Hawthorn Academy- Year Two

by D. R. Perry

  On the way, I glanced at a pair by the door. Blaine Harcourt spoke to Hal Hawkins, frowning at Blaine’s phone. Blaine tucked the device away and handed Hal a card like the one he'd given me the day before. Blaine went to mingle with the faculty, and Hal left the gym entirely. I stopped at the nearest table.

  Only Grace was there. The rest of her group wandered around, up to the same thing I was. She pointed them out, and we waved. I caught her up on my conversation with Blaine and asked about Hal.

  "I don't know." She shrugged. "Ask Kitty when you get to their table. Maybe he said something to her. What's got you so curious?"

  "Just an impulse to investigate the investigator." I sighed. "Blaine's smart, but he seems out of touch."

  "That’s a dragon-shifter thing." She nodded. "Why not talk to Dorian?"

  "Good idea." I glanced at the cooler on her table. "What did he do for that?"

  "It’s only ice." Grace sighed. "Literally, that's all. Conjured the cold, but it works. Check it out.

  Her group hadn't done as badly as I thought, considering all the arguing. But while the perpetual cooler looked good and worked well, the report on the board had a problem.

  "Your pages are out of order."

  "No way!" Grace made a little strangled sound. "Dylan and Dorian posted them."

  "Here, let's fix it." I took the mixed-up pages down.

  Together, we made short work of the problem. After that, we wished each other good luck, and I went on my way.

  I spotted Lena hiding behind her group’s board with her opossum. Out in front, Alex mumbled something, glancing behind the board at her. I almost walked by and left them to their whispered conversation. But Alex turned his head, and I saw a mark on his neck.

  Maybe I shouldn't have cared. Most folks at Hawthorn expected him to have hickeys. He'd been a player before we’d accidentally dated last year, after all. But this looked like a bruise, and he was trying to hide it by popping his collar. That style had been out of fashion for ages. On closer inspection, his futile attempt to cover the mark with makeup was obvious.

  "This is good work." I kept my tone neutral, jerking my thumb at the water wheel.

  "So what?" He didn't glare as I'd expected. Instead, his eyes scanned the room behind me. "I didn't enchant it."

  "The reports look nice. I like the headings, and that font was an awesome choice."

  "I had nothing to do with that either."

  "Was it Michelina?"

  "How do you know her?" He narrowed his eyes, hands on his hips. He met my gaze, but only for a moment. It reminded me of an injured shark I’d seen this summer in the recovery tank at Boston Aquarium.

  "Familiar Bonding." Lena peeked out at me, and I gave her a tiny wave. "I spent an entire month with her in there, remember?"

  "Stay away from her from now on." The unfriendly expression remained on Alex's face, but his voice lowered to a near whisper. I couldn't figure out why, since Lena was close enough to hear it.

  Who’s he afraid of? And how can you get him to tell you?

  "Are you okay?"

  "Why are you talking to me again?" He moved his hands from his hips, crossing them over his chest.

  "Everyone's fighting like shas and sphinxes lately. I thought a civil conversation couldn't hurt." I raised an eyebrow, giving him a choice he hadn't bothered offering me the year before. "I'll stop if you can't handle it."

  "Get out of here already." He glanced at Lena like he was warning her. She nodded and hid behind the board again.

  "All right. Take care of yourself." I walked away, not bothering to look back until I got to the next table over. Lena was entirely hidden from the front, even her feet since the tables all had cloths with skirts.

  I didn't want to go over there again, so I just caught her eye, pointed at the project, and gave her a thumbs-up. She grinned. That made the confrontation with Alex worth the trouble.

  I stood in front of Noah's table. Their project was a scrying bowl, but they'd gone further than the instructions required. With Noah's solar magic, that made sense. Instead of a crystal bowl with liquid inside, they’d made a liquid crystal screen. Noah’s solar magic backlit it so images would show up. It displayed the street outside the Witch’s Brew, which bustled with people walking in and out to get coffee during Salem's busiest month.

  The images were a step up from black and white but had little in the way of accurate color depiction. It wasn't the type of thing to watch action movies on, but still amazing work for students.

