THE THIEF

by

Aine Crabtree

Prologue

Jul

A cab horn blared close behind me as I splashed through a puddle onto the sidewalk. I glanced fearfully back at the vehicle through the drizzle, clutching my umbrella and my sack of Chinese food. The back wheel hit the puddle and a cascade of dirty water drenched my lower half. The cab zipped around the corner and was gone.

New York always knew how to make you feel loved.

I walked quickly up the sidewalk, feeling the runoff puddling in my boots, soaking through my socks. My dad would be furious if I wasn't home on time with food. He had been working so many long nights at the university lately, I'd hadn't even seen him in two days. He'd done this before, coming home on the late train after I'd gone to sleep, leaving again before I got up for school - but today was Sunday. He always came home on Sunday, no matter what. I didn’t want to disappoint him the one day I knew he’d be around.

Finally, a stroke of luck - someone had fixed the elevator, so I didn’t have to climb three flights of stairs. I checked my reflection in the mirrored interior when the doors shut. My dark hair, though straightened this morning, was curling over my collar from the damp. My skin, coffee with three creams, took on a sickly green tint in the weak florescent light flickering overhead. I looked overly thin, too, like I’d been stretched too tall. I’d grown half an inch over the summer, and I hoped I was finally done. I was nearing 16, and girls were supposed to stop growing by then. No matter how much I ate I never seemed to get curves.

I wondered, not for the first time, what my mother had looked like. My skin, at minimum, had to be hers - Dad was as pale as they came. I stared in the mirror at the round face, the large eyes, the smooth features, and saw almost nothing of my father. Maybe the height. Maybe the ears. It stood to reason that just about everything about me came from her, but I had no way of knowing. I had learned from a very early age to never mention her, not even in passing - it put my father into such a horrible mood. The sum total of my knowledge of her was that her name was Kyra, and she’d left us right after I was born.

I only knew her name because Dad talked to her sometimes, under his breath, when he was frustrated. He’d come home with stacks of research from the university - which were none of my business, he’d repeatedly told me - and sit in his room muttering to himself, and to her.

Readjusting my grip on the bag of food and my tightly-wrapped umbrella as the elevator opened, I stepped into the hall. I reached out to unlock our apartment, but the door just pushed right open. The squeak of the hinge was loud in the hall. I paused in confusion.

“Dad?”

Dad was a genius. He never forgot anything, not his keys, not the train schedule, not even the number of the Thai place that had been closed for years. He could recite entire paragraphs of books with perfect recall - and always seemed angry when I couldn’t. I wished I had his memory, but I just didn’t. Point being, there was no chance he would have forgotten to lock the door, much less leave it open.

Fear gripped me when I saw the state of the apartment. Everything was in utter disarray - bookshelves ransacked, cabinets hanging open, a chair overturned. “Dad!” I called, my voice pitching higher. I tossed the food onto the kitchen counter and hurried to his room, where I wasn’t supposed to go, but it was an even bigger wreck. His bedsheets hung haphazard from the mattress, as if someone had rifled through them. His closet was open, half his clothes missing. Though his room was always packed to the brim with books, they had always been fastidiously organized in neat stacks. Now the stacks had tumbled, their open pages flipping back and forth from the breeze coming from the open window. Outside, the rain fell steadily.

Hand trembling, I reached to pick up one of the books. It was open to a painted illustration of an old-fashioned hand mirror, edges wrought of silver vines.

Lightning flashed. I looked up at the window. I caught a pair of wide, yellow eyes staring back at me, and I screamed.

Chapter 1

Jul

Once upon a time, there was a girl on her way to her grandmother’s house.

My first impression of the house was that it knew something I didn’t, and wasn’t going to tell me any time soon. The flaking shutters could have been winking. The aged front deck sagged ever so slightly, as if in a knowing smile. The yard was freshly mowed but mostly composed of things that weren’t grass. Clover predominated, and there were several other little flowering weeds I couldn’t name. I didn’t know much about southern plants. Three days ago I didn’t even know I had family in Havenwood, Alabama.

I lifted my suitcase from the cab. The old Victorian home had certainly seen better days, I’d wager. The forest pushed in from either side of the yard as if it were trying to reclaim the land. Ancient farm equipment jutted from the lawn like tombstones. I couldn’t begin to guess what the spindly, rusted metal devices had once been used for. They looked more like torture devices than ploughs or harvesters.

An elderly woman came out the front door and descended the steps with arthritic hesitation. This, I presumed, was my grandmother. My heart thumped in my chest. I hadn’t known I possessed any family at all besides my father. He’d never mentioned any. But when he’d disappeared, child services in New York had done some digging, and found that my dad’s mother was still living in Alabama. Apparently this was where he’d come from.

I knew he couldn’t always have been a university professor, but this wasn’t what I was expecting.

Her face was wrinkled and stern. She wore one of those faded cotton dresses patterned with tiny geometrical shapes that had probably been hanging in her closet since the 80s. Her silver hair had been starched into a veritable helmet of curls.

Bea Graham, the child service people had told me before putting me on a plane. Your grandmother’s name is Bea Graham.

I wanted something to hide behind. She couldn’t want to suddenly have to take care of a teenager. Who on earth would want that? I was loud and messy and always in the way...

Her face set into a frown, she didn’t even look at me. She ambled up the walk to the cab driver, and they settled up the fare. It wasn’t until all my bags were unloaded and he was driving away that she looked at me directly.

“Juliet,” she said.

I swallowed. “Yes ma’am.” I didn’t like being called my full name, but I wasn’t about to correct her. She barely looked at me for half a second, and then was fussing with my bags.

“Well, let’s get your things inside,” she said, pulling one of the rolling bags with her down the sidewalk. I followed with the other two bags and a sinking heart. She clearly didn’t like me. How could she? I was invading her life. I wasn’t doing it on purpose. There was nowhere else for me to go.

The interior was like stepping into a museum. Clean, but nearly everything inside was a step away from falling apart. The furniture must have once been beautiful, but time had rendered it faded and threadbare. Sepiatone photos in chipped frames lined the walls. Rugs covered extensive wood floors. Old floral wallpaper curled where it met the baseboards.

“Through there is the kitchen,” she said, pointing down the hallway bisecting the house. “Your room is upstairs.”

We dragged my things up to the second floor, which smelled even mustier than the first. A stray fluff of dust cartwheeled through beams of light from the windows. The hall held several doors on either side of the landing. She led me to the right, opening a door to a room that was clean, but nearly bare. It had basic furniture - a dresser, a bookshelf, and an old four-poster bed, but beyond a faded rug and a small lamp it really had nothing else. The walls were blank, the closet was open and empty, and even the bookshelf was vacant. A thin quilt and sheets sat in a folded stack on the end of the bed. A small electric fan sat on the floor, moving the air slightly. Even with that, the room was rather warm, I noted. But then I was starting to think that was a trend in the south.

“I had always intended to rent some of these rooms out,” Bea said, by way of explanation. “This house really is too big for me. So far haven’t had any takers. Hope it’s alright.”

“It - it is, thank you,” I stammered.

“The air conditioner doesn’t always reach all the way up here,” she said. “So I brought up a fan for you. That there - ” she pointed to the other door in the room - “is the bathroom. It connects to the other room. There’s towels and things in there for you.”

She looked at me shuffling awkwardly around the small room. My bedroom back in New York hadn’t been any bigger, but there I’d had my own things - my own soft comforter, my posters on the walls, my twinkle lights strung up around the ceiling. Here, there was nothing but blank whitewashed walls, the creaking of the wood floor under my feet, and the soft whir of the fan.

“Well,” Bea said, “I better finish up dinner. I hope you like pork chops,” she said shortly, and left. She was a small woman, but the stairs creaked loudly as she descended. There would be absolutely no moving quietly around this house, I thought.

I lifted my suitcase onto the bed and began unpacking clothes with trembling hands. Bea didn’t want to be anywhere near me. That was clear enough. I suppose it was stupid of me to have thought things might go differently. I’d read too many books with the kindly little old grandmothers who stuffed little children full of pie, knitted them ugly sweaters every Christmas, and bought them piles of dolls. Not that I wanted dolls or any of those things really...it was the idea behind it. That someone doted on you. I wiped my eyes with my sleeve. It was stupid, really. I was much too old for this. I opened one of the drawers, intending to stuff my socks into it. Something at the back clattered. I reached in and pulled out a leatherbound journal. This isn’t mine, was the first thought across my head. I looked at the door. I had already opened the journal when I looked back down.

The pages were an aged yellow, but still sturdy. Of good paper stock. The cover was old and weathered, but the pages inside were blank. I flipped through the pages. Who on earth would let something like this get this beat up, with nothing on the inside?

Maybe there’s something stuck in it, I thought, shaking it, but nothing fell out.

“Juliet,” I heard Bea call, “dinner.” Startled and guilty, I put the notebook back into the drawer and descended the stairs.

I had never felt less like eating in my life. My stomach knotted as I entered the kitchen at the back of the house. The room encompassed a breakfast nook as well, which had a wide window overlooking the backyard. The yard ended at a line of trees so orderly they must have been planted that way. I spotted fruit in several of them. An orchard?

Bea glanced at me standing in the doorway, and waved a hand toward the plain wooden table in the breakfast nook. “Go on, have a seat,” she said.

The chair creaked loudly as I settled into it. I felt useless, waiting for her to hand me the plate of food she was putting together. I was accustomed to serving myself. I did all the cooking at home - what little we did. My father mostly lived on take-out. He would pick something up on the way home from the university, take half of it, and disappear into his office for the rest of the night. I never knew what he was working on. The times I had worked up the courage to ask, I either got “Research,” or “None of your business.” He barely said anything to me unless I was in his way.

The police kept asking me, when I reported him missing, had he acted strangely lately? Had things changed somehow? Had he recently become secretive? Irritable? It would help the investigation, I knew, if they had something to go on. But the truth was that my father had always been secretive and irritable. Had he ever been otherwise? I didn’t know. Perhaps Bea did. Or perhaps he learned it all from her.

The appearance of a plate in front of me broke me from my reverie. Bea sat wordlessly at the other end of the table, with an identical plate. They were piled with mashed potatoes and a thin brown gravy, green beans, and a pork chop. The warm, rich aroma should have enticed me, but my insides recoiled at the idea of food. Then again, I hadn’t eaten anything but the in-flight peanuts in the last 24 hours, and it would probably be rude if I didn’t at least try something. I reached for my fork.

Bea coughed a rebuke; I recoiled from the silverware.

“We say grace first, young lady,” she said. “Bow your head.”

I obeyed, and as she spoke a blessing over the food, I wondered if this was really my father’s mother. As far as I knew he had never set foot in a church of any kind. I also wondered if I could grow accustomed to a long pause before eating while a small speech was given.

“Bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies, amen,” she finished, and lifted her head. She picked up her utensils, so I assumed that was my cue that it was safe to proceed.

We ate our dinner in silence. Well, I say “we.” I spent most of my time sculpting my mashed potatoes, sifting through my green beans, and avoiding the pork chop. I had a problem eating anything that used to have a face. Finally Bea seemed to notice my stalling.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

I mumbled a response.

“What was that?”

“I-I’m not really hungry,” I stammered.

“Don’t let good food go to waste now,” she said. “I don’t know what kinds of snacks you’re used to in the city, but I don’t keep them. We have three square meals a day. If you wake up hungry in the middle of the night don’t come looking for anything.”

“I won’t,” I said, wanting to disappear. I just wanted to hide somewhere until my dad came back. Which he would. He just had to.

She frowned at my untouched plate, commented, “Wasteful,” and continued to polish off her own. She then stood, and excused herself by saying, “I have to make a call.”

I stared out the wide breakfast window, eyes unfocused on where the trees met the sky. The orchard trees weren’t as tall as the ones that grew naturally in the forest on either side of the house. The sky was only just now showing hints of a sunset. I suppose I had the time difference to adjust to as well.

What was I doing here? Who would kidnap an anthropology professor? He had been prone to staying overnight at the university sometimes, sleeping on the couch in his office, so if it weren’t for the wreck the apartment had been in, it might have taken me days to realize something was wrong. But despite the chaos, there had been no sign of a break in. No forced lock. Because of that, the police weren’t treating it strictly as a kidnapping; they mentioned it was possible that he had run away.

Even if he had - even if he had up and left me without a word, without a note - surely there was a good reason. Something horrible must have happened. Something to do with his research, I was certain. He wouldn’t have abandoned me unless something extraordinary had intervened. But how could I find out what that was? Maybe there had been a clue at home, but I hadn’t been able to find one before they’d shipped me here. How could I help him half a country away? How could I go home again?

My gaze moved back to the table. Maybe I could make up for not eating anything by washing up. Then I realized that I had no idea what I was expected to do with the plates. Put them in the dishwasher? Wash them by hand? Leave them on the table? I went in search of the woman who was my grandmother.

Passing the door to a room full of beautiful, delicate teacups with saucers, I heard her voice towards the front of the house. I would ask her what to do.

I approached the front sitting room and saw her pacing, phone in hand. “You can’t expect me to deal with this alone,” she was saying. “Have you seen her?”

I stopped, and took a step back, where I was out of view. Eavesdropping wouldn’t help her to like me any better. But I was glued to the spot.

“If you saw her, you wouldn’t say that,” she said lowly. “I’d swear it was that girl. You’re certain she’s...?” Silence. “Well, that’s as certain as you can get, I reckon. Yes, I know what I said...I take it back. She has to go.”

I had to go...? All the muscles in my chest froze rock solid.

“G-grandmother?” I said, as if I were just walking up.

She spun, and for a second I thought I saw fear in her eyes, but it vanished immediately. “Expect her tomorrow,” she said brusquely into the phone, and hung up. Then to me, “Yes, Juliet, what is it?”

I had to go. Tomorrow. My head spun. What had I originally come out here for? “Um...the plates...should I...?”

“Leave them, I’ll take care of it,” she said.

I had to go. “If - if you don’t mind,” I said, “I’d like to go to my room. I know it’s early, I’m just really tired.” Tomorrow.

“Alright, settle in and get some rest then,” she said. She gave me a hard look, like she was deciding whether or not to say something else. “Good night,” she finished, and strode quickly past to the kitchen.

