by D. R. Perry
"He's poison." Noah opened his eyes but stared at the floor. Lotan slithered out of his collar and rubbed cheeks with him, a sign his familiar knew there was something wrong.
"Tell me something I don't know. Duh, poison magus. That fact's right there in front of me in Lab every day. And in Gym, to boot. You know we're on the team together, right?"
"That's not what I'm talking about." My brother's voice sounded like it came from the bottom of a well. "I'm trying to tell you he's no good."
"You said the same thing about me at the beginning of the semester, and I'm your sister." Ember got between Noah and me, perching on my desk and thrusting her neck out.
"I'm sorry." Noah opened his eyes, and I saw the tears in them. "I thought you'd want all the same things I did out of school. I didn't realize you'd always be different from the crowd I hang around with now, and I let myself think that was more important than you. But nothing is. You're my little sister, and all our lives, I promised to take care of you. I seriously dropped the ball, and it was the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life. Well, almost."
"What you mean by ‘almost?’" I froze. "What could be worse? You're not a bad person, so there's no way you could have done something so terrible you're this afraid to talk about it."
He'd been hiding something enormous. I couldn't assume it was the same as mine, though. As much as I'd love to not be alone with my secret, he wouldn't be going on about who I dated if the problem he’d hinted at was being an extramagus.
"It'd be worse if I let you keep dating Alex after what he's done." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes again, as though he couldn’t bear to see my face when he told me the truth. "Aliyah, he—"
The door hit him in the back, and he stumbled forward into the room. Noah righted himself, but the moment was lost. There was no way he could finish the sentence now, not with who’d just walked into my room.
Grace wore gym clothes. She had a chest of ankyr and cestus under one arm and wasn’t alone. Dylan, Alex, Lee, and Faith all followed her in. My roommate chattered away, totally oblivious to anything besides what she was focused on, Bishop's Row.
"The gym's clear, so I talked to Coach, and she says we can use it. Lee and Faith need more practice in case Coach Pickman takes them off the bench and they're not getting it during the week. So, I figured, since you were just studying up here anyway, we could— Oh."
She saw Noah. Well, she noticed his presence almost right after she walked in, but she really saw him now, shrouded in all that misery. Grace blinked, standing still like she was in the woods and had just noticed a bear. Or maybe something more delicate, like a fawn or even a flight of monarch butterflies drying their wings after escaping their cocoons.
"You go practice, Aliyah. We'll talk later." Noah's voice was choked, which made sense. He was on the verge of tears, after all. He and Alex didn't look at each other, both sets of eyes finding something else to fix on as they passed each other in the doorway.
I was about to stop Noah or go after him, I wasn’t sure which, but my indecision cost me my choice because Grace rummaged in her dresser, grabbing some compression socks. I shook my head, turned to my own dresser, and got my gym clothes. Our reserve players needed extra practice.
Our tournament was the week after Passover.
Noah and I didn't find time to talk that week. The second-years had standardized tests in the middle of the semester, so he was super busy hitting the books with Elanor. They were in the library, which made it hard to discuss anything emotional. And even though I approached him once, he only told me to be careful and that we'd discuss everything over break.
But that didn't work out so well because Noah wanted to talk to me alone, not with my roommate around. I refused to stop being kind to people who needed it, but sometimes it was damned inconvenient to have a houseguest when your sibling's trying to have a deep and confidential conversation with you.
Grace came home with me on Friday night after class and didn't leave until Tuesday. In the kitchen over breakfast with my family, she said she had to stay in shape and needed time in the gym on campus. But I knew better, because she told me the night before, whispering up from the trundle bed in my room.
She had an appointment with Headmaster Hawkins, the therapy kind. So of course, Izzy and Cadence decided to bring me down to Engine House for pizza. Noah tried to stop me and I almost let him, but I needed a little time out of the house too. At the counter, we grabbed some slices and sodas and hustled into a booth beside the window so we could people watch.
"So, tell me about this boy." Cadence smiled. "The one who took you to the dance."
