“The anti-treaty extremists attacked the school, so we have to assume it may be a target if they make another attempt,” Warden Nichols said. “That is, if there are enough of them left to organize.”
“Oh God. If they come back…” Aiden rubbed his arms, and his mom put an arm around him.
“If they do we’ll kick their asses again.” A little part of Dylan hoped they tried so he could take out his anger on them. But the other part of him remembered the terrible fight at the school and the destruction at City Hall and hoped they never came back.
“At this point, everything is a precaution,” Mr. Johnson said. “Otherwise, I want everyone to get back to their normal lives as much as possible. Having a warden at school will hopefully reassure parents, and the police will regularly patrol the borders to look for any suspicious activity.”
“Great,” Dylan muttered. Because his parents’ property was along the border, that meant there would be cops snooping around all the time. Just what he needed—less privacy.
“We appreciate everything you’re doing,” Mom said. “I know you must be working hard.”
“Yes, thank you.” For just a second, Mr. Johnson’s neutral expression slipped and Dylan got a glimpse of how tired he was. Dylan felt just the tiniest little bit sorry for him.
“My parents?” Tiago asked, a slight tremble in his voice.
“I’m sorry, we still don’t have any information on their whereabouts,” Mr. Johnson said.
Aiden had trapped them, but by the time someone had gone to check, they’d disappeared. They hadn’t been among those dead or captured.
“If they dare to come after you again, we’ll take care of them,” Dylan said. At least Cat Boy had stopped protecting his parents and told Mr. Johnson that they’d tried to kidnap him twice. Dylan had thought the warden would be pissed Tiago kept that information from him, but he hadn’t acted like it. Maybe Mr. Johnson had too much else to worry about to care.
“We won’t let anything happen to you,” Rosalind, Tiago’s guardian, said.
Tiago looked between them and nodded, though he didn’t look sure. “Thanks.”
“We’ll all look out for each other,” Aiden said. His eyes met Tiago’s for a second and… how could Dylan have missed that they liked each other?
“Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help,” Aiden’s mom told Mr. Johnson. Dylan felt sorry for them. Like his dad, Aiden’s parents didn’t have any magic so there wasn’t much they could do. Unlike his dad, they’d had all this dumped on them only a few years ago.
“I will. The PTA and the neighborhood watch will have to play a bigger role this year. As Aiden said, we all have to look out for each other.”
“I’ll have regular office hours twice a week after school and every Saturday,” Warden Nichols said. “To handle any concerns and help build a sense of community.”
Dylan wondered if they were all about to hold hands and start singing. “So we can all forget that the wardens murdered that guy?”
Everyone looked at him.
“What? Just because those anti-treaty assholes wanted to ruin everything doesn’t mean we should ignore what the wardens did.”
“Dylan—” Mom started.
Mr. Johnson sighed. “Considering the circumstances, investigating Mr. Abelli’s death isn’t a priority. And one of the wardens involved was killed during the attack. But I’ll do what I can to make sure we follow up once things are settled.”
Which was a nice way to brush things off, but it was true the wardens had to focus on other things. They had to catch all the people that had escaped. And the wardens still hadn’t been able to find Morgan, the dark fae that Dylan had released.
“For what it’s worth, I’m in support of a full investigation,” Warden Nichols told Dylan.
He arched an eyebrow, wondering if she was trying to win points or if she really meant it. “So you don’t think wardens can do whatever they want?”
Her face tightened, but she said, “I think they can make mistakes just like anybody else, and because we have a higher responsibility, we need to be held accountable.”
“Hmm,” Dylan said thoughtfully. Definitely in Mr. Johnson’s camp and not Warden Bully’s but Dylan didn’t really trust any of them.
Mr. Johnson’s phone beeped and he pulled it out, frowning at the screen. “I apologize, but I need to be going. Warden Nichols?”
“It was nice to meet you all. Feel free to contact me if you need anything.” She pulled out business cards and passed them around.
Dylan hesitated, but ended up taking one. She had to be better than Warden Bully.
Get the final Shadow Valley book now:
Dragonkin Are from Mars, Changelings Are from Venus (Shadow Valley #5)
About The Author
Devin Harnois writes YA and Romance of the fantastical sort. Most of his books involve magic, monsters, and hope. Somehow they keep getting more queer. When he isn’t writing he spends too much time on Twitter and plays a lot of Dragon Age. Devin lives in Minneapolis.
Find Devin at:
Twitter: devinharnois
Website: devinharnois.com
Email: [email protected]
Other books by Devin Harnois
Young Adult
Not My Apocalypse (Alex Holden book 1)
Saint of Sinners (Alex Holden book 2)
Lord of Hell (Alex Holden book 3)
How to Make Friends and Not Incinerate People (Shadow Valley #1)
The 7 Bad Habits of Slightly Troubled Monsters (Shadow Valley #2)
How to Survive High School Without Really Dying (Shadow Valley #3)
Zen and the Art of Major Magical Control (Shadow Valley #4)
Dragonkin Are from Mars, Changelings Are from Venus (Shadow Valley #5)
Rainbow Islands
Romance
Darkness at Dawn (Love and Monsters book 1)
Taming the Darkness (Love and Monsters book 2)
Through the Fire
Erik's Tale
Undaunted
Other
Emma and the Air Pirates
Copyright © 2016 Devin Harnois
All rights reserved.
Edited by Anne Victory
Cover image © Nelli Valova
Cover design by Devin Harnois
Zen and the Art of Major Magical Control Page 20