I looked after her blankly, and then climbed the steps. One foot after the other. The sun was finally setting outside, casting shadows down the hall. The floorboards creaked underfoot and every horror movie I’d ever seen was rolling around in my head. Had my father really grown up here? He had only ever expressed at best disdain and at worst open loathing for small towns and countrysides. “If you can’t handle the city, you deserve the country,” were his exact words. Yet this house was at least three times as large as our apartment, and the extra unknown space unnerved me. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to sleep without at least looking at the other rooms. After all...this was probably my only chance.

First I went to the room that connected to mine. It had no closet, but a larger dresser, and a vanity with an oversized oval mirror. An inspection of the adjoining bathroom proved equally lacking in ghostly activity.

I passed the landing to the other side of the hall. There were two rooms on this side, mirroring the other. I opened the first door. It contained furniture very similar to mine, though was even stuffier from the lack of a fan. The closet was open and vacant. The emptiness comforted me. I closed the door and went to the second one. The handle wouldn’t turn.

I twisted harder, but the knob wouldn’t budge. I looked up. Carved into the door in crude letters, as with a pen-knife, was a name. Simon. My father’s name. I released the handle and backed away. The floor creaked under my feet. There was a loud call of a bird outside. Startled, I raced back to my room, shutting the doors to both the hall and the bathroom. I sat on the bed, knees tucked up. Insects screamed outside. I recalled the wide, yellow eyes I’d seen in New York - I’d been hysterical when the police had come in, babbling about monsters. They’d sworn that it must have been a cat, that I’d been seeing things. But cats didn’t have teeth like that...I pressed my forehead into my knees, trying to block it out.

Five minutes later there was a knock at my door. She must have heard me running. “Juliet?” Bea said. “Are you alright?”

“Y-yes,” I responded.

She opened the door, and I realized I didn’t look alright, sitting like that on an unmade mattress.

Her look softened slightly. “It’s an old house,” she said. “You’ll hear things creaking, but it’s nothing more than boards settling.”

My father’s room is locked from the inside. “What are those bugs?” I managed to ask instead. “They’re so loud...”

“Crickets,” she said. “And cicadas. Completely harmless. They live out in the woods. Afraid I can’t do anything about them either. If you get used to them, they can be mighty soothing.”

I swallowed. “I guess...” I wasn’t sure I could find anything that loud to be soothing. Traffic outside our apartment in New York woke me up constantly.

She gave me another of those looks, like she was measuring me against something. “Here, get up,” she said, moving the stack of linens. “Help me put sheets on this.”

I obediently took the other sides of sheets as she handed them to me, and soon the thin, faded quilt was in place.

“I doubt you’ll get cold,” she said, “but extra blankets are in the vanity in the other room. I should tell you,” she stood briskly, “you’ll be starting school tomorrow.”

My eyes widened. Tomorrow. Had I heard wrong? Assumed too much?

“Tomorrow is Monday, after all. I figured the sooner you got into a normal routine the better. It’s not the public school. There’s a private school down the road that has...different entrance requirements.”

I couldn’t begin to guess what she meant by that, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Anything to get me away from her, I guessed. But at least I wasn’t getting turned out of the house entirely.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted.

She looked at me curiously.

“For all of this,” I said. “For suddenly being here.”

She seemed surprised by my apology. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “You didn’t choose it.”

She didn’t say I wasn’t a burden. I hung my head.

Bea rose, looking uncomfortable. “Good night, Juliet,” she said, shutting the door.

With everything that had happened, one thing baffled me the most: she hadn’t said one word about my father. Not the whole time.

I reached into the drawer of the dresser and withdrew the blank journal. I inspected the cover more closely, this time, looking for some kind of mark. The exterior was just some random scratches, but on the inside, just near the spine, there was the imprint of a name, sunk into the leather. Kyra.

My breath left me. This was my mother’s - I was holding something of hers! What was it doing in the back of an empty dresser, in this house? Maybe it was something she’d left behind, something that didn’t matter. It was empty, after all. My thumb stroked the blank page. Maybe it was meaningless.

But what if it wasn’t?

I lay back on the bed, journal clutched to my heart, and listened to the insects scream out a lullaby.

Chapter 2

Camille

Once upon a time, a girl and her guardian left the safety of their home to make their way in the wide world.

“It’s a dump.”

“The term is fixer-upper.”

“No, the term is dump.” Camille looked up at Gabriel. “People will never eat here.” She spoke in Japanese; he spoke in English. It was how they’d conversed for years.

“They will once I get done with it,” he said with perfect confidence. He never seemed unsure of anything he did, why should this be any different?

They stood in front of a small stone building that was just a shade away from condemned. Weeds grew out of cracks in the parking lot. The windows were filthy. The signage out front had collapsed. In a tornado last year, they’d been told. The method of its demise didn’t signify much to Camille - the fact remained that it was useless. Gabriel somehow made it into a point in the building’s favor.

“A tornado went right in front of this place, and nothing but the sign fell down,” he said. “Solid as a rock. And I’d have replaced the sign anyway.”

“You need to replace the entire building,” Camille said. “It’s a church, Gabriel. You can’t just start selling croissants and coffee out of a church.”

“That’s why we’re remodeling it, kiddo,” Gabriel replied, smiling and squinting through the sun at the traffic going by. “See all those cars? This place is perfectly situated. There’s an entire business development park just a mile down the road. And the school’s right around the corner. You really have no idea how much Havenwood has grown in the last few years. And I don’t have to take this from a fifteen year old,” he chided.

“Young or old, discount sound advice at your own peril,” she said solemnly.

“Thank you, Fortune Cookie.”

Camille sighed and brushed her long, curly gold hair out of her face. The sun glinted off the large iron bracer that encircled most of her left forearm. This place was sweltering, even though it was already November. Weather in the southern United States was not kind. The humidity level nearly rendered the air a solid. She’d left her favorite hoodie in the car. Yes, they had a car, suddenly. He’d been her guardian for six years, and they’d never had a car. Just like she’d never been outside Tokyo, or gone to a real school. To her knowledge, Gabriel had never started a cafe either, despite claiming to know all about it. He was changing everything all at once. Tokyo to Alabama? Really?

“Why are we here?” she despairingly asked, for what felt like the millionth time today.

“To check for vandalism,” he said.

“You know what I mean.”

“Ask me later,” he said.

She folded her arms. “Is it later yet?”

“Nope,” he responded, good mood unfaltering. “Come on, let’s see how far the construction crew got on the inside.”

“You’re in a good mood,” she commented, sullenly.

“I love this city,” he said, crossing the lot to the building’s front door.

The ‘city,’ in Camille’s opinion, could barely be called such.

Gabriel had claimed Havenwood was fairly large but after their plane had landed they’d driven away from the comforting loom of overpasses and onto a winding two-lane road. The roads coming off the highway curved and snaked through patches of crops, freshly built subdivisions, and patches of crops being turned into subdivisions. There were trees everywhere. Though she saw some small mountains on the horizon, the stretch of highway the church/bakery was situated on was very flat, much more than Camille was accustomed to. She had never been around so many trees in such a concentrated area. And so tall and well-established, and creeping in all around...overhanging the road...she felt a little claustrophobic. The trees in Japan, back home in Tokyo, had been beautiful and spindly and strategically placed in gardens and parks, due to how precious a commodity space was. Trees were centerpieces – works of art. Here, it felt like the trees were the rightful owners of the land – an army that swarmed back in as soon as you cut it back.

Though the leaves were already starting to fall, yellows and reds still splotched the canopy like a canvas. Camille likened them to bruises. The colors reminded her of the trees’ losing battle against the coming winter – sad, but also brave, and therefore beautiful. Though with heat like this in November, she had a hard time imagining much of a true winter.

Camille missed the civilized feeling of buildings on all sides, the order and careful design of architecture. The comforting bustle of a tight-packed metropolis, that she felt an utter lack of now. Just one more factor to add to the list of things that made her feel alien.

The odd part was, for the first time in her life she didn’t look alien. Her parents had been Scottish; she had curly golden hair and green eyes - not exactly common in Japan, where she’d been born. She’d been an object of curiosity there, even though culturally she was about as Japanese as they came. Gabriel, on the other hand...

No one who met them ever asked if Gabriel was her father. It was too obvious that he wasn’t. He was barely thirty, for one thing, and looked even younger. Despite his unaccented English, he was clearly Japanese, if a little tall, with inquisitive slanting eyes and straight black hair that was just an inch too short for a ponytail. Though he looked the part, Gabriel made no secret of his dislike of Japan during the six years he’d been her guardian. He balked at the distance from the mainland, he was annoyed by the language (his Japanese was as problematic as her English), and he hated the food. “Everything in Japan tastes like a tidepool,” he often said. She never had gotten him to tell her where he had come from, but between his attitude and his language she was almost certain he was American. He certainly talked about this city enough.

Gabriel opened the front doors to the building and Camille followed him inside. They propped the doors open to offer some small amount of ventilation - the central air conditioning hadn’t been repaired yet. Ongoing construction was everywhere. The front of the building still looked mostly like a small church sanctuary with pillars and stained glass, but the pews and things had been removed. Sawhorses and stacks of drywall were in their place for now, but eventually there would be tables and chairs, and rugs to cover the stone floor. It felt open and airy, having an extra story of ceiling for the light from the colored glass to play around in. The back of the building, on the first floor, would house the counter and actual bakery. On the second floor were their rooms. They had originally been built to accommodate the pastor, so they didn’t need much updating. Other than a total rehaul of the plumbing. And patched roofing. And the carpets torn up. Apparently there had actually been wood floors underneath two layers of hideous green carpet - but those had to be refinished. And there had been piles of old junk in the closets that had to be cleaned out. Yeah. Not much updating.

But downstairs in the sanctuary - uh, dining room - the construction of the counter seemed to be coming along pretty well. She guessed.

Gabriel was enthusiastic.

“Over here is the coffee and tea bar,” he was pointing out. “It’ll look better when the countertops come in. The display counter goes in here. That’ll have to wait until we’re ready to install the glass. It’ll be chock full of things you won’t eat.”

Camille made a face. “Everything you want to make is either covered in chocolate, covered in caramel, or made of pure sugar to begin with.”

“It’s a bakery, kiddo.”

“You can bake things without sugar, you know.”

“Like what?”

“Like curry pies?” It was a curry-based meat filling in a flaky crust. “Or chuka-man?”

“Chinese pork buns? This is the deep south, Camille. No one will eat that here.”

“How do you know that?” she challenged. “And ‘deep south’?” she said the words in bizarrely accented English before switching back to Japanese. “What is that?”

“That’s where we are. It’s a region that covers several states in the southeastern United States. It means two things. Well, it means a lot of things, but here are the two I care about: one, this is where the best food in the world is made. This is the home of good, honest folk who understand that butter is good, bacon is better, and there is no point to tea if it’s not ninety-percent sugar. Two, nobody here knows what a curry pie is, and even if you convinced them to try it they’d only smile politely - because of good southern manners - tell you it’s good, and then never order it again.”

“I don’t know about that,” said a jovial woman’s voice from the front of the church. “Seems a little presumptuous to say we’re all so narrow-minded as that.”

Gabriel turned, and a smile lit his face. “Charlotte!”

‘Charlotte’ was a thirty-ish woman of middle height, middle attractiveness, and obscenely long red hair, tied back in a frizzy braid that swung past her waist. Her enthusiasm matched Gabriel’s.

She greeted him with a friendly hug. “I was wondering when you’d find your way back here!” she exclaimed. “I couldn’t believe anyone would take over the old Episcopal church, but now I’m not so surprised.”

“I’m going to assume that’s a compliment,” he said.

“Mr. Katsura,” said another woman, crossing the threshold, “I would welcome you to Havenwood, but I am told that this is not your first residence here.” She didn’t sound very welcoming, in truth; she stepped through the construction gingerly, as if waiting for the building to collapse. She was a stark contrast to Charlotte - short, Japanese, and overdressed in a skirtsuit. Her straight, black hair was cut in a harsh line across her cheek, and her expression was pinched.

Gabriel smiled at her anyway and shook hands with her. “I have too many fond memories here,” he said. “Besides, Havenwood School has been after Camille for some time, hasn’t it? Which Umino sister are you?”

“You presume much,” she commented. Her accent was so slight she almost sounded like a native English speaker, but Camille could tell the difference. “I’m the principal of the school, something you should be mindful of.”

“Rin, then,” he said lightly. “Glad to finally meet you. You can imagine I’ve heard all kinds of things about your family. Didn’t your sister just win a Nobel prize for her work in genetics?”

“A widely known fact,” Rin Umino said sourly. “You are not unstoried yourself. This is neither the time nor place for histories, Mr. Katsura.”

“Please, call me Gabriel,” he said.

“Hmph.” She glanced at Camille. “I take it this is the girl?”

Camille bristled. “The girl?” she said in English.

“I hope her scholastics are up to the high standard our school expects,” Rin said, seeming not to hear her. “Have I been told correctly that she has never been to a real school?”

Still Gabriel smiled. “From the numerous letters I’ve received in the last two years, I was under the impression that Havenwood would accept Camille at any time, under any circumstances.”

“With stronger leadership comes more stringent guidelines,” Rin said. “Tarrant Smith was a good principal, in his own way, but Havenwood has outgrown him.”

Gabriel’s gaze crossed over Rin to Charlotte, who was looking resolutely at the wall. “I see. Well, yes, it’s true Camille has never been in a classroom setting, but I’m sure her education will hold up even to Umino standards.”

Rin frowned at him, as if disappointed by his unshaken calm. “For expediency’s sake she may begin attending school on Monday - on a probationary status.”

Camille had been having trouble with some of the larger English words they’d been using by now, and probationary had her completely stumped.

“She hasn’t even set foot through the doors and she’s already on probation?” Gabriel laughed. “She hasn’t done anything.”

“Exactly,” Rin said coldly. “Our students must all prove themselves in some way. Average children belong elsewhere.”

Gabriel looked thoughtful, glancing at Charlotte again. “It’s your school,” he shrugged.

“I’m glad we are of compatible views,” said Rin. “I was made to expect otherwise.”

