Hawthorn Academy- Year Two

by D. R. Perry

  Dog's Night

  Faith

  I tied my hair back with the elastic Aliyah had lent me. She said it was lucky and I hoped it was true. I'd need that in spades.

  "Come on, Seth. We've got work to do."

  Placing the orb carefully in the bottom of a frilly oversized tote bag, I thanked the gods its styling hid the glass device inside. Seth went in with it, of course.

  Hiding a forbidden activated communication orb with Hal and Aliyah listening at the other end was easy, and getting my sister alone wouldn't be difficult. Confronting her was like throwing rocks at a beehive when you had a severe sting allergy. I knew I'd have to be my own rescue medication someday, which was why I swam every night and busted my ass at Bishop's Row.

  My parents sucked. They thought magi should rule the world, and they'd raised my sisters and me to climb the last few rungs of magi high society. They wanted nothing less than our family gaining more prestige than blue-blooded dragon shifters.

  Charity was subtle and cautious, passing the buck and blame whenever possible. For a while, they considered my directness refreshing, but that was before Temperance's first use of water magic in front of our parents. She’d sabotaged Charity’s bonding process and scared the baby pricus off. Our sister ended up with a sand cat, which was below parental expectations. Then Temperance had turned around and bonded with Precious, her rare grundylow before I’d even met Seth.

  So of course, Tempe became their favorite.

  I discovered my blood relations weren't normal, let alone loving when I started at Hawthorn. Hal Hawkins had changed my entire life for the better, giving me a chance at a chosen family. I refused to let my sadistic sister screw that up.

  In front of Tempe’s room, I made the tightest fist I could and hammered the door. I shocked my knuckles on the solid wood, imagining myself an officer of the law come to bring justice.

  "Who is it?"

  "Faith. Open the door, Michelina."

  Seth added a short, sharp bark, punctuating my request. She opened the door a crack, peering out so I only saw a forelock of mousy brown hair and one amber eye.

  "She won't like that. What if she's angry? I don't want to be here for that."

  "You could go to the library. Just let me in."

  "Oh." She blinked, opening the door wider. "Hadn't thought of that."

  "Thanks." I held the door, pointing at the pink-nosed critter behind her. "Take your opossum. I don't want either of you in range."

  That distracted Lena long enough for Ember to fly into the room and perch on a rafter above the chandelier.

  "In range of what?" She gathered the bundle of gray fur into her arms.

  "Anything." I stepped aside to let her pass. "Earshot, line of sight, melee. You name it."

  "Why?" She paused in the doorway.

  "Because I know what she's been doing."

  "How?" Lena's eyes widened. She turned, backing away from me into the hall.

  "I have my ways." If Michelina wanted to believe I had omniscient psychic friends, I wouldn't contradict her. I had my own hunches anyway, and if I was lucky, Lena might say too much.

  "She shouldn't have done it." Lena blinked. "I told her someone would find out."

  "You were right. Now, skedaddle already." I waved my hands, shooing her into the hall. She scurried away.

  I stepped in and closed the door firmly. Seth poked his nose out of the bag, pointing it at my sister's bed. I sauntered over, sat on it, wriggled a bit, and then reached under the mattress and pulled the hidden item out.

  "Too predictable." I rolled my eyes at the journal.

  Before I could open the book, it seemed to change shape and I dropped it.

  It tumbled from my hands, my fingers suddenly slippery, as though it were made of ice. It bounced once, then vanished in the shadows under Lena's bed.

  I peered under to confirm my earlier hunch and saw nothing but a dust bunny. It had to be a magipsychic device, though I couldn't be certain it was the one I most feared.

  Temperance could have put together an extra toy on the side during Lab, but my sister couldn't enchant multi-element gadgets without friends, which she'd never make. All the same, I hoped the diary was a first-year-level charm. The alternative, that she'd smuggled a weapon used by war criminals onto our campus, was worse.

  Behind me, she cleared her throat.

  "The simplest explanation's probably true." I stood, turning the shoulder with the tote on it toward the wall behind me. "Hello, Tempe."