  "Wow, Noah. You guys rock."

  "Thanks, Aliyah." He grinned. "But I think your orbs will beat our screen."

  "How do you figure?"

  "We made one device, and somehow you managed six. Three sets of people can communicate on- or off-campus. Or do a conference call. Not too shabby."

  "Maybe we went overboard."

  "I expected nothing less, with Izzy on your team." He grinned. "She's been overachieving since you two were in diapers."

  "I heard Jonah's a lot like that." I grinned back. "He's academically threatening, according to her."

  "He says the same thing." Noah shrugged. "I think they're about even."

  "Can I tell her you said that?"

  "I guess, if that will help her feel better." Noah blushed and studied his fingernails, which were a metallic shade of green. "But I'm biased. I happen to think very highly of Jonah."

  "Oh?" I raised my eyebrow.

  "You caught me." He looked at the project board instead of my face. "I have a tiny crush. No big deal."

  "All right." I nodded, realizing that my brother minimizing anything this much meant it was colossal.

  "See you at dinner?"

  "Maybe."

  "All right." I headed toward my table because the judges would be by soon. For a moment, when I turned, I could hardly believe my eyes.

  The floor in the gym seemed to shimmer like someone had covered it with a sheet of glass.

  Or water.

  "Shut up, you." I put my hand over my mouth. When I blinked, the strange sheen had vanished. Fortunately, so had the Evil Inside Voice. I joined my team without further incident.

  We greeted the adults who came by. As the dinner bell rang, we left them to the task of testing and judging our work.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  I waited in line for my pumpernickel sandwich. I already had iced tea because I wasn't in the mood for beverage roulette. Since I had been one of the last people out of the gym, I peered into the crowded dining room, trying to decide where to sit.

  One thing I’d never liked about middle school was the segregation into cliques. At Hawthorn, despite the bullying situation, we hadn’t had that dynamic last year. Bailey had been the only one who got catty.

  This year, it wasn't as easy. With Dylan and Dorian's rivalry, plus Grace spread thinner than too little butter on toast, we'd lost our cohesion. I glanced at the exit, wondering why I hadn't grabbed a dinner bag from Penelope's window.

  But I didn't want to be alone. My family was close-knit, and it saddened me to think my friendships at Hawthorn hadn't followed the same pattern.

  I wondered again if Bubbe had new information about Clementine, and if she'd tell me. She'd helped last year with Hal's condition, but this time the police were involved. Maybe she couldn't say much.

  My order was up, so I put the plate with my sandwich, fries, and pickles on my tray. I decided to sit with Faith and Hal to ask about Blaine.

  "He asked about my time in the infirmary." He moved broccoli around on his plate with the fork. "If I’d heard anything about Clementine. And yeah, I know you mentioned magiglobular anemia to him."

  "Sorry." Ember snored on my shoulder.

  "It’s a good thing." Faith patted Seth, who'd poked his head out of her bag to peer at the drowsy dragonet. "Hal shouldn’t be ashamed of his illness, and those Tinfoil Hat people are supposed to be geniuses."

  "Right." Hal nodded. "Maybe they can help."

  "So, what did
you tell him?"

  "Not much." He shook his head. "Information’s locked down. Nurse Smith and Zeke don’t talk about it, and Dad's a space magus, so he can hide records in places even I can’t find them."

  "I'm worried about someone else getting hurt." I sighed, remembering the marks on Alex's neck. Should I tell them?

  Would they care? I doubt it. Don't bother.

  I blinked, about to defy the Evil Inside Voice. Of course they’d care. Hal spoke up first, and if we weren't all magi at that table, I'd have suspected he was an empath.

  "There is someone we ought to keep an eye on." Hal glanced at Faith.

  "Right." She nodded. "Alex."

  "Explain."

  "He's the weakest link in Tempe's chain." Hal finally took a bite of broccoli, mostly because Nin kept nudging his fork hand toward it.

  "I saw something at the gym." I told them about his odd behavior and the aura of fear around him. And the mark.

  "It’s worse than I thought." Faith crossed her arms over her chest, her voice quiet and her face pale. "Tonight can’t come soon enough."

