Zen and the Art of Major Magical Control

by Devin Harnois

  “Then why did Dylan bring it up like it’s a big deal?”

  “Because that’s private information, which means Warden Bully’s been digging around, looking for evidence against me,” Dylan said.

  “Can he do that?” Aiden asked. “Take my medical records and—and share them with everybody?” The human world had rules against people looking through someone’s medical records, but things were different here.

  Dylan shrugged. “He’s a warden. He can do whatever he wants.”

  Aiden bit his lip. If the warden kept digging, would he find out that Dylan had released Uncle from Faery?

  “What about you, Cat Boy? How you holding up?”

  Tiago pulled out the computer chair and sat heavily. “You mean now that everyone at school knows I’m a murderer?”

  “They don’t know that.” Aiden squeezed his shoulder. He still couldn’t believe the warden had announced that to the whole school. “They only know Warden Bradley said that. You could deny it.”

  Tiago let out a long, slow breath. “I guess.”

  “We could say he was trying to stir up trouble, get people to hate us,” Dylan said.

  “Yeah, he just wanted people to think Dylan keeps bad company.” Aiden was still shocked by the whole thing. “He implied that I might be responsible for the murders committed by the dark fae, so he was making wild accusations.”

  Tiago rubbed his hands on his pants. “Actually I…” He looked up at Aiden. “I think I’m going to admit it.”

  “What?” Aiden gripped his shoulder again. He couldn’t be serious.

  “I’m tired of hiding it. I don’t want to lie. The secret is out, so I’m just going to own up to it. If people hate me for it, then fine.” He sounded brave, but the tightness around his eyes and mouth revealed his nervousness.

  “But what if you get in trouble?” Aiden’s heart raced. He’d just gone through this with Dylan; he couldn’t handle any more.

  Tiago shrugged. “The wardens already know, and they allowed me to move here, to go to school.”

  “But the rest of town doesn’t know. What about the parents? They might try to expel you like they did to me.” Dylan tensed like he wanted to fight them.

  “What if I lie and they find out anyway? I’d rather be honest.”

  Aiden took Tiago’s face in his hands, fear making him a little dizzy. “I don’t want to lose you.” Oh God, would the wardens change their minds and decide to make an example of Tiago? Unlike Dylan, Tiago had broken the treaty. Multiple times.

  “You won’t.” He stood and kissed Aiden. “If they try to lock me up, you’ll come rescue me with that badass fae magic, right?”

  Aiden hated violence and didn’t want to defy authority, but this… “Yeah.”

  Tiago smiled and kissed him again, deeper this time.

  Oh, those lips. Aiden wanted to melt into him. One of his hands came up to slide into Tiago’s hair.

  Dylan cleared his throat. “No making out in my room.”

  With his cheeks heating, Aiden stepped away. “Sorry.”

  “I’ll come break you out too, Cat Boy.”

  Tiago laughed. “You just want an excuse to fight wardens.”

  “What can I say?” Dylan shrugged. “I have simple motivations.”

  Aiden wanted to scold them for joking about this, but maybe that’s what they needed to relieve the tension.

  “Well, tomorrow’s definitely going to be interesting,” Tiago said.

  Dylan snorted. “Yeah, for sure.”

  * * *

  Dylan went to pick up Tiago before school. Aiden had argued they should stick together and not have Tiago walk alone. Cat Boy looked pale as they pulled up in the lot. If Warden Bully picked on him, or any of them, Dylan didn’t know what he would do.

  “Everything will be fine,” Aiden said, hugging himself.

  Tiago leaned over and put an arm around him. They were both in the back so they could sit together. “Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it.”

  “I’m so tempted to skip today.” Dylan’s mood swung between fear and angry defiance. “But I gotta face this.”

  “Me too.” Tiago kissed Aiden’s cheek, then turned to get out.

  The three of them walked in together. Dylan tensed as he stepped through the door, expecting to find Warden Bully waiting for him. But he wasn’t there. Several kids turned to look at him with a mix of reactions. Some hurried away, one glared, a few smiled.

