For a second Dylan reconsidered his choice. The police had dragged them in there, thrown him in a cell. The wardens hadn’t come after him again, but the charges still hadn’t been officially dropped. Why should he save any of them?
Mr. Johnson stopped the car right in the middle of the street. “Go!”
They jumped out. Dylan glanced back to make sure Aiden was following. His friend looked grim but determined.
Mr. Johnson and Mom ran forward, hurling spells at the half dozen attackers outside. Aiden was only a few feet behind them, greenish-gold magic surrounding him.
If Aiden could be this brave in order to “do the right thing,” then Dylan could dragon up and save people who hated him.
The wardens better be fucking grateful.
CHAPTER FORTY
Aiden was pretty sure it was regular fear making his heart race and not anxiety. But in the current situation it was hard to tell.
Bryn and Mr. Johnson took care of two of the attackers just like that: Bam! Bam!
Aiden took a deep breath. He felt like he had to redeem himself for panicking in the gym. People had been hurt, maybe killed, while he’d huddled against the speaker, helpless.
One of the attackers formed a glowing ball, aiming for Mr. Johnson. Aiden sent vines streaking from the boulevard and grabbed her. As she fell the ball exploded, and she screamed as white flames covered her.
Aiden winced. He wished there was a way to stop them without violence. But they were killing people and they had to be stopped.
Dylan took out one of them with a huge wave of fire, and Aiden had to look away, covering his ears to block out the screaming.
Principal Nejem arrived with the others, and they all ran toward the entrance. “There’s at least a dozen of them inside,” one of the cops said, moving to join them. “I don’t know how many are left alive. They have the side entrance to city hall blocked. I was trying to get around through the front.”
“We’ll get the entrance clear.” Bluish light surrounded Mr. Johnson. Aiden hadn’t ever seen him this angry, not even when Dylan released Morgan.
The second they stepped into the station, Aiden regretted it. There was fire everywhere. A few sprinklers were going off, but not nearly enough. The others must have been broken, maybe by the attack. There was no alarm either.
Aiden had gotten a lot better over the past two years, but he’d never completely lost his fear. And really, it was fire. Who wasn’t afraid of it?
Bryn reached out, and several flames disappeared.
Well.
In the front room they found two dead police and one person that might have been an attacker. Shouts and sounds of fighting seemed to come from everywhere.
“We’ll need to split up,” Mr. Johnson said. “Some of you come with me through the holding area to the side entrance of city hall, the others go through the office area.”
“I’ll take the office,” Principal Nejem said. Her magic felt like hot wind and sand. Aiden was very glad he wasn’t on her bad side.
The two cops who had been outside chose to go with her. The fox twins joined them.
“City hall,” Dylan said. “Gotta save the wardens, right?” Of course Bryn and Aiden voted to go with him, and Tiago refused to leave Aiden again.
They rushed through the door to the holding cells. Aiden held his breath, but no one was there. The fighting was farther ahead.
Aiden moved to the back of the group, and Tiago briefly squeezed his hand. “Glad I can fight with you this time.”
“Fighting for my life is becoming way too normal.” Aiden’s voice came out shaky.
“You could’ve stayed back at the school. Or gone home,” Tiago said.
Aiden sighed. “Yeah, that would’ve been the smart thing.”
“But not the brave thing.” Tiago glanced at him with a little smile.
Now Aiden’s pulse was racing for another reason. And oh jeez, had anyone noticed they were wearing each other’s clothes?
One of the doors at the end of the hall was blackened and twisted partly off its hinges. Mr. Johnson stood next to it and counted on his fingers: One… two… three. Then he pushed through the doors, the others following close behind.
On the other side was a wide hallway with a set of doors on the far end. Three people stood in front of it and one of them stepped forward, purple magic streaking from his hands.
Aiden flatted himself against the wall. Mr. Johnson threw up a shield and the spell slammed against it, hitting so hard Mr. Johnson fell back. Bryn stepped up beside him and sent a huge blast of fire down the hall.
Aiden closed his eyes against the brightness and the fear that squeezed his lungs. She wouldn’t hurt me.
The sprinklers hissed to life, but it would be a while before they could knock out the flames. The whole hall was burning.
But the bad guys looked fine. The one with purple magic ran forward and Bryn rushed to meet him. Mr. Johnson was right behind her. Spells flew everywhere.
Aiden briefly thought of going back, maybe hiding in the car.
But Dylan and Tiago both ran forward, past the three locked in battle. Aiden’s heart seized, but somehow none of the wild streaks of magic hit them. The two bad guys left guarding the door tensed to attack.
His best friend. His boyfriend.
Not to mention the people on the other side of the doors who needed help.
Aiden said a quick prayer and joined them. He held his breath as he ran past Mr. Johnson, Bryn, and the bad guy. With them on one side and flames on the other, Aiden barely had room. A streak of magic missed him by inches, tingling through the air.
Dylan grappled with a woman who seemed immune to his fire. Aiden shifted in his direction, but out of the corner of his eye he saw the other bad guy kick Tiago. Straight toward the burning wall.