Gabriel put a hand on Camille’s shoulder. “The important thing here is Camille’s education.”

That’s when she heard something outside - a metallic rattle, followed by a low hiss. Her eyes narrowed. The others wouldn’t be able to hear it, but she knew exactly what that was. She walked wordlessly out the front doors. Rin murmured, “How rude,” but Camille had no interest in that woman. She’d been the one coming into their space, bringing challenges. Like this idiot.

She turned the corner around the building’s exterior and came face to face with a tall boy, not much older than herself, holding a can of spray paint. He took in her frown and returned a toothy grin.

“Oh, was someone here? My bad,” he said, all insincerity. He must have seen the cars in the parking lot. He probably even heard the voices inside. Camille could hear them talking even now - Gabriel was trying to smooth things over with Rin.

Camille looked at the shape he’d been drawing on the grey brick wall - some kind of face with sharp teeth. She looked back at him. Dark spiked hair, piercings all over his face. A scar that ran from his nose across one cheek. She knew this type. Guys just like him were all over Tokyo.

She pointed away, toward the street and the other buildings beyond. He must have come from there. “Get out,” she stated in English.

He snorted, unimpressed. “I’m not finished,” he sneered. He shook the can again.

Camille lashed out, sending the can flying. “I said, get out,” she snapped, louder.

His eyes sparked at the challenge. “What are you going to do about it, Goldilocks?” He stepped closer, using his height to intimidate. “You foreign kids come into our town, acting all big and bad, but in the end you run away crying for mommy and - ”

Camille shoved him and he stumbled back, but he was grinning.

“Camille!” Gabriel said. “That’s enough.”

Her pulse was racing. She could feel her veins in her left arm restricted by the iron bracer. No one talked about her parents like that and got away with it.

She looked back. The adults had come around the front of the building. Gabriel took in the scene quickly. Rin regarded Camille with disapproval. Charlotte was aghast.

“Warren Hyde!” Charlotte exclaimed. “How could you?”

He shrugged. “The place has been abandoned for years. I thought it still was.”

Liar! “There are cars out front and construction everywhere,” Camille told Gabriel heatedly in Japanese. He merely put his hand on her shoulder, his universal signal for her to calm down.

“Even if that were true,” Charlotte told the boy, “we still don’t go around putting graffiti on things!”

“We do not,” Rin agreed. “Nor do we fight other students in public.” Her eyes shifted to Camille. “You have not even crossed our threshold, Ms. Teague, and you are already engaging in violence. Yes, I would say probationary status is well warranted. Come, Mr. Hyde, I am removing you from the premises. Mr. Katsura, I expect we will continue this conversation later.”

“I expect so,” Gabriel said evenly.

With a parting smirk to Camille, the boy followed Rin to her car.

Charlotte sighed after they’d left. “I’m so sorry. He’s impossible sometimes.”

“When did Rin Umino take over?” Gabriel asked her, his gaze following her car pulling out of the lot.

“Over the summer,” she said. “I know she seems harsh, but so far this has been the smoothest school year we’ve ever had.”

“And she’s brought with her some projects you’re very excited about.”

Charlotte colored slightly. “Huh?”

“You’ve got chalk on your sleeves and your shirt’s inside out. You’ve turned into an absent-minded professor.”

“I’m a high school chemistry teacher, not a professor,” she chided. “She expanded my budget, if that’s what you mean by projects. I’ve been able to put together much better experiments for the kids this year.” She smiled at Camille. “You’re lucky, I’ve got some really cool things planned. If we don’t set something on fire before Christmas, I’ll be shocked.”

Gabriel sighed, looking at the new graffiti. “Why do I get the feeling you’re the only one who’s happy we’re here?”

“Rin’s just a very careful person,” she said generously. “And Hyde...that’s nothing personal. He seems to think he has to test every new student.”

“And Tailor?”

Her smile stiffened. “What about him?”

“Ahh,” Gabriel said, apparently seeing some sort of answer in her reaction. “Still that bad?”

“Don’t give up on him, okay?” Charlotte said. “One of these days he’ll come around.”

“You say that...”

“It would help if you’d stop provoking him,” she admonished.

He smiled. “I like to think of it as teaching him to lighten up.”

“Pigs will fly before John Tailor learns to lighten up,” Charlotte said dryly.

“Maybe I should be the one telling you not to give up,” he said.

She laughed. “That’s just being realistic,” she said. “Well, I should get back. Looks like I’ll be seeing you in class tomorrow, Camille.”

Camille shrugged.

“She’s excited,” Gabriel lied.

Charlotte laughed. “I bet I can teach her to be. See you.”

Camille and Gabriel went back into the stuffy half-finished cafe. He pored over lists and schematics on the unpainted counter. She leaned against a pillar, wishing for a chair.

“I don’t want to go to school with these people,” Camille said, glad to be back to speaking Japanese like a normal person.

“Oh, they’re not all that bad,” said Gabriel. “Charlotte’s lovely. Didn’t you hear? She’ll let you set things on fire in chemistry.”

“I don’t like that Umino woman,” she grumbled.

“And she doesn’t like you,” he agreed cheerfully. “Though to be fair, most of that is my fault. There’s always going to be someone out there who’s bent on ruining you - best to get used to that now. Speaking of...tell me the rules again.”

Camille sighed. If she had a nickel for every time he’d made her repeat the stupid rules. “Stay out of bars. Stay out of fancy restaurants. Stay out of forests. And never - ”

“Ever, ever.”

“ - smoke anything.”

“Ever. If you see a man in an expensive suit?” he prompted.

“Don’t look him in the eyes and find you immediately.”

“If you see a man with green hair?”

“Pretend I don’t see him and find you immediately.”

“If you see a woman dressed all in leather?”

“Run like hell.”

“That’s my girl.”

“These are really weird rules, Gabriel.”

“These are weird times we live in, kiddo. I tell you these things for your own safety. Now you can either go unpack, or listen to me serenade you with inventory lists.”

Camille made a face.

Upstairs, Camille looked around her new living space and took stock of what Gabriel had signed them up for. Her room was small and cramped, but that was actually comforting. There was one window, cracked open a few inches to circulate the breeze, facing the forest. She didn’t have a bed, just a futon mattress on the floor, but she preferred that too. The rest of the space was taken up by a large whitewashed dresser/vanity leftover from the previous owners, complete with a chair and a large gilded mirror in desperate need of polishing, facing the door. Camille leaned closer to inspect the frame. Who knew what kind of metal the frame was actually made of, underneath all that patina? Her hand reached out to touch the metal.

In the mirror, she saw a shadow slide behind her. She jerked, and spun around, but nothing was there. Her right arm cradled her left with its iron bracer as she tried to slow her breathing. It had to be nothing, she told herself. It’s just some old cloudy glass. Downstairs, Gabriel turned on some music.

Camille moved back to the mirror. Oval shaped, it rested on the long side to stretch across either side of the dresser. Still, it was huge – the entire piece of furniture was taller than her own five foot one. She ran a hand over the mirror’s frame, thumb tracing the time-dulled pattern. There was a chance that there was something floral shaped under all that patina. She peered closer at the discolored glass. Two things ran through Camille’s head at once – Alice Through the Looking Glass, and Phantom of the Opera. The juxtaposition did not calm her.

“Down, girl,” she barely heard behind her. The shadow in the mirror flitted.

Camille spun again, eyes wide, clutching the bracer. She was alone in the room.

She must have made a noise, because Gabriel poked his head around the doorframe. “Alright in here? Everything to your liking?” His voice was pleasant, but his expression was guarded. He stepped inside, glancing casually around the room.

“I think my room is haunted,” Camille said lowly, feeling foolish even as she said it.

He looked at her briefly as he moved to the window, but she gathered nothing from his expression. “I doubt that...” he said lightly, closing the window all the way. “There’s no such thing as ghosts. And if there were ghosts, they wouldn’t be out in the daylight.”

Then why had he closed the window? “You said this was the safest place, but I have to ask,” said Camille. “Did something follow us, or was it already here?”

“Ask me later,” was all he said.

Chapter 3

Mac

Once upon a time, there was a boy who knew no fear.

Hi. My name is Mac Dupree. Mac is short for MacAlister, and I’m short for just about everything. My specialties include online fighting games, obscure comic trivia, and a certain personal magnetism. Only problem is, the only thing I seem to attract is trouble.

There are days where everything goes your way. And then there are days that start with you getting tripped in the parking lot. Exactly how I wanted to start the week.

My shins sting. Little bits of asphalt dig into my palms as I push myself up. I’d chosen the wrong day to wear shorts, apparently. My best friend Destin fared better in jeans. It looked like his jacket had torn, though.

Raucous laughter surrounds us. Hyde’s laugh is the loudest. He had taken one of the wooden swords from kendo class and swiped our feet with it when we crossed in front of his truck. He leans against the truck’s hood now, resting the sword across his shoulders.

“Forget to tie your shoes, midget?” he cackles.

“Yeah it’s really hard to find laces for flip-flops,” I return, getting to my feet. I’m a solid foot shorter than he is, three years younger, and I get better grades, which makes me his favorite target.

Hyde isn’t a huge guy - honestly, Destin’s taller than he is. But Destin looks like he’s built out of sticks and a mop, where Hyde has been massacreing people in karate and kendo class for the last two years. Hyde is usually dressed in various combinations of slashed, torn, and singed leather and jean, and has piercings in his lip, one eyebrow, and all over his ears – but his most striking feature is the scar that runs from the bridge of his nose halfway across one cheek. Rumors abound as to how he got it, but no one seems to know for real.

“Maybe you should watch where you’re going,” Hyde grins. His scar crinkles.

“Maybe you should hide behind cars and trip people in the parking lot like a coward,” I shoot back. “Oh wait, that already happened. Get a life.”

He hops off the hood of his car, brandishing the wooden sword. I stand in defiance. Still on the ground, Destin cringes.

“Unless there’s a meeting I’m unaware of,” comes a familiar disdainful voice, “break it up and get inside, people.”

The small crowd parts, startled at the appearance of our English teacher, Mr. Tailor. Tailor looks kind of professor-y with his collared shirts and wire-rimmed glasses, but he has this way of staring you down that makes you just want to disappear. Soda would stop fizzing if he told it to settle down.

The spectators quickly break away and go on to the school, not wanting to arouse his wrath. Hyde’s look sours as Tailor regards us. There are only three people I’ve seen who can exert some kind of control over Hyde, and Tailor is one of them.

“You want to fight, save it for fourth period,” Tailor snaps, looking at us both. “It’s Ikeda’s job to deal with this macho crap, not mine.” He snatches the wooden sword from Hyde. “I catch you with one of these out of the gym again, and it’s detention.”

“Yes sir,” Hyde growls, leaving the scene with a parting glare.

Tailor frowns at Destin. “How long are you going to sit on the ground, Heron?”

Destin scrambles to his feet, a sheepish look obscured by his thick curtain of dark hair. Tailor looks at the ground where he’d fallen. Several downy feathers are being blown away by a breeze.

“My jacket tore...” Destin mumbles.

“Ignoring that you’re wearing a down jacket in eighty degree heat...both of you get inside. Dupree, go get bandages from Ms. Miller before you come to homeroom,” he orders, strolling past us. “If you bleed onto my floor you’re cleaning it up.”

We both hold our breath ’til he’s through the front doors.

“That actually didn’t go so bad,” I say, after he’s out of earshot.

“He must have had his coffee,” Destin agrees. “Lucky.”

I brush off my shorts and wince, feeling my shins stinging for real now. They’re pretty raw, but there’s no blood. I’d probably be okay. I pick my bag back up and gingerly start walking.

I’ve never won a fight with Hyde. I’m not going to lie. It’s honestly pretty stupid of me to keep standing up to him, and I can see it even a few minutes later, as we’re getting our books out of our lockers. But when Hyde’s standing in front of me, being an unmitigated ass, all I can think of is how much I want to punch him in the face. Maybe with a cactus. I grin at the mental image.

Our school is a little different than most. It’s technically a private school, and they like to boast that we have students from all over the world, though a good chunk of the people who go here are local. The people who run the place definitely aren’t from around here, though. I’d heard my mom say somewhere that most of Havenwood’s funding comes from some Japanese company. It’s weird, but I’m not going to complain. The place is honestly really nice, and the cafeteria is choice. The teachers are pretty decent too, even with Tailor being as grouchy as he is sometimes. My only real complaint is the other students.

“Not again,” I groan, rifling around my locker in vain. “The comics I left in here on Friday are gone.”

Destin sighs, his wordless ‘I told you so.’

“And the candy bars? Oh come on!” I’m starving. I really shouldn’t have skipped breakfast.

Our lockers have been pilfered several times each since the school year started. No apparent signs of break-ins, but if it’s not a textbook, it gets stolen, and it’s getting old fast. We’re also having trouble coming up with a culprit. The list is too long.

Besides Hyde, there are a few other juniors and seniors who tend to pick on younger, smaller students. I qualify on both counts, having skipped a grade to be a sophomore. Despite his height, Destin’s whole demeanor practically screams ‘easy target.’ So we’re pretty much doomed on that front.

Then there’s the problem of the local royalty - otherwise known as my sister Hayley’s little clique. She wanders around with her copycat best friend and two rich guys, pretending they’re superior beings. Hayley makes it a point to distance herself from her nerd brother as much as possible. She likes to describe the space around Destin and I as a ‘girl free zone.’

Which reminds me.

“Oh crap!”

“You just remembered what day it was, didn’t you,” Destin says.

“Is she here? Have you seen her?”

“How would I know?” he sighs. “I don’t know what this imaginary person looks like.”

“She’s not imaginary, and she’s going to be the one person around here you’ve never seen before. Duh.”

“If you say so,” he says.

See, I have this problem. I’m all super cool and everything, but I’ve never exactly...ah...had a girlfriend. I mean I’ve had some crushes here and there. Once in sixth grade I kissed a girl on a dare. I’ve just never felt anything close to the adjectives and nouns and verbs people throw around when they talk about what ‘love’ feels like. But...

Well. You know.