"Is that what you brought me here for? To go boy crazy?" I raised my eyebrow. I didn't really want to discuss Alex.
"Not exactly. It's just a topic." She shrugged. "Why? What would you rather talk about?"
"How about that Bishop's Row team at Gallows Hill? Let's talk about that instead." I rattled off a string of questions about whether the teams are just limited to changelings or if they'd somehow figured out a way for shifters to channel energy.
"There's not much to tell. I'm not on it." She chuckled. "But we've got a cheer squad. That's what I'm doing."
"So, tell me about cheer squad, then."
"It's not too exciting." She shrugged, then took a bite of her pizza and talked around it. "Mostly, we jump up and down making a lot of noise. The outfits are cute though."
"Don't tell me you're wearing miniskirts with lollipops under them?" Izzy rolled her eyes. One of the things she never liked about the mundane schools we attended earlier in our lives was cheerleading uniforms. She thought them boring and stereotypical, even if the girls wearing them found miniskirts empowering.
"No way." Cadence pulled out her phone, tapping it to fetch a picture. I was totally envious of the fact that cell phones worked at Gallows Hill, but that was beside the point.
The outfit she showed us was something like a jogging suit but covered with sequins. No wonder she loved it. I saw that the squad wasn't just for girls, either.
"That's actually kind of cool." Izzy looked up from the phone. "We've got nothing like that at Messing." She chuckled. "People applaud there by snapping their fingers like a bunch of beatniks."
"But you've got a team, right?" Cadence's eyes widened. "Because your school's going to need it for—"
"Ixnay!" Izzy made a cutting gesture across her throat, reminding me for all the world of a pirate. "Yeah, we do. Nobody who's not on the team admits liking it, though." She snorted. I was getting the impression folks at Izzy's school annoyed her immensely.
"Are you on it?" I realized I sounded like Grace, all questions and no answers, and I got annoyed with her and Dylan for avoiding confrontation. Not a good look, Aliyah.
"I guess." Izzy shrugged. "Shocked everybody I know there, but it's no big deal." Clearly, sports weren't that important to her. But she'd been pretty flat over the whole break. Should I be worried?
Worrying over a psychic? That's a bit beneath you, isn't it? People like them exist for people like us to use as we see fit.
I rolled my eyes at the evil inside voice, but my friends didn't need to know anything about that. Or maybe they did. Could I tell them? I knew I could trust them to keep secrets, but I wasn’t sure I should divulge that in a public place like Engine House. Or at all.
Because once again, the voice had a point. Extramagi have a long history of chewing psychics up and spitting them out. And mermaids had gone into hiding ages ago because of them. What if I scared them away and they didn't want to hang out anymore? I wasn’t sure I could handle losing the friends I'd known since kindergarten.
"Well, you and Aliyah have something in common, then." Cadence's smile was like sunlight on water.
"Yeah, I know. She's Jane Football, in a manner of speaking." Izzy chuckled at me. "Who knew you'd be a jock?"
"And dating one, too! So, tell us about your boyfriend." Cadence had finished her pizza so she folded her hands, making t
hem flat like a table, then set her chin on them and batted her eyes. That pretty much meant she wouldn’t drop the subject of Alex Onassis.
"It sort of happened by accident." I stared at the crumbs on the paper plate in front of me. "Us dating, I mean."
"Like in a rom-com? You spilled coffee on him or something?"
"Not really." I shrugged. "It just sort of happened. I think I'm dating him by default or something because ever since the dance he's just been hanging around with me all the time practically."
"Well, uh. So, what's he like?" Cadence's hand flopped like a fish out of water. Her accompanying laugh was more of a gasp. The conversation was awkward with a side order of cringe sauce.
"Hang on a minute there, Cadence." Izzy shook her head, dropping her pizza crust and placing her hands flat on the table. She meant business. "He's just following you around so you're dating. That sounds majorly unhealthy."
"I don't know from healthy." I sighed, shaking my head like my body couldn't decide which emotion to show. "I've never had a boyfriend before, so I don't know what normal is."
