As soon as Dylan stepped into the lunchroom, a kid pushed a bright orange flyer in his face. “Dylan! You should come.”
Dylan shoved the kid’s arm out of the way and glared. Who was this girl, and why did she think she could talk to him?
She blinked, and her heart sped up. “It’s… it’s a protest against the wardens.”
That got his attention. “What?” He glanced down at the flyer clutched in her hand. She had a stack of them cradled against her chest, and a boy next to her was passing them out as well.
“We’re protesting the murder of Enrico Abelli and asking for a full investigation by the council. And we think there are still corrupt wardens that haven’t been caught.” She held the orange paper out again.
Dylan’s curiosity got the better of him, and he took the flyer. In bold letters it announced a protest on Friday in front of city hall. Below that was a black-and-white photo that Dylan realized was a nicer picture of the man that had been killed. This one had him smiling with a drink in his hand.
“I heard about that argument you had with Warden Bradley,” the girl said. “So you know they were wrong to kill him.”
“Damn right they were.” Dylan never joined group activities, but this was tempting. “This is during school.”
The girl’s eyes lit up. “We’re skipping. This is way more important than school.”
Almost as long as he could remember, Dylan had resented the rules of Shadow Valley and the wardens that enforced them. They were the ones who’d trapped him in this small town for his whole life. They were the reason he’d been driven to let Morgan out.
“I’ll be there.”
The girl bounced. “Great. Maybe you can even make a speech.”
“Speech?” Now that was going too far.
“Yeah. You know what it’s like more than anyone. You fought one of the corrupt wardens.”
He remembered the fear all too well. The sense of helplessness. “I’m not big on talking.”
“Just think about it. Please?”
He nodded and walked away. After grabbing his lunch, he joined Aiden and Tiago at the table. They had one of the fliers between them. Dylan had tucked his under his plate.
“You got one too, huh?” Tiago asked before sticking a huge bite of pork chop in his mouth.
“Please tell me you’re not thinking of going,” Aiden said.
Of course he wouldn’t like the idea. Mr. Goody Two-Shoes. “Actually, I am.”
Aiden leaned on the table, eyes wide. “You can’t! You know the wardens are watching you. Don’t give them a reason to get you in trouble.”
Anger brought his magic close to the surface. “That’s why I want to go. They can’t treat me like a criminal just because of what I am.”
“Maybe it’s better to lay low,” Tiago said.
That made Dylan angrier. It felt like some kind of… betrayal. “How can you say that? You know what it’s like to be watched. To be blamed for things that aren’t your fault.”
Tiago looked down. “Could be worse.”
“And that’s an excuse to let them do whatever they want?”
“Dylan.” Aiden’s heart beat fast, and he gave Dylan a significant look. “Maybe you don’t want to draw any more attention to yourself. To give them a reason to look harder at you.”
Dylan got the hint, but that pissed him off more. Now he was angry at himself for doing something so stupid, something that he actually deserved to get in trouble for. If the wardens did find out, would he be able to protect Aiden from being punished as an accomplice?
Grabbing the flyer, he crumpled it into a ball. “Fine. I won’t go. You happy now?” He would just cower in silence like so many others.
Aiden leaned back, shoulders dropping. “Not happy, but relieved.” He poked at his food. “Other people are going though. Maybe they’ll be able to change things?”
“Fat chance.” Dylan sliced at his pork chop, taking some of his anger out on the meat.
“Has anything like this happened before?” Aiden asked.
“Not that I know of.” Dylan shoved a piece in his mouth, still warring with himself. It was cowardly not to go. Had Mr. Johnson helped Dylan cover things up so he’d be able to hold that over him? Was it some plot to get him to behave?
“Well, that’s a good sign, right? That people are mad enough to protest?”
Dylan snorted. “You don’t agree with the protest, so stop pretending you do. You think the wardens are right, that they keep you safe, even after what happened to us. You think it’s fine they killed that guy because he broke the rules.”
“I…” Aiden’s mouth hung open. “No, I don’t. I don’t agree with all this.” He pointed at the flyer on the table. “But I think they should investigate what happened. Maybe the wardens were wrong; maybe they overreacted. Maybe he was afraid they’d kill him, and he was trying to defend himself. We don’t know why he ran in the first place. Maybe he had a good reason.”
At least Aiden wasn’t swallowing the official line.
“It’s creepy looking at him,” Tiago said, gaze fixed on the picture. “Knowing that could be me if I’d stayed with my parents. If we’d gotten caught.” He stabbed at his pork chop absently. “That could be them tomorrow.”
“I sorta get now why you don’t want to turn them in,” Dylan said.
“Shhh!” Tiago’s eyes went wide.
“Right, sorry.” Even talking quietly, plenty of people could overhear them. “But you brought it up.”
Slowly and carefully, Tiago said, “I have no idea where my parents are or where they might be.”
At this point, that might be true. Tiago certainly hadn’t expected them to turn up in Shadow Valley, and he hadn’t seen them in the months since. Even if Tiago wanted to help the wardens catch them, he probably couldn’t.
“But like, in theory, if I were you, I’d still want to hurt them somehow.”
“Sometimes I feel like that too,” Tiago said.
Aiden squeezed Tiago’s shoulder, and Dylan could tell he wanted to do more than that. Dylan bit back a joke about making out.
So many damn secrets at this table.
And Dylan might be adding one more, because he still wanted to go to that protest.