by D. R. Perry
"Don't call me that." Her lip curled in a sneer.
"Don't call me Lucy and I won't." His lips pressed into a thin, pale line.
"What were you thinking?" Her hands went on her hips, the motion nearly jostling her lightning bird from her shoulder.
"More than you, as always. And they handled it." He cut the air between them with the side of his hand in a chopping motion. His Strix flapped to keep her balance.
"You sound like a novice instructor, not a triple doctorate." Her hands curled into fists.
"And you sound like a hidebound old coot, not a dissertation failure," he snarled.
Coach Chen's expression was like a still pond, at least until Nurse Smith showed up. His eyes narrowed, lips pulling slightly down.
"Where are they?" Nurse Smith turned his head, eyes scanning the hallway. "The students who got stuck in there?"
"Here, Nurse." Logan raised one hand like he was answering for attendance. He sat on a bench, leaning against the wall, but still looked dizzy. "And Aliyah too, but she only stayed because I was stupid. She saved my life."
His eyes looked starstruck. Maybe they were just glassy from the smoke exposure. At least, I hoped. Or perhaps the light Nurse Smith flashed in them. He came at me with the mundane penlight, and I tried not to blink as he did his test. Sometimes the regular tools worked best.
"The two of you need to go to the infirmary." Nurse Smith planted his feet, ready to defy our objections.
"But Nurse, I should go back and help clean—" Logan tried to get up but couldn’t manage it.
"You'll do no such thing." Nurse Smith tucked his penlight away in a pocket, then clapped his hands three times.
Finally, his familiar revealed himself. A crab crawled from the opposite pocket, somehow able to cling to the fabric. It scuttled down to the floor, then held its claws in the air, clacking three times with both.
We watched the critter grow. It remained close to the ground instead of growing taller, increasing its circumference and thickness of body and shell. I wondered how until I realized what Nurse Smith's familiar was.
A Karkinos, the same type of crab that had pinched Hercules as he fought the Hydra in the ancient Greek legends. I'd seen one at Bubbe's before, but not close up. Certainly never watched one change size like that.
"Mr. Pierce, do you need help?" The nurse tapped his foot.
Logan shook his head. In a moment, he pressed a hand to it, groaning, with his other hand over his mouth.
"I'll take that as a yes, but before we start, are the two of you going to help Miss Morgenstern, or should I call for more assistance?"
"Absolutely." Dylan nodded, his expression gravely serious. I wondered what had gotten him so concerned. It couldn't be me since I didn't feel that bad. "I'm game."
"Oh, yeah." Grace beamed. "Happy to help."
We watched Nurse Smith assist Logan to transfer from the bench to the crab's back. After that, we made a most curious line, heading down the hall past practically the whole school. They'd all come out of the classrooms to stare as we went by.
From behind us came voices of professors corralling their students and herding them back into the classrooms. There was no more argument from Professor Luciano and Professor DeBeer's direction, but I didn't think for one second that their issues were resolved. It sounded like a long-standing feud between the two of them.
I shuffled along between my friends, realizing how lucky I was. They’d stuck by me, even though I could have put them in serious danger at any time. I hoped they understood the risks, but maybe they’d never even heard of them.
An extramagus could tap more than one elemental school, unlike regular magi. Those powers came at a cost, however, and it was threefold.
First, there was always a catch, some hitch, limit, or restriction on where, when, or how an extramagus could use their power. I had no idea what mine was. Usually it took trial and error to figure it out. That brought us to the second point.
Extramagi had a harder time shutting their power off. I’d banished that lab fire easily, but a water magus had created it. When it came to flames I conjured myself, it'd always been harder to shut them off. Maybe it was not about focus after all.
Finally, the third and worst catch, the reason most other extrahumans didn’t trust extramagi—they didn't have absolute power, but what they got corrupted them, and nobody was sure why. There was a general consensus on how.
All magi draw their element from the Under, through the barrier this very school occupies. The Under is a magical realm of pure truth. When shifters cross over, they're stuck in animal form unless one of the Faerie monarchs makes a talisman for them.