  "I know we talked about this after Gym." Hal put his hand on her arm. “But you shouldn’t go alone.”

  "I'm not bringing anyone." She shook her head. "Her familiar's a horror show, and I won't expose my friends to that kind of danger."

  "What about Seth?" I put my hands in the table, leaning forward. "Aren’t you worried about him? That grundylow’s twice his size."

  "I've got to bring him." She shook her head. "Without Seth, I don't have enough magic, not even after all the Bishop's Row practice."

  "Ember, will you go with Seth? Be his wingwoman?"

  "Peep!" She hopped down from my shoulder, landing on the table to pick her way carefully around the trays. When she reached the other side, she snaked her head under the table and peeped again. Seth answered with a bark and a wagging tail, his blue tongue lolling out of his mouth.

  "Yeah, okay. She can come."

  "That's better. What about Nin?" Hal asked.

  "No." Faith covered Hal's hand with her own. "If it goes sideways, Ember can’t carry both of them to safety."

  "Do you know a psychic who can scry? I’d feel better with someone watching."

  "I have a better idea." I grinned. "If Faith can wait until after the magipsychic fair."

  "The communication orbs!" Faith smirked. "Genius!"

  "Great. I'll smuggle a set out of the gym later."

  We switched to cheerier topics, like the talent show in November and the December Dance. Hal's appetite returned, and he finished enough broccoli for Nin to stop squeaking at him.

  Before we knew it, the dinner hour ended, and we headed back to the gym.

  On returning to the gym, my stomach churned as if dinner was an entire glass of milk instead of a stomach-settling sandwich. The scene beyond the doors vindicated my rebellious gut immediately.

  I'd imagined water all over the floor. Now a giant puddle stretched between the two rows of tables. How had it happened? Had the judges gotten in a fight? No. They had been in the cafeteria for the second half of dinner. The vandal had struck while the gym was empty.

  "Our table!" I ran ahead, Faith on my heels. She'd seen the same thing.

  The board wasn’t damp, it was totally drenched. Ink on the posted report’s pages had smudged and smeared, barely legible, but that wasn't all. We'd arranged the orbs in a circle, gleaming softly under the gym's lighting. Only three remained, and one had an enormous crack on its side. Purple-tinted shards littered the floor in front of the table.

  "We've been sabotaged." Faith stood with her hands in fists, arms tight against her sides, nostrils flaring. Seth growled nonstop.

  "Looks like it." Brianna stepped up beside me, peering at the remains of the orbs on the table. "There's no glamour. This was no changeling or faerie.”

  "This little mermaid says water magic." Cadence wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, it reeks like a bog."

  "Temperance, or her little gremlin." Izzy's teeth squeaked as she ground them.

  "It's a grundylow. Gremlins are kind of sweet, actually." I sighed.

  "Pure faeries, not familiar material." Brianna nodded. "You really think they're sweet?"

  "Nicer than the gnomes I've met," I answered.

  "Don't geek out. This is a disaster." Faith glared down at the mess. "I'm getting the headmaster."

  She stormed toward where he stood with his mouth wide open. I didn't have time to watch them talk or go listen. Instead, I grabbed a cardboard box and started collecting glass shards with Brianna and Izzy. Cadence refused to touch the water, so she rummaged through her backpack, looking for the rough draft of our report.

  "Did anyone take any pictures?" Brianna asked.

  I shook my head. "Mundane smartphones are pointless here. We're only allowed to call home in the office."

  "Draconian much?" Brianna sighed. "Should've taken a Polaroid, but I was waiting to see if we won something. That won’t happen now. Mom's going to cry."

  "That sucks, Brianna. I'm sorry."

  "Not to worry." We both turned to find Blaine Harcourt walking up behind us. "I took pictures of everything with LORA."

  "Who's Laura?" Brianna asked.

  "You mean, ‘What’s LORA,’” He corrected. “It's Kim’s magipsychic app that tracks coincidence. I'll send you what I took. Brianna Collins, is it? From Gallows Hill?"

  "Yeah, thanks."

  "Don't thank me yet. At least one of your professors won't accept snapshots for the written portion. Aliyah needs a copy of your report." Blaine shook his head.

