by D. R. Perry
Big mistake.
Standing at the counter was a gaggle of magi, all girls about my age. The two waiflike brunettes were identical twins, while the redhead in the middle looked totally unrelated. They had on enough makeup for a red-carpet premiere.
All three of them wore actual designer clothes, and I realized they were in town on vacation. From New York City, judging by their accents, and uptown, based on their hairstyles and jewelry.
The non-twin carried an oversized Hermes tote, its top level with the surface the girl leaned on. I saw a platinum luggage tag bearing an engraved Park Avenue address.
A sleek snout with a curving canine muzzle poked out of it, followed by the head of an Egyptian Sha disguising itself as a small dog. Its ebony and gold familiar's collar gleamed against its short dark gray fur, more ornate than it had to be but unmistakable all the same. It sniffed before I noticed its gaze fall squarely on Ember's busted wing.
The crested canine Sha tended to gravitate toward magi with undeath, umbral, or poison magic, which were all on the opposite spectrum from my own fire magic. So of course, the animals reacted to each other like oil and water.
As the Sha made a yappy racket, I sighed. Maybe my eyes rolled. The other girl started huffing and puffing and threatening to ask for the manager.
"How stupid can you be, bringing a dragonet around a Sha like that? That beast isn't even your familiar. Is this an extraveterinary office or an underground animal fight club? Honestly. I ought to take my business somewhere else."
"It'd be nice if you could, Miss Fairbanks. However, Hawthorn Academy's got its familiar licensing contract with my office. Here's the required form." Bubbe pushed a piece of paper across the counter toward the girl, shooting what I call "the look" at the Sha. It shut its mouth, of course. All critters did when Bubbe made that face.
"Whatever. Just have your moronic assistant get that scaly menace out of here." She turned her nose up. "Or I'll be back on our next long weekend up here with my father. And you're well aware of how connected he is."
Miss Park Avenue was threatening Bubbe.
Her words burned. And yeah, it started getting hot in there because that's what happens to fire magi like me when we're angry. I took a deep breath, about to tell this girl who she's talking to and why she should stop it.
Ember whimpered. When I looked down at her, she had the most miserable expression on her face, like Dad got when I let him down in some way.
And just like that, I banked all that shame and anger to the lowest levels I could manage. When I said “bank,” I used the double meaning. One thing my mom taught me about fire magic is this: you can't just lock it up indefinitely. It's got to come out sooner or later, or that inferno will eat you alive.
But that day, with a hurt animal in my arms, was not the time.
I turned my back, striding with as much of my shaken confidence as I could muster toward the door Izzy held open. My upper lip was stiff, chin up, head held high.
It was all a show, but a good one, I hoped.
"That's what I thought." The alpha mean-girl scoffed.
"You showed her, Faith."
"True story." Faith laughed. I listened to the scratch of pen on paper as she filled out the forms for her Sha. At least she seemed to care about her familiar.
As Izzy stepped aside, letting go of the door, Faith Fairbanks delivered her parting shot.
"I'll show her even more at school in September."
I didn't return fire. It would have been literal, and I didn’t want to burn down Bubbe's lobby. I had no idea why this girl had taken a few barks and hisses so personally, but as I headed into an exam room with Ember in my arms and my best friends at my side, I knew one thing.
I'd have to handle anything Faith Fairbanks decided to dish out on my own. Noah wouldn't get in the middle of a dispute between first-years.
Happy birthday to me.
Chapter Three
In July, we were in the middle of the hottest week on record in Salem. Izzy, Cadence, and I had already seen all three movies at CinemaSalem. None of our parents could drive us to the Danvers Mall, and anyway, they didn't allow dragonets in there.
There was one place left for us to go have fun: Salem Willows, of course. We were there half the week but didn't mind making another trip. It had Izzy's favorite game and people-watching for Cadence—and a future fellow Hawthorn attendee I really ought to try harder to befriend.
"So, you're back for more Skee-Ball, I see." Dylan Kahn waved as he approached. "You three are practically fixtures in here."
