by D. R. Perry
"I hear you." I nodded. "Maybe it's cultural, but neither of them is from the States, so I don't know what's up. Anyway, we don't get new professors. We’re stuck with them for three years."
"Wow. Here's hoping we don't get screwed academically."
The day after that conversation, I found Grace sitting outside the headmaster's office. He invited her in as I walked by, and although I didn't hear their conversation, I was pretty sure it was about the professorial feud. I was glad she’d brought it up. The last thing I wanted was to draw attention to myself while hiding the fact that I was an extramagus. Only the folks right in front had seen me use solar, and if Professor Luciano had said anything, I’d have been summoned to Headmaster Hawkins by now. I still couldn’t fathom why he’d stayed mum.
Halfway through September, I started seeing the fliers on the wall. Noah had talked about it before, and it happened at all the specialized schools, so I should've expected it. But it’d be problematic for most of my friends.
I was talking about Parents’ Night.
That morning at breakfast, I sat with Hal at our usual booth. A few minutes after I sat down, Dylan and Logan practically bumped into each other, each grasping one of the fliers. They sat down, noticed that they were both upset about the same thing, and began complaining together.
"I don't know what to do, man." Dylan shook his head. "They're just gonna tell me they can't afford to come, and if they do show up, it'll be an endless guiltfest. If they don't come, it'll be Mum writing seventeen letters about how sorry she is they couldn't make it, and how they're bad parents for having no money. If they do show, they'll go gaga over Gale, and draw all sorts of attention to the fact that he doesn't match up with my test scores."
"I wish my parents could just give yours plane tickets and stay home." Logan sighed. "If your folks come on someone else's dime, they can't complain, and I could avoid mom and dad finding out what's been going on around here. You know."
"I've had an idea about that, actually." Hal scribbled a few last-minute sentences on his homework. "Why don't you just swap familiars for the night and pretend things went the other way around?"
"You know, that might actually work." Logan leaned his cheek on one hand. "We're roommates and everything, and my folks know we hang out together, so if we just tell Doris and Gale it's a game, maybe my parental units will chill. It's just for one day."
"My parents wouldn't know how to chill if they got locked in a walk-in freezer." Dylan snorted. "It's probably for the best if mine don't show. But yeah, we can do a switcheroo if it'll make things easier on you, Logan."
"What about Elanor?" I jerked my chin at her table, where she sat with her back to us. "Won't she rat you out?"
"No." Logan shook his head. "Everything's all about her when it comes to Mom and Dad. It's like having a walking photobomb for a sister. She jumps in and does her thing loudly between our parents and me. She won't go out of her way to get me in trouble because it takes attention away from her. That's how it's always been."
"Wow, that sucks." Dylan elbowed Hal good-naturedly in the ribs. "Kinda makes you relieved to be an only child, huh?"
"Maybe." Hal bent his head over his paper, putting the finishing touches on his answer. "But anyway, if this works out, I'll be glad for you guys."
Setting up the critter swap was only the beginning. It ended up taking loads of extra work for Dylan and Logan. So, of course, I made it a point to help. I pulled Grace in on it, too.
Faith tagged along. I wasn’t sure why, unless Hal put her up to it somehow. Mostly all she did was hang around and watch. On occasion, Seth and Ember teamed up to try to curb Gale's ego, and maybe that was the answer. Seth wanted to help, and Faith was indulging him. The bonds between familiars and their magi work both ways, after all, and Seth was probably the friendliest Sha in the known universe.
Faith's help turned out to be serendipitous since she got the bright idea to ask Nurse Smith if we could switch familiars as part of our Familiar Studies exercises. That was perfectly valid, but not an activity Nurse Smith or Professor DeBeer had planned for our remedial course, which was about to end. Familiar Studies only went for the first month of school.
In a way, I'd miss going to the extra class. It only felt like a burden when we got a lot of homework assignments. However, having extra time to practice Bishop's Row from October onward would be nice. Our team was coming along well. Okay, that was an understatement.
