by Chloe Garner
Sasha glanced over at her.
“You don’t like being at a small school,” she said, and Valerie shrugged.
“I don’t think it’s the size of the school that disagrees with me,” she said honestly. “I would get along just about anywhere that didn’t walk in the door assuming I didn’t deserve to be there.”
“You deserve to be here,” Sasha said. “And not only because the Council owes it to your mom. You’re one of the best magic users on the campus. That’s why Lady Harrington assigned you as Mr. Tannis’ research assistant.”
“Not exactly the way she put it,” Valerie said, considering that day’s work with Mr. Tannis.
She’d attempted to cook the man.
And been successful, but for his ability to stop her.
That chilled her, even more out here in the evening sun with Hanson Cox running around and being a goofy idiot the way he always did when he wasn’t playing a sport for glory.
She could kill someone with the force of her mind and a rather simple assortment of uninspiring objects.
Kill them dead, like they never saw it coming and never even knew what did it.
And then she saw it.
Her dad.
Her dad had known how to teach her, and she had thought it was because of how closely the way she thought - the way she learned - mirrored his. And maybe that was still true. But everyone said how she looked like her mom and how she cast like her mom…
Lady Harrington had needed someone to cast killing spells in order for Mr. Tannis to develop a defense against it.
And they’d brought in the assassin’s daughter to do it.
She hugged her knees against her shoulders, angry and ashamed.
It had taken them less than two weeks to teach her how to do it.
That was all it took to turn Valerie into a killer.
Hanson looked over and waved, checking his watch and waving his way out of the game.
He was breathing hard as he threw himself onto the ground next to her.
He might have played silly, but he always played hard.
“Who’s ready to eat?” he asked.
“I am,” Sasha said, and Valerie couldn’t help but grin.
“You’re supposed to be there for the beginning of dinner?” Valerie asked, and Hanson gave her a more serious nod.
“Yeah. We’re supposed to get the rules for being on campus and stuff,” he said. “They gave us a little time to get settled in, but… You know.”
Valerie nodded.
“Well, we’d better get there while they still have enough food left.”
He grinned and stood, pulling her to her feet. Sasha moved like she didn’t know whose side to stand on, and Valerie took a step - just being the first one to set off - that left a gap between her and Hanson.
Sasha slid into it easily and they walked back to the main building.
Valerie took Hanson through the food line and went to the table where she always sat with the Council kids now, raising a hand as Ethan and Shack walked in. Ethan left Shack to come over and greet Hanson.
“Nice to finally meet you,” Ethan said after Valerie introduced them. “Heard a lot about you.”
“Hey, yeah,” Hanson said. “Really neat to meet Val’s new friends. All happened really suddenly, actually.”
“I was actually a full month later than her,” Ethan said. “Was traveling with my family in Europe.”
“Cool,” Hanson said. “I want to go, someday. Want to see London.”
Valerie didn’t know that.
“It was mostly continental,” Ethan said. “We didn’t get up to the UK. Anyway, let me go get some food. Valerie says you play basketball.”
“Oh, you don’t want to let me get started with that,” Hanson said happily. “Sometimes I forget I’m just playing for fun, when it comes to basketball.”
Ethan grinned.
“So?”
“So that’s him, huh?” Hanson asked as Ethan walked away.
“Him what?” Valerie answered, and he gave her a sideways smile.
“The new guy,” he said. “I can always tell. Does he know yet?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Valerie said.
“Yeah, you do,” he teased, then he looked over at Sasha. “So do you play sports?”
“No,” Sasha said. “No, not at all. I’m kind of more of a book nerd.”
“Don’t have to have it one way or the other,” Hanson said. “Nothing that says that you can’t play sports if you’re smart.”
She gave him a shy smile and nodded.
“I’m just not very coordinated,” she said.
“So?” he asked. “I don’t care if you’re good. The point of playing is to have fun.”
“Tell that to every team I’ve ever been on,” Valerie said, and Hanson laughed.
“You’re a special brand of don’t-care,” he said. “I’d be annoyed at you, too.”
Valerie shrugged one shoulder at him and continued eating.
“You’d be so good at field hockey, though,” he went on, talking to Valerie. “I’ve never known a girl who hits as hard as you do.”
She narrowed her eyes at him and he laughed.
“Just saying.”
“Shove a bunch of people around fighting over a little ball that I could buy three of in a can at the store,” Valerie said. “Pass.”
Hanson leaned over the table toward Sasha.
“So does the new victim know about it yet?” he asked, pointing a thumb at Ethan.
“Victim?” Sasha asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Hanson said. “Guys get it bad for Val, and she goes along with it for a while and then decides that she’s wasting her time with them, and she’s the kind you never get over. Can’t count the guys that I’ve seen, still in love with her.”
“I don’t think Ethan is going to be a victim,” Sasha said.
“Strong-willed, then,” Hanson said. “Gives him a fighting chance. But has he seen it coming yet?”
“He hit on me first,” Valerie said. “Shut up.”