"It's an arcade, and we're still kids." Izzy chuckled, brandishing a ten-dollar bill. "Now, give me all your tokens!"
"Technically kids, you mean." Cadence examined her nails like she didn't want to be here. But I caught her stealing glances at the chrome-sided machines with their particolored flashing lights.
"Whatever." I shrugged. Ember gripped my shoulder tighter, struggling to keep her balance. "Oops, sorry about that, girl."
"Peep."
"What's that mean?" Izzy planted her feet in front of her Skee-Ball lane, preparing to roll.
"I think she said something like okay." I headed to the next row, where I helped the dragonet perch above the ball return so she could watch.
"So why isn't she your familiar yet, Aliyah?" Dylan leaned against a support beam. The Willows had plenty of those, and he made good use of them.
"I'm not sure?" I shook my head. "I think my parents expected me to bond with a Tallin like Dad and Noah."
The little split-tailed sun serpents dated at least as far back as the Old Testament days. The Morgensterns have been associated with them for just as long.
"Well, what about Bubbe?" Cadence grinned. "Doesn't she have one of those little snakies too?"
"She did until last fall, and her next one’s probably going to be the same type." I put the token into the slot and listened to the balls roll down.
"So, either Ember's the anomaly, or you are." Izzy's bluntness hit me like a lead pipe to the head. She sank her first ball into the five-hundred-point slot, too. Skee-Ball was totally her game. Always has been.
"None of the above." I took a shot and managed one hundred points. "It could just be a dragonet thing. Maybe they imprint or something. Bubbe said she must have hatched the day we tangled, or maybe the one before."
"Wow." Cadence twisted one of her shell bracelets. "Ember's practically a baby, then."
"I can't believe your grandma lets you bring her everywhere." Dylan rummaged in his apron, collecting the tokens Izzy already paid for. "Lucky."
"The fresh air is good for her." I rolled my second ball, which landed in the gutter.
"How come we haven't seen your familiar, Dylan?" Izzy sank a ball for one hundred points.
"Uh, well." He cleared his throat. "You all get to come here for fun. I'm working."
"I see." Izzy snorted before glancing up at our scores. "Come on, Aliyah. Keep rolling."
I did, but no matter what, I couldn't catch up to Izzy that day. Cadence did better, but our psychic friend managed to squeak out a victory by a scant five points.
"Well, I'm out of tokens and money."
"And I'm practically drying up in this heat." Cadence fanned herself with a flier from the Engine House, where we usually went after a day at the arcade. But the mermaid had other ideas. "Let's go swimming. Dylan, too."
"Dylan what now?" He'd just come back from handing his apron to the manager.
"Come out with us." Cadence smiled.
"Yeah." I nodded. "You've been in town for over a month now, and I've never once seen you do anything just for fun."
"Well, that's because I've got to save my money and stuff."
"Swimming is free." I flashed him a grin. "Perfect for the teenager on a budget."
"Peep!" Apparently, Ember was happy with the choice of activity. Even fire dragonets enjoyed swimming, which made sense because in the wild, they‘d catch and eat fish to survive.
"
Come on, Ember." I held my arm out so she could make her way up to my shoulder. "And come on, Dylan."
"I don't have a swimsuit."
"I have brothers." Izzy tucked the tickets she’d won into the back pocket of her cutoffs. "They're younger, but Matteo’s the same size as you."
"Okay, then."
We headed back toward downtown Salem and Hawthorne Street. Cadence led the way, a spring in her step as we passed Irzyk Park. Once again, I didn't see anyone hanging around, but the big black bird was back, cawing and flapping its wings.
"What's with that raven?" Dylan jerked his thumb at the feathered fiend.
Izzy scoffed. “Probably found something tasty in the garbage."
"Hey, don't assume." I shook my head. "Ravens can be familiars sometimes, especially for air magi." I glanced at Dylan.
"Yeah, no. Not me." His cheeks reddened. "I mean, I'm air but no ravens. After reading that Poe poem, they sort of freak me out."