Old Ms. Graham lives the stereotype of old lady in a creepy old house who alternates between loading you down with pies and sweets, and telling you stop talking so loud in the library and to floss and brush your teeth three times a day. I’ve been mowing her lawn since I was old enough to handle a push mower. But where most grandparents go on about their grandkids endlessly from the day they’re born, I’d never heard her mention Juliet once until a couple days ago.

That’s not to say I didn’t know she existed. My family has lived in Havenwood my whole life, and the city’s not so large that you don’t still have some small-town gossip. I remember when we were (both) small, Hayley and I snuck downstairs to eavesdrop on a dinner party our parents had thrown, and during a hushed bit of conversation, I first heard that Ms. Bea’s son Simon had a daughter our age.

Maybe it was the fact that they talked about her like she was some secret – that from then on I only ever heard mention of her in passing, in undertones, and never around Ms. Bea. Sometimes they called her “Simon’s girl,” sometimes they called her “Kyra’s girl,” but it wasn’t until last week that I heard her actual name, when Ms. Bea answered the phone while I was helping her move some furniture. She had gradually gone the color of the bleached upstairs walls as she listened to whoever was on the other line. I was really worried she might pass out or something, and she kept alternating between saying, “yes,” “no,” and “are you sure?” Finally she’d hung up and went to an ancient chair that released a puff of ‘in storage forever’ dust as she sat.

“Juliet is coming,” she’d said. She said it like someone had died. I think she’d forgotten I was there, because when she finally did look at me, she seemed shocked and asked me to leave.

And I hadn’t been able to think about anything else since. Well, except when I was getting attacked in the parking lot. But you have to admit that’s distracting.

“She can’t be that tall. Right? I mean look at her grandmother. Woman is tiny. She won’t be tall. Right?”

“Sure,” Destin says. I can tell he’d stopped caring awhile ago, but I can’t stop talking. It’s a disease.

“But your mom is tiny,” I frown, arguing with myself in the absence of his input. “And you’re like a skyscraper.”

He shrugs.

“But she can’t be that tall. Right?”

“Forty-seven,” he says, securely shutting his locker.

“Feet? Tall?”

“Times you’ve said that in the last twenty-four hours,” he says. “It won’t help obsessing over how tall or short she is. It doesn’t really matter anyway.”

I frown, looking into my devoid-of-chocolate locker. Someone is going to pay for this.

“Course it matters,” I say, shutting it and following him down the hall. “Girls don’t like guys who are shorter than them.”

“Never heard you say that either.”

“Just like you’ve never used sarcasm.”

Destin sighs. His thick curtain of bangs hides half his expression, but his body language is always clear. “You always joke about your height.”

“Because it’s hila-a-rious,” I stretch out the word, “and I might as well make the joke before someone else does. And it doesn’t help standing next to the Empire State Building all the time,” I gesture at him.

“Fair enough, but are you sure she’s even coming to our school? She could be at public. You’re more than usually bent out of shape about this. Over a girl you’ve never even seen.”

“It’s this huge mysterious thing!” I say defensively. “I mean nobody says anything about her, even though there was supposedly this whole big ordeal about her parents eloping - old Ms. Graham doesn’t even have pictures of her - and blammo, her dad vanishes and now here she is. Was her dad tall? Do you know?”

If he rolls his eyes, no one could possibly know. His hair obscures it completely. “I have no idea,” he says calmly. “But my guess is that she’s either your height, or about half a foot taller.”

“Why would you say that?” I gasp. “That’s too tall! She’ll think I’m a midget!”

“You can find out for yourself, I guess,” Destin says, “because there are two girls I’ve never seen before.”

“What! Two?”

I peer around the corner into the foyer, where he’s looking. He’s not kidding; two unknown girls stand among the mix of people. One is short, blonde, and surly looking.

The other is a goddess. She has skin the color of pale milk chocolate, hair that gleams near-black, and smooth, delicate features. She’s looking around in a sort of controlled terror, pursing her plush lips. A flightless angel lost in the woods. I have to help her. My life has no other purpose.

My feet start moving me forward. But before I can even get around the corner, a large, thick-fingered hand reaches out to shove me, and I slam back against the lockers. I glare up at Chase Armstrong, a senior the size and shape of a bear. His name is a little too appropriate.

“You been having fun with my locker, midget?” he rumbles at me.

“Not in recent memory,” I snap, peeved that he’s blocked my view of my Reason For Existence.

“That’s funny. You’re funny. So funny I think I’ll take it out of your hide. Hope that soda was worth it.”

“Soda?” I object. “What soda? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“The one you swiped from my locker, dork. It was in there last night, and now it’s gone.”

“Do I look like I’m stupid enough to smash open the locker of someone who could sit on me to death?”

“It’s not smashed, the lock was picked or something,” he says, his eyes narrowing. “Nerd territory.”

“Our lockers were hacked last night too,” Destin speaks up, though he cringes when Chase’s attention moves to him. “We didn’t do it.”

He regards us both with suspicion. “If you didn’t then who did?”

“Ninjas,” I say offhand, ready to be far away from this conversation.

“Ninjas,” Chase repeats.

Destin coughs. “Yes, our current theory is ninjas,” he says. “It’s part of a conspiracy involving the school’s foreign investors, and it’s only just now starting to affect the students. This is the first of many manifestations to come. It seems you’ve been chosen, just as we have. You’re one of us now,” he says solemnly, patting Chase on the shoulder.

“That’s it, I’ve had enough of you two freaks,” he growls, smacking Destin’s hand away. “Just keep away from my stuff alright?” He storms off down the hall, big arms swinging.

“Nice save,” I tell Destin.

He sighs. “Ninjas? Seriously? Were you trying to get hit in the face so you could show your imaginary girlfriend your manly scars?”

“For the last time, she’s not imaginary, she’s - oh!”

I quickly round the corner, looking for the girl of my dreams, but Principal Umino has already captured her and is leading her away to her office. Opportunity missed. But there will be others. I swipe my unruly blonde hair out of my eyes. The gears in my head start turning.

“Whatever you’re thinking of, it’s a bad plan,” Destin warns.

“Go on to class without me, then,” I say. “Because I think it’s a great plan.”

Chapter 4

Jul

earlier that morning

The rising sun glinted off the hood of Bea’s ancient Cadillac as she drove me to school. The drive had been silent but for the rattling of the engine and a back hubcap that occasionally jangled. I should have been used to being ignored, but was I crazy to hope for some kind of conversation?

The first day of school loomed ahead, a monolith in my mind. Well, not the first day of the school year - the semester was already well underway. But it would be the first day for me to attend. Transmute had been the word of the day on my calendar, and the chance to be someone else was not lost on me - a new place meant the opportunity to make new first impressions. Trying to invent a better impression than I usually made, however, was agony.

I had spent hours last night trying on every single piece of clothing I owned about twelve times each, desperately hoping that the next time I went to my closet I would have something magical and wonderful inside that would prepare me for today. It had taken me so long to fall asleep I’d overslept and ended up having no time to get ready anyway. I’d settled with a blouse and capris, hastily pulling my hair into a loose ponytail over my shoulder. Transmutation, it was not.

“There may be afternoons where you’ll have to walk back,” Bea said, finally breaking the long silence. “It’s not all that far, and on Thursday and Friday afternoons I work at the library. It’s a straight walk through the woods. Here’s the school, on the left - someone spent a pretty penny on that place, that’s clear.”

She was not lying. Though it had been nothing but the same two-lane road surrounded with trees since we’d left her house, the car rounded a corner and suddenly a school stretched out in front of us, a giant building of grey stone that looked very out of place for the deep south. The combination of brick and stone in the architecture lent it a kind of earthiness, and the drab grey tones and stiff geometry gave an air of prestige. The climbing vines and loosely manicured shrubberies added to an overall vibe that put words in my mind like “east coast” and “Ivy League.” It did not look like it had only been built a few years ago – whoever maintained the landscaping had to be very good. I had to forcefully remind myself that, though not in eyeshot, not three miles away was a dying strip mall housing an adult video store, two barbecue joints, and a check-cashing service. It had taken less than ten minutes to drive, and most of that had been to skirt the forest – loathe as I was to walk, the forest path Bea had talked about would certainly be a more direct route, though it would probably still take longer.

Bea pulled her ancient Cadillac into the parking lot, and my nerves resumed jangling where the hubcap left off, compounded by the sudden feeling of awe. Somehow, I got out of the car, staring up at the three-story edifice as I hoisted the strap of my book bag over my shoulder. Three stories is nothing to a New Yorker, but I was far, far from home, and compared to the rest of this town I’d seen, the school was practically a castle.

“I’ll be back to get you at 3,” Bea said, starting the engine back up.

“You’re not going to walk me in?” I tried to keep the panic out of my voice.

“This ain’t preschool,” Bea said. “Main office is just inside, they’ll get you set up. I’d just be in your way.” And with that she pulled out of her parking space and left me.

I swallowed my abandonment and approached the building, feeling subdued and a little sorry that I hadn’t tried harder to find something for breakfast. Butterflies had hatched in my stomach. I self-consciously clung to the strap of my bag. It was liable to fall off my shoulder from being so empty. All it contained was a spiralbound notebook, and my mother’s blank journal. I just couldn’t leave it behind.

Some older students were walking leisurely into the building from the parking lot, pocketing keys from what were probably their own cars. I felt a stab of jealousy, and was reminded of my own mode of transportation.

Hello, I’m Jul Graham. What’s that? Oh yes, I’m chauffeured in a death trap by an old lady who hates me. When I’m not on foot. My hands were sweating so I wiped them discreetly on my capris before opening the front door.

The interior was more modest, and school-like. The hallway was bright and clean – and loud. Students were everywhere, walking through the enormous atrium entryway, down the huge corridors on either side that apparently housed the lockers. I hesitated in the atrium, as students swarmed around me, up the stairs that climbed either side of the entry. I clutched my bag, peering around at the signs on the walls. My fear compounded.

Oh god, I’m lost already, I thought. I don’t know where I’m supposed to go. I won’t get my schedule. I won’t find my classes. I’m going to be late. I’m already late by three months! I’m going to look like an idiot!

“Ladies,” said a smooth woman’s voice, “you look as if you could use some direction.”

I turned and saw an Asian woman in a skirt suit. Perfect manicured nails curled around the tablet she carried. The bottom edge of her chin-length hair was impeccably straight.

“Camille Teague, I see you at least made it through the doors without incident,” she said, offering a hand to another girl, who I hadn’t noticed close by. She had been leaning so casually against the edge of the stairs, she had looked like she belonged here. She was short and pale, with long, unruly blonde curls. She gave the woman a wary look, but shook nonetheless. She was new as well? Was I miraculously not alone?

“And you must be Juliet Graham,” the woman said, turning to me.

“Yes ma’am,” I said, shaking her offered hand.

“I’m the principal of Havenwood School,” she said, inclining her head to us both. “Rin Umino. Ms. Umino, to you.” Other students flowed around us like a river around a boulder. “We are pleased that you have finally come to join our school.” Her narrow smile was strange, but I smiled back as best I could. “You may not be aware,” Ms. Umino said, “but we have been talking to your father,” she looked at me, “and your...guardian,” she looked at Camille, “for several years now. It is unfortunate, Ms. Graham, that you come to us in such circumstances, but we are happy to have you nonetheless.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond. “Thank you...” I said uneasily.

“Come into my office, there is much to discuss,” she said, a slight foreign accent slipping into her English for a moment.

She began walking across the atrium to a room at the back of the hall. Camille followed first, though with a distrusting frown. I moved to follow as well, but before I went inside, I glanced back to get a better look at the lofty atrium, now nearly cleared of students. That’s when I saw him, standing in front of the doors.

He had inquisitive almond-shaped eyes and short ink-black hair. He was standing in the atrium, and I swear the sun from the front doors was streaming in around him, tipping his silhouette in gold. Everyone else was rushing around the edges of the atrium, desperate to get who-knows-where, but he just stood in the center, framed in sun, observing something on the second floor with the faintest, contented smile on his face.

He looked like certainty. He looked like peace.

His gaze slid across the room and landed on me. The corners of his mouth lifted the barest fraction. It was a smile worthy of the Mona Lisa. A smile that knew everything and would give away nothing.

My heart didn’t literally skip, but I definitely stopped breathing. Did time stop? It might have. Either that, or it went very fast.

“Graham,” I heard, and I jumped, turning back to Ms. Umino’s office. She looked at me expectantly from behind her desk. Camille was already seated in one of the two chairs across from it. How long had I been staring...?

“Uh, I’m sorry, the uh...the school is very lovely,” I said.

“That it is,” she replied evenly. “Come have a seat.”

I snuck a final glance at the atrium, but he was already gone. Who was he...? My heart hammered. I shut the door behind me and sat in the chair next to Camille. I tried to focus on the present. Here was someone in my same circumstance. Maybe she needed a friend as badly as I did. Was it rude to hope that?

I took in the principal’s office in a glance. Everything was as squared off and pristine as her appearance. The recessed shelving and her desk were made of glass. Certifications hung neatly from the walls. An orchid with impossibly small orange blooms craned over a corner of her desk. One frame behind her chair held a piece of aged parchment under glass, curiously blank.

I tried to glance surreptitiously at the other new girl, Camille, as well. She was dressed in an oversized faded red hoodie and threadbare jeans. A camo-patterned shoulderbag sat beside her. But what really stuck out was the enormous bracelet on her left arm - I use the word bracelet sparingly, because it covered her wrist to almost elbow. It wasn’t even pretty. A dull gray metal - maybe iron? Very unusual. She hunched slightly in her chair, looking like she wanted to be somewhere else.

“Well. Let’s get started. Let me first say, Havenwood School is not for everyone,” Ms. Umino stated. “We pride ourselves on the unique talents of our students and expect excellence. In return, we can offer you a first-class education and the tools you need to achieve greatness. Through our exceedingly good reputation we have attracted applicants from all over the country, and the world at large. You will find yourself in a very diverse company, so you will be expected to respect the cultural differences of your classmates. This goes for your teachers as well - some are what you would call ‘locals.’ Others hail from foreign shores, myself included. I must insist that you show respect to your teachers based on their position, rather than any sense of familiarity you may come to feel.”

Was that a roundabout way of saying don’t forget I’m the one in charge?

