by D. R. Perry
Oh, you don't know the half of it.
I closed my eyes, leaning against the door, using my ears instead for my lookout duties. It was hard to focus on whether there were footsteps outside the sauna, though, not with Hal getting bleak for the first time where his friends could see it. I wouldn't lie to myself and pretend someone as ill as Hal hadn't despaired in private.
"Is there a way for me to find out if my dad's really my father?"
"I'd say he is. You resemble him quite closely when he was your age, in feature and build. Besides, space magic is quite rare. It's practically impossible that if your mother were unfaithful, she'd have found another space magus to carry on with on this side of the Atlantic."
"Nothing's impossible for magi." Hal's voice cracked. He cleared his throat and continued, "Pardon my language, but coincidence is a bitch, Dr. Morgenstern."
"I already checked the registry, Harold. There are no space magi besides you and your father on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. And you're pardoned in my book."
"That means nothing. Mom's on the registry as a psychic, not a Dampyr. There must be something more to this than even you found out. How do I look for it?" He sniffled. "You're the only person who's given me anything like a real answer about any of this, so what do I do now?"
"You try the therapy. You play your game." Bubbe's voice was too even, the way it got when she delivered the worst news about a patient.
"I'm talking about in the long-term, doctor."
"Get through this day. Come by anytime this week. We'll discuss that."
"Okay, but when I do, we're making a list of questions for my parents. They will explain this."
I stood with my back to the door, staring at Hal, my chin practically on the floor. I'd never seen him angry, nor even imagined it. And yet there he was, totally justified in it.
You've dropped the ball, Aliyah.
The evil inside voice sounded like it clicked its tongue even though it didn't have one.
The door hit me in the back as someone pushed through it. I tried leaning backward, keeping it closed, protecting my friends, but it was no use. My knees got weaker than a little door pushing should have made them. My head lighter too, so I knew who was trying to bust in.
"Get out of here, Alex." I turned, trying to push with my arms and get it to close, but his foot and his arm were already in the door.
"Why are you in there with the headmaster's son?"
"None of your business." I glared at him. "Shut off your poison immediately." He knew Hal was sick, and that room was small. "Or I swear—"
"Fire is a bad idea in there without the vent on, Aliyah." His chuckle was low and rolling. And entirely inappropriate in this situation. "So is poison. Which is the worse way to go, I wonder?"
Some folks would have been startled by a callous remark like that. Not me. Remember my first day? Yeah. Let's just say I wasn’t reacting with a flight response here.
"I'm going outside, you guys."
I opened the door just wide enough to get out, physically blocking Alex from entering the room and pushing him out of the way. Even through the poison-induced haze, somehow, I found the strength. When Ember dropped down from the perch outside and above the sauna door, I understood.
My familiar channeled some of her strength into me. This was like that first day in the cafeteria, except I hadn't conjured any fire in my hands. It was all in my body, fighting the poison. I felt it burning out of me instead of through my veins, Ember helping me to use it as a purifying force.
"You are the pushiest person I know." I crossed my arms over my chest, blocking the doorknob with my body. "I can't believe you tried gassing a room with three people inside and then laughed about it."
"I'm shocked." He blinked. "I thought you'd have a sense of humor like my cousin. And ambition, like your uncle."
"Not really." I shook my head, finally getting the picture.
The evil inside voice had been right. Alex Onassis did admire me for being an extramagus. For all the wrong reasons. He was a bully but stuck with a subtle sort of magic, so he was looking for a partner with power, and he thought he'd found one.
But you're too kind. Such a shame.
"Not really," I repeated. "We're breaking up, Alex."
"That's sudden." He licked his lips. "Are you sure?"
"I should've talked to Noah sooner, and then it really would've been sudden." I snorted.
"Are you worried I'll cheat on you?" He rolled his eyes. "It won't happen again. If I'd known how powerful you were, I'd have kept my hormones in check around your brother’s boy-toy."