Hanson grinned and returned to his tray. He was going to have to go back for seconds soon.
A minute later, Ethan and Shack came to sit down, and Hanson shook hands with Shack. The two hit it off immediately, talking about sporty things, and Valerie turned her attention to Ethan.
“We’re going to have a party for you out at Hanson’s cottage tonight,” Ethan said.
“No one is going to come,” Valerie answered, more of a defiant tone than anything.
“You’d be surprised how many of the guys will turn out for pizza,” Ethan said. She considered that.
No, she really wouldn’t be surprised how many of the guys would turn out for free pizza.
“Fine,” she said. “Then we have to do something for your birthday, when it happens. When is it?”
“December,” he said. “Second.”
“Do you know that they have pools here?” Valerie asked. He nodded.
“It was in the brochure,” he said.
“Stop,” she said. “There was a brochure?”
“They would have sent it to you, if they’d known where you were,” Ethan said.
“No,” Valerie said. “They would have decided they were too good for me and saved it for somebody better.”
“Nobody is better than you,” Hanson said, switching back to his conversation with Shack seamlessly.
He was listening.
Good to know.
“There’s a weight-lifting room on the other side of the office,” she heard Shack say.
“Cool,” Hanson answered. “I’ll meet you there in the morning, if you want.”
Ethan grinned.
“Kindred spirits,” he said.
“Indeed,” Valerie answered. “You’ll like him, too.”
“If he’s willing to haul all the way up here to see you, I have no doubt,” Ethan answered. Mr. Benson came into the room and held up his hands.
<
br /> “Visitors?” he called. “I need to see all of the visitors and their hosts for the next ten minutes.”
Valerie shoveled another bite of her dinner into her mouth, then wiped her hands off on a napkin and got up to follow Hanson across the room to where Mr. Benson waited. There were six other visitors that weekend, most in groups of two or three. Someone had a younger sibling visiting.
“All right,” Mr. Benson said, marking them off on a list. “This is the only time I’m going to interrupt your weekend, so please focus so we can get through this quickly. The only places that visitors are allowed without a student or staff escort are the cottages and the front hallway. Please be direct walking between the buildings and please arrange to have someone with you, the rest of the time. We need you to check in at each meal, and the curfew for all visitors to be back in their cottages is midnight. We ask that you stay there until six AM at the earliest. You are welcome anywhere else on campus with your escort, but we ask that you respect the educations that are progressing even on weekend days and leave closed classroom doors closed. No teenage boys in the girls’ dorm rooms and no teenage girls in the boys’ dorm rooms. If inappropriate behavior is reported to me or any other member of the staff, we have at our exclusive discretion to cut the visit short and ask the visitor to remain in their cottage until the bus goes back to the city Sunday afternoon, with exceptions made for meals. Is all of that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Hanson said with everyone else. Valerie found it all oppressive and controlling, but she nodded anyway.
She got that Hanson could be in danger if he learned about magic - boy did she get it, just now - but still.
She sighed.
“All right,” Mr. Benson said. “Thank you for visiting us and thank you in advance for your helpful behavior.”
He gave them a firm nod and turned to head out. Hanson wrinkled his nose at Valerie as they turned to go back to the table.
“Is it always like that around here?” he asked.
“I had to write you a letter to ask if you wanted to come,” she said. “Some days, I swear this place is a convent.”
He snorted, then grabbed her elbow, pausing her halfway back to the table.
“Sasha,” he said. “Is she seeing anyone?”
Valerie blinked at him.
“Wow,” she said. “You, too?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Boggle.
“Okay,” Valerie said. “Um. No. She’s not seeing anyone.”
She’d forgotten he had a thing for redheads.
“Look, I know this weekend is about getting to see you and…” he started.
“Give me a break,” Valerie said. “I missed you, dude, but if you want to talk to her, talk to her. Okay?”
He grinned.
“You’re the best.”
He went to sit next to Sasha, pulling his tray across the table, and Sasha dipped her head, blushing.
Valerie smiled, watching them, then went to go sit next to Ethan again.
He raised an eyebrow at her and she gave him a what-do-I-know shrug and continued eating.
He grinned.
“Hanson’s cottage, eight,” he said. “Be there.”
“Where are you getting pizza?” she asked, and he grinned wider.
“That’s my problem, not yours.”
Sasha had gone to get changed.
Valerie knew it was because she wanted to look pretty for Hanson, but she had just taken it as a moment to sit with her best friend there on the stairs out front of the school building, watching as the stars began to show overhead and the air finally transitioned from molten to fall-ish.
“It’s not a bad place,” Hanson said. “If you like this rich-people-and-their-lives-of-leisure thing.”
“Yeah,” Valerie said skeptically. “You know me. I prefer cement and vacant lots.”
He grinned and she put her head on his shoulder, tucking her fingers underneath her shoes.
“It’s not the same without you being around,” she said.
“Back home, either,” he said. “Are you coming back for Christmas?”
