by A. J. Macey
Taking a deep breath, I pushed back the jealous urge. We aren’t dating, I reminded myself, but no matter how much I repeated the phrase, the tiniest sliver of jealousy wouldn’t dissipate. I hurried through the line, grabbing several items in a rush to get to them as quickly as possible. A tiny self-satisfied smile curled my lip as I picked out a couple of Cupcake’s favorite treats. Ha, let’s see you outdo that, random dude sitting with Aris.
“Hey, Cupcake,” I greeted, sinking into the seat next to her and flashing her a smile. Hopefully, she doesn’t see me being a jealous douche; I don’t want to be like my brother. I scooped up a bite of the soul cake I got for Aris and held it out for her. Her eyes sparkled as her dimples appeared on her blushing cheeks.
“Awe, Sprinkles,” she chirped, leaning forward and taking the bite from my fork. Seeing her lips wrap around the fork had my thoughts wandering to places they shouldn’t. I glanced over to the other guy, but he only had a small smile on his face as he watched us, no hints of possessiveness or jealousy, which helped calm me down. If he’s cool, I’m cool.
“Caspian, meet Drayce. Drayce, meet Caspian,” Aris said with a bright smile. “I keep running into Drayce… literally, and instead of being upset, he offered to walk me to lunch. Well, the fact my stomach growled really loud helped,” she explained, giving an awkward chuckle.
“Why doesn’t it surprise me you ran into someone?” I teased, Drayce laughing with me as Cupcake ducked her reddening face behind her hands.
“That’s exactly how I feel,” Drayce nodded in agreement, throwing his hand up and over the table for me to shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Sprinkles.”
“Nice to meet you too,” I replied, chuckling as I shook his hand. Drayce gave me a wink as he pulled his hand away, and it caught me off guard. Is this guy flirting with me? “So, other than bulldozing people, Cupcake, how’s your day been going?”
“Not bad,” she stated with a shrug. “Just worked on that essay for Mixta Basics that’s due tomorrow. Did some research into that weird magical... urge to learn everything,” she stumbled over her words, realizing we weren’t alone. “Didn’t find anything super interesting. Mixta history is boooring. What about you guys? How was your day?” she asked, trying to deflect attention from her.
“Not terrible, just boring. I had study period, so I focused on my Potions conversions,” I said with a shrug as I took a huge bite of my sandwich.
“Had summoning this morning, which wasn’t anything special since we weren’t doing too much. Then study hall where I was doing some research for my magical agriculture elective. Well… before I got ran over by this cute pink witch.” Drayce flashed Aris another smile. My lips thinned, but I kept hold of my jealous urge to snap at Drayce as he looked over at me. “And here I sit with an equally cute Potions Brewer.”
I choked on my bite of sandwich at the blatant flirting. Aris’ tiny fist pounded on my back as I coughed roughly.
“Awe, Sprinkles, you have a fan!” Cupcake squealed happily. I didn’t know how to feel about him hitting on me, so I just gave a choked laugh and shoved my moon cookie into my mouth, hoping Cupcake would change the subject.
Well, at least she’s happy about this.
Aris
As I walked to mentoring, I had to keep shoving my nerves back down. My mentoring with Drayce went well, but that didn’t mean the next student mentor they paired me with would. Why couldn’t Drayce be my mentor on both Tuesdays and Thursdays? Pushing into the hallway where the mentoring rooms were, I scanned the hall, trying to figure out who my Thursday after lunch mentor was going to be. Suddenly, another wave of odd sensations crept over me. Sighing, I glanced around for Caspian, Kye, Torryn, or Drayce since it seemed to only happen with those weirdos, but I didn’t see any of them. So, who the hell is making my magic act up? I grouched, turning back to the dwindling crowd. I knew as soon as I saw him.
Xanthius, the boring guy who ate boring crackers as a snack.
I mean, who does that?
“You’re Aris Calisto, correct?” he asked, his deep voice stiff as if he were approaching a business client instead of me.
