by D. R. Perry
He looked for it and blinked, then opened his hand like most people who don't believe in anything they can't see.
The device wasn't missing, of course, only cloaked. It clattered to the floor and cut off the wards for real this time. He bent to retrieve it, but a wooden panel appeared out of nowhere and knocked it across the room.
"What happened here?" A pajama-clad Noah blinked blearily at the door of his borrowed apartment, surveying the damage. "Hurricane Hawthorn?"
Justice prevailed after that.
Grace's voice echoed back through the hall followed by answering footsteps a moment later. She led a crowd through, mostly faculty but also Nurse Smith, walking with Detective Ambersmith. I learned later he called her because the wards made him think Hal and Faith were missing.
Abraham Fairbanks tried covering for himself with his magic. But the Magifinil overdose was already logged, along with a journal on Andre's person that detailed everything he'd observed as a trustee this year.
Plus, he'd forgotten who his allies were.
Xan's mother hit him with the same nullifying toxin she'd used on the dagger and Lee. She did it the moment she saw a Salem PD uniform. Because of her betrayal, he couldn't keep himself out of the police reports.
We all made statements that day, detailing crimes like assault, threats, and killing familiars. Lavinia Onassis made the confession that ended up putting him away for crimes against extrahumanity, Geneva Convention-level stuff. Two of his planned wishes involved genocide. She gave them all the details in exchange for extradition of her case to Greece where she had the protection of her title, of course.
Tiffany Pierce didn't bother lying either. Since she hadn't technically done anything illegal and denounced the familiars' killing, she was off the hook with the police. The school stripped her of her title and alumni status, then banned her from campus for life.
Leo remained at the Danvers Sanitarium in their aggression wing. Crow joined him soon after. Mavis told me he would have been in High Extrahuman Security since he already had a record. Her mom was all set to let him rot because he'd squealed on Lavinia about the knife. Paolo Micello intervened and pulled some strings to get him a chance at rehabilitation instead.
We heard about most of this during the last week on campus, but were largely uninvolved because Ember's clutch hatched the morning after the battle. I was in the infirmary having my dressings changed when it happened.
A cacophony of peeping, cheeping, cooing, and blooing sounded in the hall and grew closer by the second. It woke Xan and Dorian, who'd slept there overnight. Logan burst through the door, followed by Dylan with Gale crooning on his shoulder.
"You're never going to belie—" Dylan got interrupted by what looked like a cloud of scaly wings and tails.
They streamed into the room in a flock, wheeling overhead as they separated. Ember dived first, puffing her skinny chest out proudly. Logan laughed.
"She says, ‘I'm so awesome, I made all of these.’" He blinked as something crashed into his head. "Ow."
A little teal dragonet clung to his hair. It craned its neck over Logan's forehead and peered into his face upside-down.
"Cheep?"
"Buddy? That was a big bump. Are you okay?" Logan held his forearm out in front of him at chest level, horizontally.
"Cheep!" The dragonet glided down and hopped from one foot to the other on his new perch. "Cheep cheep!"
"Right, I get it. Buddy's your name, and you're hungry."
Nurse Smith taped the bandage over my wound. "I'll get them some snacks. No fish heads allowed in here, though."
"Um, guys?" Xan sat with his hands over his head, which a green dragonet dived at repeatedly. "What do I do?"
"Let her land." I grinned. "She likes you."
He lowered his arms, and the green dragonet went right for his head, clinging in his unkempt curls and cooing contentedly.
"Uh, I guess she's Percy." Xan looked over at Dorian, who'd pulled the covers over his head.
"Not again," he sobbed. We all huddled around his bed.
"Hey." Xan rubbed his back through the sheet. "What do you need?"
"I don't even know anymore." He sniffled. "Space, I think."
"Okay." Xan nodded. "You heard the man."
