by D. R. Perry
"I mean, said trouble was my blood relative." I sighed and leaned back against the chair, which turned out to be way less comfy than it looked. "Sorry."
"True, and accepted."
"So, what did you message me for?"
"Your test."
"Excuse me?" I stood. "You shouldn't know about that. I don't have to talk about it either."
"You don't, and it was unfair of me to spring that on you. I'm no good at tact. It’s part of the fire element. I'm sure you understand."
"Yeah." I sat again. "I get that."
"So. The reason I know about your test started when your uncle called my mother in as peer witness for his extramagus test."
The words that came out of my mouth were ones Faith said last year about her sister. I would have been embarrassed if Blaine hadn't sat there nodding a reaction.
"How dare he?" I finished.
"Somehow, he thought only the de facto queen of the dragons could be his peer." Blaine studied his fingernails, then made a dismissive flicking motion. "Anyway, Mother’s invited him to all her soirees since then. He went to the latest one and it gave me an opportunity. I might have peeked at the Director-General's schedule."
"You remembered?"
"Kim put all of your information into LORA last year, and it gave me an alert. He's due in Salem on October fifteenth although they don't send letters until the week before. Anyway, we want to help, like we did for Dylan."
"You know what would be better?" I leaned forward.
"Do tell." More smoke streamed out of his mouth with the words.
"Find me a way to record it."
He shook his head. "Can't help with that. You need a memory psychic, and the only one I know is on a job for the next three months at Weir Academy in Niagara Falls."
"Logan knows one." I sighed. "Jacinda Flores. She was at extramurals last year. Everyone swears she's super nice, but it's like she's got a problem with me specifically or something."
"Hmm." He tapped a finger against the arm of the chair, opened his mouth, then closed it while shaking his head. He cleared his throat and spoke again. "You'll have to try harder because the heinous device they use interferes with communication orbs. Even LORA can't record it." He glanced toward the doors leading from the ballroom. "The only way is a memory charm. So you have to make nice with this psychic if—"
Blaine cut his eyes away, focusing on me. He even leaned to one side as though trying to block my view. I narrowed my eyes, frowned, and leaned farther. Which maybe wasn't the best idea.
Logan and Jacinda stood framed by the ballroom doors like a Norman Rockwell painting, him with his hands up and her on tiptoe, leaning in for what could only be a kiss. On the lips.
My hands smoldered against the chair's arms. The light streaming through the glass doors behind me brightened. When Blaine's mouth dropped open, and he stood, I realized it wasn't the sun.
You're going nuclear.
"I'm jealous, okay?"
"It's okay." Blaine nodded, stretching his arms out to the sides. "But I'm not a magus and can't banish your conjures. And burning down historic hotels is not a good look."
"Whoa." Dylan ran toward me from the hallway by the elevator, Ember and Gale flying past him. An icy blast pushed back against my heatwave. "Chill out. What happened?"
The sudden cold shocked my rage. I shook my head because I had no answer. I shouldn't be angry at Jacinda. Logan wasn't my boyfriend. We'd declared our feelings platonic back in first year, and I'd said nothing since.
Dylan's tapping foot practically demanded an answer. Blaine's face creased with concern.
"I need to go cool off I guess." I sighed. "Anyway, that's the memory psychic over there."
I jerked a thumb in Jacinda's direction but didn't dare look. My mind kept conjuring images of them making out in the middle of the lobby.
I wish it would stop, I thought at the inside voice.
Granted.
My mind's eye switched to a memory of Piercing Whispers practicing Hey Jealousy by The Gin Blossoms. I snorted.
"Are you sure you're all right?" Blaine asked. "Because I could swear you almost puffed a smoke ring just now."
"I need to cool off. Outside, I think."
"Good idea." Dylan nodded.
"Can you introduce me to that psychic, please?" Blaine nodded.
"For what?" Dylan asked.
"A job. With pay."
"I'll go get her, then."
"Thanks," I said.
