A group of girls pointed and giggled. He dodged around them, wondering if he should jump off a cliff so he wouldn’t have to face any of these people again. It felt like an eternity, but he knew it didn’t take him very long to reach the end of the hall and turn. He ran right past Toby, who dropped his jaw and stared.
Maybe Aiden could drown himself in the toilet when he got back to the bathroom.
Another turn just as the warning bell rang. Great. On top of all this, he was going to be late to class. And everyone would know why. At least the crowd was thinning, so it was easier to run through. Laughter, shouts, and catcalls followed him. He was getting tired, but there was no way he was slowing down.
One last turn and the bathroom was just ahead.
Dylan stood by the door, barely able to hold Aiden’s clothes and books as he doubled over with laughter. “Oh God, I can’t believe you did it.”
Strangle Dylan first, then drown himself in the toilet.
Aiden didn’t stop, just shoved open the bathroom door and ran in. He didn’t even want to know how dirty his feet were getting. Ew, ew, ew. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Dylan follow him into the bathroom, still cracking up.
Aiden stopped in front of the stall. “Gimme.”
Dylan hesitated and Aiden held his breath. Would he play keep-away? Run out and make Aiden chase him through the school? But Dylan handed his clothes over, and Aiden realized he’d probably just been trying to adjust things so he wouldn’t drop the books.
While Aiden got dressed as fast as he could, Dylan’s laughter echoed off the walls. The final bell rang.
Great.
* * *
Aiden’s phone buzzed, and he opened it to see a text from Hanna.
Alice, did you see that guy in his underwear? What was that about?
He groaned and dropped his head on the desk. Oh God, Hanna had seen that. He wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out.
All through class, people had been snickering and whispering. Besides the embarrassment, he’d been terrified that he’d get called down to the principal’s office. And now this.
The class was empty by the time he looked up. He stared at the text for another moment before replying. I heard he lost a bet with Dylan. Crazy, right?
Her response came back in seconds. Y would he bet? What was teh bet?
He started typing before wondering how “Alice” would know. Hanna was afraid Conner would get hold of her phone and read her texts, so things had to look as realistic as possible. Aiden sent, Something stupid, I’m sure. Shoving the phone in his pocket, he hurried for his next class. He didn’t want to be late for another one.
* * *
As soon as Aiden got on the bus, Toby and Tina waved at him. Aiden winced, picturing the look on Toby’s face as he ran by in the hall.
“What the heck was that?” Toby asked.
“In your underwear?” Tina asked.
His cheeks heated as he sat next to Toby. “I lost a bet with Dylan.”
“What bet?” Toby leaned closer.
“We had a bet a while back, when I first got to school. If he guessed what I was before I guessed what he was, then I had to run down the hall in my underwear.” All those people laughing, pointing. And Hanna. He hadn’t even noticed her, but she’d been there. Or maybe she’d only heard about it from someone? That was something to hope for, at least.
“Wow, I can’t believe you did it.” Tina laughed. “And I can’t believe you made a bet with him.”
“I can’t believe you’re friends with him,” Toby said, fiddling with his hat. “You’re either braver or dumber than anyone else in school.”
Tina smacked his shoulder. “That’s not nice.”
“Ow! But it’s true. I mean, friends with a dragonkin?”
“That’s the problem, you know,” Aiden said, his anger rising. Part of him was glad to be distracted from his embarrassment. “You all treated him like he was dangerous and different, so he started acting like it. This town is full of monsters, and you still had to find someone to pick on.”
Toby leaned back. “I’m sorry, okay.”
They were quiet as the bus started up.
“He was laughing when you were running down the hall. Dylan, I mean,” Tina said. “I’ve never seen him laugh like that.”
“I don’t think I’ve even seen him smile before,” Toby said.
How sad. Dylan had led a sullen, lonely school life, and Aiden suspected his home life hadn’t been much better. His parents seemed really nice though. Had it all been an act because Aiden was around, or were they like that all the time? Aiden had never gotten any indication from Dylan that they were mean to him.
Why did Dylan have to carry around so much anger? People treated him like he was dangerous, but that didn’t mean he had to let it affect his home life. Then Aiden thought about the locker-room incident. Even when he wasn’t at school, the way the kids looked at him and his fear of himself had stayed with him no matter where he was. Even now it felt like he was still carrying it with him.
“I guess there’s a silver lining to me being the laughingstock of the whole school, then. At least I made him laugh and smile.” Aiden still wanted to strangle him though.
“You have a nice butt,” Tina said.
Toby made a face. “Ew.”
Aiden blushed again. “Umm… thank you?”
Toby chuckled and punched him playfully. “Don’t be too embarrassed. At least you weren’t naked. And you made Dylan laugh, which is like… I don’t know, something really rare.”
How surprised would they be if they knew he’d had dinner at Dylan’s house? And that Dylan had been to his?