  "But Professor Luciano’s a good guy." I blinked.

  "Are we both seriously talking about Filberto Luciano?" Blaine blinked. "He's an old friend of my mother's, who's not exactly a ray of sunshine. I'm grossly understating here."

  "I've heard of Hertha Harcourt." I nodded. "But Luciano's been nothing but kind to me."

  "He's got reasons." Blaine studied his fingernails.

  "Which are?"

  "That's his story to tell." Blaine gave us a golf wave. "I've got to rejoin the other judges. Good luck with old Filberto. I sincerely hope he doesn't make you rewrite your report."

  "Maybe you should talk to him now." Brianna jerked her chin at the professor, who'd joined the conversation between the headmaster and Faith. "I'll get the rest of that glass."

  "Thanks."

  I walked toward them, but the group broke before I got there. Faith met me halfway.

  "Are you okay?" She peered at me. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

  "No ghosts, but Blaine said he thinks we'll have to rewrite our report."

  "What? Why?"

  "Apparently, he knows Professor Luciano."

  "That's weird."

  "Not so much." I shrugged. "Dragons never look the age they are."

  "We can ask about the report later." Faith continued toward our wrecked project. "Let's group up before the judges hand out scores." She sighed, hanging her head. The noise she made was somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

  "At least they saw it before. Hopefully, they remember it fondly." Azrael initiated a group hug in front of the table.

  "I can't believe this happened. We worked so hard," Izzy moaned.

  "I know." Cadence sounded like she'd lost a puppy. "This was the best I ever scienced in my entire life, and there's no proof."

  "Two orbs still standing, Cadence." Azrael pointed. "That's proof, right?"

  "About those orbs, guys." I winced. "I kind of need to borrow them later if that's okay?"

  "I guess." Cadence sighed. "Easy come, easy go."

  Headmaster Hawkins made his way around the room, pacing past each table. Before he got to us, Coach Pickman hurried over with a sponge but no bucket. Somehow, it absorbed all the water and sat more heavily in her hand.

  "Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's magipsych," she muttered, walking toward the locker room with the sponge.

  Finally, the headmaster stopped at our tabl
e. He sighed, shaking his head.

  "This is an awful shame."

  "When will we find out how this happened?" Cadence put a hand on her hip, tilting her head to deliver her best fish-eye. "Inquiring minds want to know."

  "It might take us some time to answer that question."

  "What happens to whoever did this?" Izzy raised an eyebrow. "Will they get expelled?"

  “Yes, if it was intentional, but it's possible a familiar did this. In that case, we send the magus and their companion to Familiar Bonding."

  "Well, okay." Izzy shrugged. "I guess not every critter is as well-behaved as Ember."

  "Izzy, that was rude." I elbowed her. "And Ember's no angel. I trust Headmaster Hawkins to do the right thing."

  "Thank you for your vote of confidence, Miss Morgenstern," he said, reaching into the large brown envelope tucked into the crook of his arm, "And I will present you with this." He pulled out a red ribbon and handed it to her.

  "We won?" Cadence blinked. "But our project got ruined!"

  "It wasn't ruined when we looked at it earlier, and one of the categories was teamwork, which the lot of you amply demonstrated."

  "Wow." Brianna pinched herself. "The only time I ever won before was at sports."

  "That's second place, Miss Collins." He gestured at another table. "Top honors go to Logan Pierce's group. Their group dynamic was, shall we say, more challenging than yours."

  "Thanks, Headmaster." Faith smiled. "It's a relief after all this, you know." She waved a hand at the ruined project

  "You're welcome, Miss Fairbanks." He glanced at the two remaining orbs. "You'll have to turn those over to Professor Luciano tomorrow morning. He’s responsible for storing all the devices."

  "Okay." I nodded, opening my bag and reaching for the orbs. He cleared his throat.

  "Since communication orbs are not permitted in the dormitory, they must remain in the gym overnight."

  "I understand." I tucked my hands behind my back, crossing my fingers.

  In the end, I got help with the orb-smuggling operation. Grace's umbral magic made it almost too easy.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven