by D. R. Perry
"Never mind. I have to go upstairs to get it. Can we meet on the back porch?"
"Oh, okay." He nodded, shoulders easing.
We went through separate doors. After climbing up two flights of stairs, swapping a sleepy Ember for the package, and descending again, I still wasn't tired. My legs burned slightly with the exertion, though. Out on the back porch, Logan stood staring up at the moon.
"Hi." I stepped toward him. "Where's Doris?"
"Wouldn't budge after camping out on my pillow." He grinned while glancing sideways and down again. "Is it a laser pointer?"
"Hmm?"
"The, um, gift?" He sighed, turned toward the porch railing, and gripped it as though he needed support.
"Well, no." I blinked. "You don't have to answer, but what made you guess that?"
"Just how stuff like that usually is." His knuckles whitened in the moonlight. "Bubbe's the only person who gave me something, well, for me. Must be some kind of world record for that, huh? Being given stuff someone else would want for seventeen years."
"I don't know about that." I brought the hastily-wrapped package out from behind my back. "Maybe you get to break a personal record because I saw this and instantly knew it belonged with you." I held it out. "Happy birthday, Logan."
When his hands let go of the railing, they shook. Not in a trembling way, either. He was flapping them, what Mom referred to as a self-stimulatory behavior. While I'd heard him hum through tests and schoolwork, I hadn't seen him do one physically before.
You have with his nails. Anyway, you know what to do.
I nodded, waiting. I wish I could say Logan took it in stride, but his face reddened, jaw dropped and eyes wide and feral. Tears gathered at their corners. Mine stung, too. Mom always said this is a natural response to excitement for folks on the spectrum. The Pierces either hadn't gotten that memo or knew and shamed him for it.
The latter. They're horrible.
Afterward, he turned his back. "I'm sorry. You can go if you want to."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Why?"
"This is your normal, Logan. Like the fire and solar are mine. You accepted that about me the minute you saw it. Why shouldn't I do the same?"
"You saved my life that day." He turned his head enough for me to see him in profile. "I did...that...in the middle of you doing me a favor."
"Eighteen's a big deal, especially away from home. It's an exodus of sorts, nothing to sneeze at."
"I'm ashamed."
"Whatever happens, I'm here."
"Okay." He sniffled and drew his sleeve across his face under his eyes.
When he turned, tears still silvered parts of his face. He looked strange and fae in the moonlight, but not alarmingly so.
Some people have a hard streak, like tinfoil wedged into the heel of a loaf of babka. Inside Logan Pierce lived a profound gentleness, one that wouldn't have survived if he hadn't encased it in a lumpy and sometimes awkward shell.
I silently thanked God that he'd spent an entire year thriving here instead of withering in Las Vegas. When I held the parcel out this time, he took it.
Instead of ripping the paper, Logan peeled the tape on the edges and along the seam. He managed to unwrap it without making a single tear, grinning the entire time. Some of my schoolmates were defenders, like Faith and I. Others were creators, like Grace and Hal. Logan was something else entirely. "A conservator."
"No, it's a book." He stared down at the leather-bound box. "Wait. No, it's not."
I memorized his face, trying to imprint every detail of his expression as his fingers traced the spine, navigated the corner, and found the first latch.
"A box that looks like a book!" He smiled. "I always wanted one of these. Thank you!"
"There's something inside."
He opened it, the contents striking him speechless.
"Oh, Aliyah." His voice dropped half an octave in pitch. "This is too beautiful. I almost can't—" He sniffled again, closed the box, and set it on the railing.
My shoulders felt tingly all of a sudden. My lip trembled, vision doubling then blurring over. Before I knew it, we were both in tears and in each other's arms, exactly like that night in Noah's apartment three months earlier.
"I gave what I thought you'd want," I said behind his ear.
"You do too much for me, Aliyah." His hands pressed flat against my back, different from how they did every other time we'd hugged.
"You deserve it."
"If you say so."
"I know so."
