3

In Which Alex’s Teacher’s Breakdown Is Viewed Millions of Times on Social Media

Three important things happened the autumn Tala turned seventeen, nearly a year later: Arizona officially signed the Emerald Act into law, legalizing commercial use of category two magic for the first time, the thirty-third state to do so; her history teacher went viral on social media in the worst possible way; and Ryker Cadfael asked her to the upcoming bonfire celebrations.

Obviously the last one was the most consequential because Ryker Cadfael was so far out of Tala’s orbit that his planet had yet to be discovered within her system. He still was. She’d remained oblivious to any form of interest from his direction until Alex had insisted that the boy liked her. She didn’t believe him, even when Ryker started hanging out with Alex whenever she was around. Even when he started walking her to class on occasion. Even when he started flirting. Or maybe he was just teasing her? How did one know the difference? Alex was the only person she could ask, except Alex was also the last person she wanted to ask.

Cool. Super cool. She had an algebra test next period, and overthinking this was not the distraction she needed.

“But it’s the distraction you deserve.”

“Shut up, Alex.”

Alex rolled his eyes and reached out to swipe at Tala’s lunch—lumpiang shanghai, chicken adobo, eggplant torta, and rice—with a fork, snagging one of the spring rolls before she could protest. Despite his newcomer status, he was on the varsity baseball team and was therefore several rungs higher up the social ladder than Tala, enough that hanging out with her barely affected his popularity cred. “It’s not like you haven’t been flirting back. I didn’t even know you were capable of giggling.”

“Shut up.”

“You’ve both been making goo-goo eyes at each other for like a month now. What’s the holdup?”

“Because it’s Ryker Cadfael.”

“The one and only.”

“The basketball player.”

“The school’s star basketball player. Keep up, Tally.”

“The one with the nice abs.”

“I have nice abs,” Alex protested, looking hurt.

“Yeah, but they’re not connected to Ryker Cadfael. Stop stealing my food. Didn’t Lola make your lunch today too?”

“Yeah, but I’m a growing boy and need more food than you. Besides, I see you brought your mom’s famous adobo, and I know she’d want me to have some.” He took a piece of chicken, ignoring her glare. “Why are you acting like having a crush is the worst thing in the world?”

“It’s not a crush,” Tala lied. “I can admire people from afar without any expectations.”

“You’re in denial. You do like him.”

Of course she did. Blind people could hear how gorgeous he was. Ryker was even more of a newcomer than Alex; he’d only moved here a few months earlier. His father was apparently some hotshot real estate developer, and there had been talks to purchase several tracts of land in the area for some important urban projects. Why they chose Invierno of all places remained a mystery, but it brought Ryker to town, so the rest seemed unimportant in comparison.

Alex stole another piece of eggplant. “Did you know how many questions he pestered me with at the start before I told him to quit bugging me and just talk to you?”

Tala’s face flamed. “Since when are you even friends with him, anyway?”

“I have English and history with him.”

“Maybe he’s interested in you?” Tala kept her voice low. Alex had made it quite clear early on that he had no desire to come out in a place where the majority of the population still thought dinosaurs were a cosmic practical joke.

He snorted, but his voice was equally as quiet. “He’s as straight as a metal ruler. Besides, he’s not my type. I prefer green-eyed guys with messy curly hair and British accents.”

“That was strangely specific.”

It was his turn to blush. “Shut up.”

“You’re making fun of me,” Tala repeated, but with none of the conviction. They rarely talked about their respective secrets nowadays, an unspoken agreement they’d made and reinforced, but Alex was also the closest thing she had to a best friend, and it wasn’t like him to pull something out of nowhere.

“Is it so ridiculous to think that a cute guy might be interested in you?”

“Yeah, Alex, they’ve been breaking down my door these last few years.”

“So, you’re coming with me to Sydney’s bonfire party this weekend?”

“Absolutely not.” There were two kinds of bonfire parties at Elsmore High: the regular desert bonfire party everyone went to once the championship games ended, and the bonfire party exclusive to cheerleaders, jocks, and a select few of their friends. For the last three years they’d celebrated it at Sydney Doering’s house, which was the biggest one in town.

“I know Ryker’s gonna ask you. And I’m inviting you, so that’s like, two invitations total. You know how many people would kill for just one? And it’s my birthday the day after, so consider accepting as your gift to me. Come on, everyone says the bonfire’s the best party of the year.”