"You never asked if I wanted to date you. You just assumed and followed me everywhere. Toxic City."
"Women want a man who takes what he wants." His chin was clenched, but his eyes darted from one side to the other. "I'll ask again. Are you sure we're breaking up?"
"You broke my brother's heart for kicks." I narrowed my eyes. "So yes, I'm sure."
"Aliyah, do you need help?" It was Faith. Her hands were shrouded in the faint gray of undeath energy, and she wasn’t alone, either. Seth stood with all four of his feet planted on the tile, growling at Alex.
"Thanks for the back-up." I jerked my chin at Alex. "Maybe now he'll take no for an answer."
"Dumping me right before the game? That's classy." Alex smirked. "You're judging me for what happened on the first day. Honestly, I expected greater things from you."
"It's not something that happened; you made a choice." I shot a glance at Faith. "You knew Darren was Noah's boyfriend. You should have apologized and owned up. But instead, you act like you're too good for that."
"Wait." Faith blinked. "That was you? Jerk."
"I went to a great deal of trouble to keep my name out of that particular rumor mill." Alex looked down his nose at me. Or tried to, because we were almost the same height. "If it finds its way back in, be assured yours will join it."
"Wow." Dylan came around the corner, eyes in a constant state of motion between me, Faith, and Alex. "Did I just hear you threaten my friend?"
"Grow up, Khan. It's only quid pro quo." Alex dropped his hands to his sides. "If she doesn't want any trouble, my ex will fall in line. We'd better start warming up, getting prepared to play rough."
He walked away, but overall, I figured this was a victory despite his veiled threats. Sure, I ran the risk of having my secret outed before I was ready. Once I did, Alex Onassis and his rumor mill would have no power over me. I hoped.
"Is Hal in there?" Faith jerked her thumb at the sauna door.
"Yes, Grace too." I heard footsteps in the room behind me. "And they're done." I stepped aside and let my friend through.
Grace came out with my knapsack, packed up again. She handed it off, then headed toward the lockers, Dylan following. Faith went in to sit with Hal. When I peeked through the window, I saw them holding hands with their eyes closed, the paper with Bubbe's instructions on it beside them. They were doing the therapy, which involved using undeath magic to stabilize Hal's regulation of his space magic.
I stayed outside the sauna, guarding the door because the last thing I wanted was Alex learning even more secrets. He might know mine, having guessed correctly because he’d seen it before, but my friends shouldn't pay for my mistake in trusting him.
In about five minutes, the pair emerged, faces flushed and holding hands. The bond I always sensed between them was stronger than ever.
I walked with them to the lockers where we stored our stuff and changed. After that, we put on and tested our ankyr and cestus, including the new professional-grade ballistae. These were worn in televised tournaments. They added refinement to channeling so extra energy didn't escape our hands, making the conjure more efficient and less draining.
I realized that these ballistae might help the other types of extrahumans playing this sport. Part of the reason psychic energy and glamour were so hard to use for conjuring orbs was that they were more diffuse and harder to focus, but with gear like
this that funneled as you channeled, maybe it was possible for them to really generate a good orb and throw it with accuracy.
Maybe that was how folks like Izzy could play. Precognition, telepathy, projection. Mentalist psychics, whose powers didn't otherwise manifest, now had a way to participate if they wanted to. Was this the big secret Izzy was keeping?
Coach Pickman blew her whistle. It was time for us to head out of the locker room and onto the court.
The first team we faced off against was my brother's. If it hadn’t been for our conversation last week, this would have caused me no end of stress, but now there were no hard feelings, except the ones I carried inside, secret for now. I'd have to handle my confession delicately and do all I could to spare his feelings since my brother would always be important to me.
I stood behind Grace, waiting for Coach Pickman and the second-year team’s Coach Ives to call for the coin toss. Noah caught my eye, nodding from his position as second defense. Our whole team already knew to watch out for his solar magic. He'd used it to blind other players before.
