“Dylan Galloway.” The teacher sighed. “You realize class is half over. You wouldn’t happen to have a pass, would you?”
“Nope.” His usual seat in the back corner was taken up with the new kid again. Huh, he didn’t know his name. The desk in front of him was empty just like yesterday, so Dylan headed over, giving a slight nod of greeting to New Kid.
“If you’re late to class one more time, I’m giving you detention and I’m calling your parents.”
“Okay.” He really didn’t care. The rest of his classes were just things to sit through until he could get to Major Magical Control. New Kid had been put in that class for a reason, and he couldn’t wait until he found out what he could do. Maybe New Kid would be a bigger challenge than the fox sisters.
The teacher sighed again and went back to her lesson. Blah, blah, Revolutionary War something. Dylan glanced back at New Kid. The dork was taking notes like it was the most important thing in the world. Dylan thought of how lost he’d looked in the lunchroom yesterday. The guy had turned as pale as a vampire when he was staring at the carnivore buffet. Dylan still wasn’t sure why he’d helped him or why he’d let the kid eat lunch with him.
Because I’m lonely. He clamped down on that thought. He wasn’t lonely. He didn’t need anyone.
He got proof of that in the hall after class. A girl walked by, stopped long enough to toss her hair and glare at him. He frowned, not recognizing her. Then he caught the flash of the necklace hanging just above her boobs, INDIRA spelled out in gold letters.
“You got a new body.”
“Do you like it?” She flipped her hair again, long and blond. Her eyes were blue, skin flawless and white. “Well, too bad. You’ll never get any of this.” She set a hand on her hip.
Dylan rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He walked away. They’d gone on a few dates last year, held hands and kissed a few times. Then he’d realized she was annoying and dumped her. They hadn’t really done anything, and she acted like it was a big deal.
“Whatever yourself, asshole.”
Several kids looked at him, then quickly looked away. Even as annoying as she was, he had to give Indira points for not being afraid of him. Her and the fox sisters… and New Kid. But New Kid didn’t know what he was.
At lunch he claimed his usual table and looked around for New Kid, arguing with himself about whether he cared. Then he started to worry he’d scared him off with all the fire he’d thrown around yesterday. The poor guy was new to town and had probably just found out about all this weird shit.
Then he appeared, carrying a tray and heading toward Dylan’s table. He hesitated, glanced around the lunchroom like he hoped to find someone. Had he made a friend since yesterday? After a moment, New Kid set his jaw and came over. His tray made a soft clack as he set it on the table.
“So you can throw fire. And so can those girls,” New Kid said.
“Did you guess yet?”
He frowned. “Guess what?”
“What I am?”
New Kid waved a hand in the general direction of the room. “I don’t know what most of these people are.” Then he ducked, like he was afraid someone had overheard him.
“What’s your name?”
The change of subject seemed to confuse him. “Aiden.”
“Well, Aiden, those are vampires.” He pointed to a group at one end of a table. “There and there are witches. Some like to use different names, like spell-caster or mage. Humans with magic powers. Over there are ghouls.” He shifted to point at the far side. “Werewolves. And over there are a selkie, a kappa, a harpy, two werehyenas, and a tengu.” He turned back to see Aiden staring.
The boy blinked a few times. “Um, so… what are you?”
“I want you to guess.” Dylan held up a finger. “No cheating. You can’t ask anyone. You have to figure it out some other way.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Because I’m bored.”
Aiden took a bite of his pizza. His plate was full today, no more rabbit food. “Do you know what I am?”
“No. But I bet I can figure it out before you figure out what I am.” The list of possibilities wasn’t too long if this guy had been put straight into Major Magical Control and yet didn’t know the first thing about magic.
“Bet what?” Aiden looked skeptical.
“Winner’s choice.”
“No way. I’m not betting anything unless I know what it is.”
Man, this guy was no fun. “Fine. The loser has to run through the hall in his underwear.”
“I don’t want to do something that will get me in trouble.”
“You won’t be naked. Just from the bathroom at the end of the hall”—he gestured in the general direction—“down and around and back in. Two minutes, if you’re fast.”
Aiden poked at his food. “I don’t know.” His cheeks were slightly pink.
“Well, you already sound like you’ve given up. If you’re so sure that you’re gonna lose—”
“Okay fine, I’ll do it.” Aiden looked up. “Are you a demon?”
“Nope.”
“What if somebody says what I am? And you overhear them?”