“Is this another one of your attempts to hide from Lynn Hughes?” The girl was a year younger than Tala, and obviously smitten with Alex, much to his dismay.

Alex reddened. “She’s a nice girl, nicer than her brother, anyway, but obviously you know why I’m not asking her out.”

“You know Sydney Doering and Chris Hughes just broke up. That means Hughes won’t be coming to her party, which means Lynn won’t be there either. Is that why you’re choosing Doering’s thing over the desert this year? Did Hughes give you some sort of ultimatum about his sister?”

Alex shrugged, but that didn’t fool Tala. “Maybe I just want to try something different this time. I heard the Buendia Bruja might even show up. She predicted the Tigers winning, and she’s never wrong.”

Tala rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you’re totally going to the bonfire just to have your fortune told by the only seeress of the Royal States’ southwestern realm. It’s not often you turn down the chance to quietly ogle half-naked guys around a fire. And I’m not going to Doering’s party. You know I’ll wind up murdering everyone there, right? I’m pretty sure half of them still think I’m Mexican.”

Alex frowned. “I won’t force you to go. But I wasn’t lying when I said Cadfael’s gonna ask.”

She wrinkled her nose. “It’s just that crowds are the last thing I want to deal with, especially their kind of crowd. And anyway, if a boy wanted to ask me out, the least he could do is ask me himself instead of funneling the request through friends.”

“That’s good to know.”

The voice came directly behind her, and Tala’s stomach promptly dropped out of her body, along with her confidence. She turned away from the grinning Alex to stare up into Ryker Cadfael’s amused blue eyes. “Uh, um, uh,” she stammered.

“Am I interrupting something?”

“Of course not,” Alex said cheerfully, gathering up his things. “I gotta work on a paper before my next class. I’ll see you at the library later, Tally.”

Coward, Tala wanted to scream after his retreating form, don’t leave me here with him, you traitor, but she couldn’t because Ryker Cadfael was standing Right There looking at her, and she had to concentrate on not making a fool of herself and holding it together lest she somehow disrupt the current space-time continuum by accidentally imploding.

Oh God, Tala, why are you like this? She was usually so sarcastic, had good enough self-esteem for her age group, wasn’t really one to care about what other people thought about her…

“Uh,” she said again.

“Did Smith tell you about the bonfire party?”

“Uh…yes?” She knew instinctively that the answer wasn’t no, but was just as uncertain if there could be another response other than an affirmative.

“That mean you’re going?”

No was now her immediate reflex, but she was also worried this might be misconstrued as turning him down, so she frantically tried to come up with an answer that was a mollifying mix of I’m not comfortable going because most of your friends are trash fires with the much more demure I’m not very good at mingling with people.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. Did my friends do something?”

Crap. Had she said the first one out loud? “I’m not very good at mingling with people, is what I wanted to say.”

Ryker nodded understandingly. “I know they’re not always the best crowd to hang with, and a lot of them can be pretty obnoxious. We don’t need to go.”

Tala nodded eagerly, thankful for the reprieve, until the pronoun he’d used started bouncing around her head. “We?”

“I wouldn’t mind going to the desert bonfire this year. There’s a crowd there too, but at least it’s not going to be closed off like at Sydney’s.” He hesitated. “Would you prefer going there with me instead?”

With me, he said.

Supernovas gave birth to new worlds hammered out of ice, only to succumb trillions of years later into balls of fiery gas; kingdoms rose and crumbled away; the melody to “Your Song” from the ancient Elton John vinyl her father loved to play spun through her head. And then she remembered she was supposed to answer.

“I’d like that a lot,” she squeaked out. Dammit.

“The game ends at seven thirty, so would eight be good? Okay if I have your number so I can call you once I get there? You’re going to watch the game, right?”

She just nodded, having exhausted human speech, and let him put his own contact details into her phone.

“Done.” Ryker leaned closer, and for a short, delirious second Tala thought he might actually kiss her. Here, in a roomful of witnesses. But all he did was place her phone very gently back into her hands. “It’s a date.”

* * *

“You coward,” Tala snarled much later, after classes had ended. She’d finally located Alex in the library, and now that she’d regained command of words, she was primed to do some deserved, possibly misplaced yelling. She was giddy at the turn of events, of course, but she was also painfully aware of how flustered and embarrassed she must have sounded. Tala had very little reason or opportunity to engage with uncomfortable things like crushes, and recalling her behavior only made her cringe.