  “Should we stay together?” Aiden asked, standing a little close.

  “Well, we have class together, so yeah.” Dylan turned to him. “Oh, you mean like going to our lockers?” Their lockers were in different hallways.

  “And Tiago too. I think we should walk him to class before we go to Health.”

  “How romantic,” Tiago whispered, and Aiden turned bright red.

  They headed for Tiago’s locker first, kids watching and whispering as they passed. Dylan grew tenser as they went.

  “Just ignore them,” Aiden said.

  Yeah, right. And the whole time Dylan kept looking for Warden Bully. The man couldn’t throw him out, but Dylan was sure the warden would harass him.

  Tiago dropped off his coat and grabbed his books. Just as he closed the door, Mr. Johnson walked over. All three of them tensed.

  What now?

  “Dylan, Aiden… Tiago.” The warden nodded to each of them in turn. “I’ve agreed to temporarily replace Warden Bradley as the school liaison.”

  “Temporarily—” Aiden started.

  “Replace?” Could Dylan dare to hope that asshole was gone?

  Mr. Johnson nodded. “Principal Nejem strongly feels that he’s a danger to student safety and well-being and refuses to let him on the premises.”

  “She can do that?” Dylan asked. The principal could defy the wardens?

  “Not technically, but given the current state of affairs, we thought it was best to make a compromise.”

  “So the protest did do some good.” That made it worth being arrested, worth almost getting kicked out of school.

  Mr. Johnson glared. “It’s causing a lot of problems.” Then he sighed. “It’s very likely Warden Bradley won’t be returning here, so until we find a replacement, I volunteered to stand in for him.”

  “I thought you were too busy to be the school liaison,” Aiden said.

  “The dark fae case is wrapped up. We’re still investigating the… unusual phenomenon in the sky, but I’m not the lead on that case.” Mr. Johnson looked around. The kids walking past gave them a wide berth, though Dylan couldn’t say who they were avoiding. “I thought I might be able to ease some of the tension. At the very least, I won’t be making it worse.”

  Dylan didn’t trust him. Mr. Johnson was sneaky and a liar—lying to protect Dylan, sure, but he was probably lying about other things. On the other hand, Mr. Johnson would be a huge improvement over Warden Bully.

  “Speaking of which—” Mr. Johnson looked at Tiago and said quietly, “I’m going to do some damage control about the… accusations yesterday.”

  Tiago swallowed. “I don’t want to lie. The secret’s out, so I’d rather just deal with it.”

  Mr. Johnson’s eyes widened. “That would be a very bad idea.”

  “Will the wardens arrest him?” Aiden asked. His hand flexed like he wanted to touch Tiago.

  “No, but it’s going to cause problems with other students, parents, teachers…” Mr. Johnson shook his head. “I kept your record confidential so you could have a quiet life here.”

  Did Tiago owe him a favor too?

  “Warden Bul—Bradley tried to use my past as a weapon. I want to take that weapon away from him.”

  Cat Boy definitely had balls.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Tiago stared at the table, heart pounding. The noise of the lunchroom sounded like the roar of the ocean.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Aiden said.

  The world got a little more focused. Well, at least
Aiden’s face did. “Yeah, I do.” Tiago had made his decision, and he was sticking to it. He looked over at Dylan, who looked almost as concerned as Aiden.

  If Aiden and Dylan could accept him even though they knew the truth, maybe other people would as well. And even if they didn’t… Well, the only two people who really mattered would stick by him.

  Tiago drew in a shaky breath and stood.

  “Hey.” His voice didn’t come out very loud. “Hey, everyone!”

  The noise faded. So many eyes watching him. Sweat trickled from his armpits and dampened the small of his back, the smell of his own fear thick in his nose. “What that warden said yesterday…” Tiago cleared his throat. He felt Aiden watching him, Dylan too, but he couldn’t look at either of them. Tiago was afraid he’d do something awful like start crying if he did.