  "So, you're not completely stupid. Maybe this won't be boring." My sister stepped out of her wardrobe, brushing a stray scarf off her shoulder. She tittered. "There. I'm out of the closet."

  "You're straight, Tempe." Blunt instruments worked best on her.

  "At least I'm not attracted to anemic little halfbreeds." She sneered.

  "You're with Alex Onassis, and you criticize my taste in men?"

  "Your beau won't make it to manhood. Hopefully, he dies before knocking you up and diluting our bloodline."

  "Enough about boys. Let's talk about screwed-up magipsychic devices."

  "I'm not done with men yet." She sniggered. "I'm using Alex, of course, but better than the way Grace used Dorian. He doesn't like how rough I play with him."

  "That's abuse. The second I have proof, you're getting expelled."

  "Proof of what? He's almost twice my size. Surely, if anyone's abused, it's me."

  "You disgust me."

  "Same." She laughed. "I hope you're grossed out by good old Grace, too. Power-coupling with a sissy is so last century."

  "She dumped him. Copy that part."

  "Alex must learn his place. I'll keep him, even though my real boyfriend is a way better smash."

  "The imaginary studly boyfriend story again." I rolled my eyes. "Cut the crap. You heard me talking to Lena. I know what you did."

  "You're bluffing."

  "Prove it."

  "I've got a pure element so I don't have to, but nobody trusts an undeath-dealing freak like you. Too bad Mommy didn't leave you in the bath as an infant."

  She stepped forward, grinning, hands up. I knew what came next because she'd threatened me with drowning more times than I could count, so I held my hands up, palms out, fingers slightly curled the way Coach Pickman had taught us in Gym. And I conjured.

  Seth whined in my bag, lending me strength as I pulled more undeath energy.

  I wasn't sure it had worked, not until the water draped down six inches in front of me like a liquid sheet instead of over my nose and mouth. I'd never blocked her before and had spent years subjected to her whims, which generally consisted of "training" me to guard against her attacks.

  Temperance only struck when something else hadn't gone her way.

  It had felt strange, being an older sister afraid of the younger for so long. In books and movies, abuse came from bigger hands belonging to someone older. None of it looked like my experience, not until Aliyah told me about Alex. Maybe this battle wasn't just about Lena, the ruined project, or the poisoned familiar.

  "What in Hades do you think you're doing, Faith?" Temperance snarled.

  "Standing up." That was all I could muster through the strain of conjuring.

  "I had no particular beef with you until tonight. Why bother?"

  "Nobody deserves how you treat them, not even an ambitious twat like Alex."

  "I already said I never hurt him." She batted her eyelids, her grin through the water reminding me of a corpse in a pond.

  "Who bruised his neck, then? You can't lash out at me like at home, so he's your new scapegoat?"

  "You're remembering things wrong." She snorted. "You're bigger than me. You must be crazy, accusing me of that."

  "Bullshit." I struggled to take a breath. "I know what you are."

  Seth whined again, trembling inside the bag. He was worried, and rightly so. All that talking had cracked my defense. Water splashed through, crashing against my shirt and drenching me from neck to to
e.

  I took a deep breath, focusing to conjure another orb. This time I spread my hands farther apart, hoping to protect more than just my face. I wouldn't put it past her to attack Seth. She'd almost killed him once.

  "Get that mangy mutt, Precious." Temperance jerked a thumb at my familiar.

  The grundylow crept out of her hair. She'd hid him in there since the day they bonded. I still couldn't believe she’d watched Lord of the Rings and decided Precious was the perfect name for her familiar. And she called me a freak.

  Any self-respecting magus or critter would dodge my energy. Grundylows had an affinity for both water and undeath, so he didn't care. Seth knew I couldn't hold both Temperance and her familiar off.

  He leaped from the bag, glancing at the ceiling as he went. Seth was smart and knew I had to keep the orb intact. As fearful as he was at times, that sha was a fighter. He'd endured Tempe for years beside me, and this time, he had backup.

  "Mount-Doom his slimy ass," I managed.

