson said. “What were you doing there?”
“You went to Ground School?” Ethan asked.
“It was part of the point,” Valerie said, feeling like this was slipping away from her. “Look, we can talk through all of the things that aren’t the way we thought they were, and Sasha and I can do our best to prove it to you, but…” She closed her eyes, regathering her thoughts. There was a point. This was the point. “A long time ago, before any of us were born, a bunch of spies got together. From both sides of the war. And they started talking. And they realized that both of the sides were crazy. That they didn’t want either side to win. And they agreed that they were going to try to work toward ending the war, but that they weren’t working for one side or the other, anymore.”
“The Shadows,” Ethan murmured, and Valerie nodded.
“They were right. My parents were both Shadows, and they are both Shadows now. They are trying to stop the war, but if the Council wins…”
“They’re going to make everyone register and they get to decide who goes where for school and…” Ethan started, then nodded. “No, the word Separatist may be new to me, but I’m a sympathizer there.”
Valerie nodded.
“The Pure think they can separate civilians from their ability to use magic, but every time they try, it kills everyone. I think my mom is afraid that at some point they’re accidentally going to kill a whole lot of people, or that they’ll figure out how to get rid of people’s magic ability and they’ll turn it against Council fighters.”
“Of course they will,” Shack said. “That’s obvious.”
Valerie nodded.
“So. Both wrong. Both crazy wrong. And someone has to do something about it, not just keep going along and hoping that it turns out okay.”
“You’re talking about a second generation of Shadows,” Ethan said, and Valerie nodded.
“I had thought that it would be the cursed kids, but… I mean, I guess not. Maybe… Maybe this is who it’s supposed to be.”
“I’m not sure supposed…” Ethan started, then Hanson held up a hand.
“I have no training in magic,” he said. “I don’t belong here. Every one of you can see it. But. I’m here. And I had no idea where I was going all day. I just… I ended up here. That has to mean something, right?”
“Does it?” Shack asked.
“It does,” Sasha said. “I’m not supposed to be one of you, either, but… I couldn’t leave, when Valerie gave me a chance. I had to stay. I’m supposed to be here.”
Valerie had a sudden thought.
“Hanson’s birthday is January second,” she said. “And Sasha’s is the fifth.”
The two of them looked at each other with more than saccharine happiness, and Valerie shook her head.
“Mine is October sixteenth, and Ethan’s is December…”
“Third,” he supplied.
“Mine is November twenty-eighth,” Shack said.
“Do you know Ann’s or Milton’s?” Valerie asked.
“They’re still sixteen,” Shack said. “We were teasing them at dinner a few weeks back.”
Valerie closed her eyes.
“Sasha… You might actually be one of us.”
“No,” Sasha said. “That’s not possible. Not me and not Hanson. It was a curse directed at the Council.”
“It was a curse directed at my mom,” Valerie answered. “It had backsplash to the Council, yes, but it hit her friend Ivory, too. And I bet Hanson’s mom has been spying on my mom for a long time. Maybe long enough that it got her, too.”
Valerie put her hand through her hair, looking at the five of them.
“The ones who showed up when I called,” she said. “The new Shadows. This is us, guys. This is who we are and this is what we were literally bred to do. We’re going to stop all of it, take down the Pure, take down the Council at the same time, put it right.”
“We can’t do that,” Sasha breathed. “We’re just kids.”
Valerie looked at her friend and nodded.
“I’m not saying it’s going to happen fast. But… Can’t you guys feel it? Hanson wandered here. Sasha wouldn’t leave, even when I all but pushed her out the door. We all live together. I mean… None of this is coincidence.”
“So what are you suggesting we do?” Ethan asked. She nodded.
“We trust each other,” she said. “Just us. I’m not saying if my mom walked in here and told us to run that I’d give her a side-eye, but… This is our team.”
“What about… everything?” Shack asked. “I mean, it’s great to have a neat club where I like everyone so much, but what are we supposed to do?”
“Yeah,” Valerie said. “I can’t go back. I don’t think Ethan or Sasha can, either.”
“My dad threatened to throw us into the darkness for not helping him find you,” Ethan said.
