Felix reaches across the table again, stilling my hands. The cookie is little more than crumbs on the napkin in front of me. “Not practice. We were thinking going out to eat, or watching a movie. You know—to celebrate.”
The wheels in my mind turn, but something’s off. There’s something obvious I’m missing, but my brain won’t land on it.
“You know,” Felix says slowly, “for your birthday?”
I stare at him a moment. Something bubbles in the pit of my stomach, rising quickly toward my mouth. It’s not until it escapes through my lips that I recognize it. Laughter. I tip my head backward and release a long cackle. The energy of the room changes as people at nearby tables turn to look, trying to discern what’s funny, but it doesn’t faze me. When the laughter has run its course, I return my head to center, wiping my eyes. The look on West’s face—like he’s afraid I’ve just lost my mind—almost pushes me back into a fit, but I tamp it down. “It’s my birthday.”
Felix nods matter-of-factly. “And we’d like to help you celebrate.”
I take in a breath, connecting my gaze with each of them. “I’d like that.”
West’s eyes flick to the table. “Are you… gonna eat that?”
I push the napkin full of cookie crumbs toward him. “By all means. I appreciate the gesture, I’m just… not hungry.”
West loses no time plucking up a few crumbs and popping them into his mouth. Bria vacates the spot beside me and edges Felix out of his place beside West, claiming her fair share of the treat. Instead of relocating to the next seat over, Felix comes around the table to sit in Bria’s spot beside me. “Don’t look now,” he murmurs, raising his chin.
Catching his meaning, I affect a long, slow stretch, linking my fingers behind my head and arching my back before pressing my connected hands above me. As I stretch, I look in the direction Felix indicated, sure of what I’ll see. Crystal, Lexie, and Bridget, most likely, eyeing me and giggling. Or maybe it’s Fox. He would know it’s my birthday. Does he want to come say something?
But when my eyes finally land on the person Felix mentioned, I’m so surprised I look away immediately. From his spot across the room, Owen is watching me with unveiled curiosity. My head snaps back to Felix so quickly there’s no way Owen couldn’t figure out the purpose of my elaborate stretch.
“He asked about you yesterday when you weren’t in school.”
My heartbeat increases. “What’d he say?”
He shrugs. “Asked if I’d heard from you. Wanted to see how you were doing. Is it true? You and Owen were together when it happened?”
I nod and Felix raises an eyebrow. I smack his chest with the back of my hand. “Whatever’s going on in that twisted little head of yours, you can knock it off right now.”
Felix’s expression rearranges into a mask of innocence. “I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m just saying—you’re a free agent now, and Owen’s finally not acting like he hates you—”
I hit him again, heat rising in my cheeks. He has a point. Isn’t it what I’ve wanted since everything changed? To be back with Owen? For things to be the way they were before? My eyes stray to the circle’s table and to Fox. Things are over between the two of us—he hasn’t so much as spoken to me since our fight. And the breakup wasn’t for some fabricated reason I had to make up—it was his choice. My stomach twists. If anything was to blame for that fight, for our separation, it’s the influence of the crystal. Does that mean that if we can separate the circle from it, that Fox will be back to his regular self, to the guy I could see myself with?
By the time lunch is over, the cookie has been devoured. West waves goodbye and splits off, headed toward his next class. Bria and I have been walking to our lockers together before math, and today Felix joins us, throwing out ideas for the birthday celebration the whole time. Once we’re done at our lockers and headed toward class, I assume Felix will split off, but he follows us into Mrs. Hill’s room.
When he takes a seat next to me, I raise an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you go to your own class?”
He grins, holding up a blank square of yellow paper.
I exchange glances with Bria, who rolls her eyes. “So, what? You’ve got a blank piece of paper.”
“Pfft. This is my all-access pass. It’s not just paper. When someone else looks at it, they’ll see what I want them to see. Get it? Psychic paper. Totally Dr. Who.”
“Who?”
Felix’s face drops and he stares blankly. “I don’t know if we can be friends anymore.”
