by Nissa Leder
“So, you forgive me?” Beck tilts his head to the side with a grin.
I run my fingers through my hair and pull it out of my face. “Yes, we’re cool.”
“Good. Kaz and I are heading to a movie. Wanna join?”
Just because Beck suddenly had a change of heart doesn’t mean anything is going to come of Kaz and me. I’m not even sure if I want it to. Since my kiss with Sebastian, I’ve been too focused on school to worry about guys—a first in my life. But I’ve missed spending time with Beck, and I really don’t want things to remain awkward between Kaz and me.
“Sure. Just let me change and I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
Making up with my brother feels right, and maybe now Kaz and I can at least be friends.
Fifteen
Being away from Wicklow for a few days has turned out to be exactly what I needed. Beck, Kaz, and I spend the majority of our time together. I think it’s the most my brother and I have hung out ever, and somehow I don’t end up feeling like a tag along with him and Kaz.
We go shopping at the mall one day, ice skating the next, then we spend all of Wednesday in the theater room binge-watching a new season of one of our favorite Netflix shows.
As tradition, my parents are hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for all of their friends’ families. Catered, of course. The last thing I’d ever expect to see is Mom making a pumpkin pie or Dad stuffing a turkey.
I spend the morning relaxing in my room. Finally, at noon, I shower and get ready for the party, slipping into the off the shoulder, white cocktail dress I picked up shopping and pulling my hair into a loose updo.
When I get downstairs to the living room, guests have already started to arrive.
Mom notices me and pulls me to the side. “You look beautiful, darling. Please make sure you remain presentable all afternoon and evening. There are a few people I want to introduce you to.”
“I’ll do my best,” I say, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. Does she think I plan on getting drunk and stripping in front of everyone?
She adjusts the strap of my dress. “The Jacobsen name is well-respected throughout the Sorcery world. There are a lot of expectations you must live up to, especially now that you know the truth. Your father and I have worked hard to provide you a life without worry, but now it’s time for you to step up and follow in our footsteps.”
I’m about to say that maybe she should have filled me in on magic a lot sooner if she wanted me to be prepared for anything when the caterer interrupts us and Mom follows her to the kitchen without another word.
I head straight to the bar and order myself a glass of wine. If I’m going to be paraded around this party, I’m going to need a few drinks first.
“How’d I know I’d find you near the bar?” Zane asks as he approaches. He’s dressed in gray slacks and a navy dress shirt.
“I guess I’m just that predictable.” I step toward him and give him a hug. Minus a text here and there, checking in on our bet, Zane and I haven’t talked much over the past few months.
“Wearing white, I see. Does that mean you haven’t lost our bet yet?”
I laugh. “I’m still holding strong. But what about you? Surely your charismatic smile and good looks have lured at least a girl or two into your web.”
“It’s been hard, but I haven’t slept with anyone.” He smirks.
“Then I guess the bet continues.” I raise my wine to my lips and take a long drink.
Zane’s dad calls him from across the room.
“Guess I’ll see you later,” he says before walking away.
A few people I recognize congratulate me as they pass me by. I smile and say thank you, then take another drink. Two glasses of wine later, Elaine and her parents arrive.
Having a break from the pressure of our group practices has been nice, but I don’t want to be a bitch, so I head over to her.
“Elaine has been updating us about your time at Wicklow so far,” her mother says. “I was surprised to hear how well you two are getting along.”
I’m not sure whether to be offended or flattered. “Yes, it seems we can work well together when we want to.”
Elaine glares at her mom, who excuses herself and her husband to go find my parents and thank them for hosting.
“Don’t let it go to your head,” Elaine says. “Our other group members are just so bad, it makes you look good.”
“I’ll take what I can get. Any sort of compliment from you is a miracle.”
Zane crosses the room and joins our conversation. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you speak to each other for so long by choice. Wicked Academy must be something amazing.”
Wait, how does Zane know about Wicklow’s nickname?
“Huh?” I ask, playing dumb. Maybe I heard him wrong.
“Everyone at Bradford talks about how elitist everyone at Wicklow is,” Zane says. “They said it’ll probably be even worse now that you’re all part of that magic trial the Sorcery Council created.”
“Wait, you’re a Sorcerer, too?” I ask.
Elaine’s brows press together as she stares at me. “Everyone here is part of the Sorcery world. Bradford is one of the other American academies. Don’t you pay attention in Magical History?”
Everything was so new when I first arrived at Wicklow, it was hard to understand half of the information I was being taught. “I guess not.”
Zane scans the room. “Most of the guests are from Wicklow. My family and a couple of others are from Bradford. And the Michaelsons are from Campbell.”
“I didn’t realize.” And I’m back to feeling like a clueless idiot. Will I ever feel normal in the Sorcery world, or will I always be hit with surprises?
“How’s Bradford?” Elaine asks.
“It’s been good. I’ve found myself quite popular.” Zane winks at me.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Well, when I found out that the Sorcery President’s last name was Jacobsen, I was able to do some research and realized that I’ve slept with his granddaughter.”
