Coach Randall was all squeaking sneakers and whispery whistles. He wore a white Nike tracksuit with orange stripes and a matching baseball cap. Both were emblazoned with the school’s logo. Which, you guessed it, was a witch riding a broomstick across a crescent moon. From the look of him, I didn’t think he was the kind of person to let me off the hook for the day because I had an upset tummy—or because I hated physical exercise of any kind.

Fear is for the weak and meek. This is yet another opportunity to prove your excellence.

Yeah. That, or I needed to be on some form of asthma medicine.

I sucked it up and tugged on the sad gray gym uniform Nell handed me before I went into the boys’ locker room. We joined the rest of the class in the gymnasium for stretching. Then we had to do a few warm-up laps around the badminton nets.

I started out by trying to keep pace with Nell, but it became clear pretty fast that it wasn’t going to happen. Physical education in Redhood was learning to waltz or golf.

Nell left me behind wheezing, a look of pity on her face, her glasses bouncing on the bridge of her nose. If we were ever chased by a fiend, I now knew for certain she could and would outrun me, leaving me to be eaten.

Faster! Alastor commanded, like I was some kind of horse he was trying to steer. Have you no pride, man?

At that point, no. But what I did have was a crippling cramp in my right side and a desperate need for water.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone come up behind me, slowing down to match my labored pace.

Parker, of course.

He wasn’t even sweating as he lapped me, turning back with a shrug, as if to say, What are you going to do about it?

Do you not tire, Alastor began, of always trailing behind, staring forlornly at the back of others’ heads?

“Of course I do,” I snapped, ignoring the alarmed look Norton tossed my way as even he passed me.

It wasn’t until the start of my third lap, and everyone else’s fourth, that things below my neck started to go a little weird. That same prickling weight I had felt in my arm at lunch was back, only this time it was in my legs. It came on so fast that I stumbled, my toes catching on the polished wood court.

What are you doing? I demanded.

Batten down the hatches, knave! Alastor said. This ship is about to set sail!

To say that it’s disturbing to no longer be in control of your limbs is like saying it’s only a little weird to see someone dressed as a dinosaur eating frozen hot dogs on a bench made of pigeons.

I let out a sharp yelp as my legs began to move, clumsy at first, then faster and faster, and steadier when the malefactor finally got a better grip on them. The gym walls and championship banners hanging from them blurred into streaks of orange and black.

I didn’t ask for this! I told him. This isn’t a contract.

Of course not, you urchin-snouted miscreant. Were this a contract, you would have finished by now. Onward!

The surge of energy that pulsed through me was like sticking my finger in a power socket. But I didn’t feel any kind of pain. Actually, I felt great. The warmth spreading through my chest ate away at the tight ache. My breath came back in a rush. I pretended I was clinging to the back of a speeding car.

I came up behind Parker so fast he only had one chance to look over his shoulder before I passed him by. The next time I got close to him, he started running faster, trying to keep his thinning lead. His sneakers pounded the ground, his arms pumping wildly as he wove through the other students.

I don’t want to lose, I thought. I don’t want to lose….

My legs charged into an even faster sprint, finally passing him. My chest felt like it was cracking open, it was that overstuffed with bright, sparkling elation.

Victory!

Was this what winning felt like all the time—like you were flying?

Parker tucked his head down and charged forward, his shoes squeaking with the force of his movement. He was so focused on picking up speed he didn’t notice that Norton was directly in his path.

“Watch out!” Nell called.

Norton looked back just in time to see Parker collide into him at top speed, slamming them both down to the ground. The soles of my shoes squealed as I dragged them to a slow stop a short distance away.

“Oh Lord,” the coach said. He threw his clipboard into the air and ran over, blowing frantically into his whistle. Like that was going to do anything at that point. “Emergency! Emergency! Someone call nine-one-one!”

“Maybe we should start with the nurse?” Nell suggested, helping a dazed Norton sit up. Aside from some red blotches on his knees and palms from where he hit the ground, Norton was okay. Parker was another story.

“Owwww—my ankle!” he said, rolling onto his back, clutching at it with his hands. The whole PE class gasped and gagged when he lifted his hands and revealed the unnatural angle his ankle was bent at. Parker’s face screwed up, his mouth twisting in pain.

My heart was still thundering in my chest, so loud I could barely hear the voices around me.

I didn’t do that. I didn’t trip him, or force him to run faster to try to keep up with me.

No, you did not, Maggot. The blame rests heavy upon his shoulders. You were merely proving yourself.

“He came out of nowhere,” Norton was saying as he stood on shaky feet. “I would have moved out of the way.”

“I know you would have,” Nell said, giving me a narrow, suspicious look. “It was pretty strange, wasn’t it?”

Within minutes, a young woman—the nurse—arrived to assess the situation. Parker covered his bright red face with his hands.

“Good God, son,” Coach said, pounding my shoulder. “Tell me you’ll try out for track and field! You’re a natural—a godsend—!”

You are very welcome, Al gloated.

But I wasn’t about to thank him. It doesn’t count.

Of course it does, Maggot. You won. You were the best—we were the best.

But it wasn’t a race. And even if it had been, I wasn’t a track star—an eight-hundred-year-old fiend was. Still, I couldn’t forget how easily my legs had eaten up the ground, how the cool air had felt against the sweat on my face. Passing people, instead of being passed, had felt as natural and necessary as breathing.

But I felt that small pride start to deflate as I watched the nurse comfort Parker. The other kids watched in both horror and horrible amusement as the scene played out in front of them. Something heavy sat in the pit of my stomach, and I didn’t think it was the pumpkin I’d eaten.

“Thanks, I wish I could,” I told the coach, watching as the nurse pulled out her cell phone and finally did call for an ambulance. “But I won’t be here for long.”