I gape and Bria sighs, taking a few seconds to explain what Felix is talking about. When I get the basic idea, I shake my head. I fix my eyes on the yellow square, and even though I’ve never tried to do what Felix suggests, I give it a go anyway, projecting a message meant for his eyes onto the paper.
The warning bell rings and he reaches down for it, ready to present it to the teacher, but he stops short, snorting. “For real, Krissa? I can’t believe I put up with this abuse.” He winks as he stands, heading toward the front of the room.
“What?” Bria asks. “What did it say?”
I grin. “Nerd.”
She gives me a high five and we share a giggle.
At the chalkboard, Felix is talking with Mrs. Hill. They’re too far away and the buzz of the classroom is too loud for me to make out what they’re saying. Mrs. Hill is as focused as she’s been since the circle anchored and Zane’s used magic to keep her from teaching the class. Her eyes are fixed on Felix, her eyebrows drawing together as she studies the yellow paper. Felix jumps slightly, rubbing the back of his head. I don’t think anything of it until he does it again, this time rubbing his shoulder. I squint. There’s a smudge of white on the dark blue of his tee-shirt. It happens two more times before I see what’s happening: Pieces of chalk from the ledge are zooming from their position and striking Felix.
He and I come to the realization at the exact same moment. He turns from Mrs. Hill and finds Zane, lounging in his desk. Although Mrs. Hill is in the middle of a comment, Felix stalks away, approaching Zane. “Knock it off, Ross,” he snaps, his voice low. “I know you think you’re hilarious, but I’m not gonna put up with your bullshit.”
Zane arranges his face into a look of polite bewilderment. “No idea what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, right.”
Another piece of chalk pelts Felix in the back and he lunges at Zane, who flinches.
“Felix!” I yell, although it’s unnecessary. By the time the word passes my lips. Felix has already stopped and crossed his arms over his chest, grinning. He doesn’t intend to fight Zane—he never did. He just wanted him to show weakness, and he did that. Now a titter of laugher rises up in the room, and Zane’s face goes hard.
“Felix, I think it’s best you head to your regular class now,” Mrs. Hill says, clapping a hand down on Felix’s shoulder.
Felix flashes a grin toward me and Bria before allowing himself to be led to the door. But before the door closes behind him, Zane is up and pushes past the teacher into the hallway. Mrs. Hill returns to her desk, apparently oblivious to the exit of her student.
My skin tingles. This can’t be good. I tap Bria’s shoulder. “We’ve gotta get out there.”
She nods. “Already ahead of you.” She slips out of her desk and weaves through desks toward the door. I follow her.
When I pass Fox’s desk, he grabs my wrist. “Wait.”
I pull my arm away from him. “Either help me keep Zane from doing something stupid, or let me go.”
Indecision flickers across Fox’s face and his mouth twitches. Shaking my head, I turn away, hurrying after Bria to the door.
“Believe me, you have no idea what I’m capable of.” Zane’s voice echoes off the corridor walls as Bria and I ease into the hallway.
“Pretty sure I do.” Felix stand several yards away, facing Zane, whose back is to us. “It’s not like you’re exactly stealth about it, you know.”
“
You’re gonna wanna be shutting up right about now.” Zane’s voice is low and the intent behind the word is clear: Stop talking now or something bad’s gonna happen to you.
I step forward but Bria’s hand catches the crook of my arm, yanking me backward. I turn and glare and she pushes a single thought into my mind: Wait.
“Look, I get it,” Felix continues. “You got this shiny new power and a desire to show off. I’m just saying it’s time for you to knock it off before someone gets hurt. Before you get hurt.”
Zane chuckles. “The only one who’s getting hurt here is you.”
In a flash, Felix pinwheels backward as if some great force knocked him in the chest. He moves several feet before pitching forward like he’s been hit from behind. The river of fluorescent lights overhead flicker.
The energy in the hallway changes. There’s a restlessness now—curiosity and bodies in motion. “Bria, lock all the classroom doors.”
Her eyebrows draw together, but she closes her eyes to do what I ask anyway. Down the hall, above Felix, one of the light bulbs blows, sending down a shower of sparks. The metal and plastic housing surrounding the bulb swings down as if on a hinge, colliding with the back of Felix’s head, launching him forward again.