“I don’t think so,” Valerie admitted. “Mom isn’t going to be there, I don’t think.”
She was absolutely certain.
“You could come stay with us,” Hanson offered. “You know my mom loves you.”
“Yeah,” Valerie said, smiling. “How in the world did you talk her into coming out here on your own?”
“Oh, there was no way she was going to let me,” he answered. “And then something huge came up with Dad’s work and it was either I was going to have to cancel or I was coming on my own, and I… She let me.”
Valerie grinned.
Martha Cox was a loud woman, and when Hanson got home, he just transitioned from this quiet, thoughtful guy to someone who was trying to yell the walls down. They had their conversations from opposite ends of the apartment, and Valerie had been there for more than one fight.
“She really wants to know what your mom is up to,” Hanson said. “I was really freaked out, after that guy… I mean… You guys just disappeared.”
“I know,” Valerie said. “And it turns out he was a serious jerk, just manipulating me to try to make things easier for him. He really didn’t care about you or any of our friends. He just wanted my mom to do the job he was there to recruit her for, you know?”
“But I saw the sidewalk crack,” Hanson said. “I saw it.”
“I don’t have an explanation for that,” Valerie said. “He just turned out to be a real jerk.”
“But you’re here,” Hanson said.
“I’m here.”
“And Sasha is awesome, and I really like Ethan.”
“I’m glad,” Valerie said, smiling.
“Is your mom happy?” he asked.
“I haven’t talked to her much,” Valerie said. “I hope so.”
“Where is she?” Hanson asked.
“Truth? I have no idea,” Valerie answered. “All I know is that what she’s doing is important.”
“Are you happy?” he asked. “I like the people well enough, and I get that you said that this was a huge opportunity for you, but it… This isn’t your style. You know?”
“I know,” she said. “And I actually came in really behind. I’ve been working really hard just to try to catch up with the rest of them. But… Yeah. I think I am happy. I don’t know when it’s going to get easier, but I wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else.”
“Okay, I’m ready,” Sasha said, traipsing down the stairs in a pink blouse and a skirt.
Valerie hadn’t been aware the girl owned anything but khakis and stodgy button-ups.
Hanson stood quickly.
“You look pretty,” he said, and Sasha skittered sideways.
“Thank you,” she said.
Valerie rolled her eyes.
“My birthday party, guys. This is supposed to be about me.”
Sasha came over to take Valerie’s elbow, peeking around her at Hanson.
“I’ll behave,” she said.
“No promises,” Hanson said.
Valerie elbowed him in the side and he grunted for show, following her and Sasha down the stairs and out toward the cottages.
As they got close, Valerie could hear the sound of music and voices.
“I honestly didn’t think anyone would come,” Valerie told Sasha, and the redhead shrugged happily.
“Ethan Trent is throwing a party,” she said. “It doesn’t matter why. Everyone will come, just to be around him when he’s happy.”
Valerie rolled her jaw to the side.
“You’re telling me that my birthday party is a political schmoozing event.”
“Basically,” Sasha said, grinning. “But it’s a party. I haven’t been to one before.”
Valerie dropped her chin toward her neck.
“Never?” she asked.
Sasha shook her head quickly.
“No.”
“Well, prepare to be disappointed,” Valerie said. “It isn’t like in the movies.”
Hanson snorted, and they changed course to make their way toward his cottage specifically.
“I’ve never stayed by myself before,” he said. “When we travel with the team, I’ve always got roommates.”
The front door of the cottage opened, spilling light and music into the night, and Ethan waved them on.
“Come on, come on,” he said. “We have to sing before anyone can eat.”
Valerie looked up at Hanson, grinning.
“Looks like you aren’t staying by yourself for a while, yet.”
She broke loose of Sasha and Hanson, who let her go easily, and she skipped up to Ethan.
“Happy birthday, Valerie Blake,” he said, looking her in the eyes.
“It was last week, but thank you,” she answered, and he smiled slowly.
“It isn’t real until it’s celebrated,” he answered after a moment, then raised his arm.
Valerie went inside.
It was.
Exactly.
Like a movie.
The small cottage was packed out, just barely enough room for people to congregate and talk, with a small zone between the couch and the television eventually emptying out for people to dance. Everyone wished Valerie a happy birthday, holding their red party cups over their heads to keep them from getting bumped, and then they went on with their night.
Furniture was filled, counters were filled, the walls were lined with kids sitting with plates and cups, talking and laughing over the music and each other.
“This is…” Valerie said after about an hour. “Wow. I didn’t think this was possible.”
“Which part?” Ethan asked cheerfully.
He was fully in his element. Everyone really wanted to talk to him, and Valerie could just imagine that they were only tolerating her for the opportunity to talk to him here and now, but he showed no sign of favoritism or cliquing. He was happy to see everyone like they were a long-lost friend, talking to them like he knew their lives, their folk. Everyone was at ease with him, and Valerie marveled, getting a glimpse of the level of slick he was capable of.
It wasn’t deception.
She didn’t see an ounce of deception to him.
