by D. R. Perry
"He was at the concert on Halloween with Cadence and Crow." She raised her eyebrows at me, then glanced at Izzy. Whatever she was trying to convey nonverbally fell short of my comprehension.
"Right." I nodded. "I remember now. Bar’s a troll changeling and Crow’s some sort of bird shifter. Cadence said they don't work at the Gallows Hill newspaper with her. "
"Exactly. Crow said he’d help this year. She talked him into it."
"Mermaid, magic voice, duh." Izzy rolled her eyes but smiled.
"What's the holdup?" I asked.
"She's trying to convince him to hang with us." Izzy shrugged. "I don't think it’ll happen."
"Why?" I blinked.
"Troll changelings are hardheaded in more ways than one." Izzy rapped her knuckles on the side of her head.
"Yeah, her mermaid stuff doesn't work on them." Brianna smiled.
"Maybe it’s a good thing." Izzy gestured at the remaining seats. "We won't have room with everybody else we invited."
"Normally I'd say the more the merrier, but you've got a point, Iz." I nodded.
"Cadence would rather have Crow here than Bar." Brianna repeated her mysterious eyebrow raise.
"What's this all about then?" Izzy narrowed her eyes.
"She's got a crush, but what else is new?" Brianna let out that nervous laugh again.
"Yeah, what else is new?" Izzy shrugged. "Tons, apparently, that she hasn't told me. Or her parents, probably. But enough about Cadence. What are you up to?"
"Just working, mostly." Brianna fiddled with the empty cup in front of her. "Trying not to freak out about playing Bishop’s Row at extramurals this year."
"Am I the only one who isn't bothered by any of this?" I blinked. "It'll be fun."
"You told us an influential new first-year is a magisupremacist, and you're not worried?" Izzy raised her eyebrow.
"Well, crap." I winced.
Cadence walked through the door, shaking her head as she strode briskly toward us. She took the seat on the other side of Brianna.
"What now?" Cadence asked.
"I'm a little more worried about next year than I was previously." I grimaced. "Thanks to our psychic friend."
Izzy lifted her hand, giving us all a little golf wave and a parade-float smile.
"Better nervous and prepared than confident without a clue. At least that's what my parents say." Cadence rolled her eyes. " But won't it be fun? A little danger's exciting sometimes."
"Okay." I blinked. "You know how most of us feel about that kind of thing, Cadence. Danger bad."
"Life is danger, friends. You either sink or swim." Cadence's smile had never reminded me of a shark's until that day. "Lucky for you, I'm an expert, and I’ve been coaching Grace. She’s got a plan for this year."
"Yeah, you're a daredevil." Izzy nodded. "The two of us have vetoed all your dangerous ideas since forever. Of course you're going into next year like it's the nineties and we’re in the X-games."
I waved at the door, probably more frantically than I had to.
"Look, there's Lee." I had to change the subject or Izzy and Cadence would drag on each other for another ten minutes. Thankfully, my classmate's arrival stopped that before it began.
"Hello." Lee grinned and sat beside Izzy. When she glanced at him, the corners of her mouth turned up, and her previously tense shoulders eased down a notch.
"I've got your Sprite and your Coke here." The pitchers of soda settled themselves on the tabletop because the waiter was a psychic, the telekinetic kind. "Root beer’s coming with your pizza in just a few minutes. How many plates do you need?"
"Nine, I think," I answered.
"Better make that ten. I ran into Azrael on the way here." Lee added.
"Great." Izzy leaned back to drag another chair from the table behind us. "Exactly what I needed."
"I don't think he'll bug you much anymore, Iz." Cadence leaned her elbows on the table, folded her hands, and set her chin on them.
"Oh?" Izzy blinked. "What happened?"
"Rumor has it he's moved on." Cadence studied her pearl-pink fingernails.
"Rumor?" Izzy side-eyed the mermaid. "You're not even at school with him. Haven't been for months."
"You think just because I'm not on campus, it means there's no gossip to follow?" Cadence snorted. "I'm good at my job."
The bell over the door jingled as Hal walked in with Faith.