Ms. Umino pushed two identical folders towards us across her desk. She sat straight and stiff in her chair. “These are your introductory materials,” she stated. “They contain a map of the school, your locker numbers, and your class schedules, minus electives. You will find that we run things a little bit differently than other schools that you may - or may not,” she said, flicking a glance at Camille - “have attended. As we have a smaller student body than most, we are able to provide a more involved education. Accordingly you may see certain of your teachers multiple times a day. They also teach at all levels, so that as you advance to higher grades, you maintain and ideally improve upon the rapport you have built. The first class you attend in the morning is your homeroom. That teacher will be the one primarily responsible for you. Your homeroom teacher, Mr. John Tailor, covers English literature. After that you and the rest of your class will cycle through the remainder of our tenth grade curriculum: chemistry, algebra, and American history. In the afternoons are your electives. As for those...”

She shifted in her seat, hands folded on her desk, looking at us each in turn. “They are called electives, but in truth every student is required to take at least one a semester, and we try to assign them based on your strengths. We believe very strongly in helping our students cultivate their potential. So that brings us to you. Ms. Graham,” she said.

I sat up straighter. “Ma’am?”

“What are your hobbies?”

I blinked, taken aback. “M-my hobbies?”

“What do you do in your free time?” Ms. Umino asked, her narrow gaze on me.

“Um, I guess...I read a lot,” I said. There was really nothing else to do. I kept the apartment clean and I read. I didn’t have an allowance, so I got all my books from the public library.

“And your friends? What do you do with them?”

I swallowed, feeling my cheeks warm. “Well I...I never really...” had any. My father had never let me go out for sports or clubs or anything. And let’s face it, I’d never had the most sparkling personality. People didn’t just walk up and befriend me. If they did, I’m pretty sure my stuttering would drive them away immediately.

“I see,” Ms. Umino said, apparently astute at reading between the lines. She made a little note on her tablet, saying, “Perhaps we’ll revisit the subject later, when you’re more settled.”

Done with me, she focused on Camille, even chillier now. “Ms. Teague. I understand that despite your lack of formal education, you’ve received some training in the martial arts.”

“Kendo,” she replied. Her accent immediately struck me as odd.

Ms. Umino smiled, but I wasn’t sure it was friendly. “Unusual for a girl such as yourself to have learned the art of Japanese swordplay, but at least in one thing Mr. Katsura has prepared you. We have an elective class that should suit you perfectly. You may continue your training with Mr. Ikeda in kendo and karate.”

Wait, she knew how to swordfight? I looked at the other girl in awe.

“As for the rest of your evaluation...” she glanced upward, briefly, as the bell rang. “I’m afraid we’re out of time. Teague, expect to return to my office at the end of the day to finish your placement. I should also mention,” she said, making another note on her tablet, “that while you will see the same classmates throughout your regular classes, your electives are comprised of students from all grade levels. As such, you may find yourself in situations with very...advanced students.”

I wasn’t entirely sure what she seemed to be hinting at, but Camille seemed to. Her face remained impassive as she made a stiff bow of the head to Ms. Umino.

“You may take your packets and go.” The principal waved her hands in a brief shooing motion.

I picked mine up, feeling a little dizzy. Had that been intended to be informative? I felt more confused than ever. I followed Camille out the door and into the now-empty hall. She looked around dully, sharing none of my nerves. Her stoicism only made me feel more panicky by contrast. Maybe she knows what to do, I thought, as she flipped open her folder and frowned at the contents. I should talk to her. I should ask her a question, maybe.

“Did you, um, did you understand any of that?” I asked.

She gave me a sudden hard look and I cringed. “I understand,” she said, her bizarre accent even more noticeable. Short, clipped vowels and off-balance accents on her syllables. Where on earth was she from?

“Oh,” I relented. “Sure. Of course. I just don’t get, um, what we’re supposed to do now?”

She gave me a blank look and returned to staring sullenly at her folder’s contents.

I should be used to being ignored by now. It still felt like a slap in the face.

My panic from earlier in the morning was returning in full force. I opened my own folder, the pages quivering slightly from the fine tremor in my fingers. There was a map there, but the lines swam in front of my face. The words bled together. None of it made sense. Out of the corner of my eye, Camille was turning her packet sideways, and upside down.

I just wanted to go home. No one wanted me there either, but at least I knew where I was.

Someone cleared their throat.

“Are you - ahem - I mean, hi,” said a voice behind me.

I turned to look, then angled my gaze down about six inches. A boy with shaggy blonde hair looked up at me cheerfully. He honestly didn’t look old enough to be in high school.

“You look lost. I mean new. I mean...hi,” he said. “I’m Mac.”

I blinked at him. Where had he come from? “Um, hi,” I said. “I’m Jul. I am new, yes.”

“Those packets are pretty useless,” he said. A slight southern accent relaxed his vowels. “Lucky for you I know the place like the back of my hand. I was born here. Not uh, here in the school, here in town, I mean. Obviously.”

I smiled weakly. This was better.

“So um, do you know who you have for first period? For homeroom?” he asked.

I looked at Camille. She shrugged, expression blank.

“Homeroom...” I racked my brain. “I think she said...Tailor?”

His face lit up. “Awesome! You’re in our class!”

“Oh, ok,” I said. I couldn’t begin to share in his enthusiasm without context, but it was nice to talk to someone upbeat for a change. “You’re really in tenth grade?” I blurted, and immediately regretted it.

His face fell for an instant, but he recovered almost immediately. “Skipped a grade,” he explained briefly. “Come on, English is upstairs. You’ll love it, Tailor’s got all the charm of a wet cat. Don’t tell him I said that.”

“Oh. Alright,” I said. I started to follow and then paused, looking back at Camille. “Are you coming?”

She looked at me, her sideways folder, closed it with a little huff and followed.

Mac led us up the stairs onto the second floor landing, overlooking the atrium. I thought of the boy from earlier. He had been looking at something up here. I blushed slightly, glancing down at where he’d stood. Now, if he had found me wandering the halls...

Oh, let’s be realistic. I’d have been too flustered to even say a word, much less anything intelligent.

“Over here,” Mac said, leading us down the hall to the right, to a door labeled 2-B. “Found the new students!” he announced as he opened it. I was acutely aware that over a dozen pairs of eyes were staring at me. My pulse hammered. Transmute, transmute, transmute, I repeated in my head like a mantra.

Inside, the teacher paused mid-lecture, at the board with chalk in hand. He was thin and bookish, but handsome, though he wore a pinched sort of frown as he turned to us. Then his eyes widened in a moment of real shock as he saw me. It was just like when I’d surprised Bea on the phone - he was afraid of me.

Mac also appeared confused by Mr. Tailor’s reaction. “See?” he prompted. “Jul Graham and...um...” he looked at Camille. “You know, I just realized I missed your name.”

She rolled her eyes.

Mr. Tailor seemed to recover somewhat, but I still didn’t like the way he was looking at me. Like I was liable to end the world at the slightest provocation. “Graham,” he murmured. “Yes, of course. Go have a seat. In the back.”

The back of the room? I clutched my bag to myself and went down the aisle. Was that another way of saying he wanted me as far away from him as possible?

Was this kind of reaction going to become a trend around here? What had I done? I slid into my chair, convinced that the butterflies in my stomach had mutated into parasites of the nervous system. At least I was still breathing ok. Small blessings.

Tailor turned and adjusted his glasses, focusing on Mac. “And why exactly were you wandering around in the hall, Dupree? What excuse did you cook up so that you could play white knight?”

Muffled chuckles from other students around the room. A flush crept up Mac’s neck. “Uh...that is...”

“Oh just sit down already,” Tailor groaned. “I don’t have time for this.”

Mac slid meekly into a desk near the front, next to a tall boy with dark hair that covered his eyes, who slipped him a piece of paper when Tailor turned to Camille.

She was still standing just inside the door, shoulderbag slung across her back, hands stuffed into the front pocket of her hoodie. She met his scrutiny with a bland expression and his eyes narrowed.

“That makes you Teague,” he said with distaste.

She shrugged.

“Do you speak?” Tailor asked.

“Sometimes.”

“What sort of accent is that?”

“Mine.”

Someone in the room snickered, but a quick glare from Tailor silenced the room. “I love clever students,” he said dryly. “They get to sit up front where I can keep a nice, close eye on them.” He pointed to an empty desk.

That was the first hint of discomfort I saw from her, as she slid into the desk, metal bracer clinking against the plastic. Did she not like being up front?

“Alright, unless any more mid-semester students are joining our class today – ” Mr. Tailor picked up his thick, heavily sticky-noted notebook, glanced at it, and dropped back onto his wood desk with a resounding plop – “no, those were the only ones, so now we can actually get something done.”

Mid-semester or not, that was unfair. It wasn’t like I’d done it on purpose. But my cheeks still flushed. I couldn’t see Camille’s face up at the front of the room, but I learned she was left-handed by the way she somewhat awkwardly situated herself to take notes in a right-handed desk. I bent to retrieve my notebook and pencil from my bag, and tried to use the opportunity to sneak a glance at some of my other classmates. Though only a cursory look, it was clear that the beautiful people lived in the back left corner, furthest from the door. There was a blonde girl who had the looks and posture of a model, another girl who was a brunette but otherwise matched her, and two guys sitting against the back wall. One had tousled brown hair that made him look like he’d just woken up, so therefore had probably been styled within an inch of its life; he was staring out the window with his chin in his hand, looking bored to tears. The fourth was him. The guy from the atrium was twirling his pencil in his fingers, apparently paying far more attention than the other three combined as Mr. Tailor talked about the social norms of Elizabethan England that informed the opening act of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I continued to rummage in my bag as a pretense to keep staring surreptitiously. Maybe my initial impression had been wrong. He was actually far plainer than the other three. When I considered him separately, nothing about him actually stood out, despite the fact that he was Asian.

His eyes flicked to mine, and he winked.

I straightened up in a flash. My hands were uncommonly steady as I opened my notebook and found a clean page to take notes, but my brain was endlessly repeating what was that? What was that? What was that?

Plain? No. No, certainly not. I couldn’t believe that had even crossed my mind. I kept flashing back to his almond-shaped eyes as they locked onto mine for that brief instant, and my heart constricted.

Oh crap.

I didn’t think I heard any of the rest of the lecture, but apparently my right hand could take notes separately from my brain, because when the bell rang I had a full three pages of scribbling about Demetrius and Hermia’s parallels to – I balked at my own handwriting – Romeo and Juliet? How had I missed the mention of my namesake? I sighed and hoisted my bag over my shoulder.

Mac approached with his tall friend behind him. He had the grace to look sheepish this time. “Sorry, that probably wasn’t the best intro ever.”

“Well,” I said, “I survived, I guess.” Boy, did I sound positive. I glanced fearfully at Mr. Tailor, but he was focused on Camille collecting her belongings, like she would steal something if he looked away. Teachers around here seemed to really not like her...

“We have chemistry with Ms. Miller next,” Mac explained, bringing my attention back to him. “She’s way nicer,” he said in an undertone. “The labs are down in the basement, did you want us to show you where? Oh, this is Destin,” he introduced his friend, the tall, lanky boy with dusky cinnamon-colored skin and overlong bangs. He gave an awkward wave.

A slender arm looped through mine. I looked in shock at the girl who’d moved up next to me; it was the blonde Model, with her matching friend in tow. “Let me save you the embarrassment,” she told me condescendingly, drawing a circle in the air around Mac and Destin with her finger. “This is a girl-free zone. Come on, we’ll show you where chemistry is.” She pulled me away before I could say another word. We passed Camille on the way out of the room and her brow creased slightly, noting my unexpected change in escort.

The Model weaved us expertly through the crowd of students changing classes. Some people even seemed to get out of the way for her. “Sorry about my little brother,” she said, in a melodious voice.

Her friend, on my other side, added, “He’s like a puppy that just won’t grow out of being a puppy.” She had an accent I couldn’t quite place - French, maybe?

“He sees new people and he just has to latch onto them,” said the Model.

Aren’t you the one latched onto my arm? I thought, but I’d never say that. Beautiful people never talked to me. They certainly never fought for my attention. This was arguably the most bizarre day of my life.

“Mac is your brother?” I asked. I suppose I could see the resemblance. The wavy blonde hair. Something about the nose.

“Too late to deny it,” she sighed dramatically. “I’m Hayley, by the way. Hayley Dupree. This is Amity Clairmont,” she introduced her friend on my other side. “You certainly made an impression on Tailor. Are you acquainted?”

I was having trouble paying attention simultaneously to the conversation and the stairs we were descending. Tripping would be very bad. “Um, no, I’ve never seen him before.”

“That’s interesting,” she said. “I missed your name when you came in. Julia, was it?”

“Jul,” I said. “Graham.”

“Graham,” she lit on the name, like she’d been waiting for me to say it. “You aren’t related to Bea Graham, are you?”

I couldn’t shake the feeling this exchange had been rehearsed. “Um, yes. She’s my grandmother.”

“That’s right, I think I heard you might be moving down here,” she said. “Is it true your father was kidnapped? That’s so horrible, it doesn’t seem like something that would happen in real life.”

The air around us had gotten cooler as we exited the stairwell. This had to be the basement level. Though the hall was just as long as it was upstairs, there were only a handful of doors. The classrooms here had to be quite large. Hayley and Amity led me down the hall. A couple of other students trickled in behind us.

“It’s um...I don’t...the police are still investigating, and...”

“Hmm,” she said, in disappointment. “There’s been so much gossip flying around and I wanted to know the real story. I’ve known old Ms. Graham my whole life, but she’s a pretty private lady, you know. I mean she lives just down the road, but the only person she’ll talk to is Mac when he cuts her grass, or if you go to the library. And honestly, who uses libraries anymore?”

I went to the library constantly. Most days it felt like the only place that was real.

“Well, here it is,” she said, finally releasing my arm and opening a door labeled B-2.

Inside, a woman in a white lab coat with long, frizzy red hair tied back in a braid hunched over a table of experiment materials, carefully dosing them out. A cabinet of ingredients stood open at the back of the room. She looked up at our arrival, and nearly dropped the beaker she was holding.

Yet another adult shocked by the sight of me.

“Kyra?” she gasped.