Alex was settled in one of the quietest corners of the library. He was staring at his laptop and didn’t seem to realize she was there until she poked him, hard.

“You shouldn’t have left me alone with him,” Tala groaned. “What were you thinking? I was at least expecting some kind of wingman support.”

Alex was quiet.

“I should have wished him luck for the game. Why didn’t I wish him luck? I just stood there like a moron. He must have thought I was a…”

She stopped. Alex was looking up at her, but it didn’t look like he was focusing on her face, or on anything at all. “Hey. Are you okay?”

He looked back at his computer. “I think you better watch this,” he said. “You’re gonna find out about it soon enough, anyway. Everyone’s talking about it.”

Someone had uploaded a video on social media titled She Has a Point, and Tala started when she saw it was Miss Hutchins, one of Elsmore High’s teachers. The camera shifted slightly, briefly panning over the rest of the students in the class, and Tala saw Alex sitting in one of the chairs, looking stupefied. Then the lens swung back to Miss Hutchins’s strained face.

“…supposed to tell you lies.” Whoever had taken the video had started filming midway through the teacher’s speech, but it was clear she was just getting started. “It’s always been lies. That’s how it starts, by changing the truth into the lie that suits them best, and they always start with schools.

“They’ve already softened your textbooks’ stances on slavery, on the massacres of Native Americans. They’ll argue that it was for the greater good. They’ll tell you why California is an illegal kingdom and unpatriotic for refusing to assimilate with the rest of the Royal States. They won’t tell you that their anger is because the Native Americans there control the only major glyph mine in the country that they’ve never been able to get at.

“And today I am supposed to instruct you, as the newly revised curriculum states, of: Magic over the centuries, from the Greek advancements that helped shape magical philosophies, to the American breakthroughs of the last few decades, down to the latest strides in spelltech and its many advantages.”

She paused. For probably the first time in her life, everyone in class was paying attention to her.

“Most of you have heard about the Wonderland Wars. They will show you this as a prime example of how magic was misused by all sides involved, resulting in the destruction of both the winter kingdom of Beira and of Avalon itself. They will tell you that new laws have been put into place in the aftermath to ensure they cannot be abused again.”

Miss Hutchins sneered. The usually quiet, polite, almost meek Miss Hutchins actually sneered. “But these new laws will allow them everything but accountability. Oh, there were plenty of terrible people from both nations, they’ll say. They’ll tell you that King Ivan of Avalon had no business dragging other countries into his personal vendetta against the Snow Queen of Beira, that he was just as greedy. And what was the cost? The loss of magic, the fallout plunging many countries into an economic recession, including the one America has just barely struggled its way out of.”

Somebody snickered. Immediately Miss Hutchins turned to the offender, her anger clear in every word and gesture. “You think this is funny?” She snapped, and the giggling died. “Do you think spelltech is nothing more than taking selfies with built-in celebrity holograms? Or overdosing on concentration boosters in your pumpkin spice latte for finals week? Or over-the-counter prescriptions for acne glamour concealers?

“With the Emerald Act, they can add toxic spells to those concealers if they think it’ll turn them a better profit. And if the side effects turn you into a literal donkey, then that’s not their fault, and you can’t sue them. And if they can do that with category three spells, imagine the chaos they can sow with a category two charm. Imagine guns with them. Imagine bombs. You have no idea of the sacrifices King Ivan made to stop this from happening. At the cost of his life, and at the cost of his own country. And then to have his name slandered by the media, by governments, as being as much of a tyrant as that horrible ice bitch…!”

A few students gasped. Tala did.

“This is a move to legitimize the Emerald Act lobbied by OzCorp, to award the Royal States government the rights to magic that it never had in the first place.” Miss Hutchins turned directly to the phone camera, indicating for the first time that she knew she was being filmed and was going to make the most of it. “Avalon controlled most of the world’s magic. They were adamant about not giving away their secrets, knowing they would be exploited.

“And that is why it is to every corporation’s advantage to teach you all that King Ivan of Avalon was a dictator and an evil man, solely to render those copyrights invalid and claim them for their own. We have always been led to believe that Americans are the good guys. That they know what’s best for the world, that they’re democracy and freedom ringing and good old apple pie.” She looked around.