"Guys, we're here, but there's a problem." Faith approached the table, Hal straggling behind her. She jerked her thumb at the window to my right.
We all looked outside to see an unfolding scene that could have come straight out of a teen movie.
Chapter Five
Dylan and Grace stood outside the window, light from inside spilling shadows long and stark on the sidewalk and into the street next to the Engine House. The window framed them, letting us see more than we probably should have.
Grace had her arms crossed over her chest, her posture as straight and defiant as if she were facing down a monster. And maybe one lurked out there in the street that night, some awful presence between the two—a monster they couldn't agree whether to capture or slay.
Dylan stood with one hand out, shoulders shaking, head down. I knew he dared to look in her eyes because he faced me. He pleaded with her, begging for something she couldn't or wouldn't give.
I'd never seen him like this, not even on the day he and Logan had experienced the strain and drama of bonding with familiars they thought were wrong for them. Dylan Khan had accused me last year of wearing my heart on my sleeve, but he'd always seemed opposite: able to hide his feelings behind a six-foot hedge of quirkiness.
Whatever he said to Grace that night, it left her unmoved. Their discussion was a mystery to us, even after she shook her head and walked past him toward the restaurant's door. He followed her, head down, with one shaky hand reaching up to fling tears from his eyes.
Neither spoke about the scene outside, but Cadence patted the seat beside her, glancing up at Grace. And Hal and Faith moved down so Dylan could sit between them and Lee instead of across from her.
Our pizzas came out then, floating over from behind the counter to settle on the table at evenly spaced intervals. The psychic waiter used his powers to bring us our order, including the root beer. As amusing as this usually was, it didn’t cheer me up, because my friends carried the burden of whatever had passed between them on the street.
Dylan's nickname at school was "the bottomless pit.” His dragonet, Gale, usually snapped up any scraps he left behind, but that night, Gale stayed tucked around his neck, sleeping. Dylan barely managed one slice of pizza, leaving sauce and cheese along with the crust and a few stray slivers of mushroom on the plate. Grace wolfed down almost half a pie on her own, chasing it with so much root beer we had to order another pitcher.
When Azrael Ambersmith walked in the door, Dylan excused himself, leaving his nearly full paper plate, a half-glass of Sprite, and bewildered friends. Azrael didn't take the vacated seat, instead squeezing into the booth beside Grace. He raised an eyebrow at the crumb-filled plate in front of her, then glanced at me.
"What do I owe you?"
"Nothing." I fidgeted, wishing I could go after Dylan before he got to campus because I couldn't follow him there until school started. "Bubbe technically paid, so thank her next time you see her."
"What was that?" Izzy raised her eyebrow.
"Um, don't you know?" I wanted to keep Grace out of Izzy's hot seat. "Psychic friend?"
"Yeah." She shrugged, then for the first time in over a year, Izzy did emotional triage. "But we’re here for a reason. Stuff to hash out before school starts."
"I'll check on him." Hal tried standing but fell back in his seat and rolled his eyes. "I guess not. Stupid body. They just don't make them like they used to in my family."
"Not funny." Faith shook her head. "But I get it. I'll go."
Faith nodded to me as she stood, pushing the chair in behind her. I watched Nin
scuttle out of her tote to Hal's shoulders, Seth peeking out to yip goodbye as she left the restaurant.
“Let’s do this already.” Grace snagged another slice of pizza. “You know, the talking about the tension stuff.”
"Okay, Grace." Izzy leaned on the table, hands flat against its wooden surface. "We get stuck in moments, which is a good thing in life-threatening crises. But if we can’t move forward, we end up with patterns, like unwanted rivalry.” She glanced at me. “And default relationships."
"She's right." Hal nodded. "I watched it happen last year. I couldn't do much to help, either."
"Okay, Iz," I said, blushing, "What do we do about it?"
"I wish I knew." Izzy shook her head. "I'm just seventeen like the rest of you, remember?"
"I have this elective I take with other changelings at Gallows Hill." Brianna leaned back against the padded seat of the booth. "It's supposed to be on maintaining glamour, but it's more like a class in emotional adulting."