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Dylan flew over the burning city, breathing flames. Another building ignited, and another. The sharp scent of burning materials filled the air. Everything was hyperreal—the sights, the sounds, the scents. And then in a flash, Dylan knew he was dreaming. Not only that, but he’d had this dream before, several times. The last few times he’d talked to a dark fae named Morgan. There, up ahead, was the building where they’d met before. Dylan backwinged and landed on the rooftop, looking toward the corner where the dark fae always appeared.
There was the shadow, which coalesced into a man’s shape. In a few seconds it sharpened into the man with leaves in his hair, carrying the scent of fall. “Hello again, dragonkin Dylan.”
“You disappeared before you told me what you wanted me to do. You always leave me hanging, and it’s starting to piss me off.” Dylan loved his growly, deep dragon voice.
Morgan bowed, his black eyes glimmering. “My apologies. I will tell you now. Starting at the dark of the moon, take a vessel of water and prick your finger over it. Just one drop, but you must do this every night for three cycles of the moon.”
Dylan frowned. “Blood magic. That’s serious stuff.”
“Yes, dragonkin. I need you to perform very powerful magic to open the pathways between our worlds. And for your assistance, I pledge to take power away from the wardens. They will no longer cage you with their rules.”
Dylan had been warned against dark fae by his mom. “Why do you want to open the pathways so bad?”
Morgan’s eyes narrowed slightly. “They were never meant to be closed. Faery is meant to be our home and our retreat, but it was never meant to be our prison.”
“So you feel as trapped as I do.” Some kids got temporary passes to go out into the human world for vacations, but Dylan had never been allowed one. He was deemed too dangerous. His whole life, he had never been outside Shadow Valley.
“Yes, you see,” Morgan said and threaded his fingers together, “we have a mutual solution to our problems.”
It didn’t even have to be about his twisted fantasies of burning down large cities. It was just about the freedom to go wherever he wanted and not worry about hiding his powers. He could see up close the things he’d only seen on a screen. The ocean, the desert, cities like Los Angeles and New York.
Or places outside the US, like Paris and London. Australia. Or he could go to Africa, see lions running wild. Go to the mountains of Norway where his mom had grown up. Anywhere and everywhere.
“And after I’ve made this blood potion for three months?” Dylan asked.
“I will give you further instructions when the third month nears its end. I must make my own preparations.”
Behind the dark fae, Dylan noticed the color fading from the flames, the sign that the dream was about to end.
Dylan grumbled. “So more bullshit from you? Why won’t you just tell me now?”
“What difference will it make? You must wait anyway, and you may forget the instructions. They must be followed in detail, and I would need to repeat them to make sure you remember them. Besides, our time here is coming to an end once again. Remember, one drop each night into a vessel of water, starting at the dark of the moon, which is two days hence. And be sure that you conceal the vessel so no other may find it.”
Dylan snorted. “Of course I wouldn’t leave it out for my parents to find.” Or Aiden when he came to visit. Dylan hadn’t mentioned these dream visits to his friend. He knew Aiden wouldn’t understand.
“Good, good.” Almost all the color behind Morgan was gone. “I shall visit again in a fortnight.” Then he was gone.
“Wait,” Dylan said as the dream continued to fade. “What’s a fortnight?” But the dream world disappeared, and he passed into regular dreams.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Aiden’s phone buzzed just before he reached the locker room. He waited until he was inside before he checked it. A text from Hanna. When he read it, he went cold.
I think he might hurt me.
Aiden sat down on the locker-room bench and stared at it. Had Conner found out? Or was it something else? In any case, she was in danger.
“Hurry up,” Dylan called as he walked by. He stopped. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Aiden handed him the phone.
“Hmm. That doesn’t sound good.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Aiden took the phone back and stared at the text again. “What should I do?”
Dylan shrugged and sat on the edge of the bench. “Up to you.”
“I don’t even know where she is.” His stomach twisted. “What if this is my fault?”
“For texting her? I guess it could be.”
Aiden wanted to help her, to stop Conner from hurting her. What if he was hurting her right now? Aiden didn’t know what to do. He didn’t even know what to say back to her. He needed to know she was okay.
Are you okay? He texted back. Then he waited, his palm sweating against the phone.
“Come on, get dressed. You’re gonna be late for class.”
Aiden glared at him. “Don’t you care? She might be in trouble and it might be my fault. Besides, is it really that important if we’re late to class?”
“I don’t want to be late.”
Aiden shook his head, willing a message to appear on his phone. “This is the only class you care about.” He was late almost every single day to homeroom.
“Because it’s the only one that matters. Come on.” Dylan stood.
“Wait. I’m going to call her.” He had her number programmed into his phone after all. All he had to do was hit Call instead of Message. She’d told him never to call, but if she was afraid enough to text him something like that, then it was an emergency.
Aiden hit the Call button and lifted the phone to his ear, his breath coming fast. It rang and rang. What if she had it on silent? What if she was ignoring it because she was in class? What if something had already happened to her?
She picked up. “I can’t talk right now,” she said in a low whisper, her voice shaky.
“Where are you? Are you okay?”
“In the field—” The call cut off.
“Hanna?” He pulled the phone away to see she’d hung up. Fear made his throat go dry. “I think she’s in trouble.”
