| |
NOT TWO seconds after LaRiche left the class, Jackson Blanchard tromped to the front of the room, set his hands on the lab bench in front of Vix, and narrowed his blue eyes at her.
He sucked his teeth. “I want to be clear, I didn’t make this mess, and I don’t want to be here right now.”
The hell? “Okay, dipshit, don't. See you later.” She waved him off.
As Blanchard started to step away, Gails jumped forward. “Hold on. Hold on.”
Immediately, the other three students who hung around this ‘rocked it’ jock in class crowded toward the fray. Ijemma and Takon didn't waste any time getting to their feet.
Vix stood. “Look, if this douche bag wants to leave and not save the school from catastrophe, then let him.”
Blanchard lifted his chin high, as if he were better than everyone else. “All I’m saying is, you people created this problem. You should be the ones to clean it up. Instead, we’re all losing class time.”
Lip trembling, Opera's eyes misted over. “I'm sorry.”
No way was Vix letting this asshole of a dog lie. “Look, she's been through more shit than you can imagine. We can’t do this on our own.”
Damn, that wasn’t as hard to admit as she thought.
Gails stomped his foot, raised his voice. “Can everyone please be quiet?”
Silence shot through the room. Everyone listened to him.
Bent fingers running through his hair, Gails pleaded. “It doesn't matter how this started. It will take all nine of us to finish it. Remember? Nine to make the spells work?”
The chick behind Blanchard crossed her arms. Oh yeah, she was totally fucking on board with finishing it with them.
Vix fought rolling her eyes.
“We've each been experiencing some things,” Gails continued, like some kind of guy who had his shit together and knew what the hell he was saying. “We all have talents to bring to the table; we can work together.”
Blanchard shook his head. “I'm out, dude.”
Good!
But Gails bum-rushed to block the door. “You don't have that option, Jackson. If we don't stop this train, then we're all going to be hit by it. I don't know about you, but my life was pretty shitty before coming here. I don't want to screw this up.”
The guy stared at the floor, hands on his hips as if weighing his options. Suddenly, Vix felt as if maybe Gails had the gift to Compel too.
“I'm Morgan,” the girl outstretched her hand to Gails and they shook. “I'm a, well, it's kind of stupid. I can kind of, I guess, nudge things. Make them happen.”
“Really?” Opera asked, clearly in awe of this chick. “Like what? Can you move this pen?” She yanked Vix's pen from her hand and set it on the table.
One side of Morgan's face scrunched up. “It's not really like that. It's more along the lines of you not knowing if you want hot dogs or hamburgers. I can nudge you toward hot dogs. As long as you were unsure about it.”
“Persuasion?” Now Vix was intrigued.
The thirty-something girl shook her head, her brunette curls dusting her shoulders. “I don’t know. I guess so. I just make things happen. I try not to do it too much though; it gives me a headache something fierce, and feels like I’m breaking apart.”
Okay, great. So a hot dog nudger was now in their repertoire in the fight against Crystal College.
Vix motioned to the freakishly blond guy behind Morgan. “What about you?”
“Mateo,” a deep rolling voice came out of the guy.
Jackson huffed behind them as if betrayed.
Vix paid him no mind. “What about you, Mateo?”
He bobbed his head back and forth. “I call it a pocket dimension. I make these slits in the universe and go somewhere else instead.” He shrugged. “I use it for naps mostly.”
“What?” Takon pounded his fist on the table, making the pen jump and roll onto the floor. “A pocket dimension? I don't even know what I can do yet, and you're fucking with the fabric of the universe for naps? This blows.” He walked toward the windows, shaking his head. “This seriously blows.”
Ijemma trailed behind him, checking on her new man, no doubt.
“Forget about that.” Gails made little claps as if breaking up the energy like LaRiche always did, then eyed Mateo. “Care to demonstrate?”
Mateo rubbed the back of his neck. “I don't know, man, it's kind of special. I only use it when I want to. Nothing else.”
Laughing, Vix retrieved her pen. “Oh, come on, man. You can't un-ring that bell. We got to see that.”
“I don't really—”
“You can, Mateo,” Morgan said, her voice sultry and smooth. “Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead.”
He nodded, then closed his eyes and released a stupidly slow exhale while whispering something to himself. Like some kind of tai chi move, Mateo dragged a hand through the air and then stepped through a freaky gap in the world that hadn't been there before.