  “It’s true.” Gasps and murmurs. Shocked faces staring at him. You never fit in anywhere, so why should this place be different? “My parents hunted humans. I hunted humans. And we ate them.” As the voices grew louder, Tiago spoke over them. “But I was just a kid, doing what my parents told me. I came here because I didn’t want to do that anymore. I want… I want to be like you.”

  A sea of faces: confused, surprised, angry… The weight of their judgment felt crushing. Then he spotted Maggie, and things turned surreal as she smiled and gave him two thumbs-up. It was so odd he wanted to laugh.

  “I haven’t broken the treaty since I ran away, and I never will again. I swear.” He saw another familiar face, this one carefully neutral. Mr. Johnson stood near the far door, gaze fixed on Tiago. “The wardens gave me a chance, so I hope you will too.”

  Tiago sat down, his arms and legs shaky.

  Aiden reached over and gave his hand a quick squeeze. “That was so brave.”

  If only Aiden was okay with coming out. But Tiago knew that brief touch was as much as his boyfriend dared.

  “Good job, Cat Boy.” Dylan smiled.

  Now everyone knew the truth, and it was up to them how they reacted.

  * * *

  After lunch, Tiago headed to Practical Senses. He was tempted to skip, but that was the easy way out. He’d already made the decision to tell the truth and face the consequences.

  On the bright side, the nights were getting warmer. The endless winter was finally on the way out.

  Tension rippled through the other students as Tiago stepped into the clearing. Some wouldn’t look at him while others stared. The mingled scent of their nervousness hung in the air. When Tiago got close to the kids, a few of them shuffled away.

  You knew this would happen. Just suck it up and deal with it. Though a little part of him hoped it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe things would get better. People were mostly treating Dylan okay, even after he almost got expelled. Maybe it would just take time.

  “I can’t believe they let him walk around,” one girl said to her friend. She was obviously being loud so Tiago would hear her. “Why haven’t they arrested him yet?”

  “I don’t want to go to school with a murderer,” her friend said.

  Tiago had thought when he came here that he could finally be himself. No more hiding that he was a werejaguar, and while there were only a few of his kind around, at least all the other kids were something other than human. Or their families were.

  Now he knew what Dylan felt like. An outcast in a town full of monsters.

  But Tiago had to believe that was better than lying and hiding. He couldn’t be afraid of being exposed because it was already out there. No one could hold this over him.

  A girl took a few steps closer—Lillie, he thought her name was. A harpy. Her other form was fierce, with big wings and wicked talons, but in her human form she looked kind. She gave him a shy smile. “I’m not scared of you.” Her cheeks turned a little pink.

  Ah. He’d noticed her giving him looks all year. Should he tell her? But she was trying to be nice, and he didn’t want to shut her down. “Thanks.”

  A boy walked into the clearing. The same age as Tiago, but big enough to fit in on a college football team. Nathan was a werehyena and seemed pretty okay. How would he act now though? Tiago had been in pairs, groups, and teams with all these kids since he’d come to Shadow Valley, but now they were treating him like crap.

  With his hands stuffed in his pockets, Nathan came over and gave Tiago a nod. “Hey. That was some brave shit.”

  The tension around them dropped a degree or two.

  Tiago smiled just a bit and returned the nod. “Thanks, man.”

  The teacher called for their attention. She gave Tiago a long look, and he wondered if she might toss him out. Then she took a breath and pulled out her attendance sheet.

  Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad.

  The teacher started putting them in groups. “Tiago,” she called, pointing to a group of three.

  “No way,” one of the boys said. The others shook their heads, eyes wide.

  Will I have to deal with this for the rest of high school? Tiago reminded himself that it had been his choice, and maybe this was the price for being honest.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Over a month passed and life pretty much returned to normal for Dylan. Poor Cat Boy though. People treated him the way they’d treated Dylan the past few years: some with fear or hate, a lot with caution. But Tiago had supporters too.

  There’d been some talk about trying to get him expelled, but the parents didn’t seem to have a taste for it so soon after Dylan’s trial, and it never went anywhere.