One reason this game was so exciting was that players could use tactics like that. As long as an orb was held in a defensive posture, moving around and letting its general effects just happen was perfectly within the rules.
Fortunately, we had Grace to counter that, and she excelled at staying on her toes. I fully expected this game to go long, potentially even for us to win since Hal's abilities were totally unknown to the other side.
The first defense guy was another air magus. They were pretty common, so it was no wonder the school had so many in attendance. He wouldn't be able to block my fire too well, so I could mostly ignore his defense and take him out as soon as I got the chance.
The other mid-players were both girls, earth and water, respectively. I wouldn't be able to do much against either of them, but Alex could negate both with relative ease. Considering his state of mind wasn't the best at the moment, I expected him to be especially fierce on the court. Hopefully, all the activity would take his anger down a notch or three.
Perhaps he could channel his anger at me into something constructive during this game. All the activity might even chill him out enough to reconsider the threatened vengeance angle. I might hope for the best, but I had no illusions about him apologizing anytime soon.
The person we really needed to worry about on the other team was their reverse point. It was Elanor Pierce, Logan's sister. I know, she didn't seem like the type to play competitive sports, let alone have any talent at it, but assumptions were bunk, so there you go.
She was uncommonly quick at conjuring her fire magic and throwing too. According to everything I'd read about her in the notes from last year, Elanor had also mastered the art of the fake-out. That meant she'd be able to conjure and misdirect almost everyone on our team. Part of team planning over the last month had involved me keeping an eye on her because I could sense fire energy. I'd be able to tell where she was actually aiming.
Other than that, most of what we'd do was protect Dylan. He had loads of stamina and could dodge most anything as long as we backed him up.
All we needed to do now was flip a coin.
Chapter Forty-Eight
The coin toss didn't go in our favor. I watched Noah conjure, calling forth his solar magic with a smirk on his face, which meant almost everyone on the team squinted or otherwise tried shielding their eyes.
He was my brother, so I knew better.
I stared him right in the eye, watching them widen as he realized I wasn’t falling for his shtick. I conjured fire right back, and although I'm slower than him, it wasn’t enough.
He wound up with both hands spinning his ball of daylight-bright solar energy. I knew he wasn’t really going to blind my entire team, so I tossed my own orb in the air, knocking his out of the way before it could hit Hal in the chest. He’d covered his eyes and didn't see it coming, of course.
Maybe it would have been better for Hal, in the long run, to have let Noah's throw hit its mark, but there was nothing I could do about it now. Alex was there, leaping toward the middle to counter a chunk of earth heading straight for Dylan. It pattered to the ground, then vanished as the court's wards banished the energy. But Alex wasn't paying attention to his footwork, so he slipped on some before it dissipated and ended up on the floor.
This meant Dylan had no protection except his own air orb. I was still conjuring and didn't have enough to counter the ball of water coming straight for him, not that my element was much good against that anyway. But he had it handled.
Dylan's orb spun like a tornado, so when he held it up in front of his chest and pressed forward with it, the water orb appeared to shatter, bits scattering everywhere. Once the orb's cohesion broke, none of the droplets could tag us out. I got hit with a few, and they were almost impossibly cold. That was a helpful side effect of the unexpected shower. It stopped Hal from spacing out.
I wracked my brain, trying to remember any details about the alternative therapy Bubbe gave us, and there was one that might have accounted for that. The therapy was only possible because Faith used undeath energy, but that particular brand of magic came with its own set of problems when used on the living. Hal was a little bit zombified, which ended up being a good thing.
Elanor did one of her fake-outs. I sensed it, but she was so fast I didn't have time to warn my teammate. Hal didn't need one now that his eyes were open. Whatever Faith did, it gave him crazy reflexes. He blinked to one side as the fire orb sailed by, bouncing harmlessly out of bounds.