“Um, Jul,” I said. “Jul Graham?”

With a nervous laugh, she put a hand to her chest. “Oh! Oh, yes, of course! I should have known, I’m sorry. They did tell me you were coming. You must hear it all the time, but you look exactly like your mother. It’s uncanny.”

I blinked. My... “I didn’t know that,” I murmured.

No one mentioned my mother. No one ever mentioned my mother. Dad went into a rage if you even got close to the topic...

“I went to high school with her. Simon and John too,” Ms. Miller explained, in a pronounced southern accent. “The last time I saw her, she was about your age, so, you can imagine it’s a little like seeing a ghost. I see the difference now, though. Something about the eyes. And you’re taller, I guess. Hayley, would you be a dear and pass out these instructions?” She handed her a stack of papers.

Hayley’s immediate reaction was disdain, but she forced her face into an acquiescing smile. “Sure thing,” she said, moving to lay them out on the several two-person lab tables.

“Thank you. Oh, I’m Charlotte Miller, I should have said. This is chemistry,” she said, with a sweeping gesture. “I also teach theatre, if you end up taking that. How has your morning been? Not too bad, I hope?”

“She got Tailor’d,” said a familiar voice.

I turned; Mac and Destin had entered. His enthusiasm had tempered in the interim.

Ms. Miller huffed, one hand going to her waist. “I told him not to do that to new students.”

“I think he was just...um...surprised, is all,” I said.

“Hmm, that’s probably true,” she mused. “He and Kyra never did get along. Ah, and here’s Camille,” she said, smiling as the foreign girl entered the room.

I’d never seen anyone look simultaneously lost and calm, but Camille managed it. When her eyes lit on Ms. Miller she seemed to recognize she was in the right place.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I think new people should stick together, so I’ve put you at an empty lab table together,” Ms. Miller said, pointing toward a table near the back. “Across from Hayley, there. Will that do?”

“Um, sure,” I said. Camille shrugged.

“Go get settled in, we’re just waiting on a few stragglers,” Ms. Miller said.

Camille and I made our way to the back of the room. Our table was in the middle of three rows of two-person lab tables. Hayley and Amity were already seated at their table next to us. Mac and Destin apparently had a table up front.

Hayley turned her chair towards me, apparently not done with her interrogation. She ignored Camille entirely; the foreign girl was hunched over a notepad, scribbling aimlessly in one corner.

“So you’re from New York?” Hayley asked. “You must know where all the good stores are.”

“Not really,” I admitted.

“Oh.” She made a delicate frown. “How about plays? Do you see many of those?”

I shook my head.

“You live in New York and you don’t see plays?” she exclaimed. “Isn’t that the whole point?” She gave me a look of suspicion. “You’re not one of those people who sit inside and play video games all day are you?”

“No...” Without a computer or a game console, that would be difficult.

“Hmm,” she intoned, like I’d still somehow failed a test. She looked up; her face immediately brightened. “Kei, did you find it?”

It was Him. The guy from the atrium and the bored guy with the overstyled hair had come in. My face flushed and I reflexively became very interested in the experiment instructions on my desk.

“Find what?” he said. They sat at the table behind Hayley and Amity. The girls turned around to face them.

“Keiiii, you said you were going to help me find my bracelet,” Hayley pressed coyly.

His name was Kei. My heart gave an awkward lurch. “Oh that?” he said offhand. “Completely forgot. I wanted coffee so I went to the teachers’ lounge.”

“If they ever catch you you’ll be done for,” Hayley admonished. “But I’m really worried about my bracelet.”

“What if someone stole it?” Amity added.

“Rhys, make him help us find it,” Hayley told the other boy.

“I can’t make him do anything, you know that,” he said flatly, filling in lines on the worksheet.

“I’m sure he wishes he could,” Kei said.

“The world would be a much quieter, less annoying place,” Rhys grumbled. Was he writing in the answers? We hadn’t even started the experiment yet...

“Alright, I think that’s everyone, let’s get started,” Ms. Miller said, shutting the door. “Ladies, face the front of the room please.” Hayley and Amity turned their chairs around reluctantly. “Boys, put down your pencils, I can see you writing notes.” Mac and Destin sat up straighter. “Jacques, give me your phone. You can have it back after class is over.” She held out her hand. A boy across the room with bleached hair trudged up to her desk, handed her a sleek phone with a sour look on his face, and returned to his chair muttering in what I assumed was French.

“That’s better. Today we’re going to be testing the pH of various substances,” Ms. Miller said. “I’ve already dosed out the solid ingredients you’ll be using, and I’ll bring around the liquids in a minute. Do not play with the materials - I’m looking at you, Brandon.” A boy at one of the front tables sat back in his chair, trying to look innocent. “You’re all going to want to pay attention, because this will be on the test next week, in some form or other. First, let’s go over some basic stuff. Who remembers what pH actually means?”

She held a sort of an interactive mini-lecture, covering what I assumed everyone else had already read. Having no textbook to speak of, I was about to follow Camille’s example and start doodling on my workpapers. Though I’m not sure the flowers I would draw would have teeth. I was trying not to stare, but she drew some weird things, and she was actually really good.

But then Ms. Miller announced that it was time to start the experiment, and I went to collect our little test tubes of liquid in their rack. I had learned about this stuff last year, but we’d never gotten to do this experiment.

I was getting kind of wrapped up in it - the careful measuring, sifting the powders into the liquid, soaking the strips, waiting for them to change color, marking them off a chart. It was soothing. Measurable. Predictable. I smiled down at my worksheet, feeling accomplished. One last sample to test. I picked up the final strip of pH paper and bent over the tubes, holding up the plate we were drying the paper on.

“You’re pretty good at that,” said a calm voice at my shoulder.

It was Him.

My nerves exploded. I dropped the plate and it shattered on the floor. My hand swung out reflexively as I stepped away from the breaking glass. I knocked over the beaker and the contents poured all over the table.

“Nan da - ?” Camille exclaimed, standing up as the liquid soaked through her worksheet.

My face flamed. Ms. Miller stood, grabbing a broom and a dustpan from the corner.

“I’m so sorry!” I babbled. “I was just startled, I didn’t, I-I...”

“Accidents happen,” Ms. Miller said to me, with an understanding smile. “I’ve learned to expect them. Kei, go back to your table and focus on your own work, please?”

He merely looked mildly amused. “I got bored,” he said, and returned to his seat.

From the corner of my eye I caught a glare from Hayley in my direction. Looked like I had officially lost her sympathies. When class was over, she promptly snatched Kei’s arm and the four of them left together.

So that’s how things were.

Camille was still gathering up her stuff. If we were going to be sitting together for the rest of the year, I should probably try to smooth things over.

“I’m um, I’m really sorry about the, you know, getting all your stuff wet,” I said.

She shrugged.

“The drawings especially.”

Her cheeks colored slightly. “It’s ok. I’ll make more.” Again I was struck by her unusual accent.

“So, um, where are you from?” I blurted.

“Tokyo.”

I laughed. “No, seriously. Where are you from? I can’t place your accent at all.”

Her brow creased. “Tokyo.”

I gaped. “What, you’re serious? I mean, not that you don’t, um, seem like a serious person.”

She snorted; I think it was a laugh. “I’m serious.”

I let that sink in a second. I’d thought I had it bad. Half a country away was nothing like half a world away. “So this must be like, some major culture shock, I bet.”

She considered that, and gave a nod.

Maybe I had been right after all. Maybe she really was like me. Heartened, I went on, “I’m definitely not any kind of expert about the area...or the school...or anything, really...but if you um, ever need help with anything...”

“I don’t need help,” she said flatly, hoisting her bag over her shoulder and striding swiftly out of the room.

“Oh. Ok then,” I said to her empty chair.

Chapter 5

Camille

They wanted her to stay after class. Camille was not happy about that. She didn’t care about completing evaluations for classes she didn’t want to take in the first place.

If she did badly enough, would they get to go home? She could just throw the evaluation. How mad would Gabriel be if they had to go back to Japan? It might be worth it. He could just start a cafe there instead. None of these people who hated him were there.

The other students had left for the day. The pretty, awkward girl. The boys who wanted to be near the awkward girl. The stylish ones who ignored her. She didn’t have time for any of them. All this social dancing seemed so pointless. And she was sick of all this English. The teachers - all but Charlotte, Gabriel had been right - hated her. All in all, this had not been one of her better days.

They had penned her in Rin Umino’s office. Awaiting the arrival of the principal, she slumped in her chair, arms folded into her hoodie. She shouldn’t have snapped at Jul. That had been rude. The other girl had clearly been trying to be kind and accommodating. Guiltily, Camille had avoided her for the rest of the day. In truth, Jul seemed like a really nice, friendly person. But friends complicated things. She didn’t need anyone else. She and Gabriel could handle whatever came at them on their own. She certainly didn’t want to be responsible for getting someone innocent like Jul hurt. She still didn’t know what had precipitated their leaving home -

The door opened, but it was not the principal who entered. The boy who’d startled Jul in science class stepped in, his eyebrows rising slightly when he caught sight of her. Kai? Kei? Something forgettable.

“Sent to the principal’s office already,” he intoned. “That might be a new record. What was your name again? Chamomile Tea?”

Camille would not dignify that with an answer, just returned to looking at the wall behind Umino’s desk. One of the frames held a blank piece of parchment, and she was trying to decide its significance.

“Oh yes, you’ll go far here,” he said. “Can’t even take a joke. I’m Kei, I’m sure you’re dying to know. Sakamoto. Don’t mind me, I’ve just come to pick something up.” He walked around the desk and opened a drawer. He rifled around in the papers for a moment, closed it, then opened another.

Camille frowned. Was he really supposed to be in here? It didn’t seem like he knew the principal’s office very well. He looked more like he was ransacking her desk than running an errand. But saying something was out of the question. She didn’t have the right words. Unless...

His name was Japanese. Maybe he spoke it? Everything here would be so much simpler if she had someone to talk to. She never knew she’d miss simple conversation so much.

“Are you really supposed to be in here?” she asked in Japanese.

“Hm?” he looked up from the drawer.

“Your actions are suspicious,” she said. “Explain yourself.”

His mouth quirked slightly. “Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t speak Chinese.”

What hope she had was summarily quashed. “Japanese,” she snapped.

“Oh, right,” he said lightly. “Yeah, I don’t really speak that either. I mean, I know some words here and there, like karate...ninja...kamikaze, that sort of thing.”

He was pronouncing them all wrong. He really was American. “Kamikaze,” Camille said, letting her irritation color her correction.

He shrugged. “Over here it makes no difference. Distinctions like that, you just have to learn to let them go. Sorry to disappoint. Did you want to run that by me in English?” His head tilted slightly, like a bird.

She was beginning to think that Kei Sakamoto was not the sort of person she wanted to talk to, in any language. “No,” she answered him, eyes firmly on the floor.

“Don’t be shy,” he said. “Shy never helped anyone.”

“I’m not shy,” she growled. “I don’t like you.”

He feigned offense. “I don’t see how that’s possible. Me, I like everyone. You’ll never get along here if you can’t learn a few basic social skills. Here, I’ll show you. Step one is pointless conversation. You pick out something about the other person, and get them to talk about it. People love talking about themselves. Pretend you’re interested and they think you’re best friends. Like so.”

He settled into Umino’s chair, errand apparently forgotten. What was he still doing here? He should have left by now. She just wanted to be alone.

“I like that...metal...thing,” he observed, gesturing vaguely to the iron bracer on her arm. “Where’d you get it?”

She eyed him warily. That was none of his business. Pointless conversation or not, he’d landed on the one thing she wouldn’t talk about. Gabriel had tricked her into putting it on years ago, and it wouldn’t come off. She’d learned to forgive him for it, but the hunk of metal still gave her its share of annoyance. Just the mention of the bracer had her fighting the impulse to scratch at it. She’d worn it forever and even though it did no good, she still wanted to scratch at the skin beneath.

Kei Sakamoto leaned forward on the desk, steepling his fingers, like he belonged there. “Family heirloom?” he prompted. “Ebay? Found it in a dumpster? Ooh, I know, it was a gift from an old boyfriend.”

Camille frowned. Maybe he hadn’t been fishing for info on the bracer. Maybe he really was just an idiot. Americans were all the same.

“No?” he went on, undeterred. “On second thought, you don’t look like the boyfriend type. Old girlfriend?”

The bracer felt tighter and more restricting the more he made her think about it. Her mouth formed a grim line of disapproval.

“Still no? I guess that look would scare off just about anybody. You look like a mob boss. Ooh, did you steal it from the mob? Is it some sort of treasure from the Japanese mafia?”

She’d had enough of this. The bracer was digging into her wrist, and her right hand twisted at it reflexively.

“Go away,” she said.

“Just when we’re getting to know each other?” he objected. “No, I want to hear the story of how you broke into mafia headquarters and swiped their prized metal thing.”

She huffed. “I did not.”

“But what other explanation can there be?” he asked innocently.

“You’re an idiot,” she snapped. She could hear her own blood in her ears.

“That explanation makes no sense.”

She growled, “Get out.” She could hear footsteps approaching from the hall. She hadn’t thought she would prefer the Umino woman to someone, but Sakamoto had proved her wrong.

“That’s your best retort? Come on, you can do better than that,” he said.

The door clicked open. Rin Umino surveyed the scene, one eyebrow raised.

Sakamoto sighed and stood, pushing himself up from the desk.

“Well?” Umino said.

“Where do you find these people?” he asked. “She can’t talk. It’s hopeless. Probably.” With the barest smirk at Camille he made for the door.

He’d been testing her? A stealth English evaluation?

Umino blocked his exit.

“Sorry, super important teenage plans, gotta go,” he told the principal.

She held out her hand, otherwise immobile.

He shrugged and took a key out of his pocket and handed it to her. He’d tried to steal that from her desk?

Umino stood aside and let Sakamoto pass. She shut the door behind him and settled herself in her chair, her stiff posture a sharp contrast to his lazy lounging only moments ago.

“You are not like Miss Graham,” she said, “in many ways. You have been the ward of Mr. Katsura for how many years now?”

Camille licked her lips. What was she really asking? “Six.”