We disengaged, studied each other's tear-stained faces for scant moments, then walked inside. He parted from me in the stairwell, his free hand a silhouette waving shyly in the light of Bubbe's hallway.
I'd forgotten something but couldn't think of what. When I ascended the stairs, barely feeling them under my feet, I couldn't imagine why. Despite my attempts to ask my inside voice, it didn't respond.
Chapter Six
It should have felt all wrong, walking to Hawthorn without Noah. But Logan's presence made it better, if not exactly right. We began making our goodbyes to my parents and to Bubbe, who'd come with us. She handed me an old medical case, not large.
"What's this?" I studied its battered nylon surface.
"A brooding box."
"Whoa!" Logan beamed. "I'll help you set it up if you want. This is awesome! Do you think Ember's going to lay eggs?"
"Peep?"
My dragonet craned her neck down, flaring her nostrils at the case. Then, she turned her head and started preening my hair. Or at least that's what I thought she was doing at first.
"Ow!" I winced, reflexively ducking my head. Anyone would have if they'd had several strands of hair yanked out. "I have a hairbrush I always forget to clean, you know."
"That's a nesting behavior, so I'd say she's either ready or will be in a few months." Bubbe nodded. "She'll be on campus with a male about her age, too. I want you to be prepared."
"Okay." I nodded, trying to keep my expression neutral. I’d heard rumors. The prospect of feeling amorous via my familiar bond was pretty close to horrifying. "Thanks, Bubbe."
"Do you need help carrying that?" Logan gestured at all my luggage.
"I'll manage." I jerked my chin at his baggage. "You've got more than me."
"Oh." He chuckled. "I guess I do."
In the end, we made it because Dad handled the doors.
"Call us if you need. Remember, you can come home on weeknights this year too, Logan."
"Home?" He blinked.
"Yes." Dad nodded. "If you're not too busy studying, smartypants."
"That's Mr. Smartypants, Dad." I smiled.
"Gotcha." He winked.
With that, we walked through the interior door he'd held open and into the Hawthorn Academy lobby.
"This is...different." Logan stopped in his tracks.
"Do you need a minute? Because I sure do."
The changes were subtle, considering the way everyone else milled around the lobby. However, a person sometimes overwhelmed by his surroundings and a solar magus could not ignore this. The entire lighting system had changed.
"It's awfully harsh." Logan glanced up at the ornate magical chandelier. "Poor Zeke."
"I was going to say the same thing." I sighed. "Last time, it was like an autumn afternoon, but this is desert mirage levels of sunshine here."
"No kidding." Dorian brushed past us on his way through the door at our backs. "Good thing I've got built-in AC." Julia hooted sleepily on his shoulder.
"I'm beige and getting a sunburn," Dylan chimed in while sauntering over from the stairs.
"What's up, Jerk!" Dorian smirked.
"Nothing much, Coward." Dylan rolled his eyes.
I froze, waiting for the inevitable showdown I'd have to stop. They'd had enough of those last year for me to recognize when one was imminent. But they didn't start fighting. Instead, they did some kind of secret handshake.
"I don't get it," Logan said
.
"Different strokes, man." Dorian shrugged. "Anyway, race you to the stairs!"
I got there first but went up a few steps and waited for the others to get on before calling out our floor. The steps moved upward like a magical escalator, which was always nice at the beginning and end of terms when everyone had luggage.
Gale, Dylan's dragonet, did the same nostril-flare at Bubbe's case that Ember made earlier. Then he peered at my hair, looking for her. She'd hidden pretty effectively. He tugged Dylan's ear, chirping.
"He's in a state over that thing. What is it?"
I swallowed and tugged my collar as my face blazed like the stupid chandelier.
"Brooding box." Logan clapped his hands, almost losing the bag draped over his shoulder. "Bubbe thinks Ember might nest this year. Isn't it exciting?"
"Wow." Dylan blinked.
Before we could say more, the stairs stopped, and we had to part ways to get to our rooms. Dorian followed me because the room he shared with Eston was on the way to mine.
"You're worried about Ember mating. Why?"