“But they’re not,” she said helplessly. “And they can’t be. Not this way. Not when your government is working with the—”

At that point several security guards burst into the room, and the poor woman found herself slammed against the wall, restrained, and cuffed, with the officers making no attempts to hide their manhandling. “Turn that off!” one of the men barked at the student, and the footage ended abruptly.

“Wow,” Tala breathed, still staring at the screen. It had only been posted an hour ago, but the views were already ratcheting up into the hundreds of thousands, with a stream of unnecessary hot takes in the comments. She was suddenly aware of the chatter around her, of other people viewing the same video through their laptops and phones. “What…why did she suddenly…?”

“She’s right,” Alex said quietly. “All Dad wanted was for Avalonian magic to be used responsibly. And when Avalon fell, someone must have found some of the patents Mom owned. That must be the reason behind this push to change the law.”

“But they can’t actually use most of your family’s spelltech, right?” Only Avalon had enough glyphs to mass-produce the more powerful spelltech, but the whole nation was under ice.

Alex smiled grimly. “Why do you think they’re looking for me? Of course they think there’s a way for me to lift the curse and break the spell. I’ve already called Mr. Peets, my lawyer. He’ll help Miss Hutchins.”

“Alex, I know you want to help her out, but if she’s in the spotlight and you get involved, they could find you.”

“I’ve been here for nearly a year and no one’s found me.” Alex sounded almost pleading. “I have to do this. I couldn’t do much for my people, but I can do something for her now.”

His phone chirped. He glanced down and stood. “I’ll be careful. I’ll tell you what I can later, but I gotta go.”

“Sure,” Tala muttered, watching as he stuffed the rest of his things in his backpack and left, giving her a half-hearted wave on the way out.

Tala took out her own laptop, but homework was the last thing on her mind. After staring blankly at the screen for what felt like an hour, she began some research on her own, accessing the Wiki link about OzCorp.

OzCorp (formerly Ozma Tech), founded in 1889, is an American multinational company in San Antonio, Texas, that specializes in spell and thaumaturgy technology, and magic storage and application software. CEO Ruggedo Nome said that he envisions OzCorp as a spelltech provider, aimed at eventually infusing magic-based conjurations into automation, commercial goods, and operating system markets at affordable prices. It has also increasingly diversified to make a large number of corporate acquisitions, including MacGuffin, Inc. for $20.2 billion in 2010, and FarSeer for $18.5 billion in 2013.

A link from there to the Emerald Act page was already available, which also referenced Miss Hutchins’s video. News traveled fast. She clicked on the former.

The law had been passed quickly enough through the Senate and the Assembly with little outcry. She’d found a few people protesting early on without gaining much traction, but she was certain Miss Hutchins’s passionate outburst was going to turn the tide.

There were, Tala knew, nine types of magic: time, elemental/kinetic, death magic, transfiguration, summoning, healing, divination, conjuration, enchantment, and illusion. They were further classified into three categories of spelltech.

Category three magic: Generally harmless magic that could be created wholesale with little repercussions: software apps, non-combat spells, basically anything that couldn’t be altered from its original function. GPS spells couldn’t be changed to do anything but serve as a driving aid, for example, and posed no other danger beyond miscalculating navigation, just like any bad product available in the market. Low-quality glyphs were sufficient for these spells, which is also what made them easy to mass market.

Category two magic: Spells customized for individuals. Prescription potions sold in bulk at pharmacies were category three; drugs manufactured specifically for a patient with a particular condition fell under the second. So were divorce and labor contracts loaded with preapproved curses and enchantments, or charms of a defensive nature, or even magically engineered food.

Category one magic: Combat spells, weaponized spells, spells that could potentially harm or injure. The military, for the most part, had the monopoly on what little was available, though gun manufacturers have been itching to claim their own shares for years if not for the scarcity of high-grade glyphs available.

Passing the Emerald Act meant lessening the restrictions normally imposed on category two spells. Spellforgers with category two qualifications were mandatory, and acquiring the necessary licenses was a highly vetted process. But the new law now allowed companies to determine a spellforger’s qualification themselves, with very minimal penalty fees imposed on any faulty diagnoses or errors on their part.

That OzCorp was the main lobbyist for the Emerald Act, though, had not been something most people knew until Miss Hutchins had gone viral.

Tala stared at her screen again.

Avalon firebird, she typed, on impulse.