The going theory was that access to more than one element from the Under damaged their brain chemistry. I should have said, “we,” because I was one and had better accept it.
We knew quite a bit about how the Under harmed brains because changelings took on their full faerie physiology by joining a court. After that, they spent a year and a day in the Under. It wasn’t a political choice, but a matter of survival. If a changeling didn't tithe, they'd go mad.
Many went on to marry and have children with magi. Some of these had both a magic and a faerie destiny. When that happened, they could lean on their magic and supernatural bonds like joining a werewolf's pack. That prevented the madness for a while, but any changeling who was also an extramagus carried double risk of insanity. That was what had happened to Richard Hopewell. My uncle had waited until he was in his forties to tithe.
Magi had a human psyche and a human brain. Magic stressed brain chemistry. The human mind wasn't made to handle an all-access pass to all its types long-term, so by calling multiple aspects of universal truth into and through their minds, extramagi eventually lose them. Nobody's come up with a therapy or medication to cure, counter, or even treat it.
In the future, I’d be a danger to myself and everyone around me. Guaranteed. I was destined to hurt people when all I’d wanted my whole life was to help. As my friends escorted me down the hall, I couldn’t banish mental images of them recoiling in horror and pain at the distress I would cause them in some distant future.
I didn't realize I'd been crying until they sat me down in the infirmary, although not the room from the day before. This one had four beds. Once I was situated, Dylan and Grace helped Logan into the bed across from mine. Nurse Smith dismissed them, but they didn't leave right away. Everyone was defying the nurse this afternoon. No wonder his expression was so sour.
"I've got Familiar Bonding with you guys later." Dylan leaned in the doorway, blocking it. He refused to be brushed off. Good on him. Nobody should put Dylan Khan in a corner.
"Yes, and?"
"Will you be holding it? You know, considering the other two students are out of sorts?"
"That's a good point." The nurse nodded. "They should be up to it. Just come back when it's time. I'll run the course in this room."
"Smashing." Dylan dropped a wink. Grace giggled.
"Now get out of my way, or don't you want your friends to get treatment?"
"Thanks, Nurse Smith." Dylan turned his back and strutted out the door, Grace following closely.
Nurse Smith rolled his eyes, then clapped his hands three times. His familiar clacked those claws like an echo, shrinking again to scuttle back up into his pocket.
"Thanks, buddy." Logan waved at the pocket.
A series of clacks and chitters came from Nurse Smith's scrub top. I was almost annoyed at his complete lack of humor, but he surprised me with a chuckle as he headed out the door.
Maybe he was only stern because he cared.
"I can't believe I got to ride on the crab." Logan's grin was lopsided but genuine. It made him wince, though. He must have had one hell of a headache. “Cool story.”
"Yeah, awfully nice of the decapod to give you a lift." I yawned, then wrinkled my nose. I was so tired it hurt pretty much everywhere.
"Aliyah, are you okay?" Logan stared at the sheet un
der his hands, picking at his thumb. "You didn't get burned, did you? I don't want you to get hurt. Ever."
I blinked, feeling for all the world like some day-blind owl. All this time, I had worried about hurting people in the future. Logan was upset because he actually did, and I totally ignored it.
"No, I didn't get burned, but I'm not okay." I grimaced. "Feels like that time I belly-flopped off the monkey bars in grade school."
"It wasn't all that magic you called to banish the fire, was it?" Logan's face got pale, all the color draining out of it. He must have been sick with worry.
"No. Let's just say I know how you feel, not wanting people to get hurt and screwing up anyway." I hung my head, partly exhausted but also ashamed. "I almost burned down the cafeteria, remember."
"But you did that on purpose." He slapped a hand over his mouth immediately.
"You understand, then. I'm a horrible person." The pit of my stomach went white-hot, roiling like a school of salamanders were playing water polo in there. I looked up, expecting to see him recoiling in fear.