The vibration of doors in their door jambs is all I need to know Bria’s successfully locked all the classrooms. The last thing we need here is collateral damage. We have to stop Zane, and soon. I haven’t practiced stopping a witch from using magic, but it’s been done enough to me that I understand the idea behind it. With a nod at Bria, the two of us step out into the hallway, eyes, minds, and energies locked on Zane.
He raises his hand toward Felix, who’s on his hands and knees. Immediately, Felix’s eyes bulge and his hands go to his neck. Zane is choking him. I have to distract Zane—I have no idea how long it will take to disrupt his connection to the crystal. I slip off my shoe and throw it, hitting him squarely between the shoulder blades. He turns, and at the other end of the hall, Felix takes in a deep breath.
Zane’s eyes narrow when they land on me and Bria and relief wells in my chest. We haven’t disconnected him from magic, but Felix can breathe, and I’ll take that. But a smile curls the edges of Zane’s mouth and I know I’ve miscalculated. Now he knows we’re here.
An invisible pressure circles my chest, squeezing the air from my lungs. A glance is all it takes to know I’m not the only one he’s doing it to—Bria and Felix are being affected too.
I tamp down the rising panic and try to clear my mind. The only thing that will help us now is stopping Zane’s magic. My breath comes in shallow gasps, growing shallower by the second. I have to overwhelm Zane’s mind—make it impossible for him to link to the crystal. But as the pressure around my torso increases, I can’t think of a way to do it.
Mrs. Hill’s door rattles on its hinge and a muffled shout passes into the hallway. Fox’s stormy eyes are wide, terrified, as he pulls on the doorknob.
Help. I mouth the word because there’s no breath left to make sound. Fox pounds at the glass upper half of the door, but it doesn’t crack. His distress seeps into the hall, washing over me. It overwhelms my senses and I stop trying to distract Zane from his spell.
Overwhelms. As tiny explosions of light burst in my peripheral vision, the idea comes—so simple I’m surprised it’s not the first thing I tried. Instead of clearing my mind of the surge of emotions inside, I push them out, directing them at Zane. I pull along Fox’s anguish, and tug at Bria’s and Felix’s consciousness, urging them to do what I’m doing.
The smug smile on Zane’s face flickers and the muscles in his jaw jump. Another second and he twitches, his hands going to the side of his head. The pressure around my middle subsides and I gulp in deep breaths. Bria pulls me into a tight hug, relieved laughter bubbling out of her. Down the hall, Felix grins, giving a thumbs up.
The click-clack of high heels against the floor deflates my bubbling relief immediately. I turn, expecting to see Crystal Jamison or Lexie, but it’s Crystal Taylor—Mrs. Cole—who approaches. The overhead lights no longer flicker, and in their harsh glare, the flush in the principal’s cheeks is obvious. She points one red-tipped fingernail in our direction. “You four. My office. Now.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
In the outer office, I sit between Bria and Felix on fabric-covered arm chairs whose cushioning has long since been squashed to nothingness. Crystal Taylor took Zane into her office first and gave strict instructions to her secretary that the three of us shouldn’t be allowed to talk. Under the secretary’s watchful, bespectacled eye, none of us has uttered a word. But it doesn’t mean we’re not communicating. To her, that I’m holding hands with both my friends probably appears to be out of nerves, but she doesn’t know what we are, what we can do.
It takes a few minutes for them to get the hang of it. I guide them as best I can, relying on my experiences sharing thoughts with Owen as a blueprint for three-way communication.
Do you think Mrs. Cole knows about the circle? Felix presses the thought into my mind and I relay it to Bria. I expect her to offer a response, but a quirked eyebrow implies she assumes I’ll have an answer.
I take a breath. When I told Felix everything, it included where the crystal came from; still, telling Bria about last generation’s circle of witches gives me pause. Felix squeezes my fingers.
When she was in high school, she was part of a circle—so was her husband, and my aunt, and Miss Tanner. I gulp. And Millie.
Bria squeezes my hand when my sadness seeps through our link, but her curiosity is too strong. She was part of a circle? You mean she’s—what? Not a witch anymore?