“The fuck!” Vix's mouth hung open along with everyone else's.
“You're welcome.” Morgan beamed.
Not taking her eyes of the nothingness where Mateo went, Vix inquired further. “Huh?”
“I nudged.” Morgan smiled. “He wasn't certain he wanted to show his gift, but part of him wanted to, so I nudged him.”
Reality hit. “Holy hot dogs, Morgan. That is tight.” She couldn't help but giggle. The chick nudged the hell out of that guy, and his ability was damn cool.
“When does he come out?” Opera whispered.
“God, how would I know?”
Damn, Vix liked Morgan.
Gails pointed at the short, five-foot-something guy bulked up on a few too many protein shakes. “What about you?”
Silence. The guy just stared at Gails with this creepy, I-know-what-you-did-last-summer vibe.
Right about the time Vix wanted to crack a joke, Gails winced, reaching for his temple, and abruptly took a seat.
Genuine concern laced her voice. “You okay, Desmond?”
“I—” He glanced back up at the guy. “All of the sudden, I was with my grandma. She was smiling and handing me a chocolate bar, saying my mom would be home in a few months.” Confusion coated his face like thick paint.
“It was a memory you'd lost. I found it and gave it back to you.” The dude actually winked.
A wave of freaking possibility crashed into her. This guy was awesome. Why the hell did they all seem beholden to Blanchard when they could do all of this cool stuff?
“Huy, by the way.”
“Huh?”
“No, Huy. My name is Huy,” Mr. Memory said, another wink creased up his almond-shaped eye and then relaxed it back to perfection.
A sound like a high-pitched zipper overtook the room. From a seam no one could see, suddenly Mateo stepped back into the class. “How long was I gone?”
“Five minutes,” Takon yelled from across the way where Ijemma shushed him.
“Check my watch, you guys.” Thrusting his wrist in everyone's face, Mateo’s watch was only off by an hour, but an hour ahead at that. “I was in there for sixty minutes, just chilling. Cool huh?”
Holy shit! These people!
All this time while Opera was jumping bodies and Vix was Compelling people to be cool, they could have been doing all kinds of things. “Spill it, Jackson Hole. What's your power?”
Jackson wouldn’t even look at her. “I'm not associating with you or your cronies.”
She hiked an eyebrow, feeling oh-so challenged. “Is that true, Morgan?”
The girl rolled her eyes. “He's not on the fence in his decision. Nothing I can do.”
“Still cool though, girl.”
The two smiled at one another.
“What about you all?” Morgan asked, tugging the strap of her backpack higher onto her shoulder.
“So far,” Vix spoke first. “Convincing people I know what I'm doing, I guess.”
Opera went next, and sounded none too chipper about it. “Illegal habitation of a body.”
“You know there's always latent things, doing stuff over time, . . .” Gails trailed off. Dude seemed shy for some reason.
Vix pointed his way. “He can enter dreams and annoy people.” Then at Ijemma. “And she can hear your thoughts. Between the three of us, we're all in your head. Kind of like you, Morgan, and Huy. Is that normal, do you think? I mean, who's able to fly here? Or has electricity in their veins? Or extraordinary strength?”
“We're not superheroes,” Blanchard spat. “Just magic rejects.”
“Damn, dude. You're a piece of work, aren't you?”
He squinted at her and gave a real quality go-fuck-yourself grin.
Gails raised his voice. “Can you two cool it?”
“He started it,” fell out of Vix’s mouth before she could remember she was trying to be a reformed witch.
Now Gails offered the same squint and smile.
“Look,” Gails went ahead and took over, and honestly, it was probably for the best. “All we need to do right now is think about how we’re going to find Dorfman.”
Morgan leaned against the lab bench. “Was he familiar to any of you before Opera took him for a spin?”
They shook their heads.
“Did he go to the Lancer a lot?” Mateo chimed in. “Maybe the bartender knew him, or maybe he’ll be back there again if it’s part of his routine.”
“Or a job? We could visit him there.” Ijemma now.
Vix rubbed her temples trying to think of a way to find a stranger you never knew in a place you didn’t know they’d be.
Opera dug around in her pack and pulled out a tightly bundled blue handkerchief. “Would this help?” she asked, unwrapping the cloth and setting Josiah Dorfman’s leather wallet on the table in front of her.
How in the hell did she forget they had the dude’s wallet? Vix could have sworn her tired heart stopped. “Yeah, O, that just might help.”