We’d competed against the other class during the last week of September. I got a chance to see how my friends had managed in their version of Gym with Coach Chen, and we’d won the first game.
Chen wasn't remotely like Pickman. He was not a taskmaster, but his teaching style was effective for some of the students in the other section. Dylan was an absolute terror on the court, someone even I had to watch out for. I had a hard time keeping up with him, and the only player on our team who ever got the jump on him was Hal. The reason we won that game was because his unexpected distraction allowed me to take one last player out along with me. Space magic was super useful in Bishop's Row. Who knew?
The second game had ended in a stalemate, but our times and outs were up there with the second-year teams. Because of that, they decided to include us in Intramurals in spring, a Bishop's Row tournament that was usually for second and third years only.
I guess we all performed well enough for them to add another bracket. That meant we’d make a single team, with tryouts the week before Thanksgiving. Also, I might have to face my brother on the court, which was nerve-wracking, but it was something to worry about later.
The thing on everyone’s mind that last week of September was Parents’ Night. It'd be a big deal for everyone, and possibly trauma-inducing for half my friends. Of course, they freaked out. Parents’ Night wasn't just some tour around campus for the adults; it was also a full social function for us students, including a semi-formal dance.
I had gone stag to all the dances at my old school with Izzy and Cadence, so that didn't bother me, but I worried for my friends, and that made it harder to hide my solar magic. The last thing I wanted was to glow like a firefly in front of everyone. The worst-case scenario was full-on panic with a crowd clamoring for my expulsion. At best, parents would take their kids home, leaving Hawthorn Academy at a low enough attendance to justify closing the school.
Nobody knows for now. Keep it that way.
The only other person who might have noticed was Coach Pickman. In the middle of a game, it was hard to tell whether I combined solar and fire energy, but since she hadn't demanded I flash sunlight in my opponent's eyes, I assumed the inside voice was right.
Still, avoiding detection and worrying about passing as a plain old fire magus was both anxiety-inducing and distracting to such a degree that I neglected an awful lot of items on my to-do list. That was why it wasn’t until Thursday, the day before Parents’ Night, when I realized something was bothering Grace.
"Are you sure you're going to wear that? To the dance, I mean?"
"I know there's a whole lot of fancy clothes in my closet, Grace, but Noah packed them. Honestly, I prefer just dressing like it's a normal day. You can't trip over skirts if you're not wearing them, right?"
"Well, it's just that, I mean, your parents are coming here to see you look all grown up and stuff. Isn't that a special occasion or something? Or do your parents really not care what you wear?"
"Huh?" The way she’d phrased the questions had me on edge. Not because of her, but for her.
"I know, I know, it's none of my business." She had her back to me, but the hitches in her voice showed despite her efforts to hide them. "Just, my aunt, well, she can't afford the trek out here." She waved a hand at her ubiquitous jeans and flannel. "Or anything but this for my wardrobe."
"Grace?" My brain couldn’t come up with any way to solve her problem, which was similar to Dylan's but worse. She’d only ever mentioned her aunt, wondering aloud about things parents might care about, lik
e she was being hypothetical. My brain finally made the leap.
Grace had no parents, and she didn't want to talk about it, or she wouldn't have hidden it. Nothing I could have offered would help. The only thing in my head was a story told at my bedside in early childhood. One about another orphaned girl and a dance she had no means to attend. I wasn’t a changeling and nobody's godmother, but maybe there was some small comfort to offer my friend.
"Do you want to borrow something from my closet?"
She turned, eyes wide as she stared at me. Her mouth opened, and her color got high. Had my question embarrassed her?
"I think I'm just going to stay in this room on Parents’ Night."
"Why?"
"I just shouldn't go. Nobody will care whether I'm there anyway, even though I like dancing."
"I'd care. I'd miss you if you stayed in here." I watched her shoulders. The trembling in them had slowed. "Besides, Dylan's parents probably won't be there either. I bet he'd love some company."