“No!” Aiden reached out in blind panic, raw power streaking through the air. It hit Tiago half a second before he collided with the wall. Tiago bounced off and dropped to his knees.
Was he burned? Hurt? Had Aiden made things worse?
The bad guy growled, yellow eyes flicking between them. Then he charged at Aiden. He was some kind of werecreature and he was huge, nearly bursting out of his clothes. Aiden used magic to rip burning wood from the wall, forming it into a large tentacle. It caught the man around one leg and he yelped, crashing to the floor.
Something jumped on the man. It took Aiden a second to realize it was Tiago, claws and teeth tearing into the other werecreature.
Oh God. Could he watch his boyfriend kill someone?
“Cat Boy, move!”
Tiago looked up, then leapt away. Orange bands of power wrapped around the huge man as Dylan cast a binding spell.
“The other one?” Aiden asked, looking around.
“Taken care of.” Dylan pointed. The woman lay near the doors, wrapped in the same spell.
Aiden took a deep breath and coughed on smoky air.
Tiago wiped blood from his mouth. “Should we wait for them?”
Aiden turned to see the others still locked in combat. They needed all the help they could get. They had no idea what was on the other side of those doors.
Someone screamed, loud enough to carry over the fire and sounds of battle.
Aiden’s head whipped around to face the doors. They had to try to save as many people as they could. And I can handle this. I can. If he kept repeating it, he might believe it. “Come on.”
* * *
It was worse than Dylan imagined. The huge rotunda of city hall was full of bodies, fires burning all over. Aiden ran past him to put a shield between one of the attackers and a woman bleeding on the ground. A cop, her uniform a torn mess.
Dylan hesitated for a second. On the far side, people were fighting. He couldn’t make out how many. Part of the roof had fallen in, and the debris was covered in flames, obscuring the view.
He glanced back at Aiden. The changeling was holding his own, and Tiago was with him. “Dylan to the rescue,” D
ylan muttered as he jumped over a large beam.
Blinking away smoke, he saw three people. Who was who? None of them had on a uniform, which would have made things easy.
A shadow rose out of the ground and wrapped around one of the fighters. He screamed, struggled for a moment, then went limp. Dylan balled his fists. Was that someone he should have saved?
A woman rushed the remaining man, dropping as a shadow flew over her head. She swept a leg out and the man went down hard. She leapt on him, wrapping a hand around his throat as he tried to throw her off.
Her face was twisted, eyes yellow and her mouth full of fangs, so it took Dylan a second to recognize Mrs. Rhodes. As the man under her struggled, Dylan got a better look at him.
Warden Bully. Visceral hatred curled inside Dylan.
Maybe he should leave them to it. Warden Bully was turning a deep shade of red. Whoops, sorry. Couldn’t save him. So sad. That jackass would be out of Dylan’s life forever, just another victim of the attack.
Aren’t you supposed to be one of the good guys? Dylan’s conscience sounded a lot like Aiden.
Charging in here, risking his life to save wardens was bad enough. But this warden?
“Damn it.”
Dylan ran up and kneed Mrs. Rhodes in the head. She loosened her grip, and he blasted her with raw magic. She flew back, landing hard on her side.
“Dylan?” She blinked, furious and confused. “What are you doing?”
He threw a binding spell. She was almost fast enough to avoid it, but it caught her in the arm and quickly wrapped around her.
“Are you helping them?” she asked just before the magic reached her head.
Dylan tensed, keenly aware of Warden Bully behind him. Was he going to get a spell in the back? “Yeah,” Dylan said. “You wrecked prom.”
“Dylan!” Aiden came racing around the debris. “They’re trapped in the courtroom.”
Warden Bully was on his knees, bent over and coughing. Dylan shot him a glare as he ran past.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Mr. Johnson and Bryn joined them a few minutes later. Together they took out anti-warden people trying to break into the courtroom and freed the people inside. Then Bryn cleared a path through the flames, and they carried the injured outside.
Mr. Johnson used the radio to get ambulances, and several people took the less severely injured in cars.
Aiden desperately wanted to go home, but he stayed and helped where he could. Dylan stayed too, helping to put out the fires.
Principal Nejem took over the injured, stabilizing them with magic if she could, prioritizing the worst and getting them into the ambulances as they kept coming and going.
Her group had found a few police officers in the station and fought off the attackers who had them pinned down.
As Aiden ran around helping, he caught bits of conversation as Mr. Johnson checked on the rest of the town. It didn’t sound good.
Dread grew inside Aiden as he realized how terrible the attack had been. The fighting seemed to be over, but oh God, so many people were dead. With the last few people waiting to be taken to the hospital, Aiden sat heavily on the curb across from the charred wreck of city hall.
And just stared at it.
* * *
Dylan looked up at the stars. The town had gotten together and rebuilt the barrier. It wasn’t nearly as good as the old one, but it would keep Shadow Valley hidden for a few days while they worked on making a permanent one.
A few of the anti-treaty people they’d caught had talked, and the weird lights had been them trying to take the barrier down. The first two tries, they hadn’t had enough magic and needed to recruit more people to help. Dalton’s parents had used the death of Enrico Abelli to stir things up, and the reaction of the wardens and cops had played right into their plans. They’d used Dylan too.