She’d read the pages before, of course. The firebird had never been photographed to her knowledge, but there were enough paintings depicting what it looked like. Long, red shimmering feathers, a graceful neck, and intelligent, golden eyes. The symbol of Avalon, the article stated, and its most powerful spell.

She scrolled down.

Serving as a royal rite of passage, it is said to present itself to the rightful rulers of Avalon on their eighteenth birthday. For twenty years after that, they serve their masters loyally, eventually disappearing to await the next heir. As their namesake suggests, fire is their primary weapon. It is one of the Three Treasures of Avalon, which includes the Nameless Sword, and Maidenkeep, the primary residence and headquarters of the Avalon monarchy.

There was a world map on the page, with the kingdom of Avalon highlighted—it was right at the center of the Pacific Ocean, slightly larger than Brazil. The closest nation to it, the former kingdom of Wonderland, was still depicted with its original size, though the explosion had long reduced it into three or four tiny islands. The map had been made sometime after the twelfth century at least, because the island of Neverland was already missing.

In comparison, the kingdom of Beira was on the other side of the world, above Norway and Greenland and roughly Avalon’s size if it hadn’t also claimed much of the Arctic for its territory.

Nobody in their right mind visited Beira. Saying it was a democracy was like saying Palpatine had been popularly elected to lead the Galactic Empire in Star Wars.

She scrolled down again.

The first known firebird was wielded by Vasilisa the Beautiful, the kingdom’s first queen. According to Avalonian mythology, Vasilisa sought out the firebird, creating what historians consider a censured spell to forge an eternal pact between the majestic creature and those of her lineage to combat the kingdom’s historical enemies such as the Snow Queen of Beira; her consort and right-hand man, the Scourge of Buyan; and Koschei the Deathless himself.

A lull in between paragraphs; a painting of the Snow Queen slaying the armies of Avalon—1940s Beiran propaganda repackaged as modern art. At her side was a young boy her age with dark, dark eyes, slinging a broadsword made of ice. People unfamiliar with the legend always expected the Scourge to be a muscular, imposing man wielding an ax, and were always surprised to learn he was an eternal youth, much like Peter Pan had been.

Other versions say that the firebird is needed to find the legendary kingdom of Buyan, where the key to immortality is said to be found—a kingdom believed destroyed by the Scourge. Famous wielders of the firebird include Talia Briar-Rose, Ella of the Cinders, Ye Xian, Snow White…

Another scroll down.

The last sighting of the firebird was in August 1960, amid the escalation of the Cold War that had both the Royal States and the kingdom of Russia competing to develop spelltech in response to Avalon’s influence in world politics. The mad queen of Wonderland, Elizabeth XXIV, was still reeling from the internal wars ravaging her kingdom since March, and had threatened to unleash the most powerful and most unpredictable of her spelltech against the rebels despite the real possibility of mutual annihilation on both sides of the conflict. Code-named the Mock Turtle, it was an explosives-type spell that, by Avalon estimates, could potentially level the whole Asia-Pacific. Fighting in Wonderland spilled over into Avalon five months later, with Avalon taking the rebels’ side. As casualties mounted, the queen, believing the war lost, detonated the spell, and King Ilya Tsarevich of Avalon deployed the firebird in response. While successful at protecting Avalon from the explosion, the firebird was believed to have perished in the attack. The firebird’s apparent death also marked a turning point in Beiran history, with the Scourge of Buyan publicly turning against the Snow Queen for the first time, to side with Avalon; evidence suggests that the Snow Queen herself had influence in Wonderland politics and had encouraged Queen Elizabeth XXIV to pursue pro-Beiran policies. The incident also marked the breaking down of the alliance between Avalon and Western forces, culminating in Tsarevich withdrawing his previous offer of sharing spelltech knowledge with—

Down.

The firebird has since failed to present itself during both King Andrei and his son, King Ivan’s, eighteenth birthdays. The subsequent attack on Avalon by the kingdom of Beira, led by the Snow Queen, killed all known members of Avalonian royalty, including Ivan, Queen Marya, and their son Alexei—

A sea of giggles rose up from the next table, where a group of kids were watching the video, prompting some shushing from a vexed librarian. Tala sighed and closed her laptop.

Alex never called or texted back. And when she stopped by his place afterward, no one responded to her knock. The house was shuttered and empty; there was no one home.