  Tiago seemed to take things pretty well. He mostly ignored the people who didn’t like him with considerably less glaring than Dylan had ever managed.

  Gym had just ended, and Aiden had hurried off already. He had chemistry with Tiago, a situation which had been good for jokes all semester. Dylan snickered to himself as he snapped the lock shut and grabbed his bag.

  When Dylan stepped out of the locker room, he found Sakura standing there.

  “Hi.” She didn’t quite meet his eyes. Izume was nowhere to be seen.

  “What’s up?” They chatted in class and said hello to each other in the halls, but outside that he rarely interacted with the fox sisters.

  “I, um…” Her cheeks turned bright red. “Would you go to prom with me?” The words came out in a rush.

  Not you too! Over the past few weeks, girls had started bothering him again, asking him if he had a date to the prom. Apparently both juniors and seniors could go to prom because he’d been asked by girls in both grades. Being arrested and almost thrown out of school clearly hadn’t scared everyone off.

  Dylan opened his mouth to say no, but then he thought about it. Sakura hadn’t started liking him after he fought a warden and killed a dark fae. The fox sisters had been friendly with him, at least in gym, since eighth grade. And they’d never been afraid of him.

  “Why?” He regretted the question as soon as he asked it.

  Sakura looked down. He’d never seen her like this. In class she was always bold, either seriously focused or laughing during her matches. Shy Sakura seemed so weird. “Um, because you’re the only one I want to go with.”

  “Really? There aren’t any other guys?” He was surprised no one had asked her. She was cute, and with her magical skills, she would have made an impression on anyone who saw her in gym. Or the spring exhibition. “What about Jabu?” The impundulu was a year older, but seniors and juniors sometimes went together.

  Sakura shook her head, her unbound hair shifting along her shoulders. “He’s nice, but he’s… not you.” She glanced at him, then away again. “I just wanted to ask. If you don’t want to go, that’s okay.” She turned and started walking away.

  “Wait.” He didn’t want to go to the dance. It sounded boring and stupid. But the way Sakura looked at him tugged at something.

  She didn’t know him well, but she’d known him for a long time. And after Hanna had dumped him, it was nice to know someone wanted him. Well, a lot of girls wanted him, but
when they asked it seemed shallow, like they were asking out the local celebrity and not really him.

  Sakura stopped, her face full of hope and longing.

  “You really want to go with me?”

  She nodded.

  It was odd. He’d noticed her, the way he noticed all the pretty girls, but he hadn’t really thought of her that way. She was one of the only kids who could keep up with him in gym until Aiden came along. The fox sisters were worthy opponents, not possible dates.

  But he saw it now. How pretty she was with her delicate features and long black hair. Not just that, but how strong she was too. A creature of fire, like he was. Beautiful and powerful.

  “Okay,” he said.

  Her eyes widened. “You’ll go to prom with me?”

  “Yeah.”

  Joy spread across her face, making her even prettier, and she ran the few feet between them. She reached for him and then stopped. “Oh Dylan, I…” Her expression turned shy again. “Thank you.”

  He shrugged. “You’re welcome.” He didn’t know what else to say. Was he agreeing to be nice to her, or because she wanted him for who he was?

  She hesitated before turning to walk away again. Sakura glanced over her shoulder as she left, a smile on her face.

  Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, going to a dance with her.

  Then, with a twinge of horror, Dylan realized he’d have to tell his parents he was going to prom.

  * * *

  Aiden lay on his bed with Tiago as they kissed, slow and lingering. They were supposed to be studying, but Tiago had declared a break. Well, “declared” by sitting in Aiden’s lap and making out with him.

  “Hey.” Tiago pulled back just a bit. “I want to ask you something.”

  Aiden wondered what it could be, and then his stomach flipped when the obvious answer occurred. “Tiago—”

  As if reading his mind, Tiago laughed and said, “I’m not asking you to prom, relax.” He slid a hand down Aiden’s side. “I know you’re not ready to be public. But it is related to prom.”