We moved to the waiting room, where Nurse Smith left a tray of fish pellets on a table. The dragonets ate while we sat and watched them. Ember flapped and hissed at any who got too greedy. She wanted to make sure her children got enough. Gale strutted around the tray without eating, admiring his offspring. A pair of yellow dragonets split their pellets and shared with each other. I guessed that they were solar. A sleek gray one examined each morsel before eating it. I also saw a blue one, a different shade than Gale and with aquatic looking fins. Buddy kept trying to pass pellets to a little white dragonet, but he cheeped and turned his back. He hadn't had a single bite.
"No more pining." Dorian stepped out of the doorway and took a pellet from Buddy. The white dragonet accepted it from him. "I get it. You need me." He cradled him in his arms and fed him another pellet. "His name's Rime. And yeah, he's ice."
In the office, I almost called Bubbe to examine Ember's new family. Although the hospital had discharged her, she needed three weeks at Oaken Acres Rehab. Dad came to look them over. He was the Morgenstern at the extraveterinary practice now. Bubbe already said she'd retire, unsure she'd be able to handle struggling creatures with her weakened right hand.
I brought the unbonded hatchlings to visit anyway, after getting permission from the staff. Petra was visiting with Andre in the lobby at the time, so they came with me. The blue water dragonet flew backward in front of Petra, cheeping.
"Hello there, little one." She smiled. "No, I haven't had a companion in years. Yes, I'd love to." The dragonet landed on her shoulder. "Her name's Marina, by the way."
Bubbe was in her room when we got there. She bonded with one of the yellow ones right away, and it flew to and fro, fetching little items for her. His name was Sonny.
"Don't look now, Aliyah." She glanced over my head. "I think you've got a new friend."
She was right. The other half of that pair told me her name was Dawn. Bubbe said that sometimes extramagi ended up with two familiars. That explained what happened to Dylan later.
"This one won't leave me alone." He sighed over the gray dragonet sleeping on his shoulders. "Isn't one enough? Gale keeps me on my toes."
"Gust is mild, though," Logan said. "Maybe she'll be a good influence on him."
The entire third year class went to the science fair for Hal's entry. His Neshmet chair won first place, and MIT was fine with him taking a gap year. Faith carried the blue ribbon and the news to him on her first visit to the Under.
He'd always need the chair in the mundane world, and his magic would wear down without regular visits to the Under, but as a djinn he had numerous reasons to visit. He could live a full life, although Faith insisted there was no way she was giving birth to thirteen kids.
We worried about how he'd graduate. Hal's agreement with the Queen meant he couldn't leave the Under. Instead of the lobby, Gamila suggested we hold the ceremony in the auditorium. Everybody thought it was a way to accommodate Noah since the room was sunproof. On the day, while the rest of us lined up in caps and gowns, ready to walk between the seats and across the stage, a portal opened beside the podium. Apparently, there was a thin spot in the barrier between worlds up there. Hal smiled down at us from the other side.
Hiram handed his diploma through. The sound of our applause must have carried because I saw the tears on his face as he waved before the portal closed. The rest of the ceremony proceeded in alphabetical order, beginning with Kitty Byers and ending with Lee Young.
The diploma felt oddly light in my hand, as though the education it represented wasn't such a big thing. Maybe that was right. The books, labs, and exams were only a small fraction of my lessons at Hawthorn Academy.
Walking off stage, literally and figuratively bet
ween all the friends who'd been with me on this journey through school felt like a fitting end to this story of mine.
The thing about knowledge is this. It's a lot like love, which exists all around us in infinite forms. Learning is endless, as long as you're brave enough to seek it out and let it in.
The End
Read on for an epilogue.
Epilogue
Dear Noah,
How's everything going across the pond? As I write this, you only left a month ago, but it feels like a year and a day. So much has happened.
I went to a Piercing Whispers show. Cadence is rocking on vocals, no offense. Can you believe Arick commuted from Norway all summer to gig with them? Carick is still a thing, and it gives them some nice energy on stage. They picked up one of Azrael's cousins as their new guitarist, Winnifred. She's pretty good.