  Our familiars circled each other, exchanging blows just once before Ember made her move. She swooped down, scooping Seth off the floor. Precious gibbered below, shaking one webbed fist at them. She alighted with him on top of Lena's wardrobe, where he sat growling down at the grundylow, whose hands were too slick to climb the varnished surface.

  "You could just admit you're crazy and leave." Temperance glanced at the door and smiled at me. "I'd let you go."

  "No. You're gonna stop."

  "What? I did nothing wrong. You made Lena let you into my room and brought that flappy lizard inside."

  "Everything. You'll stop now before anyone else gets hurt." I shook my head. "You can fool everyone else, but not me. I know what you're capable of. You’re not allowed to terrorize this campus. I was here first."

  "Charity was here first and gave me her blessing, not you. Because you're weak, freak." She snickered. "But for laughs, let's hear your deluded demands. Go on."

  It amazed me how effortless it was for her, not lying but conjuring so much water. It exhausted me, defending myself and the truth, but I got a reprieve. She banished her water and put her hands in her pockets, tapping her foot like I was a joke. Or worse, an inconvenience.

  "Dump Alex. Confess to wrecking the magipsych project, and don't mess with any living thing on this campus. That includes your roommate and all the familiars."

  "He won't let me dump him, I had nothing to do with it, and I don't mess with people.

  "Here's an example. You brought that illegal gadget in here, didn't you?"

  "What gadget?" She snorted.

  "The one from our basement."

  "I never saw anything like that."

  "You were with me when I found it."

  "More delusions."

  And just like that, I wasn't sure. It was years ago when we were in elementary school. Maybe I remembered it wrong, but I couldn't let Tempe use this tactic. I'd seen her skewer Charity with it.

  I chose another weapon: decency on someone else's behalf.

  "Lena's terrified of you. Stop scaring her."

  "It's not my fault she's afraid to live with someone powerful."

  "Our parents are loaded. Apply for a single. Leave her in peace, and break up with Alex. Smash your real boyfriend instead or whatever."

  "If I dumped Alex, he’d kill himself." She giggled. I ignored how sick that was.

  "You expect me to believe that?" I snorted. But if I was right and she had the device, she might be telling the truth. What if it did mind magic?

  "He’ll do anything I say." Her smile resembled a bleached skull. "Unlike the hot messes you keep around. They barely do things your way."

  I couldn't take any more of my toxic sister. Charity had teased Aliyah last year because her uncle was evil. Tempe was at least as bad, maybe worse. If subtle, scheming Charity hadn’t noticed, nobody else in my family would see it either.

  "They’re friends, not a Burger King franchise." I sneered. "Coincidence will catch up with you, and nobody will be on your side when it does."

  "Get out of my room."

  I raised my arms, and Ember swooped down to place Seth into them. She perched on my shoulder as I tucked him back into my bag. In the doorway, I turned my head and looked over my shoulder at Tempe.

  "Last chance. Cut the crap."

  "I was right. You know nothing." She gave me a golf wave. "Talk, talk, least of my sisters."

  She slammed the door behind me. Ember peeped on my shoulder, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. I didn't know much about dragonets, so I couldn't decipher her behavior, but Seth whimpered.

  "What's wrong?" I got on the stairs and called out my floor, then checked on him.

  His tongue lolled out of his mouth, its usual light blue color a darker shade. It looked swollen, too. He kept sticking it out, opening and closing his mouth, and his breath came fast and ragged, like chiffon shredding under a set of claws.

  "I'll take care of you." I got off the stairs, prepared to head for Aliyah's room, but she was already in the hall, running like she knew I had an emergency. Because of the orb, I thought.

  "Faith, we've got to get Seth to Bubbe's right now."

  "Why?"

  "Because I know those symptoms. He's been poisoned."

  "It's past curfew, and the headmaster won't let us leave." I whispered, "And the orb, probation. You could get expelled."

  "I don't care." Aliyah grabbed my hand, leading me toward the stairs. We got on for the first floor, but she kept walking, pulling me with her.

  As we reached the hall that led to the street, Headmaster Hawkins appeared in front of us with a pop that would have startled me last year. Now I was used to space magic.

  "Where are you going?"

  "It's an emergency, Seth needs a vet right away."