“Then nobody wins. Same thing if you overhear what I am.”
“How do I know you’ll be honest about it?” Aiden frowned and picked up his pizza again.
“Guess we’ll just have to trust each other.” It was nice to have someone not know what he was. Maybe that’s why he was bothering to talk to Aiden. Of course, now that Dylan had made a game out of guessing, that might not last long.
* * *
Aiden stopped in front of the locker room door, thinking about what had happened a few months ago. The way everyone had stared at him like he was going to go Carrie on them or something. Cold fear twisted inside him. What if it happened again?
No, it was different here. That kind of thing was normal to these people. They’d probably think it was lame. Dylan and those girls could throw fire, that other girl had formed ice around her feet. One boy had summoned things of smoke, all the way from swords to a pair of snarling dogs.
Taking a few deep breaths, Aiden made himself push through the door. He almost crashed into Dylan.
“Whoa!”
“Sorry.” Aiden stepped back.
“Can’t wait to see what you can do.” Dylan’s eyes weren’t glowing, but there was an eager light in them. He was like a different person from the boy who slouched in front of him in homeroom.
“I don’t think you’ll see much.” Aiden was nervous all over again, thinking about what he’d seen the day before. He couldn’t do anything like that and if someone threw fire or whatever at him, he’d be toast.
Dylan left, and Aiden had to face a locker room again. It was different than the one at his old school, and that helped. There it had been bright white and blue. Here it was dim and gray. Creepy, like a scene from a horror movie. Aiden bit back a laugh. Everything about this school was like a horror movie.
Someone shuffled around farther back, and a locker door slammed. Shouldn’t there be more boys in here? Aiden shook off the creepiness and found an empty locker. He changed as fast as he could and hurried into the gym.
Dylan stood in the middle of the room, bouncing on his toes. Right, the possibility of getting roasted.
Aiden went to the teacher. “Ms. Yang, I don’t think I can protect myself if anyone throws… stuff at me.”
“Don’t worry. We’re not having matches today.” She pointed to the far side of the room where a row of targets leaned against the wall. “We’ll be working on precision. I won’t put you in matches until I believe you’re ready.”
“Thanks.” He let out a little sigh of relief, but a moment later he felt guilty. So now he was holding the whole class up?
Ms. Yang had them all line up opposite the targets and told them to work on accuracy. They let loose while Aiden stood there like an idiot. The boy who used smoke magic was next to him, firing smoke arrows from a smoke bow. The first arrow hit the edge of the target and disappeared, leaving a mark. Then the target shimmered and the mark was gone. Farther down, one of the fireball girls made her target burst into flame. A moment later, it shimmered too and looked like nothing had happened.
Magical regenerating targets? That was… neat.
Ms. Yang came over to him. “So, what have you been able to do so far?”
“Nothing. I don’t know what I can do.”
She smiled. “Don’t be nervous. I’m here to help you learn. Focus on the target.”
Aiden stared at the red rings and the circle in the center. The ozone smell was sharper when he wasn’t sitting on the bench behind the wards, and the air tingled, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up. It must be all the magic.
“Dig deep inside yourself. Find your center, where your power is. I want you to throw it at the target, just the raw energy. Don’t worry about the form it takes. It might help if you use a physical motion.” She put her hands up, palms out at chest level, and pushed like she was shoving someone away from her.
He copied her. “Like this?”
“Any way that helps. Try different things. Do your best to ignore everything going on around you and focus.”
For the rest of class he made shoving motions, kicking motions, punching motions. He tried closing his eyes, staring at the target, yelling. All he got was frustrated and sweaty.
“You can try again tomorrow, Aiden.” Ms. Yang half-turned and shouted over her shoulder, “I said that’s it, Dylan. Class is over.”
“What am I doing wrong?” Aiden asked. Everyone else made it look so easy.
Ms. Yang turned her attention back to him. “You’re not doing anything wrong, except maybe putting too much pressure on yourself. I can’t tell you exactly how to do it; it’s something you have to feel. Somewhere inside you, you know how to use your magic. It’s subconscious, instinct.”
“So I just keep trying until something happens?”
“Yes.”
“What if nothing happens?” Even as he said it, he thought of all those doors opening and closing, the shocked looks on the boys’ faces.
“You’re full-blooded fae.” Ms. Yang smiled. “I put extra wards on the room just for you and Dylan.”
He opened his mouth to ask what Dylan was, but he remembered the bet.
“It’ll happen. Now hurry before you miss your bus.”