Lee considered what she was saying, and where she was coming from. “Why do you care so much?”
Zoe looked like she was about to yell at him, but she caught herself. She sagged a little in the chair, not meeting his gaze. “Because… she’s like I was. Confused about who she is, why she can do what she can do. On the verge of losing sight of right and wrong. If we don’t act, the Order will kidnap her, Eldon. It’s just how they operate now, and we have no idea if she’ll be brought to a school, or imprisoned, or… Please.”
“Okay. Sure.”
Zoe blinked. “You’ll do it?”
“You said the magic word.” He reached out and ruffled his sister’s hair. “I’ll do it. I can tell this really matters to you.”
“Eldon, thank you!”
Zoe jumped forward and pulled him into a tight hug. He fell backward slightly on the bed, as did she. She let out a disgusted scream an instant later.
“Ew! I just touched a wet spot! So gross!”
***
Lee expected his sister to wake him up early the next morning, but there was no inconvenient knock at the door to prevent him and Tess from sleeping in. He realized he hadn’t asked where they’d be going and which time zone they’d be operating in, which would likely affect their departure schedule.
It left him with plenty of time to consider what to do about the elephant in the room. Savoire Solaire looked like an ornate cavalry saber while inside its wooden scabbard, it was a weapon more suited to hanging above a fireplace or over a door than wielding into battle.
It wasn’t until Lee drew the blade that the true nature of its insanely powerful enchantment assaulted his eyes. Under the purview of his mystic sight, the sword looked as though it had been super-heated in a furnace, blazing a brilliant white-orange that would have normally left after-images across his vision at a glance.
He’d seen what its cuts could do. During the fight between Jack and Gen, each cut she’d landed with Savoire Solaire had left trails of flame in its wake, much like the weapon’s aura hinted at. Gen had also explained how to leverage the enchantment to cast a holy fire spell, which Lee had yet to try for himself but was eager to experiment with.
“Do you think your sister downplayed the danger you’re heading into?” asked Tess.
“The danger we’re heading into,” said Lee. “You’re coming, too. I’m dealing with a teenage girl. Something tells me your advice will be invaluable to have in my ear.”
She grinned at him. “Well, I didn’t want to assume. My question still stands, though. Are you worried you’re going to need the saber in a fight?”
“I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Truthfully though, I just can’t leave it here. I still don’t completely trust Jack, and who knows what might happen while we’re away. It might be a while before we come back, or the Order could launch an attack here.”
“If that happened, wouldn’t Savoire Solaire eventually end up back in Genevieve’s hands?”
“Maybe I don’t want to give it back.”
“Lee Amaranth!” Tess set her hands on her hips, but her tone was more reluctantly mischievous than chastising.
She’d taken their assignment to heart when getting dressed, despite the fact that she’d be helping from the background. She had on a white t-shirt with the word “PINK” spelled out in glitter across the front and a pair of tight jeans with rips across the thighs. It was more the outfit of a “mature” middle schooler than a real teenager, but she looked cute enough in it for Lee to hold his tongue.
“We should go find my sister and see what’s up,” said Lee.
“Are you going to get dressed?”
“I’m assuming Ryoko will be bringing us using her water teleportation, so just my swimming gear, for now.”
His assumption proved to be correct. Lee met up with Ryoko, Zoe, and Zoe’s own pact ghost, Lucas, downstairs. Lee was less than disappointed to find out that Lucas would be staying behind, and he and Tess set off toward the beach with the others after a quick breakfast.
He loaded his various non-waterproof items, wallet, phone, and sword, into the bag Zoe had brought for them. She didn’t make a comment about his decision to bring Savoire Solaire along, though from the way her gaze lingered on it, Lee could tell that she was dying to.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“The Midwest,” said Zoe. “A little town called, um… I actually can’t remember. It’s in either Iowa or Ohio. I always get those two confused.”
“Well, that’s helpful.”
The ocean was chilly, and it took a force of will to dive into the teleportation whirlpool Ryoko arranged for them with her magic once he’d waded out into the water. He kept Tess in his mystic stream as they descended through the portal, paranoid as always about what might happen if he didn’t.
At some point during the aquatic transfer, Lee accidentally got some water up his nose. It wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, had they exited the portal into a random lake, or river, or even somewhere else in the ocean.
Instead, Lee surfaced, coughing and choking, into the waters of a public pool. He blinked up at a very confused-looking teenage lifeguard who looked like he’d been about to blow his whistle before deciding it wouldn’t do much good.
“Ta-da!” shouted Zoe. She was already sitting on the concrete edge of the pool and fixed her bikini bottom as she stood up. She held her arms out and struck a pose.
“How did you… I mean, where did you…” the lifeguard continued, mumbling half-spoken questions as he made his way over.
“A magician never reveals her secrets,” said Zoe. She batted her eyelashes at him and tapped a finger on his chest.
“Is somebody filming this?” he asked.
“Yeah,” said Lee, climbing up next to Zoe. “Don’t worry, we’ll blur out your face.”