“That’s me…. How could you forget with hair like this?” I said cheerfully, holding out some of my hair as I gave him my brightest smile and an awkward wave, trying to bring a smile out of him. Why am I like this?! You’re just embarrassing yourself… again!
“Ah, yes. The girl who disliked my snack choice and threw food at me. How could I forget?” he deadpanned, gesturing to a nearby table for us to sit down.
Blushing at the reminder of throwing food at him, I joined him. Did I seriously do that? Yup, sounds like something I’d do.
“My affinity is Spell Casting, so my job as your mentor is to explain the basics and see if we can coax some magic out of you,” he started, but it felt like the perfect opportunity to bring up my issue.
“Wait… it’s still possible to learn new magic as a Mixta? Does that include getting affinities? Does that happen often?” I asked in a rush. He sputtered for a second at my verbal onslaught before contemplating my words. He definitely doesn’t seem to have my runaway mouth problem.
“It can happen, but it doesn’t very often. It’s not full affinities either, usually just small bursts of magic,” he explained.
“So, for those with affinities, or even Mixtas, do they ever form magical bonds?” I asked bluntly, not sure how to word my way around it. His eyebrows pulled down as he thought over what I had said.
“I’ve not heard of anything like that. Where did you hear about that?” he asked, rubbing his chin. My cheeks heated, a telltale sign I was about to spout off a lie.
“Oh, I don’t remember anymore, someone was just talking about it in passing, and I love a good mystery, so I’ve been trying to research it. I just haven’t had any luck,” I explained quickly, hoping he’d buy into the random curiosity angle.
“Well, it never hurts to learn new things. I’m intrigued as well, so I may see what I can find in the library during study hall,” he said, giving me a formal smile. “Now. We are here to talk about Spell Casting...” He started droning on about his affinity, but my mind was a million miles away. I pretended to listen as I waited for the glorious sound of the bell.
It can’t happen soon enough.
September 6th
Friday Midday
Aris
I sank into my desk for history, my mind a mushy mess from the monotony of the last day. Spell Casting 101 was interesting, but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t gone over with Torryn during our mentoring on Wednesday. Although Professor Nesrin wasn’t super boring, it was boring material. Scrying and Divination was very much the same—good teacher but basics on the information. I think at this point in the week, my brain had reached capacity.
Today dragged so far, just turning in my essay for Mixta Basics and reading the chapter in Magic 101 with Caspian because they still hadn’t given me a textbook. Now though, my anxiety was through the roof as I waited for Torryn to come into the room. A sense of sadness filled me, remembering his hurt expression two days ago, and the fact I hadn’t gotten a chance yet to properly apologize. Hopefully, he’s not too upset with me.
“Class,” Torryn greeted us, his eyes darting everywhere but at me. “Today we’re going to be discussing the five territories of Akasha. Who can tell me the names of the five territories?” I raised my hand, probably a bit more enthusiastically than I needed to. But I actually know the answer to something in this freaking school, and I’m excited, damn it!
“Miss Thana,” he called on Delilah with a wave of his hand.
“Ignis, Aether, Terra, Oceanum, and Caeli,” she explained quietly. Torryn gave her a small but proud smile, and I felt the urge to nibble on my lip. The painful sting of him avoiding my gaze built the longer class went on. I understood I was a bit of an asshole during our mentoring, but he had been talking down to me at the time. And in my defense, I didn’t know that would be the outcome. I couldn’t lie though—it wa
s kind of satisfying to see the water move at just a mere thought.
Torryn continued his lecture, pulling me out of my rambling thoughts. My hand shot up at the next question, and once again, he picked Delilah to answer. This time, I didn’t stop my bottom lip from finding its way between my teeth as I nibbled it. The pattern continued until I finally gave up raising my hand.
By the time class was over, I was thoroughly agitated and, for whatever reason, abnormally jealous. What is wrong with me? I tried to physically shake the strange prickling sensation running over my skin and the rock in my stomach as I got up from my desk. I turned to walk over to Torryn’s desk but was greeted with the sound of his office door slamming. How the hell am I supposed to apologize if he won’t stand still long enough?