"Yeah." Azrael nodded. "I'm in that too. It’s self-care, like putting on mental armor."
"Sounds like some folks at our school could use that," Grace mumbled around a mouthful of pizza. "Including me."
"It sounds too personal." Izzy shook her head. "I'm not sure I'd want to be talking about my feelings for a grade. A for everybody."
"It's not like that." Brianna shook her head. "We do yoga, free-writing, and guided meditation. One time we were all tired right after team tryouts, and we took a nap in class like it was kindergarten or something."
"I didn't fall asleep." Azrael tilted his head. "But it was nice to lie down for a minute."
"I think that was the point. We got to stop that day after all the going we did." She sighed. "But anyway, I have a whole book of notes. I could get a copy for you guys. Maybe you can read it in study hall or whatever folks at Hawthorn do during free time."
"Wow, thanks, Brianna." I grinned. "I know that'd help me."
"We still need to talk. I spent most of the summer butting heads with my friends. The point of school break is blowing off steam, a detox before the next year, but it didn’t happen for me." Izzy gazed at her hands on the table, letting her fingers curl for a moment. But they flattened again, tips paling.
"Look, I'll go first." I sat up, jostling Ember on my shoulder. She made a sleepy peep before opening her eyes. "This summer I've seen you guys around, but I haven't seen you. Our time together felt shallow."
"You’ve got something there." Cadence nodded. "At school I floundered, but this summer, I waded ankle-deep, like I was scared to get real with my friends."
"I've been so tired." Hal shook his head. "The trips to Boston, the treatments. They helped, but just enough to go to and from them. Even sitting on the beach sapped me. I went to bed to get enough energy to come out for pizza."
"And I can’t talk." Izzy stared at the table. "Not about what really bothers me. That place; it’s just bizarre. I know we're all extrahumans, the opposite of mundane. But the school stuff you guys talk about?” She shook her head. “Messing’s on another planet."
"Oh, Iz, I had no idea." I reached out and put my hand over hers. "I'm sorry."
"You're not a mind reader, Aliyah." Grace dusted crumbs off her hands. "A lifesaver, yeah, because you react fast when it matters. But nobody can know what's in someone else's head, no matter how close they are."
"Hey, that's my line." Izzy gave Grace a wan smile. "I didn't expect it from you, but thanks anyway."
"It’s like we were all wrong." I glanced at Cadence then Izzy. "Like we got replaced by body-snatchers all summer."
"You know what?" Azrael leaned around the pitcher so we could see his face. "I felt like that for the last two years before we started our prep schools. I couldn't be the real me. In the group, I mean."
"That was my fault." Izzy shook her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't know how bad that could feel. Like being replaced."
"How could you feel replaced?" Grace blinked.
"Every weekend, Aliyah went on about her awesome roommate, Grace." Izzy looked her in the eye. "That's how. It's not your fault, you're just being yourself. But after Messing, I feel like a friend by proxy, and all last year, you got to have that with her." Lee patted her shoulder.
"You guys are all awesome.” I insisted. “None of you are replaceable, including our absent friends."
Nobody said anything after that for a while. Everyone had a bite of pizza or a sip of soda and digested things, both physically and emotionally.
After conversation resumed, the topics changed back to speculation mostly, talking over the activities we'd do once school started. I thought we were out of the woods, at least those of us still sitting at the table.
Faith and Dylan both needed to be looped in on this, and whatever argument Grace had gotten into with him, they'd need to make sure nothing festered. I wasn't sure what had happened, and I didn't find out until a week later because an entirely different can of worms opened for me on the way home.
Chapter Six
"Sorry you missed Gale, girl."
"Peep."
Ember sat on my shoulder, resting her head on top of mine in a fit of what I could only imagine was ennui. I didn't blame her, though. I felt more uneasy than anything else. I wanted to spend more time with Dylan, and not just because he was my friend. He couldn't possibly be okay after whatever had happened outside Engine House. I had no idea how he'd been all summer because he barely left campus except to go to work at Walgreens.
Come to think of it, no one had really seen him outside work besides Hal and Lee. Hawthorn Academy was a big place square-footage wise, despite its few students. Maybe they hadn't spent much time with him either.