Tess giggled and joined in on the joke, teasing the back of one of the lifeguard’s earlobes with an ethereal finger until he was glancing over his shoulder with suspicious looks. The three of them exited the pool area, Lee and Tess following after Zoe, who seemed to already know the layout of the area.
“So, the high school you’re going to be enrolling in has a dress code,” said Zoe. “I found you a uniform, so you can change into it here. Leave the sword in the bag, though, okay?”
“Obviously.”
He slipped into the men’s locker room and pulled on the clothes. It was fairly standard, a white dress shirt, navy blazer, black pants, and striped tie. It was a bit tighter than he would have liked across the shoulders, leaving him feeling like he’d tear the seams if he flexed forward in the wrong way.
“It’s a good look for you,” said Tess.
“Thanks, but I think…”
He trailed off as he turned around and saw she’d approximated a girls’ version of the same outfit, complete with a sailor skirt, vest, tie, and knee-high stockings. Tess grinned and spun in a circle, flashing him in the process and revealing that she’d, for once, decided to put on panties.
“You should see yourself right now,” she said. “Your jaw is practically on the floor.”
“I think you should, uh, hang onto that outfit,” he said. “You know. Just in case it comes in handy in another context.”
“Pervert.”
“Always.” He pulled her into his mystic stream, grabbed her by the tie, and pulled her in for a quick kiss.
CHAPTER 5
Zoe was waiting outside the locker room. Lee held out his arms as he exited, furrowing his brow.
“Think I can pass for a seventeen-year-old?” he asked.
“Almost.” Zoe reached out her hand and mussed up his hair. “There! Perfect. Well, if we had some spray-on deodorant, it would be perfect, but it’ll do.”
She led them out into the parking lot, gesturing to a car parked in the far corner. “Mira and I rented it on our previous visit. I’ll drop you off at the school and find something to do while you’re getting settled.�
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She drove them into a small Midwestern town with wide streets, a variety of local diners and restaurants, and a generally sleepy ambiance. The tallest building Lee could see was a gated apartment complex that barely rose ten stories, and traffic was minimal.
Zoe pulled the car onto the shoulder outside of the high school. Students in identical uniforms to Lee’s were already streaming across the spacious courtyard and through the double-doored entrance. The school itself was an unremarkable mixture of concrete and identical windows, with a few metal picnic tables on the grass off to one side.
“The girl’s name is Claire Dimicco,” said Zoe. “Here’s a photo of her. Mira and I weren’t able to discover much, other than that her father is a police sergeant and her mother teaches at another school in the area. No siblings.”
Lee took a look at the photo. Claire was in a field hockey outfit, tall and fit with a brown ponytail, lots of makeup, and a wide smile. She wasn’t pretty, but she wasn’t ugly, either. She was—
rather unfortunately—normal-looking, which would make her hard to spot without using the picture directly for reference.
“Alright,” he said. “So, what? I just go inside the school and…?”
“Head straight to the front office,” said Zoe. “They’ll be expecting you. You as in Eldon Brock; you’ll have to leave the alias in the land of make-believe where it belongs.”
Lee rolled his eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I’m not sure how they handle lunch here, so I packed you a tuna sandwich, an apple, and some chips.” Zoe grinned as she pulled out a brown paper bag and shoved it into his arms. “Have a good day!”
She kissed him on the cheek and waved as he climbed out of the car. Lee felt a surge of unexpected unease as he started walking toward the entrance.
He took another glance at the picture of Claire, looking up to inspect a group of girls at one of the tables and searching for her face. He was busy looking at them rather than where he was going, and an instant later, felt himself collide with another body.
“Hey!” snapped the guy he’d just shouldered. “Watch it, dickface.”
“Why don’t you go, um…” Lee’s juvenile insult game had atrophied from disuse. “Fuck you.”
The guy muttered something else, but Lee was already slipping into the crowd and through the entrance doors. The school’s interior was a mixture of dirty-white tiled floor, scratched and dented lockers, and oppressive fluorescent lights. There was also the vague smell of body odor warring with cheap cleaning solution, like a love child of the janitor’s closet and gymnasium.
The front office was easy enough to find. The secretary at the desk was on the phone, so Lee stood and pretended to stare at the clock while he waited for her to finish.
“Yes?” she finally said to him.
He took a breath, smiling his most convincing smile and readying himself for the ultimate test.
“Hi, I’m Eldon Brock,” he said. “I’m a new student here. Just transferred from, uh, another school, and today’s my first day here.”
“You need to brush up on your acting skills,” whispered Tess. “You were far more convincing when you snuck into Primhaven.”
Lee hid his wince as an empty moment passed, certain that the secretary was going to demand more information, which he would be unable to provide.
“Eldon Brock,” she finally said. “Here’s your schedule. Here’s your locker number and combination. Here’s the school’s behavior contract. Sign and date here.”
The behavior contract was what she wanted his signature on, and it was at least fifty pages thick.
“Shouldn’t I read it first?”
A bell rang, and the secretary shrugged. “Depends on how late you’re interested in being.”
Lee scowled and quickly signed on the line before grabbing the rest of the papers and heading back out into the hall.