Dylan glanced at me one more time before walking away, eyebrow raised. I stared at the floor, hands clenched. I had to go but didn't want to leave without being sure about the memory charm.
"Scram, kid. I've got this."
"What?"
"I know tons about memory charms, including what you'll need in October. If she's got a crush on your boyfriend—" Blaine shook a finger, decapitating my protests on that. "I'm no whelp. I'll handle this. Go bank that furnace."
I did as he asked, stepping outside into the breeze coming off the harbor. Well, indirectly. The Hawthorne Hotel was three blocks inland, but it still got plenty of ocean air when the wind came from the east.
Someone stood against the wall in the shade nearby, but I paid them no mind.
"Morgenstern, you're on fire."
"Go away, Alex."
"No. You're burning for real." He batted at my blazer with one hand, wincing.
"Oh." I waved a hand and banished the embers from my smoldering sleeve. "Guess I need a new one of these."
"I saw you react to something in there. What happened?"
"It was stupid. And not your business."
"Fire safety is everyone's business."
"Afraid I'll burn the place down?"
"Yourself, actually." He gestured at the sooty streaks on my garment.
Dorian walked through the door to my left. He froze and stared, a sheaf of folders and pamphlets in the crook of one arm.
"Like you care."
"I owe—"
"No, you don't. Whatever honor code you're following, I'm not on it."
"Fine." Alex walked past me but turned his head to look me in the eye. "Talk to somebody."
"I will if you leave me alone."
He joined Dorian. I watched them cross the street together, heading back toward campus.
A few minutes later, Faith emerged. She insisted on bringing me back to the Providence Paranormal College table to request an application, singed blazer and all. Bobby said I should expect a package at Bubbe's office by the beginning of October, from Blaine.
As we left, I noticed Logan sitting at a table with Lynn Frampton, going over one of his notebooks. She pointed excitedly at something on the page, and he nodded. He glanced up at us and waved.
The flare of heat in my face and around my hands made me walk even faster, snagging Faith by the arm as she slowed.
"Why'd you ignore Logan?" Faith asked.
"It's weird."
"Try me."
I told her all about Jacinda.
"I'd be angry too."
"Why would you care about who kisses Logan Pierce?"
"Because you do. I'd be jealous if someone up and kissed Hal."
"He's your boyfriend. Logan's only a friend."
"There's no only about you two, Aliyah. Maybe in first year, but not anymore."
We walked in silence because I wasn't sure what to say. I'd spent the better part of two years with an enormously uncomfortable crush on Dylan. My feelings for Logan weren't like that at all. I couldn't decipher them beyond my certainty that he was important to me.
"Sorry if that came out bitchy." Faith sighed.
"It's me, not you." I shook my head. "Maybe I'm too confused."
"Okay." She nodded. "If you want to talk about it later, I'm around."
"Thanks, Faith. That means a lot."
I walked her back to campus, then headed back home to pack up my things for the coming week. It'd be busy with tryouts. Maybe the routine of ath
letics and academics would distract me from this seemingly unsolvable problem.
Chapter Nine
Truth Sharper Than Fangs
Noah
The Hawthorne Hotel's ballroom was sun proofed with umbral wards over each of the doors, and I'd used the underground entrance. I stood in the lee of the door anyway, away from the cracks. Unless I'd conjured it myself, any glimpse of sunlight scared me, despite signs clearly marking the wards. If an anti-vamp toe-rag decided to mess with them, I wouldn't know until it was too late.
I waited until Grace DuBois turned around. I caught her eye, gestured at the sign, then the ward. She nodded and gave me a thumbs-up. Being a vampire sucked, but at least I knew an umbral magus I could trust.
Even without any effort toward getting my GED, I'd attended the college and career fair with one fervent hope. That I’d get even one precious glimpse of Jonah Arnold, but he hadn't shown up.
Instead, I witnessed that awful kiss and my sister's anguish over it. She was gone before I could rush to her rescue, and Blaine Harcourt dragged Jacinda away moments later. So I did the next best thing.