"Huh." Cadence's voice had a lilt to it I'd only ever heard when she discussed boys. "I think they're cool. Mysterious, you know?" She fluttered her fingers at the bird, which stopped its hopping and stared.
"Well, clearly that one's intelligent." I made a mental note to remind Bubbe to check for nests. "Anyway, it's too hot to stand around here bird-watching."
"Yeah, I guess." Cadence flipped her ponytail to the other side of her neck. "Let's get the clothes and go swim already."
She hurried off, ending up on the porch at Izzy's house. The mermaid sulked on the porch while the psychic fetched Matteo's extra swim trunks for Dylan. After that, she headed back inside to change.
I beckoned to Cadence and Dylan, leading them up the driveway between numbers ten and eleven. I gestured at the stoop, and they sat. When he saw the number placard beside the door, Dylan chuckled.
"Wow. I didn't know half addresses existed stateside. Mom would lose her mind if she knew."
"Why not show her, then?" Cadence pointed back down the driveway. "Even my folks have come to see this, and they hate walking when they don't have to."
"Well, they're back in London, working." He stared at Bubbe's van, the fence behind it, and then his shoes. "I'm here by myself."
"Oh, I had no idea." I fumbled with the keys, all butterfingers as I tried to open the door I've used on my own for most of my life. "Where are you staying?"
"Down at the Y. The one for magi."
"Ugh, I heard their cafeteria sucks." I shook my head. "I'll bring down some snacks for all of us. Swimming is hunger-making."
Finally, I pulled the door open and headed up the stairs two at a time. Being too tall has some advantages. Ember clung to my shoulder, her tail wrapped under my armpit.
Once inside the apartment, I jogged through the kitchen and then up the back stairs to the top floor. Once Ember was perched safely on my headboard, I rushed through changing, whipping my clothes off and whisking them into the hamper.
Rummaging through my drawers, I found my trusty swimsuit, a royal blue one-piece with racerback straps and a built-in sports bra.
And I found it too short to pull the straps past my bust.
"Oh, come on!" I growled, frustrated by the fabric. "You fit last month! Ugh. It's not you, it's me."
"You okay, Aliyah?"
I turned, arms crossed over my chest.
"It doesn't fit, Mom. And everyone's going swimming." I sniffled. "Stupid teenage hormones being all—stupid."
"We'll fix this." She beckoned. "Come along."
"Huh." I snagged a tissue from the box on my dresser and followed her, dabbing my cheeks and wiping my nose. "With magic?"
"Not exactly." Mom pushed the door of the room she shared with Dad open. "With a belated birthday present."
She headed toward the cedar wardrobe that's sat in the corner for as long as I can remember. I avoided the thing whenever possible because one of my earliest memories is of Noah shutting himself in there by accident, trying to get into the Under and meet a Sprite.
And there I was, standing in front if its intricately carved and matte-finished surface, face all red and sticky from crying. The earlier incident had been a way better reason to cry because as hard as I tugged, I couldn't get the door open to let my brother out of there. And he kept saying he couldn't breathe.
This July day’s upset was over a perfectly normal bathing suit I'd grown out of seemingly overnight.
Mom finished rummaging and turned around, handing me a bag from Queen of Hearts in Providence, Rhode Island. That was where my mother came from, even though she never talked about it. I knew more about my great-grandpa escaping Nazis than about Mom’s childhood in the Ocean State. So, how'd she get something from there in a bag and not an online order box?
Since Mom worked from home almost all the time and I had been at Salem Middle School every day last year, she could have taken a trip pretty easily. It was two and a half hours on the commuter rail and less than two in a car from Salem to Providence. The jaunt was even shorter via magical conveyance.
I stood there staring at the bag and forgetting just about everything in an attempt to remember one shred of info about Mom. Had she mentioned going out of town without us over the spring?
"Would you like to open it?" She had one hand out, palm up and pointing at the bag. The other was in a white-knuckled fist by her side.
I heard her voice, but the words didn't register. It was the same as trying to hear Noah through the wardrobe door all those years ago.