My eyes narrow as my jaw tightens. “You bragged about having sex with me?”
Elaine doesn’t say anything, but her face looks pale.
“I…” Zane’s grin disappears. “I didn’t mean it as a bad thing.”
God, he’s such a guy. “People who don’t even know me now know who I chose to sleep with in high school. How could you think sharing that wasn’t a dick move?”
“Probably because that’s exactly what part of the body he was thinking with,” Elaine says before rolling her eyes and walking away.
Zane crosses his arms as his forehead presses into wrinkles. “I thought you were someone who didn’t care what other people thought.”
“And I thought we were friends. Apparently, we were both wrong.” With that, I storm off, straight into the dining room.
The table has already been set up. Five fall-colored bouquets are spread across the center, with gold and orange accents used for decoration. Pumpkin spiced candles are lit on the buffet, their autumn scent spreading through the room and reminding me freshly-baked cinnamon rolls.
“Everything okay?” Kaz asks as he steps into the room. “I saw you almost knock over one of the waiters on your way in here.”
“Did I really?” I pull out a chair and sit down, crossing my right knee over my left. “I was just reminded how dumb guys can be.”
Kaz covers his heart with his hand. “Ouch.”
“One of my,” I don’t even know what Zane and I are, “friends who I used to hook up with decided to tell everyone at Bradford Academy that we slept together. Apparently, screwing the President’s granddaughter bumps you up a few notches in the popularity contest.”
“Yikes. How did you find out?”
“He told me as if it was no big deal.”
“Well, I’m not one to usually defend pricks, but sometimes we guys can be pretty stupid,” Kaz says. “I know how it feels to wish you handled something differently.
”
I’m not sure we’re talking about Zane anymore.
But I don’t get to find out for sure, because Mom enters the room and tells us dinner is about to be served so we can find the place cards with our names and take our seats.
Dinner is delicious. I think this is the best caterer Mom’s ever hired. I eat way too much, making me regret buying such a tight dress. I catch Zane looking at me the whole meal, but I avoid his gaze.
What he did was wrong, but I can’t help but consider the fact that he didn’t do it out of spite. Just stupidity.
After dinner, I head to the bar to get another drink. When I get there, Elaine is taking a glass of wine from the bartender.
“Great minds think alike,” I joke.
“We aren’t alike,” she says.
The bartender hands me a glass.
“Is everything okay?” I’d actually started to think Elaine and I were past all of our old issues.
“Today just reminded me why we quit being friends.”
“Is this about what Zane did?” I don’t see how that situation is my fault. It’s not like I asked him to tell everyone about my private affairs. But Elaine’s attitude changed the moment he mentioned us sleeping together. Something so obvious hits me, and I feel more stupid than ever before. “Wait, do you like Zane?”
Elaine’s eyes widen. “No.”
“You do like him.” How could I have never realized? “Have you always liked him?” I try to remember when Elaine and I stopped being friends. Was it right after Zane and I began our whole friends-with-benefits journey?
Her arms hang at her side. “I’d liked him since the sixth grade. But then you two went and started your meaningless affair and, well, I didn’t want your hand-me-downs.”
“I didn’t know.” Everything makes sense now.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. Going to Wicklow made me see how stupid it was to care about something as unimportant as a high school relationship.”
“I really am sorry.”
Mom walks toward us and sighs when she sees the glass of wine in my hand. “Sorry to interrupt, but I need to steal Wren away.”
“No problem, Mrs. Jacobsen.” Elaine dips her chin and steps away.
I follow my mom to a man dressed in a cream-colored suit with a red bowtie. His silver hair is bald in the middle but his skin doesn’t look a day older than forty. I’ve seen him at parties before, but if we’ve already been introduced, I don’t remember it.
“Patrick, I’d like you to meet my daughter, Wren.” Mom rests her hand on my shoulder. “As I mentioned at work, she’s a freshman at Wicklow and will be part of the very first magic transfer.”
“Why, yes, the council is excited to see how this first trial goes.” Patrick extends his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Wren. I’ve been your mother and father’s boss for over twenty years now, and I can only expect even greater things from you.”
Since my mother would kill me later if I’m not polite, I shake his hand. “Wicklow has been a very educational experience.” I smile. “Full of surprises.”
Mom squeezes my shoulder, warning me to mind my manners. “Wren has always had a lot of passion. Combined with her Jacobsen blood, she’s sure to do nothing but excel at Wicklow.”
After mom introduces me to practically everyone at the party, I slip back into my room to hide.
I fall back onto my bed and groan. Not only did my parents purposefully leave me in the dark my entire life before I went to Wicklow, but now they expect me to follow in their apparently very successful footsteps like I’ve known about my Jacobsen destiny my entire life.
A few minutes later, Zane’s standing in my open doorway.
“Can I come in?” he asks.
“That depends,” I say as I sit up. “Is all of Bradford going to hear about it?”
“I deserve that.” He steps into my room and pulls the chair from under my desk and sits on it backward. “I should have realized how much of a jackass bragging to a bunch of strangers about you was. Especially just because of who your grandpa is.”