The moment the words came out of my mouth, I realized I didn't want Grace to go to Parents’ Night with Dylan like some sort of date. Because that was what I wanted to do. Ember landed on my shoulder, rubbing cheeks with me. But I had Mom and Dad. Grace and Dylan were in the same boat, alone in a foreign country. Leaning on each other to get through this could help them. What I wanted was less important than what two close friends needed.
"I guess I could ask him." She looked away. "If he says yes, is your offer still good for borrowing something?"
"Yeah, Grace. Always."
She nodded, then grabbed her pajamas and bathroom bag and headed into the hall. She returned maybe an hour later, much longer than her showers usually took. Her face practically glowed, and her smile was wide as she walked through the door.
"He said, yes!"
We spent the rest of our time before lights out trying things on. It was more fun to pick outfits for a party together than alone.
Chapter Thirty-One
It was the first Saturday I didn’t spend at Hawthorne Street. In a way, home came to me because even Bubbe would be here tonight. I was relieved about but extra worried about controlling myself. If she found out what I really was, my relationship with my grandmother might never be the same.
I couldn't talk about it to Grace or Dylan. The two of them had their own problems. I'd have talked to Hal, but he was totally preoccupied with Faith. She was in a near-panicked state, which I should have expected. Seth was so nervous that even Ember's crooning couldn't relax him. If her parents were even remotely like her sister, it was no wonder. I even found myself fearing their arrival.
The only other person I trusted enough was Logan, so I followed him into the library after breakfast. He’d taken to doing all of his class reading in there. It was the most distraction-free place on campus besides the dorm, and at the library, the Ashfords were there to help with questions.
Doris blinked as I strode over. Her surprise must have carried because Logan sat up straight, posture tense. When he recognized me, my friend nodded and waved me over.
"Hey, Aliyah." He was stiff and formal, and I didn't know why.
"What's up?"
"I should be asking you." He cleared his throat. "About what's up, I mean. Besides us this morning. And Ember on the chandelier." A nervous little laugh erupted from his throat.
"Oh, right." I nodded. "Hey, I just came over to ask if we could chat, but now I've got to ask, are you okay?"
"Um, maybe." He folded his hands together, placing them on top of the notepad sitting beside his textbook. His thumbnails were such a wreck I wanted to put antiseptic and bandages on them.
"How can I help?"
"Well, gimme a sec." He took a deep breath. "Will you go to the dance with me?"
"Wait, what?" I stepped back so unconsciously, I tripped over the chair rooted to the floor behind me—and ended up on my backside, of course.
"Oh, no!" Logan jumped out of his seat in a flash, leaning down to give me a hand up.
I took it. When our hands touched, I felt a flash of heat, but no flames appeared. My solar magic acted up, and only the bright light in the library stopped anyone from noticing. If this was my response to a surprise in this comforting environment, I barely stood a chance of escaping detection tonight.
"Thanks, Logan." I got up, a feat made much easier with his help.
He didn't reply, just stood as still as a pond, waiting. Of course, because he’d asked me a question and I’d replied by falling over.
"Yes, I'll go with you." I nodded, grinning. It was a relief, knowing one of my friends would be by my side for most of the evening.
"You mean it?" He got the floor to release the chair, then held it out for me.
"Absolutely." I sat, and he helped me push it in.
"Thank goodness." He settled back into his own seat, posture relaxing. "So, you wanted to chat? It's important, right?"
"Yeah." I told him my problem, how I'd have to work extra hard at hiding my magic. Asked if he had any idea how to go about that.
It wasn’t easy. I was ashamed about lying to my parents. My biggest fear was that Logan would judge me.
He totally surprised me.
"You came to the right guy." He nodded. "I mean, my family's all about how to make magic look certain ways. They raised Elanor and me to make it seem larger than life, but reversing some of what they taught me will work."
"We don't have much time. They get in for the assembly before dinner."
"Oh, I know, but don't worry." He grinned. "We're lucky. Most of it is stuff I can do with my water magic. Watch this."