I wished I could talk to Logan about Dylan, and wondered what he'd say. As roommates, they’d had each other’s backs. But Logan remained on the other side of the country.
"Aliyah, wait up!"
"I'm hearing things." I shook my head, agitating Ember, who turned on my shoulder to look behind me.
"Peep!" She sounded annoyed, not alarmed.
"Yeah, okay, I'm sorry." I kept walking. If someone had followed us, that was all for the best.
Ember let out an honest to goodness roar and flapped her wings, letting go of me to fly back along the way we'd walked.
I'd never seen her angry enough to fly away like that before. I turned to discover what might have set her off.
"Logan?" I froze in place, blinking.
"Yeah, sorry." He shrugged, bags bouncing on his shoulders. The streetlight he stood under was a bluish LED, so his face looked more purple than red under it.
"Meow?" The cat at his feet shimmered in the light. His mercat Doris had glistening silver-gray fur that looked perpetually damp, mottled with charcoal markings.
"Don't apologize, just tell me why you're here." I stepped toward him.
"Well, your grandmother said if I ever needed somewhere to stay," he began, struggling with two rolling suitcases large enough to make my brother Noah jealous.
"Did your parents kick you out?" I gazed at all the luggage, wondering how in the world he'd brought it so far from the train station on his own. That walk was almost ten blocks and uphill half the way.
"Well, no, not exactly. I think I kicked myself out. Maybe." He sighed as one suitcase toppled over on its side. “It’s hard to explain.”
"That part can wait." I reached down and righted the bag, dragging it beside me. "For now, let's just go talk to Bubbe, okay?"
He nodded. "Sounds like a plan."
I peered at him, counting. He had two messenger bags, one knapsack, and a large rectangular duffel slung over his shoulders. I reached out and snagged the duffel and the knapsack, sharing his burden.
"Where's Ember?" I looked around for my dragonet, then whistled for her.
"Um, here." Logan lifted one of his arms. Ember's little face peeked out from his side.
"Peep?" She blinked, then made puppy dog eyes at me.
"Okay, you can ride
on Logan if it's okay with him."
"Yeah, that's fine, Ember. Just hang on, okay?"
"I guess she missed you."
"I missed all this." Logan jerked his chin, indicating the streets of Salem. "And our friends, of course."
"Listen, I’m almost a hundred percent sure Bubbe will let you stay, but you might be downstairs in the animal hospital."
"No problem for me. Dr. Doolittle, remember?" He grinned, but the expression didn't touch his eyes.
"Yeah, I remember." Logan had a special talent for communicating with magical critters. I wasn't sure how it worked, but he’d stopped a gym full of panicked animals from stampeding last year. I'd never seen anything like it.
I wanted to ask him a million questions but didn't. He'd only need to repeat it to Bubbe and probably my parents, so for now, we'd be better off in silence. At least the remaining distance was short.
As we turned the corner into the driveway between my house and Izzy's, she peered out her living room window. Lee joined her momentarily. The two of them waved at us, then Izzy held up a finger. I stopped walking, motioning for Logan to do the same.
"Izzy wants to say hi. Is that okay?"
"That's okay."
As I got up to her house, I noticed Lee's familiar Scratch loping behind them. The two seemed comfortable with each other, which made sense. Izzy wasn't shy around magical critters, having grown up in front of a veterinary office.
"Logan, I wasn't expecting to see you until school started." Lee held out his hand for a shake. "What's up?"
"It's a long story, and I'm tired. Thanks for saying hi. I'm glad to see you guys."
"Do you need anything?" Izzy glanced at all his luggage. "Probably not, but I figured I'd ask."
"You know what?" Logan nodded. "Yeah. There's one thing. Would you mind not telling Dylan I'm here until I'm ready? I'm just too exhausted for now. It'll be at least a couple of days before I'm rested."
"Oh, no problem. I get it; long flights take so much out of people." Lee grinned. "But I bet Dylan will be happy you’re here too."
"Thanks." Logan sighed.
"Rough summer?" Izzy raised her eyebrow.