At least, he can’t avoid me during our mentoring session.
You have got to be kidding me, I growled, glaring at the red paper airplane I had just unfolded. Torryn had canceled our mentoring session for the afternoon with plans to resume on Monday.
Now, who’s being a childish little brat?
“What’s wrong, Cupcake?” Caspian called, propping up on his elbow from where he had collapsed on the ground of the familiar pasture. Lulu’s snout nudged me, reminding me I had stopped petting her. It was really cute how she waddled to me when she saw me across the field. My mood lifted as I bent down and rubbed her sides. Who knew alligators were so lovable!
“Your brother is avoiding me!” I snapped as I threw him the paper, turning my head away so he wouldn’t see how upset it was making me. I rested my cheek against my knee, my attention focused on giving the sweet alligator all the love she wanted. I pulled out another marshmallow from the pocket of my sweatshirt and put it in front of her mouth. She made a cute noise of appreciation before rolling over for belly rubs.
“Why would he be avoiding you?” he asked, tucking a stray strand of my pink hair behind my ear.
“Because I may or may not have conjured a bunch of water to fall on his head because he was talking down to me,” I mumbled, feeding Lulu another treat to avoid looking at him.
“I would have paid good money to see that,” he said before letting out a loud belly laugh.
“Not funny,” I grumbled, throwing a marshmallow at his head. He took a breath and calmed his laughter, swiping a tear away before looking at me again.
“Sorry, go on,” he said with an apologetic smile though I could tell his laughter was barely suppressed.
“He was purposefully not picking me in class, and now he’s canceled mentoring? That’s not a coincidence,” I defended.
“So, apologize,” he hedged, trailing his fingers along my back to soothe me. I took a breath and relaxed a little at the calming motion.
“I tried, but he won’t freaking stay still long enough for me to talk to him,” I said, throwing my hands up in frustration. “At this rate, I’m going to have to bribe him with something for him to forgive me.” At that thought, an idea sparked. “Oh! Come on, we have to plan,” I exclaimed, patting Lulu before jumping up and dragging a whining Caspian behind me.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” he mumbled.
“Too bad, you’re helping me, Sprinkles, and that’s that!”
“You’re lucky you’re so damn cute.”
I smiled brightly as we made our way up to my room.
“You know you love me,” I spouted over my shoulder. He grumbled unintelligibly behind me in response.
I’m going to take that as a yes.
September 6th
Friday Night
Aris
A few hours later, Caspian and I found ourselves standing in the dark, empty kitchen. It was a bit intimidating looking around at the giant silver appliances. They had more knobs than normal ovens. This might get interesting. I tried to play it cool as if this was the sort of thing I did all the time.
“Alright, we need flour, eggs, butter, sugar, and chocolate,” I started reading down the list as Caspian walked over to the fridge. He started pulling items out before letting out an excited laugh.
“You know what else we need? This!” he yelled over, holding up a bottle of Witches Brew. I’d had that stuff before, a mixture of different hard alcohol and probably a spell or two that would get you sloppy drunk before you realized it. Baking and drinking? What could go wrong? What the hellsticks, let’s do it!
“There isn’t enough chocolate in this pantry. Let’s go check the student one,” I said, closing the pantry and turning to Caspian, who was already pouring shots for both of us.
“Shots first, pantry after,” he cheered, holding a shot out for me. I took it and sucked a deep breath, clinking my glass to his before swallowing the fiery liquid in one big gulp. A shudder tore through my body as I made a ridiculous noise and scrunched my face. Note to self—get a chaser before the next one. Caspian laughed at the display, but I didn’t miss his slight shudder.
“Come on, chocolate,” I piped in, hooking an arm through his. We made our way out of the kitchen and into the dining hall, only to run into Drayce.
Again.
At least it wasn’t just me this time.
“Angel,” he laughed, steadying me and Caspian as we teetered from the collision. “What are you two up to?”