He wasn’t sure if he was angrier at them or himself.
Dylan glanced over at Aiden, who was also staring up at the sky.
“You okay?” Dylan asked. They were in the gravel pit, sitting on the large rocks they used as seats.
Aiden gave a weak laugh. “Not really.” He sighed, looking a little more together. “But I’m doing the best I can.”
“You did really good in there.” Dylan patted his back.
Aiden had told him he freaked out during the attack at the gym, but he’d been awesome at the station.
“So did you.” The corner of Aiden’s mouth turned up. “Saving your mortal enemy?”
Dylan shook his head. “I almost didn’t.”
“But you did.”
“I could’ve been one of them, so easily.” Guilt ate at him. He couldn’t explain to anyone else how close to the line he’d felt, but he needed to confess to Aiden. “You know how much I wanted the wardens dead.”
Aiden wrapped an arm around his shoulders. After a slight hesitation, Dylan leaned into the touch. “You’re not the same person you were two years ago, and even then you weren’t a bad person.”
“Sometimes I even believe that.” Dylan stared at the fire. A small one, for him. Just a little campfire to comfort Dylan and not make Aiden too nervous.
Aiden squeezed him. “You’re making progress!”
Just hearing the lightness in Aiden’s tone cheered him up. The night after the attack had been so awful. School had been canceled, and Aiden hadn’t done much besides cuddle with Tiago while Dylan sat awkwardly in the desk chair in Aiden’s room.
“Yeah, I’m even letting you hug me.” He poked Aiden in the ribs.
Aiden leaned back a bit. “You know, it means a lot to me that you didn’t get weird when you found out I was bi.”
Dylan shrugged. “All that matters to me is Tiago makes you happy. You make each other happy.”
Aiden hugged him again, harder this time. “Thanks.” Then he asked, “So what about you and Sakura?”
A little flutter went through his stomach. “I think I might ask her out. Hopefully no one attacks in the middle of our date next time.”
“Yeah.” Aiden stared at the fire, face troubled. “Mr. Johnson called in all the wardens on assignment. There’s less than half of them left. And the police…” He shook his head.
“You know you don’t have to worry. You’re strong enough to protect yourself from just about anything. Plus I’ll look out for you, and Tiago. We’ll look out for each other, just like we did at the station.” Cat Boy wasn’t as powerful, but he’d proved he was a top-level badass.
A brief smile touched Aiden’s lips, then dropped away. “Do you think things will ever be the same? Will the wardens… get tougher on everyone? Will the attackers try again?”
That worried Dylan as well. Would the wardens try to root out anti-warden sentiment? Would they still treat Dylan like a criminal even after he’d risked his ass for them? Or would they be too busy trying to put things back together?
“All I know is they better let me graduate next year,” Dylan said. “Then we can get the hell out of this town.”
“It’s weird,” Aiden said quietly. “This place scares the crap out of me sometimes, but… I think I’m going to miss it.”
Dylan punched his arm. “You are weird.”
Aiden rubbed at the spot. “Well, I met a lot of friends here. And Tiago. And you. It’s… got a lot of good memories. It’s even worth the bad stuff.”
“Ugh.” Dylan stuck out his tongue, although Aiden’s words warmed his heart. “I can feel my teeth rotting from all the sweetness. Stop.”
Aiden laughed and gave him another hug, and Dylan hugged him back. Just a little.
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Dylan paced, shooting glances toward the door. Aiden sat on the sofa with his parents, Tiago in a chair. They deliberately kept distance between them whenever they weren’t alone. Mom and Dad were on the other sofa and Tiago’s guardian sat in a chair against the far wall.
They were all waiting for Mr. Johnson and Dylan got more nervous by the second. “Why wouldn’t he just tell us what this is about? Why does he have to make everything into a… thing?” Calling them all together like this, it couldn’t be anything good. Had Morgan shown up? Was he coming to kill them?
The doorbell rang and Dylan jumped. Dad got up. “I’ll get it.” As he walked past Dylan, he said, “Stay here, please.”
Dylan crossed his arms, but didn’t argue.
A moment later Dad came back with Mr. Johnson and a woman. “I’m sorry if I worried you,” the warden said. “But I wanted to meet with all of you together. This is Warden Nichols.” He gestured toward the woman. “She’s going to be your new school liaison.”
“What?” Dylan clenched his fists. “After all the shit that happened last year—”
Mr. Johnson held up a hand. “That’s exactly why I’m introducing you to her here, now. I want to assure you that things will be different this year.”
“I’ve been briefed on what happened with Warden Bradley and I promise you, I’m not him,” Warden Nichols said.
“Do you have enough wardens that you can assign one to the school?” Aiden asked. The wardens and the cops had been slaughtered by a group of anti-treaty people at the end of the school year. They’d lost over half their number and the ones left were scrambling to maintain order.
“Not really.” Mr. Johnson sighed. “But student safety is one of my top priorities. The junior high and elementary schools will have liaisons as well. And they will protect students, not treat them like suspects.”
Zen and the Art of Major Magical Control Page 19