"I thought maybe she's a little young. And she hasn't ever met any other dragonets."
"Bullshit, Aliyah." He lowered his voice. "With the changes on campus, we should be straight with each other. Well, in a manner of speaking, anyway."
"Can we talk about this somewhere more private than the hallway?"
"Sure."
He dropped his luggage off in his room, told Eston he'd be back in a while, then waited until we were inside my room.
"Go on."
I opened the suitcase with my hanging clothes and started unpacking it so I'd have something to do with my hands.
"I think something's wrong with me." I turned my back, hanging a pair of blazers. "I'm not comfortable. With sex. Like, at all."
"Okay." I turned to find him nodding. "There's nothing wrong with you."
"But, like, everyone else." I glanced at the still-empty bed across the room. "Noah figured out he was gay in middle school. Grace has been all over Az this summer." I closed my eyes. "I don't know anyone like me."
"Maybe you do. We'll get to that in a minute." He sat on Grace's bed, then patted the spot beside him. I hesitated.
You saved his life. Let him help.
I nodded and sat.
"There aren’t only hetero, homo, and bisexual people. Some people aren't sexual at all."
"Wait; what?" I blinked. "Like, they never fall in love or what?"
"No. Some fall in love, even get married and have families. But they don't get attracted to other people in a having sex way."
"Not ever?" I blinked.
"I don't know." He shrugged. "Still, you're not alone. Not by a long shot."
"Anyone can be like this? Like, not just us?"
"Absotively." He nodded. "Mundanes and all kinds of extrahumans."
I sighed. "It's a relief, knowing it's not a, um, weird extramagus thing."
I was about to ask him exactly what he meant about me not being alone. Was there someone else, maybe even a person I knew, who felt the same way I did? But the latch clicked, and the door opened, revealing Grace. She held it and let Lune hop inside, then walked in.
"We're all running late. It's almost time for the headmaster's welcome assembly."
"Wait; what?" Dorian pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time. "That's way earlier than last year's."
"Yeah. New headmaster, new rules." Grace set her bags down and jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "It's in five minutes."
We got up and followed her out into the hall.
"Oh, I should warn you about Hiram."
"Do it while we walk."
I gave them the basic gist of Professor Hawkins' explanation.
"This is gonna suck." Dorian sighed. "Oh well. So much for fun this year."
Grace snorted. "If the kid who transferred from The Academy is this worried, we're screwed."
We had no idea until after the assembly how much.
I sat in the front row at the end of the aisle. Grace sat beside me, and Logan directly behind. Dorian sat across the aisle. The clock on the wall behind the empty podium stood at scant seconds to ten in the morning although the lights made it feel like high noon. The squeak of rubber-soled shoes made me turn my head, expecting Dylan, late from a shift at the cafe.
He doesn't work there anymore, remember?
"Can I—"
A crack and rush of air interrupted Alex, who stood like a deer in headlights, holding his green apron in one hand. I nudged Grace, and we both scooted over. As Alex was about to take the seat, he vanished in another one of those whooshing cracks.
"Mr. Onassis." The voice boomed through the room but was somehow raspy with a slight quaver. "I don't tolerate tardiness. If it happens again, there will be consequences."
Alex stared out at the audience. Yes, the bunch of us felt more like a group watching a staged performance than a gaggle of assorted students at their first day of boarding school, because that's what Hiram Hawkins intended, of course.
Astute. Your new headmaster is, as you say, "old school" and will employ methods your parents are more accustomed to. Consult them, and there's hope for you yet.
I wasn't the only one who noticed, either. It wasn't much of a surprise that the kid from the school for delinquents knew that to do next.
"Sorry, sir," Dorian whispered from across the aisle.
Unbelievably, Alex took his advice. Sort of.
"I'm deeply sorry, Headmaster." He bowed so sharply his jet curls bounced.
"Purchase a timepiece." Hiram Hawkins narrowed his eyes, and Alex vanished again, reappearing at my side in the seat, head over knees.
"Sit up." I elbowed him.
He did.