Instead, Logan looked worn out, like he’d cast major magic and almost fainted. And he was crying. Not like ugly crying; nothing about Logan could ever be that. But a pair of cowboy tears made tracks through the soot on his face.
"You're not." He sniffled. "Because you did it to protect your friends. You're not horrible, I just always say and do the wrong thing. I screw up all the time. Can't do anything right, not even thank the girl who saved my life."
"Did you catch it back in the lab?" I raised my eyebrows, leaning back. I still couldn’t say it out loud. "The truth about me?"
"Yeah, and I still say you're not horrible."
Logan wasn't the brightest bulb on the tree academically, but I knew he was canny enough. He also had a bigger heart than I’d expected beating in his showbiz-perfect chest. I could have dismissed his opinion. It would have been easy and probably right.
No. Nothing right was this easy, so in a convoluted sort of way, I had to believe him.
"Thanks, Logan." It was my turn to sniffle. "It means a lot."
Nurse Smith came back, followed by Zeke, who pushed a cart. The nurse handed Logan a small plastic cup with a foamy blue liquid inside and instructed him to drink. The vampire CNA tucked a box of tissues next to me, then poured me a glass of water and set it on the bedside table.
They switched places, repeating their tasks and gestures, except the cup Nurse Smith handed me contained a flat gray liquid. It smelled like nothing. Not like water, which has some vapor to it. This smelled like nothing at all. Like nothingness. Like you'd imagine the void of space might smell.
I hesitated.
"Drink that, please."
"What's in it?"
"It's a nullifying medicine."
"No way!" Logan sputtered, the water he’d just tried to drink flying back out. Zeke handed him a napkin.
"Relax, Mr. Pierce." Nurse Smith directed his next comment at me. "You overextended yourself. This will prevent you from casting any magic for the next hour because you need a rest. If you try conjuring or banishing in this state, you could become too ill to attend school at all, and you'll be stuck in my infirmary for a week at least. You can either take it like Hal did this morning, or you can have a sedative and sleep, but that carries a risk that you'll conjure as you slumber. Ultimately, however, your treatment is your choice."
"Okay." I drank the medicine, which was easier than I'd expected. It also tasted like nothing. "I've had worse than this."
"Yeah, that Augmentin they give for ear infections at mundane doctor offices is awful, so I'm told." Nurse Smith put on a weary grin. I realized he probably had one of the hardest jobs in here.
"Thanks." I couldn't muster more than that because the medicine had me feeling a little off.
The nurse left, Zeke following. The vampire CNA glanced back over his shoulder, giving me a small grin and a nod. As they closed the door, I yawned, suddenly tired enough to take a nap. I looked at Logan because I didn't want to leave him effectively alone in here with his thoughts, but he was already out.
I could safely close my eyes for a few minutes, so I did.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I woke to the sound of the door opening, revealing Dylan and Grace. They’d both had a chance to clean up, which wasn't the case for Logan or me, but when I looked at him, I saw that Zeke had come back while we slept. He must have washed Logan's face, and probably mine too. I didn't feel grime when I raised my hand to my cheek.
"Hey, I brought some falafel sliders from the café." Dylan set two wrapped packages on Logan's bedside table and two more on mine. He sat on one of the other beds, pulled the table closer, and dropped six more on its surface. Grace sneaked in, snatched one, then sat in the chair at my bedside to unwrap it.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Grace jerked her chin at my untouched sandwiches.
"Just a sec. I only just woke up."
"Not stopping me." Logan's voice was muffled by a mouthful of food. He’d gotten his appetite back. I hadn’t, but when in the infirmary, do as the less infirm do.
I unwrapped one small sandwich and took a bite. It was surprisingly good. I hadn't expected the café’s fare to be anything special, but this was something else.
"When did the food in that little café get so awesome?" I dabbed the corner of my mouth with a tissue. "Not that I'd know firsthand, but Noah always told me to avoid it."
"They hired a new chef to work there this year." Dylan took another bite, chewing thoughtfully before answering. "He used to work down in Providence. Graduated from Roger Williams University in Culinary Studies."