"Let me ask you something." Izzy narrowed her eyes. "It's extra personal, so I hope you don't mind."
"Personal's what I expect from my best friends. Right?" I was worried that the worst was happening. Were we growing apart? "Go ahead."
"Okay, so Logan Pierce took you to the Parents’ Night dance." She tilted her head, brown hair cascading over one shoulder. "And you didn't end up dating him by default, right? Why not?"
"Because Logan and I talked about it." My breath caught in my throat because, like any psychic worth her salt, she’d led me to a conclusion. "We agreed both of us feel totally platonic about each other. Like good friends, and we're happy like that."
"So how come you’re default-dating this Alex guy when I assume he didn't bother discussing your feelings on the matter?" Her nostrils flared.
"Wow." I struggled to swallow past the lump in my throat. "Time's just kind of gotten away from me. There's some pretty serious stuff going on with friends at school, like potentially life-threatening."
"Oh, my God, Aliyah, I'm sorry." Cadence leaned back, blinking. "If I'd known, I never would've kept bugging you about this whole Alex thing."
"No, it's a good thing you brought it up, Cadence." Izzy nodded. "Because Aliyah definitely needs to stop and think about whether she even wants to date this dude."
"Yeah, you're right." Cadence sighed. "So, tell us about your other friends, then."
"Okay." I took a deep breath and leaned forward so I could lower my voice and keep name-dropping to a minimum. Medical information was private. "You remember Hal Hawkins?"
They nodded. After that, I launched into a brief timeline of his health's deterioration, what Hal had told me, and my theories. Cadence chewed the inside of her cheek, a common habit when she was deeply worried. But Izzy went pale, which did not bode well. Not at all.
I told you he was dying, but did you listen?
"He's felt too sick to leave campus. Class takes a lot out of him even when he takes it easy." I sighed. "But when Grace went to campus this morning, I asked her to track him down and see if he'll come over tomorrow. And bring him to Bubbe's office."
"Why?" Cadence blinked. "What's an extraveterinarian going to do for a magus?"
"A blood test on a separate record from the ones his family controls, for one thing."
"Is that legal?" Cadence pursed her lips. "He's a minor, right?"
Izzy turned her head, staring in shock at Cadence. Thinking of the law was not usually her wheelhouse.
"I don't know, but at this point, I hardly care." My hands curled into fists. I was prepared to fight for my friend's life, legalities be damned.
Izzy stood so suddenly she knocked her chair over. The entire staff and all the customers stared. Everyone saw her pointing at me with one hand while rummaging in her bag of cards with the other. And when she slapped the omen down on the table between us, I had nothing at all to say about it.
For once, an intelligent choice.
It was the nine of swords. Izzy has been reading cards around me since before she could read words, so I was fully aware of what this one meant. Guilt, plain and simple. Secrets that kept you up at night, weights on your mind and heart that you couldn’t shake.
But it got worse. Not because of the card, but because Izzy sometimes channeled coincidence. It was all part of being a precognitive psychic who saw the future with the aid of items instead of in dreams or through scrying. She was about to unleash a major truth on me right here in the middle of my favorite restaurant.
No pressure. Who am I kidding? It was like being at the bottom of the sea.
"You must cast off your burdens or sink with them. The time is sooner than you imagine, and You. Are. Not. Prepared."
Izzy collapsed backward, which meant she'd fall. Her chair was on the floor, legs stretching and threatening like the swords on that card. She could seriously injure herself on it.
"Ember, go!"
My dragonet launched herself off my shoulder, swooping down toward Izzy to grab her by the shoulders of her cardigan. Golden talons punched holes through knit fabric, which held, thank goodness. But a critter no bigger than a small cat couldn't hope to keep a swooning psychic upright for long.
Cadence and I stood, but we were on the other side of the table. We were too late. Fortunately, the person at the table behind her turned and rose to the occasion. More like he raised the chair.
With magic.