From the sudden cessation of student traffic, he got the general sense that the school took tardiness rather seriously. Still, it felt odd to be carrying around the lunch Zoe had given him, so he went hunting for his locker to stash it away in.
It took several minutes just to find it, and several more to get the combination working. His first class of the day was Biology, and after another multi-minute search through the hallways, he finally found the right classroom.
It was dead silent within. A bald old man sat at his desk, staring dispassionately down at a lesson planner. All the students were busily scribbling away at a quiz or in-class assignment. Nobody noticed him as he stepped in through the doorway, and he was forced to clear his throat to draw the teacher’s attention.
“Hi,” he said. “I’m Eldon Brock. I just transferred here. I’m pretty sure this is my first class.”
“You’re pretty sure?” asked the teacher.
Muffled laughter thrummed through the room. Lee gritted his teeth, remembering the awful taste high school had left in his mouth on the first time through.
“Take a seat in the back,” said the teacher. “It doesn’t matter where. We’ll update the seating chart next week.”
Lee nodded, though he was barely listening. His attention had shifted to the face of a girl sitting in the second row who he was fairly sure was the girl he was looking for. Claire was busy scribbling away at her quiz, but she glanced up for an instant as he started down the aisle alongside the desks, meeting his gaze.
“Whoops,” muttered a male voice.
Lee lurched forward, tripping over the purposefully extended foot of the same guy he’d encountered on his way into the school. He caught himself on the desk of another student and rose to the sound of more laughter.
“Damn, you’re clumsy, Ronny,” called a boy from farther back.
“Sorry about that,” said the perpetrator in a faux Canadian accent.
Lee felt his hand involuntarily clenching into a fist, followed by Tess grabbing his arm and coaxing him back.
“Remember why you’re here, Lee,” she said. “Getting into a fight in front of the girl you need to earn the trust of is the opposite of what you need to do right now.”
He took a breath and ignored the eyes of his fellow students as he found his way to his desk. He hadn’t thought to bring a pen or pencil, or a notebook, or anything relevant to a classroom, but if the teacher cared, he certainly didn’t show it. He waited until the quiz had finished and the papers had been collected before struggling to stay awake through a lecture on the workings of the nervous system.
***
He made it through the class without further incident. The bell sounded, and Lee felt virtually invisible as he stood up amidst the rest of the students, who quickly formed into their respective cliques as they left the room.
“Hurry!” said Tess. “See if you can get close to her in the hall.”
“Couldn’t you have tied her shoelaces together or something to slow her down?”
“This isn’t Primhaven, Lee. Doing that sort of thing here will only freak people out.”
He let the point drop and did his best to keep Claire in view as he pushed his way out into the hall. It was crowded almost shoulder to shoulder, and the crush of students completely prevented him from moving freely.
He followed Claire all the way to her next class. The teacher closed the door in his face as the bell rang, and the next lesson on Lee’s schedule was Geometry on the other side of the school, meaning he didn’t have a good reason to force his way in.
Somewhat reluctantly, he found his way to where he was supposed to be and subjected himself to the ordeal of being a regular student. He checked out completely as the teacher began to lecture, almost falling asleep at several points. The subject matter was even less relevant to him than the lessons at Primhaven had been—and nowhere near as interesting.
The bell finally rang, heralding the arrival of lunchtime. He hurried to grab his lunch from his locker and made his way into the crowded cafeteria. Almost every table was packed with students, so h
e took his food outside instead.
Claire had apparently had the same idea. She sat at one of the picnic tables with five other girls, all eating and gossiping in their own little world. Lee took a seat on a nearby bench with Tess and watched her out of the corner of his eye as the two of them began eating.
“Do you think I should just go up to her and see if she’ll talk to me in private?” he asked.
Tess shook her head, nibbling on the corner of an ethereal tuna sandwich. “You need more tact than that. Try to find a moment when she’s alone and be casual about it. It’s better if she’s comfortable before you get all serious and start talking about crazy supernatural stuff.”
“I might need to cast a spell in order to prove to her that I’m for real,” he said.
“That’s not ideal,” said Tess. “You haven’t exactly been keeping my essence reserves topped up. I have enough for one spell, maybe two.”
Lee opened the bag of chips and started munching on one. “Maybe if I wait until she has to go to the bathroom and then try to approach her?”
“That’s kind of stalker-ish.”
“There’s no winning with you, is there?” said Lee.
Someone made a noise from behind the bench. Lee glanced over his shoulder to see a female teacher with glasses staring at him in confusion.
“I’m, uh, practicing lines for a play,” he said.
“I’m the drama teacher,” said the woman.
“A community play,” he said. “In the next town over.”
She didn’t look convinced, but she slowly nodded and went her own way. Lee hoped he could hurry the situation along and finish with Claire before he developed a reputation as a lunatic with a habit of talking to thin air.
CHAPTER 6
Lee made his move as lunch ended and Claire’s group split off to go to their own separate classes. They’d stayed right up until the bell, which meant the hallways were emptier than they’d been earlier. Lee casually sped his pace up to follow her, catching up just as she reached her locker.
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