I shift on the uncomfortable seat. Here’s the sticky part—the part I don’t know much about. Jodi still does small spells—lighting candles and such. But I don’t think she’s part of a circle now. There was… a falling out in their circle about twenty years ago. All I know for sure is that Crystal Jamison’s circle is stronger than her aunt’s ever was. Abilities grow through generations.
Bria’s follow-up question is lost as Crystal Taylor’s office door swings open. Zane struts out, grinning as he passes us.
“Go right back to class, Zane,” the principal says, a hint of warning in her voice as he wanders out into the hallway. When she levels her gaze on us, her eyes are cold, distant. “You three, in my office.”
She turns on her heel and for the first time since we sat down, Felix, Bria, and I release each other’s hands. By the time we enter Crystal Taylor’s office, she’s already seated in the black leather chair behind the desk. I sit opposite her, once again between Felix and Bria.
“As I understand it,” says Crystal Taylor, straightening a pile of papers, “you three were in an altercation with Zane Ross?”
Felix leans forward. “I don’t know if ‘altercation’ is really the—”
“Answer yes or no, please.” Crystal Taylor’s eyes jerk upward but don’t quite reach Felix’s face. Her fingers move to the leather-covered cup containing a half-dozen pens and pencils.
Felix gives me side-eye before answering. “Yes…?”
Crystal Taylor’s fingers graze the pencil erasers before straying to a stack of yellow sticky notes. “And, Felix, you were in Mrs. Hill’s class, even though you’re not scheduled with her this hour?”
“I had a pass—”
“Then you accused Zane of doing something to you, and when he denied it, you behaved aggressively toward him?”
In my old life, I’ve been on this side of the conversation too often to not know where things are going. Crystal Taylor’s mind is already made up. She’s just going through the formalities now.
Felix picks up on this too. Slouching in his chair, he crosses his arms over his chest. “This is ridiculous.”
“Yes. It is.” For the first time since we sat down, Crystal Taylor looks each of us in the eye. “It is completely ridiculous that three students should gang up on another for no apparent reason. Kristyl, I know you and Zane
used to be friends—”
I snort.
“—but just because a friendship ends, you don’t have the right to antagonize people.”
Bria throws up her hands. “Since when is getting the breath squeezed out of you antagonistic? Zane could’ve killed us.”
Crystal Taylor’s eyebrows hitch upward. “You’re saying Zane was strangling all three of you at the same time? How? He only has two hands.”
Bria’s mouth drops. “But… You know how. Magic.”
Crystal Taylor sighs, shaking her head. “Flights of fancy aside, the only wrongdoing I see perpetrated here is by you three. My secretary is contacting your parents now. You’re all suspended. You can return to school Friday.”
“Suspended?” Felix asks, incredulous. “For what?”
“Is Zane suspended too?” Bria asks at the same time.
The principal merely stands, gesturing toward the door. “If your parents have questions, they can contact me. I’ll be happy to answer their questions.”
“But not ours?” Felix snaps.
I stand, tugging at his arm. This is a fight we’re not going to win, and he’s only going to make it worse by arguing. It’s not until Bria pulls at his other arm that he stands, muttering darkly as the three of us exit the office. “Let’s just go,” I murmur. “It’s not worth the fight.”
“Oh, it’s worth a fight, all right,” Bria says. “But Mrs. Cole isn’t the target.”
***
Felix drops me off at home and my foot barely touches the front step before the door springs open, revealing Jodi. Her eyes are red-rimmed from crying, but it’s not sadness that laces her features now, it’s anger.
“You get in here right this instant,” Jodi says through clenched teeth.
I hurry into the house, afraid to make her angrier by dawdling. I pull off my coat, laying it across the chest beside the closet, figuring she won’t take kindly to me taking the time to hang it up right now. I peer into the living room. It’s empty. “Where’s Mom?”
“I made her go to work,” Jodi says, walking into the living room. “No use both of us staying home. She called me right after the school called her. I told her I’d handle this.” She nods toward the armchair and I sit in it. She remains standing, pacing in front of the couch. “So, you’re suspended.”
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