It was Lee Young, from Hawthorn. I knew he'd be staying in Salem this week, but I had no idea he loved this pizza place as much as we did. His wood magic easily affected the fallen seat, since aside from the screws, it was entirely made from his element.
The chair slid into place behind Izzy just in time to catch her as Ember lost her grip. Lee stood and moved to the empty seat beside Izzy. He reached for her soda cup and placed it in front of her, then opened his coat and let Scratch out.
"Make sure she's okay, then we'll try reviving her."
Cadence nodded. This looked like familiar territory for both of them, which had me totally stumped. Clearly, Lee had become well acquainted with both of my friends from town. Which was good, all things considered. Nobody else I know could've pulled off that rescue stunt.
Ember returned to my shoulder as Scratch climbed into Izzy's lap. The Sumxu stood on her hind legs, peering at Izzy's face and tilting her head from one side to the other. Her voice was squeaky with a lilt at the end like she asked a series of questions. Scratch sounded for all the world like an inquisitive guinea pig, even though she was a magical lop-eared cat.
Now that things were relatively calm, the other bystanders turned away and went about the business of enjoying their pizza. I stuck around, watching Lee do his thing. It was clear he was planning to go into some sort of extrahuman medicine in the future. Wood magi often did.
I wondered if maybe I should let him in on Hal's problem, but that wasn’t for me to decide. Izzy came out of it in half a minute, immediately thirsty. I wondered how Lee had expected that. Maybe she'd done readings for him before or something, but if she'd channeled coincidence while doing it, it must've been a heavy topic.
She sucked down soda, grabbing the nine of swords off the table and putting it away in her bag. She looked up at me, saying nothing. I nodded, understanding. This was just part of her being psychic.
Cadence and I decided to cut things short, packing up Izzy's pizza and helping her out the door. Lee came along and walked all the way to Izzy's house with us. Once we handed her off to Abuela, Lee nodded and waved, heading back toward campus.
Cadence lingered for moment, so I asked if she was all right.
"I've been better, honestly. Sorry for acting so weird. But there's a lot going on I can't talk about. You probably don't understand."
"No, I get it." I reached out, patted her shoulder. "Hey, I'm the one who got the nine of swords, remember?"
"I thought I did." C
adence blinked.
I stood there musing. Izzy pointed across the table, where Cadence and I both sat. It could have been either of us. “Or maybe both.”
"Both what?" Cadence chuckled softly. "Your inside voice is out of control again, huh?"
"I guess. I never could quite get a handle on that." I sighed. "It's gotten me into all sorts of trouble lately."
"I'm sorry about Alex. All the pushing I did, the assumptions I made." She held out her arms. "Can you forgive me?"
"Always." I hugged my friend, realizing that we were going to have loads to catch up on over the summer. But right now, standing out in the rapidly chilling air of late afternoon, wasn't the time. "Listen, Cadence. I'll definitely see you again this week. Hang in there. I've got to talk to Noah; it's overdue and important, and there’s something I need to do before I can really figure the whole Alex thing out."
"Okay." She nodded. "Don't be a stranger. It feels like ages since you used the orb. Don't forget about us while you're in school. We all need each other, always have."
"I won't. I promise."
I walked up the driveway, glancing up at the living room window. Noah sat in it, watching me approach the house. My parent's car was not there, so we'd finally have time.
Chapter Forty-Five
Upstairs in Noah's room, we sat at the foot of his bed, our hands curled around mugs of hot chocolate. His had whipped cream with sprinkles and mine, marshmallows. But otherwise, we were practically mirror images of each other.
"This chocolate is forbidden." I smirked. "In your room."
"I can't risk Mom and Dad walking in. Or anyone else, for that matter." Noah shook his head as though he wore a ten-ton crown.
"You can't even talk about this in front of Bubbe?" Our grandmother was always more accepting than Mom and Dad. She could afford it, because our discipline wasn't in her hands.
"No. Well, I mean, I could." Noah stared at the ceiling, searching for words. "I'd trust her with that, I mean. But this is all just too painful."
"I understand."