The girl casting earth stood there flabbergasted, leaving her wide open for Alex's orb. He hit her directly on the cestus, which flashed red as she was tagged out.
I hear Kitty, Eston, and Logan cheering from the bleachers. Our three friends were so gung-ho excited that we scored the first out, and that was where Dylan's gregarious nature failed him.
Dylan Khan was my favorite goofball in the world, so of course, he smiled and waved at our friends. It was a natural thing for him, but this game was unforgiving, so Elanor took her opportunity to throw another orb.
It must have been all the performance art training that had built her speed to that degree. I could imagine that in order to be entertaining with fire magic, you had to summon and banish your element with extreme alacrity. It served her well here, but her orbs ended up small and not so powerful. It was the same for Lee with his wood magic. I knew exactly how to deal with that.
By being stronger.
Grace had to hold her action in case Noah tried a blinding move, so I leaped into the middle, holding up my own fireball. Because it was the same element, Elanor's didn't dissipate. Instead, mine absorbed it, and I found myself breathless at how fast it all happened.
Or maybe it was the giant fiery orb eating all the oxygen next to my face.
My power level was exponentially larger than hers. She was a candle in the wind, while I was walking on the sun, but finesse could still win the day if I wasn’t careful.
Throw it already before you incinerate yourself.
"Thanks, broken clock." I rolled my eyes along with the orb. Nobody needed to know I was talking to the evil inside voice, but I was. It was right.
I threw at Noah. He was the most dangerous player besides Elanor, who was better protected. The last thing we needed was someone getting blinded.
Ducking wouldn't help Noah, and he knew it. He hit the deck, flattening himself on the floor. He was as nimble as Grace. My fireball almost hit the mid-player behind him, but she managed to hop aside in time because I wasn't aiming for her.
I conjured again. It felt different. Why?
Solar magic. That's why.
"Stop. Banish time."
Beside me, Alex chuckled. I ignored him and conjured fire again, my focus intense. Meanwhile, Grace blocked a throw from their second defense. It would've hit me.
"Thanks."
She nodded and conjured shadows again.
Noah recovered with anoth
er sunlit orb, and everybody expected him to throw it instead of blinding us. But he aimed at Alex—at his head, not his cestus. I understood. He was angry. As much as I'd like to see Noah get revenge, I needed to make this play count.
So I launched my off-color orb. I missed, failing to deflect my brother's attack. Alex ducked, laughing. He avoided Noah's orb easily but took mine directly in the gut, sneering.
He wanted you to hit him, foolish girl.
His cestus flashed red, and just like that, Alex Onassis was out.
I blinked. How did this happen? The team's magic got calibrated to our equipment last week, so it shouldn't have triggered an out. But as my energy faded into Alex's protective gear, I saw it.
My orb had been solar magic after all, masked by a thin veneer of fire, which meant I had conjured both elements at the same time, using one to hide the other. And magicpsychic equipment doesn't lie.
A blast from Coach Chen's whistle cut the air, stopping the game.
I just told you there are no breaks in Bishop's Row, but that wasn’t entirely true. If there was equipment failure or suspicion of cheating, any coach could call time out.
He led both teams to the sidelines where Coach Pickman, Headmaster Hawkins, and the second-year coaches waited. All four looked over Alex's equipment, checking for tampering or malfunction. They found nothing, of course, since this was all my fault.
They're going to catch you.
The singsong taunt from the evil inside voice was more than I could take. Yes, I was being a stereotypical fire magus and losing my temper. Anyone might have at that point. I'd spent months dealing with that incessant voice in silence. Not since the solar magic showed up. I understood now. It had first chimed in when I started lying. It was time to stop this insanity, or at least give it less to plague me with.
I raise my hand.
"Headmaster, I've got something to say."
"Step forward, Miss Morgenstern."
All my friends stared at me, mouths open and eyes wide. Except for Alex, who glared poison darts. Looked like I had made another enemy. I took a deep breath and prepared to own my mistake.