"Bet he's expensive." Grace shook her head. "But the sandwich is so good, I can't believe he's not worth it."
"I hear they got him on the cheap." Dylan leaned toward us. "He got turned by a vampire, invalidating his restaurant's license. You need a totally different kind to run kitchens as a vamp, you know, and he was out of money. Couldn't afford the fees, so he needed work, and nobody else would hire him."
"That sucks." The paper wrapper around Logan's slider crackled as he clenched his hand. "So unfair."
"Well, stateside vampires certainly get the short end of the stick." Dylan sighed. "Not that they don't have restrictions in the UK, but it's worse here."
"I'd say the worst." Grace leaned back in her chair, rolling her empty wrapper into a ball. "In Canada, we don't have those laws. Not the ones prohibiting them from drinking out of bottles or cups in public or banning them from owning restaurants. Those are totally ridiculous."
"They’re not, really." Faith stood in the doorway.
"What are you doing here?" Grace stared daggers at the other girl.
"Just setting the record straight," she said. "And because I just felt like taking Familiar Bonding."
"So, you think vampires shouldn't have rights?" Grace stood up.
"I didn't say that." She sauntered into the room and sat on my other side, which surprised me, all things considered. "But aren't we too young and uneducated to make that judgment? That's why we’re here, right?"
"But you're an undeath magus." Logan scratched his head. "I don't understand. If vampires lose rights, they might take some from you."
"There's no use complaining about any of it until we can vote." Faith smirked, but her eyes looked hollow. She was like a parrot, repeating things she’d heard without examination or thought.
"Anyway. I don't think I'll be able to eat two sandwiches." I changed the subject. "Does anyone want my extra?"
Grace snagged it before anyone else spoke up. As she ate, Nurse Smith walked into the room, accompanied by Professor DeBeer. They stopped to stare at Grace.
"Miss Dubois, you may go." Nurse Smith waved a hand at the door. "You're not required to be here."
"Can I stay, though?" She tilted her head. "All my friends are here. Well, except for Hal. Where is he, anyway?"
Professor DeBeer and Nurse Smith glanced at each other. I got the impression
they didn't want to say, but we got an answer anyway.
"His father's taking care of him." The professor waved a hand dismissively. "At any rate, we need to get started if you want to be out of here at a decent hour to do your regular homework."
Nurse Smith clapped his hands, and his familiar strutted in with an enormous box on his back. From the noises, I correctly guessed that a variety of magical critters were inside. When the nurse opened the box, they emerged one by one.
Ember “peeped” from the headboard behind me and fluttered to the floor to join them, clearly excited. Lune hopped out from under Grace's chair, nose twitching as he raised his ears. I heard Seth stirring inside Faith’s tote bag. She lifted him out and set him down. The Sha trotted over but sat a safe distance from the newcomers. Maybe she was here for his benefit.
A five-toed cat padded softly toward Logan's bed, bunching her haunches before leaping up to meet him. She sat at his knee, head craning forward as she sniffed in the general direction of his last bit of food.
A curly-haired poodle dog trotted toward Dylan, sitting at his feet and looking up. He cocked his head, lifted one ear, then shook it. He turned his back, although his tail wagged. Clearly, he wasn’t impressed with the air magus. Poodles tended to favor earth.
"Come on out now, there's a love." Professor DeBeer spoke, coaxing the creature still in the box, but it stayed put.
"It's all right, Sue. Let's just get started." Nurse Smith carefully moved the box to the floor, then clapped three times. His crab did the clacking thing, then disappeared into the pocket.
The lecture Professor DeBeer gave was extremely basic. I'd heard it all before because she practically recited one of Bubbe's pamphlets on caring for a familiar and how it differed from a mundane pet. It would have been totally boring if Ember wasn't busy making friends. She already knew and liked Lune, but got along just fine with the poodle and the polydactyl cat. She even played with Seth.
I noticed that the Sha followed her, but the moment she turned his way, he pretended not to care. His behavior reminded me an awful lot of Faith’s.