“Of course she’s in trouble. She’s answering her phone in the middle of class,” Dylan said.
Shadow Valley High School was more lax about phone use than Aiden’s last school had been, but no one was supposed to make or take calls during class, or send texts either.
Aiden stuffed his phone in his pocket and grabbed his backpack. “Where is the field? She said she was in the field.”
“Man, you’re really serious about this.”
“I think she’s seriously in trouble,” he snapped. “How can you not care?”
“Because it’s not my problem.”
“Would you care if I was in trouble?”
“’Course I would.”
“So why do you care about me and not about her?”
“Because you’re my friend and she’s not.”
“Well she’s my friend, so I’m going to do something.” He still had no idea what he was going to do. What if he showed up and Conner was hitting her? Then he remembered how he’d thrown Conner across the hall. He had more control now, and if he wanted to, he could probably do much more serious damage to Conner this time. Even if it was for the sake of protecting Hanna, the idea of hurting Conner made him feel a little sick.
Aiden started heading for the door and stopped. “Will you come with me?”
Dylan looked skeptical, and Aiden thought he was going to say no. “You want me to kick Conner’s ass?”
“Maybe.” Aiden didn’t like that idea, but he liked it better than having to hurt Conner himself.
The corner of Dylan’s mouth tilted up for a second. “I know where the field is.” He stood up and led the way.
The field was part of the school grounds, out behind the annex building. A wooded area separated it from the school and a path led through the trees, visible even under the few inches of snow.
“They take werewolves and ghouls and people like that out here to practice using their senses in a more natural environment,” Dylan explained as they hurried along over the trail. “This”—he pointed around at the trees—“blocks out the school and dulls the scents coming from it so they can focus.”
“So she and Conner have a class out here?” Aiden had his jacket because he brought it with him to Major Magical Control so he could go straight to the bus afterward, but Dylan was just in his gym clothes—worn jeans and a tattered shirt.
“Yeah.” His breath steamed in the night air.
“So there should be a teacher out here with them.” Aiden relaxed a little. Maybe she really had cut the call because she’d gotten in trouble for using it in class.
“The field is a big open area, so if they’re there, the teacher can watch them. But look around. There’s woods all around the field. If they’re doing tracking or something, it won’t be hard for Conner to find her somewhere the teacher can’t see them.”
The worry came back full force. “Can you find them? Do you have… dragon senses or something?” Aiden asked. Dylan had said he knew what kind of magic he had by smelling it. If he could smell magic, he could probably smell other things.
Dylan chuckled. “Yeah. I have their trail now.”
“Can we go faster?” He pictured Hanna getting smacked by Conner, hitting the ground. Aiden should have known he was the type from the way he acted. He should have warned Hanna.
Dylan picked up the pace, coming out of the trees into a large open field. The snow made it brighter, but it was still hard to see. Aiden tripped on something and made a little grunt.
“You okay?” Dylan asked.
“I’m fine.”
“Too dark for you?”
“Yeah. I wish we had a flashlight.” Mr. Johnson had told him he’d be able to see better in the dark than humans, but it might take a while for that to fully develop, just like his other powers.
A flame appeared in Dylan’s hand. “I have this.”
“Oh. Right,” Aiden said.
“Hey! What are you doing over there?” a man called out.
“Personal business,” Dylan snappe
d and set off at a jog across the field, making fresh tracks in the snow.
The flame cast just enough light for Aiden to see a few feet around them, and he kept up with Dylan as they made it to the other side of the clearing and plunged into the trees again. No trails here. Most of the leaves had fallen, making it a little easier to get through the undergrowth.
Aiden breathed deep, trying to smell what Dylan could smell. Dylan zigzagged a bit but kept going in a generally southwest direction for several minutes.
“I can hear them,” Dylan said in a low voice. “He’s shouting. Should we announce ourselves or do you want to sneak up on them?” Dylan glanced back at him, eyes faintly glowing green.
“I just want him not to hurt her. I don’t care how that happens.”
A dangerous smile curved Dylan’s lips and he took off at a run.
“Wait!” Aiden called. Dylan had the fire, which was the only way Aiden could make it through the woods without tripping or running into things. He ran after his friend.
It turned out they didn’t have far to run. In a cluster of trees, Conner stood over a crying Hanna.
“Conner,” Dylan growled, fire blooming in a ring around him, turning the snow to steam. “Leave the girl alone.”
Conner turned, his face a mix of anger and confusion. “What the hell?”
“Hanna, are you okay?” Aiden asked. He didn’t see any bruises or other marks on her face, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t hit her somewhere else.
She looked at him in shock and didn’t say anything.
“It’s the cavalry, dickhead,” Dylan told Conner, a grin on his face. His eyes were bright green now, contrasting with the red-orange of the flames.
Aiden didn’t want to get closer, afraid Conner would hurt him. Then he shook himself. What was he afraid of? He could, and had, defended himself against Conner, and besides, Dylan was right there. Conner wouldn’t even be able to touch him before Dylan would be on the older boy.
How to Make Friends and Not Incinerate People Page 11