Logan showed me a few tricks around the solar light fixtures. After watching him for less than a minute, I suspected this might work out after all. As long as I could stick with Logan Pierce for the entire event, maybe we'd make it through unscathed.
The four of us waited upstairs until the last minute. None of us really wanted to go down to where the rest of the school happily greeted their families. For a few minutes, I almost thought we’d stay there, in some sort of social limbo between bailing and attending. Then Hal showed up wearing a three-piece suit in jet with a silver vest.
Faith Fairbanks was on his arm, and I mean on. As in, she was dressed to the nines in a black cocktail dress with silver accents. I'd seen runway models while Noah watched Fashion Week who couldn't have held a candle to her.
Seth trotted behind them, his behavior befitting an AKC champion. He glanced at Ember, who dropped the Sha a wink as though she understood it wasn't playtime.
As Hal began escorting Faith down the stairs, walking instead of activating the magical conveyance, he beckoned to the rest of us. Even with his encouragement, we still stood immobile. The real catalyst was his date.
"I refuse to go out there without an entourage." Faith tossed her head, hair cascading over one bare shoulder in chestnut waves. "So, move your butts already."
"Come on, then." Dylan offered his elbow to Grace. "Let's not awaken her inner mean-girl."
"Oh, yeah, don't want that." Grace stepped up beside her date.
"How about it, Logan?" It was up to me to get us moving.
He'd been silent the whole time, except he had one hand clenching hard enough to break the skin on his palms. I recognized that from class, when he made huge efforts to focus and get everything right.
"Are you sure?" He shook his head. "What if it's not perfect? Because I mess things up?"
"We don't have to be perfect, Logan, just present. We can do this."
"Okay." He took a deep breath.
And just like that, we made an entrance so cinematic, our classmates literally talked about it for years. Gale and Doris even managed to remember it was "opposite day," too.
Hal and Faith brought all the glitz, but Dylan and Grace were just as head-turning. I decided to let her keep the purple dress she’d borrowed. The plum flattered her complexion, and the hemline that was too short on me was a perfectly classy knee-length for he
r stature. Not to mention, the dress's hue represented umbral magic. It was perfect on her, and complimentary to the ice-blue tie Dylan wore.
I noticed my mother watching our descent. Her hand went to her breastbone, and she gazed at me like I’d stepped out of an old photograph. She had good reason. That mint green dress Noah had tossed into my suitcase a month ago had originally belonged to Mom. She’d worn it at this very school on her own Parents’ Night years ago. She’d told me this when she hung it in my closet last spring, which Noah encouraged because that style had come back in again this year.
She and Dad must have been on a trip down memory lane, but not Bubbe. Her gaze appraised, as though she analyzed the lot of us and how we had paired off for this event—like she was aware we had a strategy, although she couldn’t suspect why when it came to anyone besides the boys.
Logan's parents also studied us. Their eyes narrowed at first until they caught themselves making unflattering faces. After that, they both put on figurative masks, but in that short span of time, I understood their confusion. They expected to see us together but perhaps not clinging so tightly. I mean, we were, but not in an inappropriate way.
The worst were the Fairbanks. They took one look at the lot of us on the stairs and turned their backs like they didn't even care that their middle daughter was dating the headmaster's son.
Yeah, they actually were dating. Hal looked practically giddy, and while Faith's face wore its usual expression of deliberate ennui, she went farther than just putting one hand on his arm. Instead, their hands were twined together like a litter of sleepy Sha pups. There was a comfort and solidarity in that gesture, one I'd seen before.
Between my parents.
The mean girl and the nice guy. Who knew?
At the bottom of the stairs, it was easy enough to navigate to our seats for the assembly. We took up an entire row, so no worries about sitting next to any enemies. Kitty's group went in behind us like they were playing rear guard, or maybe they were also avoiding Charity and her minions. Not that they could get up to much with this many parents plus all the faculty and staff in attendance. Even Zeke was there, standing in the back with Penelope.