  "Let me see."

  I held my familiar up for the headmaster. He took one look at my sha and opened the door for me, but he stopped Aliyah.

  "Miss Morgenstern, you're staying on campus."

  "Okay. Sorry, Faith. Remember, you're never alone."

  I couldn't figure out why she'd said that or given in so easily until I remembered the orb in my bag. She and Hal would be with me all the way to her grandmother's. I hurried down Essex Street toward the extraveterinary office.

  Doctor Morgenstern answered the door as I rang a second time. Her pastel-green hair stood up a little on one side. I'd almost forgotten about those random whimsical color choices. She held a cotton swab and a plastic vial in one hand.

  "Did the headmaster tell you?"

  "Yes." She rubbed the swab against Seth's muzzle, picking up some green foam, then put it in the vial. "Go straight back to the first room on the left."

  I followed her orders immediately—a side effect of growing up in an unpredictably cruel family, I guess. I might have reacted quickly, regardless. Seth's life was on the line.

  In the exam room, I set the bag on the table with Seth still inside. He'd been sick in there, and his fur was slippery with it. I turned, looking around for something to help get him out of the bag. Doctor Morgenstern had everything under control. She handed me a flannel blanket. I swaddled Seth and placed him on the table. He laid down on his side, panting heavily, more green foam around his mouth.

  I stayed beside Seth, stroking his back, hoping these weren't his last moments. The doctor set the vial on the counter, the liquid inside turning purple. After washing her hands, she reached into a refrigerator under the counter, producing a syringe and a vial of medicine. Doctor Morgenstern unwrapped the syringe, stuck the needle in, and drew up a dose.

  I watched, not nearly as fascinated as Aliyah might be. I used to consider medical practice squicky and bedside manner a display of weakness. My time with Hal as he managed his illness made me understand it took strength to seek help and to give it kindly. Everything good in my life would never have happened without Seth. Our bond was my first experience with love and care. I couldn't lose him now.

  "Do
n't worry, Faith." Doctor Morgenstern put her hand on Seth's head behind his ear, which drooped instead of sitting straight up like usual. "It’s the same poison that made Clementine sick, and this is the antidote. He'll make a full recovery, but I need you to hold him while I administer it."

  I nodded, leaning over Seth and wrapping my arms around him. He kicked his feet, all four of them, struggling against the toxin. When the needle went in he whimpered, jerking a few times before lying still. I looked up at Doctor Morgenstern, sniffling.

  "Is he okay?"

  "Seth's okay. Listen to his breathing."

  She was right. His body had stilled, but Seth's breathing had become even and measured, though slower than usual. He rolled his eye to meet my gaze and gave one more whimper, then wagged his long tail under the blanket. I kissed the top of his head. He licked my hand and closed his eyes. A series of snores made me hope he'd be okay.

  "Thanks, Dr. Morgenstern."

  "Any time."

  "This is my fault." I stood, staring at my increasingly blurry hands. "I shouldn't have got into it with Tempe."

  "Would you mind discussing that with me?"

  "If it'd help Seth." I sniffled, embarrassed by the waterworks.

  "I think so."

  "Can I use your bathroom first?"

  "Of course." She nodded. "I'll clean Seth up, make tea, and meet you in the kitchen."

  "I'd rather have it here."

  "Understood. I'll see you in a few minutes."

  The little washroom was spartan and tidy. I'd gotten some of Seth’s vomit and foam on me, so I washed my hands, arms, face, and even a section of my hair. Paper towels and soap took care of the spots on my shirt, which would go directly into the laundry as soon as I returned to campus.

  But should I go back there? Shouldn't I insist on staying here? I knew Aliyah's grandma had a spare room, but I didn't want to ask for too much.

  I headed back. Seth was clean, dry, and wrapped in a fresh blanket. She'd set up a folding table. The tea tray sat atop it, bearing a pot with a yellow cozy, two cups with saucers, and all the fixings.

  I’d expected all of that, but not Doctor Morgenstern holding the communication orb. My bag was upside down in the exam room sink, still damp but dripping dry. That explained how she'd found it.