"Logan Pierce, how could you?"
"I—what?" He pulled a pack of tissues from his blazer's pocket, got one out, and scrubbed his mouth with it. "What did I do?"
"Oh." I nodded. "I get it now."
"She ambushed me." He wrinkled his nose, curled his lip, and swallowed with a grimace like he'd taken bitter medicine. "I don't get it. All I said was hello."
It sounded more like an assault to me, but I didn't want to traumatize my bestie's kid brother. So I invited him to sit down at an unoccupied table in the corner, away from the doors.
"Are you okay?"
"I don't know. Why did she do that?"
"Maybe she has a crush on you, Logan." I sighed. "But she shouldn't have kissed you without asking first."
"Getting, um, physical freaks me out." He hung his head. "So I'm not gay. Or straight."
"Some people need time and being really close to the right person first. Or to be the one doing the kissing." I patted his hand. "Some people never get into displaying affection."
"Another way I'm built all wrong."
"You're not." I didn't try to look him in the eye although I had some idea what he was going through.
"This can't be normal. I can't be."
"You can be different and still be normal, Logan." I opened my mouth and pointed at my fangs. "All vampy. Still Noah. Same person, only a little different from other people."
"Changing rules is hard."
"Right. But you're not changing. You're discovering. Like a new subject to learn, but about yourself instead of a magipsych lab or history."
"So more like going from dance to cheer?"
"Yeah, something like that." I nodded. "What do you do when you have to study a new topic?"
"I ask a lot of questions and take notes." He rummaged in his satchel. "Oh! I can take notes about this. Like writing down how I feel."
"Exactly."
I watched him set his notebook on the table, take out a pencil, and start writing. Not bullet points or a numbered list, but an academic outline. He wasn't valedictorian for nothing. After a few moments, I realized the project totally absorbed him so I said goodbye, stood, and paced away, hoping to find Jonah eventually.
"Hey." Faith Fairbanks stood in my way.
"Hey?"
"Aliyah's outside. I'm going to see how she is. Do you want me to tell her anything for you?"
"No." Lotan hissed in my ear. "Oh! Remind her to request an application packet from Providence Paranormal. Don't tell her it was my idea."
"Why?" She crossed her arms and looked at me sideways.
"She doesn't always take me seriously."
"Whatever works for you, Noah." Faith shrugged.
"Thanks, Faith."
She waved and sauntered off. I decided to make myself scarce, or better yet, find a decent vantage point to catch Jonah's arrival if he showed up. Even if his lawyer didn't want us talking, I still wanted to see his face. Almost had to.
I worried maybe I'd started to forget him. I couldn't possibly. I loved him, right?
Nobody was at the PPC table when I passed it. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw the brunette who'd been sitting there earlier chatting with Logan. Not in a flirtatious way, thank goodness. She wore a big sparkly engagement ring and had her notebook out. She seemed to be comparing something in it to Logan's notes. I left them to it and kept walking.
Doctor Elizabeth had been down to see me over the spring. Mostly, she helped me cope with the physical changes. She also educated me about where our powers came from. Vampiric instincts and reflexes weren't designed to help vampires hunt extrahumans or even mundane folk.
Ages ago, our role in extrahuman society was to bring in large and swift game over the long winters or eliminate threats like giant cats or bears. We took blood from our kills in exchange for the meat, bone, and furs. That became the basis for our alliance with the werewolves, whose stamina and resistance to the harsh conditions complemented ours.
Unless we were starved to the point of Rage, a vampire's instincts were to guard our found families against harm.
They didn't teach that in schools like Hawthorn Academy, no matter how progressive a headmaster Hector Hawkins tried to be. Even integrated schools like Providence Paranormal only included that in its more obscure curricula. So it fell to older vampires to remember and pass that knowledge on to whoever would listen.
All of this had a point.
I saw a chair in an alcove with a direct line of sight to the door from the tunnel. As I made my way toward it, a swift movement at the corner of my eye triggered my reflexes and diverted my attention. Why did I feel predatory in a room full of extrahumans?
Jacinda walked along the wall that ran parallel to the street. My instincts tracked her as a threat and Logan as family.
Solar magi have bad tempers. Vampires even more so. Experience with one helped manage the other. I strode toward her instead of dashing but ended up cornering her only paces away from the exit to the street. I needed to train my instincts to consider her neutral from now on.
"Jacinda Flores, how could you?"
"I know. I'm horrible."
"That's not—"
"The reaction you expected?" She sighed. "Ditto. Anyway, I'd better go home."
"Don't you still need to check some colleges out?" I blinked. "Or, um, careers?"
"I came for one reason, and he's in the corner recovering from my crap decision."
"Oh."
I watched Jacinda turn as if to leave, but after a few steps, she stopped and looked back over her shoulder.
"What about your colleges and careers?"
"Well, I came here for, uh, a not academic reason too."
"Jonah's not coming. I'm sorry." With that, she continued her trajectory and left through a side exit to the street. Also umbrally warded, thank goodness.
I started a snort that I tried turning into a chuckle. That failed, and it went all the way to a sob. A hand fell on my shoulder, cool but firm. For a moment, I hoped Jacinda had either made a sick joke or lied.
I turned, expecting to look up into the pale, freckled face I wanted to see more than anything else in the entire world. Instead of blue eyes and lips pouty with the fangs behind them, I beheld dark blue curls framing a dusky-skinned and square-jawed face.
"Dylan. Of course, your hands are cold."
"Part of ice magic, I guess." He let go of my shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"I spent most of last year asking you the same question, and now you want to turn this dynamic around?" I raised an eyebrow and sniffed like I meant to quip instead of hiding my heartbreak.
"I mean it, if you don't behave, that's what I'll do, mister." He tried making a stern line with his lips, but they twisted instead into a lopsided grin. "So, which schools are you applying to?"
"None."
"Come on. At least one. Practically every one
of these want Bishop's Row players—"
"I won't get in."
"I bet a whole lot of them take GEDs. Especially the nocturnal program ones."
"I don't qualify."
"Wait." He blinked. "You didn't finish?"
"Did the courses, but not the test."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want a GED, Dylan. I want my Hawthorn diploma. I worked too hard." I swallowed, unable to continue. Why was I saying any of this to him? Because he cared and he was there? He deserved better than me dumping on him. I started to walk away, but he stopped me again.
"Have you tried an appeal?"
"The trustees voted last year against letting me finish, even by distance learning."
"Bollocks." He clenched his jaw, then glanced behind me and waved someone over.
"Hey." Lee waved, joining us along with Hal and Izzy. "What's this about?"
"Getting Noah his diploma from Hawthorn."
"Is that possible though?" Izzy asked.
"There's a new headmaster, so yeah." Hal nodded. "Either once per year or with a leadership change, you can appeal that decision."
"They voted four to three against me the last time." I shook my head. "What makes a new hearing any different when it's still the same board?"
"The trustees are on campus with all of us." Lee grinned. "You know, your friends?"
"Exactly." Hal nodded. "We only have to change one mind. I can figure out which way they voted pretty easily. Dad's not headmaster anymore, but I can still play the family card to get into the office. Give Grandpa the old puppy dog eyes."
Hal's demonstration made almost everyone laugh. I abstained.
"Seriously though, you shouldn't bother." I waved a hand at them as if I could make them all vanish. Or myself, maybe. "It'll never work."
"Let the cards be the judge of that." Izzy patted her bag.
Before I could protest a second time, they practically herded me toward one of the two chairs flanking a cocktail table. I sat and let Izzy shuffle the cards, cutting the deck when prompted. I'd known that drill since she started reading tarot on her seventh birthday.
Nothing could have prepared me for The Wheel of Fortune reversed, right in the middle of my spread. In fact, I couldn't even bring myself to look at the other ones she flipped over because I'd gotten that card in this position exactly one other time in my entire life.