“Yeah, it was a pretty shitty thing to do,” I say. “But it’s not like I’ve never messed up.”
I think of Elaine and the fact that I never even stopped to really ask why our friendship deteriorated all those years ago.
“Did you know about magic before you went to Bradford?” I ask. He never mentioned anything to me, but that doesn’t mean he was as out of the loop as I was.
“Nope. All our parents hid it from us. They had a pact,” Zane says.
“Do you know why?” I remember that on the ship too Wicklow, Ms. Ballard said something about not being able to know about Sorcery if our magic had been taken from us. But Olivia grew up in the Ordinary world and no one ever took her power.
“No idea.”
“My parents said something about not wanting me to grow up feeling pressured.” I tuck the hair that’s fallen from my updo behind my ears. “But apparently that’s over. Mom’s plenty happy to tell everyone here how confident she is I’ll pass the final at the end of the year and double my magic. She hasn’t even asked how my classes are going.”
“My dad makes me call and check in once a week.” Zane rests his arms on the chair back. “I’m surprised he doesn’t check in directly with my teachers.”
I lift my arm and create fire in my hand. “Magic is pretty badass, though.”
Bubbles form in Zane’s palm and he blows them at me. “So badass.”
“Wanna watch a movie?” I scoot to the front of my bed.
“Sure.” Zane pushes the chair back and joins me.
“Did you at least tell everyone how good I am in bed?” I joke as I select a movie for us to watch.
“Best I’ve ever had.” He grins.
I laugh then press play on the remote. After all the secrets from our parents and the pressure of being a Jacobsen, I don’t have the energy to be mad at him.
Instead, we watch a comedy like old friends.
Sixteen
As crazy as it sounds coming from someone who never cared much for school, I’m actually excited to be back at Wicklow. Mom and Dad were home the entire weekend, and for the first time ever, they wouldn’t leave me alone. Dad wanted to know how I was doing in each of my classes, and Mom wanted me to show her all the incantations I’ve learned so far.
The weirdest part was that they didn’t seem interested in Beck.
Although I’m glad to be back at the academy, sitting next to Bianca in Potions and Herbs still sucks.
When I try to be the bigger person and ask how her break went, she says, “It was great to be away from you,” then ignores me the rest of class.
I have no idea why she hates me so much. She can’t really be that against being late to class, which was when her animosity seemed to start. But I don’t have the energy to waste figuring it out.
Without another word to each other, we make it through class and I head to Combat.
After I change into my practice clothes, I head into the gym and see Elaine, who I haven’t talked to since Thanksgiving.
I approach her with a smile. “How was the rest of your break?”
“Fine,” she replies. “Yours?”
“Weird, actually. My parents suddenly seem more interested in my future at Wicklow than my brother’s.”
Her face scrunches in a confused expression. “Seriously?”
“I mean, it isn’t that crazy,” I defend myself. But then I realize, it actually is. “Okay, yeah, it’s weird, huh?”
“Your brother is basically a poster-child for perfect.” Her cheeks flush. “I mean, he’s smart, driven, kind…No offense, but if I had to bet eggs from my parental basket, they’d all be on him, not you.”
I try to be offended, but I can’t. She’s right. “Apparently, being in this magic trial is a big deal to them or something.”
“My parents seem a little weird about it too, actually.”
Thornburn exits his office and t
ells everyone to run three laps, ending our conversation.
Combat has turned out to be a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I’ve never played sports or thought of myself as athletic, but learning how to fight the regular, old physical way, has made me feel strong.
By Dueling, the last class of the day, my brain hurts and I’m ready for a nap.
We jump right into things, starting another round of duels.
Bianca’s name is drawn first. As Lamberg grabs another piece of paper, I cross my fingers and think anyone but me.
I get my wish, and Elaine is called.
This should be interesting. The two have never fought each other, but everyone knows they’re at the top of the class. Despite me being one of the best in Incantations, I still have room to improve at dueling.
Bianca and Elaine leave the desk they share and move to the front of the class.
Lamberg gives them the signal and they start.
Bianca goes on the offensive first, throwing three fireballs at Elaine. She blocks them all with a water wave. Before Elaine can get off her own attack, Bianca sends an air current at her feet, knocking her to the ground.
Elaine lands with a thud. Determination narrows her eyes and she quickly pushes herself up and, using her magic, catches the electric orb aimed right at her face and hurls it into Bianca’s stomach.
When the orb hits her, Bianca’s body shakes from the shock before dropping to the ground.
Mastering a redirect is tricky. We just learned about the defense-to-offense tactic before Thanksgiving break. But Elaine just pulled it off like it was nothing.
When Bianca gets up, she glares at Elaine. “I’m just rusty from break.”
Elaine shrugs and returns to her seat.
Two more pairs duel, none of which include me, then class is over.
Lamberg sits back down at his desk while everyone gets up to leave.
As I’m walking by Elaine and Bianca, Bianca drops her book at my feet and I stumble trying not to step on it.
“What’s your problem?” I ask.
“Oops, my bad,” Bianca says. She looks at me then Elaine. “You two are both pathetic.”