“Six? And all of that in Japan? Very uncharacteristic of him. I’m not sure he’s ever spent that much consecutive time with...anyone.”

Camille didn’t remember what ‘consecutive’ meant, but now seemed a bad time to mention it. She could guess close enough.

“I will assume that having been in his care for so long, you have come to understand certain truths that the general populace is uninformed of. I will assume that because of this, you do not trust me, a human.”

Camille’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not why.”

“The oblivious ones are much more pliant,” she commented. “Miss Graham, for example, could have a bright future with us. All we ask is a little obedience, a little loyalty.”

“I’m with Gabriel,” Camille stated.

“At present, it seems that Gabriel wishes you to be with us,” she bit off his name. “So. Tell me the days of the week.” Her eyebrow arched in challenge.

What? Huh? Right now? Uh... “Monday, Tuesday...” Camille’s brain twisted. “Thursday...”

Her lip twisted in distaste. “Remedial English,” Umino decreed. “If you can’t handle conversational English by the end of the semester, you’re out. I don’t care who your guardian is, we have standards to uphold. Also, you will only speak English on this campus, from here on out.” She passed Camille a sheet of paper.

Camille gazed up at her in horror.

“Immersion is the best teacher,” she said dryly. “Perform, or I will send you to public, and all your darling mentor’s efforts will have been wasted. Public has no idea what to do with someone like you.”

“Someone like me?”

“Surely it’s obvious,” Umino said. “We’re the only ones qualified to educate monsters.”

Camille stood abruptly, chair scraping.

“Don’t be so dramatic,” she observed, unimpressed, “or I’ll put you in theatre too.”

Gabriel picked her up outside the school, the powder-blue junker idling loudly. Mostly powder-blue - one of the doors was white. He would have been easy to spot even if he wasn’t the only one waiting up front. A couple of cars were parked in the back of the school lot - she assumed it was teachers staying late.

She slid into the passenger seat, letting her bag hit the floor and the door slam shut in one fluid motion. She didn’t even want to look at him right now. This was all his doing.

“I’ve never picked a kid up from their first day of school before,” he said, in his oblivious way. “I think you’re supposed to tell me all about your day. Tell me you made lots of friends and a cute boy asked you out and your idiot English teacher gave you too much homework.”

At least now she could speak her own language. “I am not going back in there,” she stated flatly, back to Japanese at last.

He sighed, putting the car in gear. “No, see, that’s not how it works. Talk about how you traded food with other kids in the cafeteria.”

“What am I, seven? And who cares about cafeteria food?”

“Well I do. If they’re not feeding you properly, I’ll have to put in a complaint with the school board. Wait, do I need to join a PTA now or something? Does Havenwood have a PTA...?” he mused.

“You are ignoring me,” Camille fumed.

“I’m distracting you. There’s a difference.”

“Either way you’re not listening. I don’t want anything to do with the other students. They’re either completely oblivious, or they’re tools of the principal. Sheep and wolves.”

Gabriel’s expression sobered at her metaphor. The light ahead changed to yellow, then red. The car slowed and came to a stop at the intersection.

“She called me a monster,” Camille said.

Gabriel took a slow breath and ran his hands through his fine, jet-black hair, looking up at the stoplight. “Damn. Already?”

“She wants me gone.”

“Ohhhh no, kiddo. Not in the slightest. Very much the opposite. She knows what her family would do to her if she let us get away. She may not like us, but by no means does she want to be rid of us.” He paused for a moment, and then a grin spread slowly across his face. That was the smile that meant they were about to do something dangerous, something outside the box, and it almost made her grin as well. He was a very difficult person to stay angry with.

“You know what would drive her crazy?” he said, as the light changed and the car inched back into motion.

“No,” she said, trying to maintain a solemn expression.

His eyes flicked to her and back to the road; they were glittering. “If you did really well.”

“Be serious.”

“That is what she’d hate,” he said emphatically. “Rin Umino’s idea of power is thinking that she and her pet students are better than everyone else. I’m a little...ah...notorious...in their circles. That makes you notorious by association. If you really want to stick it to her...follow the rules and destroy them doing it.”

“We’re destroying them?”

“Metaphorically.”

“Less interested.”

“Come on, it can’t have been that bad.”

“She called me a monster. One of her ‘pets’ tried to interrogate me about the bracer. My notebook is soaking wet. They’re making me take extra English classes, they won’t let me speak Japanese,” she said, and then added. “And no one talked to me.” That last was a lie, she realized as soon as she said it. Jul had tried. Several times. She frowned in recollection.

“That’s more like it,” he said. “First day of school stuff. Then I say things like, tomorrow will be better, and that maybe you should try talking to other people if they’re not talking to you first, and we can fix your notebook with a hairdryer. Wait, do we have a hairdryer? Honestly, extra English sounds like the worst part.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I know your English teacher,” he said, distracted as they pulled into the parking lot of the cafe, noting two cars there.

“Who’s that?” Camille asked.

“I was hoping you could tell me,” he said, bringing the car to a quiet stop. He rolled down the windows and turned off the engine. “Can you hear them?”

She concentrated. She could hear the wasp buzzing around the back of the car. The engine cooling down. The wind in the trees across the lot. She closed her eyes. The heat radiating off the shingles. The motorcycle two miles away. The two people arguing inside the church/cafe. Her senses were unusually dulled. She should have been able to hear them crisply from this proximity, but instead she had to strain to pick out their conversation. Voices new to her, but she could place them.

“You don’t need to be here for this,” a man was saying.

“You’re going to try to run him off, and I’m not going to let you do that again,” a woman replied.

“You think I had anything to do with the last time? You’re fooling yourself.”

“It’s Tailor and Miller,” Camille murmured. She could almost smell them, underneath the harsh exhaust smell that permeated the parking lot, and the fragrance of shaved wood and fresh paint that flowed out of the main door. Tailor smelled like old books, coffee, and iron. Miller smelled like oranges and acetone.

“You’d do anything to get rid of him, John. For the hundredth time, I’m not stupid.”

“And for the thousandth time, Charlotte, I’m flattered you think I have any influence over that walking disaster,” Tailor snapped. “Gabriel left because he was done with us, not for any other reason. Not you, not me, not Simon or Kyra. He was bored, so he left.”

“They, ah, they’re...” Camille filed the comment away. “They’re having an argument. About you. Tailor said you’re...a walking disaster?”

“From his perspective, I’m sure I am,” he said coolly. “I guessed it would be them, I just wanted to be sure.”

“I can’t hear them very well,” Camille admitted. “Can something interfere with that?”

“Hmm,” Gabriel remarked. “Call it...one of the side effects of this town. I just wasn’t sure how strongly it would affect you. Well, let’s not keep them waiting.” He exited the car, slamming the door shut loudly. Camille heard the conversation inside cease. She gathered her bag and climbed out of the car as well.

“They’re going to ask you to leave,” Gabriel said lowly, as they approached the door. “You can protest if you like, but do it. You should be able to hear everything from your room anyway, if you care.”

“Why wouldn’t I care?” Camille grumbled, and he patted her head.

Their feet crunched in the gravel as they approached the door. Gabriel opened it, and looked convincingly surprised. “I wondered who would ambush me in my own space, but I suppose I should have expected,” he said.

“No one’s ambushing,” Charlotte said.

Tailor’s expression was sour. He regarded Gabriel with the sort of vitriol Camille chalked up to words like ‘arch enemy’ and ‘nemesis.’

“I appreciate the thought, Charlotte, but John and I are both adults now. I believe we can be civil.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t,” she stated. “Camille, I’m very sorry to ask this, would you mind going upstairs? This is some very old, very boring grownup stuff.”

That was a lie, and a poor one at that, Camille noted. Charlotte Miller was weak at deception.

“It’s alright, kiddo, this won’t take long,” Gabriel said, offhand.

“Whatever,” she muttered, in English. Camille climbed the steps, feeling superior. She and Gabriel could outsmart anyone. She shut the door to her room with an audible click, but she wasn’t inside. With her diminished hearing, she wouldn’t take any chances; she wasn’t missing this for anything. She stood in the hall, waiting for the conversation to trickle up the stairs. Eyes closed, she listened with ears perked.

She heard a huff of breath. Frustration. Tailor.

“If you wanted to talk to me alone,” Gabriel said, “have the sense to do it when Charlotte can’t follow you so easily.”

“How dare you come back here,” Tailor seethed.

“How dare I?” Gabriel copied lightly. “Such a dramatic turn of phrase. How dare I. Sounds like Shakespeare. I’m not sure we’re quite on that level yet.”

“We’re well past that level, old man.”

Old man? Camille frowned. They looked the same age.

“Keep blaming me all you like, I don’t care,” Gabriel said calmly. “The reason I’m here has nothing to do with you. It didn’t before, and it doesn’t now.”

“And I suppose you’re just here for the excellent school system, now that you’re a responsible parent?” Tailor bit off. “What on earth are you doing with that poor girl? Rin Umino will eat her alive. Is that why you brought her here? You’re bored with her, and decided it was time to get rid of her?”

Camille’s blood pounded in her veins. She wanted to vault over the stairs and kick Tailor right in the face. Gabriel would never do that. He knew nothing.

“She has to get into the world sometime,” Gabriel stated. “Maybe I waited a little too long, but I’m selfish that way. You want to attack me, Tailor? Why are you still here? I seem to recall you swearing to get out of Havenwood the first chance you got.”

A beat of silence. Camille assumed Tailor was faltering at the sudden turnaround. “That’s none of your business,” the English teacher said lowly.

“What did the Uminos promise you?” Gabriel asked. “What could possibly have kept you here?”

“Gabriel, please,” Charlotte intervened. “That’s enough.”

Silence again. Camille imagined Tailor glaring at her guardian. She anticipated Gabriel’s expression - infuriatingly pleasant and unruffled.

“You want to know what I’m up to,” Gabriel said coolly. “You came to ask me what it was, even though you assumed I wouldn’t tell you. If I was secretive, you would be justified in distrusting me. I have bad news for you, Tailor. Times have changed, and my plans are really very simple. I want Camille to graduate high school, grow up, and do whatever she wants until she’s quite old. That’s the plan. Camille is going to survive all of you, no matter what happens. Right now that means walking into that school and handling whatever you, or Rin Umino, or anyone else dishes out to her. That girl can outlast the gods if she puts her mind to it.”

Camille’s eyes widened. What on earth was he talking about? Outlast the gods?

“You’re really going to claim that all of this is about her? And expect me to believe it?”

“I won’t say I expect you to believe it, but yes.”

Guilt panged in Camille’s chest. She had been selfish. She hadn’t realized all the trouble Gabriel was going to, all for her.

“Fine,” Tailor said. “Then I only have one question. Where is the sword?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t play stupid with me!” Tailor shouted. “My father’s sword vanished the night you did. What did you do with it?”

Gabriel sighed. “Some things really are just coincidence. I had nothing to do with that.”

More silence.

“You may be set on staying,” Tailor said lowly, “and I can’t stop you. But don’t expect to be welcomed. Everyone still remembers the county fair.”

“Oh, do they still hold that every year?” Gabriel asked lightly.

There was the scuffling sound of shoes on the tile. “John don’t!” Charlotte snapped.

Camille risked a peek around the corner. Charlotte stood between them, her hands on Tailor’s shoulders, keeping him at bay. “It’s time to leave,” she told him. Tailor glared at Gabriel, who just shrugged.

“Now,” Charlotte snapped.

“Didn’t you want to ask him something, Charlotte?” Tailor said bitterly, though he backed off some.

“No, I don’t,” Charlotte said firmly.

“You sure? You didn’t wonder why Simon went missing the day before he turned in his ward’s enrollment papers?” Tailor accused, pointing at Gabriel. “Or was that a coincidence too?”

Gabriel was silent.

Simon? Who was Simon?

Tailor threw up his hands. “Fine, don’t answer. Deny it. Deny everything. I’m sure horrible things are just random, and you always being there is just coincidence. You can smile and lie your way around everyone else, old man, but you don’t fool me.”

He stormed out the front doors and Camille ducked back against the wall. As they shut behind him, it was almost like a pressure change in the air. Camille’s hearing improved immediately. The sound of Charlotte straightening her shirt was crisp.

“For the record,” the chemistry teacher said. “I don’t think you had anything to do with Simon. I’m sure he’s fine, wherever he is.”

“You don’t think he was kidnapped, like they say?”

A slow breath. Camille could hear her muscles moving. Shaking her head no, perhaps? “Not Simon.”

“That would mean he abandoned his daughter, then. I wonder what would make him do that?”

“Who can say,” Charlotte said softly. She sounded sad.

“Coincidence or not, the timing is suspicious. John’s instincts are not bad,” Gabriel admitted.

“You think someone is trying to frame you?” Charlotte asked.

“Possibly. Though that seems too easy,” he said wryly. “I’m more concerned about what Simon has gotten involved in over the last decade or so. I should have kept better tabs on him. Without John or Kyra to hold him back, I fear his lack of caution will cause problems for all of us. He’s almost as selfish as I am.” Camille could hear Gabriel smile. “Do you mind if I ask you something?”

“Um, sure.” She could hear Charlotte blush. Yes, her hearing was definitely back to normal. And her chemistry teacher was totally into her guardian. Gross.

Gabriel paused, like he was going to ask her one thing, and switched to something else. “There hasn’t been anything unusual going on at the school in the last week, has there?”

Charlotte laughed. “You mean more unusual than usual? Not really. I mean, there’s been a small rash of theft in lockers, but we’ll figure out who that is soon enough. It’s probably Hyde, anyway,” she sighed. “I’m not sure that boy is worth the trouble he causes.”

“Oh, alright.” Some papers shuffling. Gabriel was probably turning away to his inventory lists.

“What were you actually going to ask me?” Charlotte asked.

“No, it’s stupid, don’t worry about it.” He only said things like that to draw you in, and it worked on her like a charm.

“There are no stupid questions. I’m a teacher, I’ve heard just about everything,” she teased.

“I was going to ask if you’d heard from Simon at all recently. Like I said, a stupid question. Of course you haven’t.”

“No, of course not,” she laughed nervously. She was disappointed in his question. She was also lying. Camille was taken aback. What was really going on around here?