Hawthorn held a big alumnus meeting. Hiram stepped down as headmaster, so Hector's doing the job for real now. Plus, they selected three new trustees. Hiram himself, of course. Old Grandpa Ambersmith. And wait for it...
Bubbe! She's sick of retirement already, so it's good for her. She's excited because they already voted in some changes. Students have to be magi but can attend if they're also changelings, vampires, or somehow get a magic shifter item. That’s happening way more often now for some reason. All the vampires they let go last year got offers to come back. Zeke asked me to thank you for fixing that desk lamp in his apartment. The solar energy was on the fritz for decades.
Logan's mom said she wanted nothing to do with the Menagerie anymore so she sold it and moved to Hawaii. Petra flew us all out with a lawyer and got Logan and Elanor their fair share of the proceeds. Petra ended up with a share too. Dad made sure the more docile critters were adopted, but there were a whole bunch that were too big or traumatized to find homes. Petra and Logan used their shares to buy a farm in Methuen and moved them there. Dad's got visiting privileges. We'll have to go up there next time you're in town. It's beautiful.
Grace is engaged. She asked Azrael, and they're getting married next year. State Of Grace has taken off too, gone international already. You probably already knew that. I helped her pack up a suit for shipping. The label had your address in Oxford. Most of her sales outside the US are from the UK.
Dorian's coming to PPC with the rest of us. He said it was his last choice, but he looked way too happy when he got his acceptance letter. He's majoring in Extrahuman Law if you can believe that. I met his parents again on a campus tour. They're almost as funny as he is, and great people too. Xan was with them. Reminds me of how our folks were with Logan. So it turns out we're not the only magi with decent parents.
I decided on Alternative Therapies for my major, like Faith. We're already planning our schedules so we can be lab partners. Doctor Klein's an adjunct so we'll be taking her classes next year for sure. Logan's in Extraveterinary. He got all twelve of his textbooks last week and read them already. Brianna's in Social Work. Bar's in Law and Contracts. Lee's undecided but leaning toward Ecology. Izzy's in Psychic Professional Studies. Kitty and Eston ended up in Germany at Black Forest University for Magipsychic Chemistry.
The Overtons took a gap year to travel internationally, and their first stop is a visit to the Black Forest for Oktoberfest. You'll probably see them around eventually, too. They're making a travel blog for magi based on major events. College-level Bishop's Row championship games are near the top of their list. I expect you and Dylan to make it that far, so don't slack at practice. I hope he's been showing you a good time. If not, tell him to call me, and I'll badger him until he does.
In your last message, you asked if I'd heard from Hal. That's a delicate subject, and it comes with a small request. The Queen's had him on some type of scouting mission with a knight you might remember from a few years back. Fred Redford. They're looking for an item, something extremely important to the King. Faith says he can't tell anyone more than that. Even with his space affinity and all the dowsing, he's not making any progress.
So, he's asked all of us to keep an eye out, wherever we are. He says the graduation ceremony's giving us a connection for a while, even through the barrier between worlds. So, he'll be able to pinpoint it if we've seen the item. Whatever it is. Unfortunately, he's under a ban and can't say what.
Logan's got some ideas. Since it's for the King and an artifact, he deduced that it must have big Unseelie energy. He guesses the Queen might already have the Seelie equivalent. Also, either the item is dangerous, or dangerous folk want it. Her Majesty wouldn't send a seasoned redcap knight along when his squire could have done all the work on his own unless she thought Hal needed muscle.
I guess it's never a bad idea to go through life with our eyes wide open anyway.
All my love,
Aliyah
Author’s Notes
Hello for the third time, Dear Reader.
I'm writing this with that tight sensation around my eyes. The one that always comes with leaky eyes. I'll be okay, this happens every time I write The End on a series. Still, saying goodbye to a main character is never easy.