“Technically, my mom threatened that,” Shack said.
“Pretty sure it was my dad’s idea first,” Ethan challenged and Shack grinned.
“No, your dad threatened to put you on the front line and then have everyone else take a step back.”
Ethan shook his head.
“Anyway. That’s what they’d do to their own kids. If there’s any hint of a chance that the Council thinks that Sasha or Hanson knows things that would help find you… They can’t come back. I’m sorry. You’re right, but you’re really right.”
“Yeah,” Shack said. “We can give my mom lip and live, but anyone else…?”
“Valerie,” Sasha said softly, desperation, and Valerie nodded.
“We’re going to keep looking for opportunities to hook back up with my parents. They’re teaching us a lot about how things are, and I think we need to know that if we’re going to pull this off.”
“So, still with you and stuff, but why not leave it to them?” Shack asked. “I mean, there’s a reason everyone is all afraid of them. They seem a lot more likely to be able to pull it off.”
“I don’t know,” Valerie admitted. “And if they can do it while we’re still trying to figure it out, that’s great, and I’ll… I don’t know, I’ll make a public apology for being such a drama queen. It’s just… I’m out here. I can’t go back. Hanson and Sasha… They have to come with me.”
“Have to,” Ethan cut in, and Valerie nodded.
“And… I just was kind of realizing that this… This is what we were talking about at lunch that day. This is us picking up and making a stand all on our own because the two sides are wrong. The Shadows are right, and… And we have to keep going. We have to do something.”
Shack gave her another apologetic look.
“I just wish you could tell me what that is.”
“I guess let’s start by simply understanding what this war is,” Valerie said. “Because it isn’t what Mr. Jamison told me.”
“I mean…” Shack said. “He fought it.”
“Just listen to her,” Sasha said, sitting down. “Nothing is what they made it out to be, and people need to know it.”
“The Pure, the only way to stop them is to actually fight them,” Valerie said, nodding. “Yeah. But you stop the Council by taking away their control, and you take away their control by getting the truth out there.”
“At school,” Sasha said. “Where maybe you’re the only ones who can say anything, because of who your parents are.”
“If we push this too far, my mom will put us in the darkness,” Shack said. “She loves me, but she takes her role on the Council more seriously than anything.”
“I’m not sure my dad loves me,” Ethan said. “But… Look, you tell us what you’ve figured out, and we’ll go be subversive. I’m good at that.”
Valerie nodded, sitting down on the floor and looking at Sasha.
“I need you to help me. You understand a lot of the magic stuff better than I do.”
“Yeah,” Sasha said. “I can do that.”
Valerie took a breath and started.
“So. There are three branches of magic…”
They spent the rest of the evening talking.
Valerie told them everything she could think of that she’d learned, either directly from her parents or from going to one of the schools.
The risks to new magic users and how the two sides treated them.
The way that magic was taught between the two sides.
The coalition building against the Council because of how they treated magic users.
The Shadows and how they’d come into being.
Sasha told them about the apartment and Valerie’s cast there, and she told Shack and Ethan about the specifics of several of the classes at the Separatist high school.
“They’re going to be so much better prepared than we are,” Sasha said as she finished. “They understand magic so much better.”
“Mage,” Shack said, trying the word out.
“I’m still dark,” Ethan said. “It doesn’t change anything about that.”
“But you’re probably a mage,” Sasha said. “Because you aren’t only dark.”
“That makes me feel so much better,” Ethan said. “Does it make the tests invalid?”
Sasha considered, then shook her head, and he shrugged.
“Then I’m still dark and it doesn’t matter.”
“I’m still not understanding what we’re doing,” Hanson said from where he sat against a wall. “After they go back to school and start spreading the word that there are three branches of magic rather than a continuum… Where’s the giant blow against evil? Is it them, for spilling some modestly big secret? Is that it? The three of us just kind of hide out and hope the right side finds us first?”
“I don’t know,” Valerie said. “I’m just making this up as I go along. I didn’t plan anything other than getting Ethan and Shack here, and even that, I’m kind of fuzzy on why. My parents did something important, figuring out that the two sides are both wrong. I felt like… Like I needed to do the same thing.”
