Stepping out the back door, Dylan took in a lungful of cold air.
“Needed a break?”
He looked over to see the fox sisters leaning against the side of the house. They weren’t actually sisters, but they had similar looks, and they did everything together. Izume smiled at him. “Us too.”
“There’s just… a lot of people.” Dylan stuck his hands in his pockets.
“I’m shocked you came to a party.” Sakura’s cheeks were slightly pink from the cold.
“Aiden begged me to drive him. Kind of surprised to see you here.”
“Please, we have a social life,” Izume said. “Besides, we like Maggie.”
“Everyone likes Maggie,” Sakura added.
“She does seem to be popular.” Music and laughter drifted from inside the house. Maggie had been afraid of him like everyone else, but she’d never been mean. And more importantly, she’d been nice to Aiden since the first day he came to Shadow Valley.
“You seem to be popular lately,” Izume said. “Big hero, killing the dark fae when the wardens couldn’t even catch him.”
He didn’t feel like a hero. Not when it was his fault the dark fae had been let out in the first place. For all he knew, Morgan was killing people right now, and maybe he’d let more of his buddies out of Faery to help. Dylan shrugged. “Yeah, sure. Now everyone wants to talk to me after all this time treating me like a bomb about to go off.” Of course plenty of people still did, like Warden Bully.
“We didn’t treat you like that,” Sakura said, scuffing a shoe in the snow.
“No, you guys were always cool.” They hadn’t ever talked much, but back in eighth grade when they started Basic Magical Control, the fox sisters had faced him without fear. Had been eager, in fact. Even the teacher had been afraid of Dylan.
Izume laughed. “Well, that’s high praise.” She reached out a finger, tracing little symbols in the air with a tiny flame. “You know you could own this school if you wanted. Now you’re the bad boy and the hero.”
“I wish people would stop trying to talk to me. I got used to being left alone.” Maybe he’d like it if the circumstances were different. Everyone fantasized about being popular, even him. He’d gotten attention last year as well, after being kidnapped and fighting a corrupt warden. It hadn’t been comfortable then either, although he did enjoy being vindicated.
And it had led to him dating Hanna. Which he didn’t want to think about.
“Sort of weird how things keep happening to you and Aiden. You’re either the unluckiest people or the luckiest,” Izume said.
“The wardens took me because I was powerful. The dark fae came after me and Aiden for the same reason.” He could be honest about that part. The dark fae hadn’t seemed to know, or maybe didn’t care, that Dylan was the one who let Morgan out.
“I’m glad you’re okay. I mean,” Sakura added quickly, “gym would be boring without you.”
“Not this year.” Dylan looked away. “I suck.”
“You don’t suck,” Sakura said. “The class is harder, and you’re there because you’re too good to stay in the intermediate class.”
Dylan shook his head, that awful feeling of failure crawling up his chest. “Everyone’s beating me all the time.” Including you.
Izume snorted. “Spoiled little dragonkin, so used to winning.”
“I’m not—”
Colors burst across the sky.
“It’s happening again!” Izume sounded both excited and afraid. Her shoes crunched in the snow as she sprinted to the door. Yanking it open, she yelled at the party, “The lights are happening again!”
Dylan kept staring at the flickering colors as they spread across the whole sky. It was mostly purple just like last time, with all the other colors mixed in. His stomach clenched. For the past few years, every time something weird happened in this town, it ended up coming straight at Dylan. And Aiden.
He didn’t know if he should be standing there or taking cover.
Kids rushed outside, exclaiming when they saw the lights. Did it last longer this time, or did it just feel that way?
Then the colors slid back down the sky, disappearing behind the tops of the neighborhood trees and houses.
“They’re trying to turn off the barrier again,” Maggie said.
“Better than fireworks!” Toby said. “What a birthday present for you.”
Dylan turned toward the house, looking for Aiden among the crowd of kids in the backyard.
Maggie laughed. “Yeah.” Then in a worried tone, she said, “I hope it’s nothing bad.”
“Watch the wardens and the news brush it off again,” Dylan said. He didn’t see Aiden. Was he scared? Having a panic attack? Or maybe he’d missed the whole thing. Music still thumped from the living room, so Aiden might not have heard the excitement.
“Probably,” Maggie agreed.
Kids gathered in clusters around cell phones, already watching the videos they’d captured.
Dylan pushed his way through them and stepped back into the house.
Where he almost collided with Aiden. “Whoa!”
They both jerked to a stop.
“There you are,” Aiden said. “I was looking for you.”
Without thinking, Dylan blurted out, “The lights in the sky happened again.”
Aiden went pale.
* * *
They were supposed to be practicing transmutation—changing a flower into an apple—but neither Aiden nor Maggie could focus.
“I just can’t help thinking it’s something… sinister,” Aiden said. Kids had been talking about the lights all day, passing around pictures and videos. The newspaper said it was nothing to worry about and the wardens were investigating, just like last time.
Maggie patted his arm. “I can see why you’d think that. You’ve had terrible stuff happen to you.”
Aiden sighed. “You really believe it’s just kids trying to turn off the alarm?”
She shrugged. “Why not? Maybe it didn’t work last time and they’re trying again.”
Aiden looked down at the white flower in the middle of their shared table. They really should be working on the assignment. This year they were taking Advanced Spellcraft, and both of them were struggling with class, and the spells kept getting harder.
“What if someone is trying to take down the whole barrier?”
“That’s Toby’s theory.” She shook her head, slightly amused. “They would need a ton of power for that.”
“What if they got a bunch of friends? What if it’s not kids but adults?”
Maggie arched an eyebrow. “Uncertified adults trying to run out of town?”
Did adults still believe there was an alarm? Aiden knew people could leave anytime they wanted to, although Mr. Johnson had told him to keep that quiet. “But the wardens would hunt them down, wouldn’t they?”
“Maybe they think they won’t get caught.”
Aiden tried to read the spell instructions again, the words blurring together. “Doesn’t the barrier also keep the town hidden? So if it goes away, regular humans can find Shadow Valley?”
“Yeah…” Maggie’s eyes got wide. “Ohh, that would be bad. The barrier is actually part of the treaty, so if someone dispels it, that’s technically a violation.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means the mundane—um, US government—can come after all of us.” She lifted her hands. “But I’m sure they wouldn’t. I’m sure they’d understand if it was just a small group causing trouble, and the wardens would put the barrier back up right away.”
Aiden pressed a hand to his stomach, imagining tanks rolling into Shadow Valley.
Maggie took his hand. “Forget I said that. Don’t worry about it.”
“How can I not?”
“We’re sort of like another country. They wouldn’t just attack us. They’d talk to us first. And the mayor could explain it was criminals. I’m sure they’d understand.”
Aiden told himself the United States probably didn’t want to declare war on a bunch of monsters over a misunderstanding.
Maggie squeezed his hand. “And like I said, it would take a huge amount of power to destroy the barrier. It would take the equivalent of all the wardens to do it. Maybe more.”
Aiden felt an anxiety attack trying to gain steam and took slow, deep breaths. “So this person, or people, will keep trying and not get anywhere? And the wardens will catch them eventually?”
“Exactly.” Maggie smiled.
The teacher stopped in front of their table. “How are you doing over here?”
“Um…” A guilty blush rose to Aiden’s cheeks.
“I understand the theory,” Maggie said. “But I’m having difficulty with the practice.” She glanced over to include Aiden. “We both are, actually. Can you help us?”
Aiden tried to focus. If there was a bunch of people planning to destroy the barrier and possibly cause a war, there wasn’t anything he could do about it. His grade in Advanced Spellcraft, well… at least he had some control over that.