“Brownies!” Caspian practically shouted. I shushed him, trying to not draw too much attention. Drinking was allowed since we were of legal age, but that didn’t mean I wanted it advertised to the entire freaking school.
“Brownies, you say?” Drayce’s brow quirked. “Got room for one more?” It might have been the warmth spreading through my body from the Witches Brew, but there definitely seemed to be innuendo in his question.
“Sure, dude, let’s go!” Caspian smiled brightly, hooking his arm through Drayce’s, practically dragging him over to the pantry.
The moment I pulled the door open, I spotted Kye sitting in the same spot as the last time, eating out of a bag of chocolate chips. Seeing my first friend holding the object I was searching for, I let out an excited squeak and ran for my designated spot next to him, trying to jump but missing slightly and half landing in his lap. He let out a startled yelp, his arm coming around me to keep me from pitching forward off the counter.
“Hells bells and tarot tells, Aris!” he grunted, holding me to him as I half-hugged and half-scrambled for the chocolate. “Why are you always stealing my snacks?! Are you drunk?” he questioned with wide eyes, his face crowding mine as he scanned my face. I couldn’t help but get lost in the pretty gold flecks that danced in his eyes until his talking brought me back to reality. “You’ve totally been drinking.”
“Want some? We have more, and we’re baking brownies, and we’re out of chocolate, and my favorite-ist Rune Drawer happens to have more. You have to come help,” I pouted, leaning into him and batting my eyelashes. He ground his teeth and sighed.
“Fine, but only ‘cause someone has to freaking watch you, so you don’t end up blowing up the kitchen or something,” he bit out, sliding from his spot.
I couldn’t stop my jaw dropping as he turned and helped me off the stainless-steel counter. Based on his wide eyes and surprised expression, he didn’t realize what he was doing either.
“Come on, you two!” Caspian hopped up and down, his arm still looped through Drayce’s, who laughed at his excitement. We made our way back into the kitchen, Caspian immediately darting to the open bottle on the counter before grabbing two more shot glasses and pouring four shots.
“How many shots have you guys had?” Kye asked, eyeing Caspian’s behavior warily.
“One! But it’s Witches Brew!” I cheered, holding out the other glasses to them. They each took them from my hands, Drayce looking amused and Kye looking torn between amused and exasperated, cautiously sniffing the liquid in question.
“Cheerssss,” Caspian slurred, taking his shot and letting out a loud whoop. I danced over to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of Sorcery Soda, then hurried back to join the others. Kye and Drayce
both took theirs with no signs of disgust and turned their eyes to me. Kye raised an eyebrow and smirked, gesturing for me to take mine now. Popping open the top of my soda can, I took a drink before slamming down the shot and ending with the chaser, the shudder almost nonexistent this time.
“So, we’re making brownies?” Drayce questioned as he looked over all the ingredients. “Any particular reason?”
“You need a reason for brownies?” Kye muttered under his breath.
Based on his casual glance around the kitchen, I don’t think he intended for anyone to hear him. But I did, and I chuckled, running over to him. Wrapping my arm around his trim waist, I squeezed.
“You speak my kind of language, Honey,” I squeaked out as I smashed him to me before turning my attention to the others in the room.
“Caspian, grab the flour and start mixing the dry ingredients,” I ordered, sliding the recipe card his way. I giggled as he struggled to measure the ingredients out precisely when his eyes couldn’t fully focus. Eventually, Drayce walked up behind him and pressed into Caspian, moving his hands over his to help steady him and finish measuring. My mouth went dry at the sight of Drayce wrapped around Caspian, part of me wishing they were naked so I could join in. Heat flooded me, and I nearly tackled them when Drayce looked over at me and winked. Glancing over at Kye, I almost laughed at his raised eyebrow and surprised expression.
“Thanks,” Caspian said in a husky voice as Drayce leaned back before a grin spread across his face. He dipped his hand into the bag of flour and flicked it, covering Drayce in the white powder. We all stood still in shock and anticipation of what Drayce would do at this sudden turn of events.