"For the First-Years, welcome. It's my hope that you'll thrive in the structure I've built since my arrival." The new headmaster grinned. "As for the upperclassmen, you'll have some changes to get used to. First, some faculty arithmetic. Ezekiel Brown is working elsewhere. Nurse Smith will be assisted this year by an Emergency Medical Magus. We have another new addition to staff, Ms. Rupi Khan, our school counselor."
A smattering of applause covered Grace's question.
"Ms.?" She nudged me.
"Divorced. Ask Dylan."
"Additionally, all seven of the trustees on our board will live on campus this year. You'll get the chance to meet them at the mixer this evening. They'll be auditing your classes, so take the chance to get to know them sooner rather than later."
This time, whispers and gasps sounded throughout the lobby.
"However, their quarters in the Faculty Annex are strictly off-limits to students. Likewise, they are restricted from entering your dormitories. Including those who are family members. I demand professional levels of decorum from both the trustees and you students."
"Relief city." Alex leaned back in his seat but shot me an intense glance. "You'd better avoid my mother, Morgenstern."
Easier said than done, but nice of him to warn you, I suppose.
Warn me? I thought.
Yes. I imagine learning to speak Prince of Darkness will be useful this year.
"Finally, I welcome you all to get familiar with the common areas and your roommates.. Dismissed."
He grinned, then vanished with a smacking sound.
"That's some seriously strong space magic." Grace shook her head.
"He's the most powerful one on the planet." Alex shook his head. "Watch what you say in here."
"Um, thanks, I guess."
"Look, I'm serious. About him and the woman who birthed me." On his shoulder, Asceco hissed.
"Okay. I hear you. Why the help?"
Before he could answer, Ember screeched and took off from my shoulder. She winged into the air, banking toward Gale, who'd soared by. They circled each other while flying off together into the shadows of the rafters.
I blinked, crossed my legs, then pressed my hand against the middle of my chest where my heart threaten
ed to break ribs.
"You're in for it, Morgenstern." Alex stood and slung his apron over his free shoulder.
"What?" Grace stood and put her hands on her hips. "You did not threaten my friend, Onassis."
"It's a warning. Asceco mated three years ago." Alex shrugged. "Good luck with that."
He sauntered off.
"Oh no." I hung my head, hiding in my hair. However, my tresses couldn't protect me from the implications. My familiar's desires could impact my emotions, no matter what I did.
Hopefully not your actions. Because he slept with Noah's boyfriend back then.
The voice didn't console me, but Grace's hand on my shoulder managed to.
"Don't pay attention to him. Let's go get beverage roulette."
I nodded and followed her into the cafeteria, but once I'd had some food and drink, I couldn't focus on the conversation. Or much of anything else. My face felt flushed and my pulse racy. I excused myself and headed for the infirmary. By the time I made it down the ramp, I practically collapsed into one of the chairs in the waiting area.
"Whoa!" The guy trotting toward me wasn't Nurse Smith. He had curly hair and held a wand, which he used to tap his spectacles, then pointed at my forehead. I didn't notice any hint of a familiar anywhere. "You're running a slight fever. Any other symptoms?"
"Um, my heart."
"Hmm." He pointed the wand at me again. "Yeah, looks elevated. And your blood pressure's high. Let me help you into—"
"Ian, what are you doing?"
"Uh, helping, um, what was your name, Miss?"
"Aliyah." I gasped, my heart fluttering. "Morgenstern."
"I see that, but you haven't checked for her familiar." Nurse Smith glanced around the room, then upward. "Where's Ember?"
I mumbled something about her and Gale going off together.
"This sometimes happens to bonded magi, Ian. You've got a lot to learn about the way that works. Still, it can't hurt to let her rest." Nurse Smith sighed. "Set her up in room one if you think company will help."
"But there's a patient—"
"She's on his list of permitted people."
I wasn't sure what he meant and wasn't in the right mindset to reliably ask without it coming out weird, like when Ian asked my name. So, I let Ian lead me into room one, where I sat on the bed beside Hal's. Ian waved his wand, and the foot elevated.