"Peep?" The sound came with a red-gold tail waving near my arm, tapping the back of my hand like the dragonet was asking if I was okay when she was the one with the twisted wing.
"I'm okay." I looked down at Ember and back up at Mom. "And yeah. I'll open it. I just never heard of this store before," I lied. Everyone knew where it was. "Is it a new place? Maybe in Portsmouth or Boston?"
"Providence." Her lips turned up, but Mom's eyes weren't smiling. She wasn’t happy that I’d caught her out, then. I dropped that subject.
I reached into the bag, pushing past gilt tissue paper. In seconds, my fingertips brushed smooth and stretchy fabric. I gripped and pulled, revealing a turquoise and royal blue tankini. The bottoms were horizontal striped boy-shorts, and the top was printed with a Celtic knotwork pattern featuring dragons.
I ran one finger along the outline of a wing, noticing how much it resembled Ember when she stretched.
"Mom, this is—I mean, thanks so much." My throat tightened, choked up by a silly bathing suit. At that point, I didn't care anymore whether Mom had gotten it on some day trip she’d never told me about. "It's perfect."
"Run along and change now." This time when she smiled, Mom's whole face lit up.
I dashed into my room and changed into the new suit. Ember followed, peeping cheerfully. It fit perfectly, and because it was two pieces, getting taller wouldn’t be a problem. I threw a maxi dress over it and slipped sandals on, then I held my arm down for Ember to climb up. After a quick check in the mirror, I grabbed my beach bag and hustled out of my room.
"Love you, Mom!" I hollered down the hall.
"To the Under and back," she replied.
For the rest of the day, I only went to the beach. Dylan headed into the park's bathroom to change out of his work clothes. Izzy braided her thick acorn-brown hair into two buns, one behind each ear, as usual. Cadence gazed at the sky, so I pointed out clouds with interesting shapes, but she wasn’t in the mood for chatter. Ember butted her head against my cheek, begging for chin scratches.
We spent some of our time wading down by the park. Izzy wore the same old triathlon suit, and Dylan kept on his muscle shirt with his borrowed trunks. I tucked my maxi dress into the beach bag, sauntering along without a care because my new suit was so comfortable.
Cadence, of course, didn't need to change clothes. The seawater turned her legs scaly wherever it hit them, something that didn’t happen with rain or tap water. When we finally went in, she let her legs fully shift into a tail and then swam
rings around the three of us.
Cadence always seemed so free in the ocean; water's literally her element. She never went out far enough to really get going. It was because her parents wouldn’t allow that until she was older.
It was nice to get into the water and cool off, but the northern Atlantic temperatures meant most of us couldn't stay in for long. Dylan managed for longer than I’d expected. When he emerged, he shivered so hard I gave him my towel.
We sat in a line on the tide wall, legs dangling and bags between us like beads on a string. I was still puzzled by Dylan's ability to tolerate the chilly water, so I asked him.
"I'm an air magus." He shrugged. "My parents taught me that if I wanted to be any good with this element, I'd need to try tolerating both heat and cold."
"Well, if you need practice with the heat part, Aliyah's an expert." Cadence grinned.
"I bet she's getting rusty with magic." Izzy side-eyed Cadence like an onion ring that fell on the floor. "All that time babysitting scaly critters, you know."
"Am not." I snorted. "Not that I can give you a demonstration or anything."
"I wouldn't think of asking." Dylan nodded. "Not in the middle of summer."
Cadence watched me like a seagull over a picnic table. Izzy sighed and tapped one finger on the concrete under her hand, eyes wide and mouth small, like she gets while trying to solve a math problem. I wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about. Dylan seemed as clueless as I was.
Magical creatures were so much easier.
"Peep?" Ember poked her head out of my beach bag, one of my hair ties sitting on top of her head like some kind of pretty floral bonnet.
Everybody laughed, even Ember, in a chirpy dragonet sort of way.
And just like that, the silence went from awkward to friendly. It stayed that way between the four of us all summer.