Authors put characters through unforgiving paces, plotting obstacles at their feet every time we sit down at our keyboards. For the past eleven months, I've wondered whether some cosmic author out in the ether sits at their desk wincing at what they've typed. The way things have gone, I imagine his name is Chuck Shurley. If you're also a Supernatural fan, you might agree.
Aliyah's 2020 wasn't the same as ours, but it was the roughest ride I've sent her on so far. Some of her friends still have things to do in future books. You'll see at least one in Gallows Hill, which is the next series in the Revealed World. But for now, Aliyah Morgenstern is contented, and off being her best self.
I wish the same for you.
With gratitude,
D.R. Perry
Glossary
People
Changeling- A mortal child of either one or two faerie parents. Most changelings choose a monarch sometime in their twenties, although some do it earlier than they have to.
Dampyr- The mortal offspring of two vampires. They aren’t as rare as many suspect, although because their blood is exceptionally sustaining to vampires, they keep their status secret. Dampyr sometimes have magic or psychic powers that work unreliably.
Faerie- A term used to describe either a changeling who has tithed to a monarch and spent a year and a day in the Under or the pure creatures such as Gnomes and Pixies who were created by the king and queen.
Ghost- A dead person with unfinished business becomes a ghost. If a mortal makes a contract before death, that gives them unfinished business and lets them linger. When ghosts finish their business, they move on, but no one knows where they go from here.
Magus- A mortal who can use magic. Magic comes from energy in the world. Most magi can only use one type of magic. However, a rare few can do more than one kind. Those are called extramagi.
Merfolk- People who can live on land with legs or in the sea with fins and tails. They only emerged from the ocean after the Big Reveal and are still extremely rare outside of harbor towns.
Psychic- A mortal with psychic power. Psychic ability comes from a person's own body and mind.
Vampire- An unliving person who drinks blood to survive and enhance their abilities. Only regular mortals, psychics, and magi can get turned into vampires. Shifters, changelings, and faeries won't turn, and most of those won't survive an attempt.
Shifter- A mortal who can take an animal’s shape. Shifters have one form, with coloring similar to what they have while human. They usually have an enhanced sense while human-shaped, which goes along with their animal. For example, an owl shifter might have keen eyesight and a wolf shifter, a great sense of smell.
Shifter Varieties
Dragon- The only shifters who can see both magic and psychic abilities, though only while shifted. The most powerful ones can partially shapeshift. Dragons are immortal and reproduce infrequently. There are so few of
them since the Reveal that they've started taking other magical shifters as mates.
Kelpie- A magical shifter who gets their abilities from an enchanted faerie pelt that bonds with their soul. The Kelpie pelts were created by the Goblin King, so they have Unseelie energy and restrictions. A Kelpie's animal form is a horse. Families pass the pelts down through generations, and part of each ancestor lives on to help their descendants. The ancestors can get distracting, however.
Selkie- A magical shifter who gets their abilities from an enchanted faerie pelt that bonds with their soul. The Selkie pelts were created by the Sidhe queen, so they have Seelie energy and restrictions. A Selkie's animal form is a seal or sometimes a sea otter. They can use water magic as long as they wear the pelt. Families pass the pelts down through the generations, and part of each ancestor lives on to help their descendants. The ancestors can get distracting, however.
Tanuki- A magical shifter with enhanced speed and the ability to see all types of magic while shifted. They are also the only creatures who can manipulate luck, causing it to turn from good to bad or the other way around. They stop aging if they own a charm infused with luck from humans. Very few of those charms exist, having been either used up during the Reveal or locked away.
Powers
Air magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish wind or air.
Earth magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish earth, sand, or rock.
Empathy- A psychic power to sense and influence emotions in other people.
Fire magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish flames.
Ice magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish ice.
Lightning magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish lightning.
Poison magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish poison. Each magus has a slightly different type of toxin they produce. Some are even antidotes to others.