“If I knew where he was I’d feel better,” Gabriel said. “I suppose it’s up to the New York City police at this point.”

“I guess so,” Charlotte said awkwardly. “Well, I’d better go. I’ve got lesson plans to finish up before tomorrow and a cat that will tear up my drapes if I’m not home soon. I’m looking forward to when this place is done - it’ll be nice having a place close to school to get good tea. You will have good tea, right?”

“Promise.”

“You’d better.” She paused. “Why Benvolio?”

“Hmm?”

“The name of the cafe, why did you pick Benvolio? It’s kind of odd.”

“Is it? I just liked the sound of it.”

Charlotte shook her head. “Goodnight.”

And then she was gone, the door clicking lightly in her wake. Camille descended the stairs.

“I have bad news,” Gabriel said, bent over his inventory sheets. “This is going to be harder than I thought.”

“Why, because Ms. Miller lied to you?” Camille asked.

“You heard it too? That’s my girl. I need you to help me keep tabs on her. She knows something about Simon Graham, and I need to know where he is as soon as possible.”

“Graham? Like Jul Graham?”

“Yes, that’s his daughter. Keep tabs on her, too. I doubt Simon will contact her, but stranger things have happened.”

“What was that Tailor said about a sword?”

Gabriel waved the question away. “Old family heirloom of theirs. I don’t have any swords. He would blame me for the common cold if someone suggested it. Extremely useful boy though...well, technically he’s a man now...” He looked up from the papers at her, eyes narrowed in thought. “Did you say what extra classes they’d given you?”

She handed him the folder of her class schedules. “What’s so bad about this Simon guy anyway?” Camille wanted to know.

“The most dangerous people in the world are idiots who think they’re geniuses. Simon is one of those, except he’s got talents that make him even more dangerous. In retrospect I should have dealt with him years ago, but at the time...” He shook his head. “Getting to the bottom of this Graham problem is numero uno.”

“I thought you said we were here for my education,” she said, folding her arms.

“I lied. A little. The sooner we find Simon Graham, the safer you’ll be. In the meantime, what say we humiliate these Havenwood snobs a little, hmm?” He began flipping through the folder.

“I’m not going to be awesome at English by tomorrow,” Camille grumbled.

“Well, Rin Umino may have given you that,” he said, sifting through her folder and holding up a green piece of paper. “But she also put you in kendo. Are you ready to kick some ass?” he grinned.

Camille grinned back. If there was one thing she did well...

Chapter 6

Mac

At lunch the next day, Destin reiterates his disapproval of yesterday’s tactics. We carry our trays of food to our usual table. Other people tend to not sit by us. Because we’re cool like that.

“Just to be clear - your brilliant plan was to ambush her coming out of Umino’s office and show up late to English so Tailor could publicly ridicule you.”

“Your sarcasm, while hilarious, is not helpful. My plan was to offer gentlemanly assistance to a disoriented new student.”

“And then get publicly ridiculed in front of her.”

I sigh, sitting down. “You know what? Public ridicule is getting to be a sort of daily thing for me, so I figured, why not?”

I cast a glance to our right, where Jul sits alone at a table, forlornly stirring a bowl of vegetable soup. “We should go sit at her table,” I say in an undertone. “Do you see how sad she looks?”

Destin glances over the top of the comic he’s already cracked open. He has a bad habit of reading all through lunch and forgetting to eat. “Far be it from me to stand in the way of young love, but I think that’s a bad idea. I mean I feel bad for her and all...”

“She’s all alone over there!” I exclaim as quietly as I can. “It’s like a tragedy!”

“And yet...”

Splat. A bowl of pudding upends onto my head. Laughter erupts from a couple tables away. Hyde slides onto the bench beside me, arm around my shoulder. “How’s my favorite leprechaun? I found you a hat.”

Oh, how I love that all the grades eat lunch together. It is so cozy.

I push him away. He smells like cigarettes and old laundry. Now I feel like I need a shower, for more reasons than the pudding in my hair.

“Thanks, that was all that was missing from my life,” I say through my teeth.

“You’re welcome, little buddy,” he says, squishing the bowl into my hair one more time. “Don’t forget to drink your milk so you can grow up big and strong! You remember what day it is, don’t you?” He cackles, returning to a table with some other juniors who give him a round of high-fives.

I slide the bowl out of my hair and towel my head with my napkin.

“My point is,” Destin says, handing me his napkins, “I don’t think proximity to us will improve her situation. Exhibit A,” he nods at my hair.

Maybe he’s right. At least for today. It’s Tuesday, and Tuesdays and Thursdays put Hyde in especially high spirits, because that’s when he gets free reign to beat people up in kendo. As you might imagine, this is not my favorite class. I’d rather be pretending not to be totally tiny in karate the other days of the week. With kendo, I still have to pretend not to be totally tiny, but with a sword. What the heck am I supposed to do with a sword when I can’t reach? My only comfort is that Destin sucks at it too, so at least I’m not the only one looking like an idiot. We do a lot better as a team of idiots.

The thing about karate and kendo, like all the other “extracurricular” classes, is that you aren’t just with your homeroom, or even your grade. You’re with whoever signed up for it – or had been signed up for it whether they wanted to or not. In the case of karate and kendo, the only people from our homeroom are me, Destin, Jacques Olivier, and Brandon Underwood. Jacques is from Canada, and speaks French as easily as he does English, and likes to let everyone know it. He’s surgically attached to his cell phone and thinks he’s superior because he hangs out with seniors. Brandon is a lot calmer. He’s pretty much permanently attached at the hip to his girlfriend Kenna, also in our class. When they’re not breaking up, they’re getting back together. Again, to each their own.

Anyway, we’re thankfully spared the company of Hayley’s fancy-pants band, but in return we get Hyde. I’m still undecided as to whether the tradeoff is worth it.

I hit the front of my locker as three of the juniors elbow roughly past me, laughing. I straighten my gi, my white uniform, and glare at their backs as they leave the locker room.

Like clockwork. If kendo is my least favorite thing, it’s the highlight of these guys’ week. They get free reign to attack people with a freaking sword. It’s a dull wooden sword, sure, but it leaves some bruises, let me tell you.

To make matters worse, Hyde is Ikeda-sensei’s best student. A couple of the others can get hits in on him, if they’re lucky, but he’s as yet undefeated. A senior, Poggio, had come close last week, but then Hyde almost broke his wrist. Now Poggio sits on the sidelines with his arm in a sling and Hyde’s back to trying to trip Destin when Ikeda-sensei isn’t looking.

I sigh with resignation as I step out of the locker room into the dojo. It’s Tuesday, so I’d just have to live with it. But today ends up being a lot more...entertaining than I had anticipated.

We have a new student.

There’s Camille, getting a tour of the dojo from Ikeda-sensei while the rest of the class sizes her up. General consensus looks to be ‘I bet I could take her,’ ranging from completely innocent she’s-way-tiny to you-don’t-want-to-know lewd. I mean she’s super thin, you can tell, now that she’s in a gi instead of that baggy sweater, and she isn’t any taller than me. Goldilocks ringlets aside, though, she somehow looks...correct...in her gi. Maybe it’s her posture. I don’t remember her standing this straight before, or looking so formal.

Ikeda-sensei likes to start every lesson with an exhibition match. Most of the time this involves Hyde getting to beat on some poor sap with a full audience. I’m busy crossing my fingers that it’s not going to be me, and sparing a couple of crossed toes that it won’t be Destin.

But Ikeda clearly has something different in mind.

“Today’s exhibition match will be...” Ikeda’s gaze slides across the room, his lips curling. “Hyde and Teague.”

Hyde laughs and hoists his wooden sword onto his shoulder, shoving his way between Brandon and Destin to get to the front of the room. Camille merely walks around the edge of the group, coming to a stop in front of him, one hand resting on the identical practice sword at her waist.

“Everyone else have a seat,” Ikeda says, amusement coloring his voice. As the rest of the class sits where they were, placing their swords beside them on the mat, he steps back to lean against the wall. The two look totally mismatched – Hyde tall and sinewy with dark spiked hair and metal glittering from every facial feature, Camille tiny and golden, with the exception of that weird iron bracer on her left arm. You’d think she’d take that thing off for something like this.

Hyde holds his wooden sword out at arm’s length, pointing it at Camille. “This is your only warning,” he sneers at her. “I love fighting newbies, and I don’t care that you’re a girl.”

Camille merely inclines her head, and then dips into a perfect Japanese bow. Hyde just laughs again, a throaty cackle. I slip a glance at Destin. She’s in trouble.

When Camille straightens up, Ikeda says, “Begin.”

Hyde’s first move is a flurry of power. Camille doesn’t even draw her sword. She sidesteps and ducks. Hyde blows right past her. He cocks his head and straightens up as he turns.

“Dodgy,” he comments, and swings at her again with a yell.

I flinch. If he connects with her, she’ll definitely sustain a serious injury, like Poggio, wooden sword or no. But Camille still doesn’t draw. She merely spins where she stands. He oversteps, compensating for the lack of impact. Her foot catches his ankle. She hooks his leg out from under him. Hyde drops on the mat with a grunt of pain, but immediately scrambles to his feet.

“What the hell are you playing at?” he snaps, pointing his sword at her again.

“You, it looks like,” Jacques calls. Several chuckles rise from the class.

Hyde’s face flushes. “Use your freaking sword!” he growls at her.

“When I need it,” Camille says, sounding bored.

He comes at her a third time, wilder than ever. In a flash, Camille drops into a roll and pops back up behind him. She plants a foot in his back as he goes past. He stumbles, out of balance, and falls flat on his face. The entire class breaks into laughter.

“Settle down, settle down,” Ikeda holds up his hands, stepping forward to stand by Camille. “I think that’s enough for one day.”

“What? Sensei!” Hyde protests, rubbing his nose. “Come on! She didn’t use her sword! This isn’t karate class!”

“No, it’s not,” Ikeda says, the same amusement coloring his voice. “So you’d better hope I don’t ask you to fight her tomorrow.”

That’s when I notice her belt is black. Holy crap. She’s a black belt. How had I missed it?

Ikeda starts talking to Camille in Japanese, and she replies fluently, happily, and they share a laugh about something – but I have a feeling it’s at Hyde’s expense. So does Hyde, apparently, by the flush that creeps up his neck. Ikeda and Camille chatter back and forth unintelligibly, and it’s clear Ikeda has found a new favorite.

The sudden sense of admiration I feel for the foreign girl becomes tinged with concern as I see the way Hyde is looking at her. As she placidly puts away her sword in the rack against the far wall, I see the murder hatching in his eyes. I glance at Destin, and I can tell he’d seen it too.

I was right after all. Our new classmate has no idea what she’s just stepped into.

Destin and I catch up with her on the way out. “That was some awesome non-sword work there,” I tell her as we walk alongside her.

“Ari- Thank you,” she says, correcting herself.

“You uh, you may not have noticed, but I think you pissed off Hyde.”

Camille glances at me dismissively. “I noticed.”

“No, I mean, you’re new and all, so you might not be aware that he’s really not the kind of enemy you want to have.”

Camille snorts softly. “I’ll be fine.”

“He’ll try to fight you again,” Destin says.

“And not in class, either,” I add.

“Not a problem,” she says.

In my opinion, a day really ought to contain only a limited amount of disappointment. The universe apparently disagrees with me. When we get back to our lockers, Destin’s is empty. I can almost see his soul departing out his ears as he gazes forlornly at the slender metal void.

“I had four new releases in there...” he says hollowly.

This just doesn’t make any sense. Candy bars? Soda? Comics? I peer closely into his locker. There’s some kind of scratch on one wall...three thin, parallel lines...

“I hadn’t even read them yet,” Destin murmurs, still in shock.

A cackle behind us announces Hyde. “Is wittle baby Heron missing his woobie?”

Realization lights through me. “You!” I declare, pointing at him, “All this is your fault!”

“Me?” he sneers. “Well that would be convenient. Go ahead and try to pin it on me, midget, I dare you. I am untouchable.” He shoves me and I hit the lockers with a loud metallic rattle. “You on the other hand...” he chuckles, strolling away down the hall.

“Alright that is it!” I declare, turning to Destin. “This will not go unanswered! We are coming back here tonight and we are staking out this hall until we catch Hyde in the act!”

“We are?”

“We are.”

“And what happens when he turns around and kicks our asses?”

“We have a more credible story when we tell Principal Umino about it tomorrow.”

“I’m going to go on record as not liking this plan.”

“Mac.”

I try to ignore him. We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile. If anyone catches us in the school at night, we’re in for a heap of trouble. Also, there’s no way we can catch Hyde if he sees us first.

“Mac.”

“What?” I whisper.

“If this doesn’t work...” Destin trails off.

“It’ll work,” I insist.

“If it doesn’t work,” he says, “You owe me a new Sandman.”

“Your sacrifice will not be forgotten,” I assure him.

We had talked about this, but it obviously still bothers him. I had pointed out that the thief was only going for the good stuff - the food, the books, the comics. It’s the kind of stuff I would steal, honestly, if I had no sense of human property. Also I would get caught.

Like I expect that spiky-headed pincushion-face to. He’s finally going to get it, for once. Well, for twice. Camille had thrashed him good in kendo, undeniable. I grin at the remembrance. I’m going to keep that like a movie in my head, to play whenever I need cheering up.

Since Destin’s locker had already been cleaned out, we stuffed mine with chocolate, soda, and his comics. And a dozen mouse traps. It’s not so much that I expect Hyde to stick his fingers in one – it’s that I expect them to make a ton of noise when he opens the locker. It’s dark in the hall, after all, and we can’t see that well. So we need to know when to flip the lights and end that jerk’s locker spree.

No one pilfers my candy beans and gets away with it.

“Okay, here’s what I don’t get,” Destin says under his breath. “I get that Hyde would mess with us. But why the comics? He has zero interest in them. And why swipe from other people’s lockers too? You’d have to be insane to swipe from Chase.”

“Chase went straight to us,” I say. “It’s got to be about framing us. And you heard him, he thinks he’s untouchable. Freaking teacher’s pet. Principal’s pet? Is that the right term?”

“Maybe,” he says. “But here’s the thing...I put the comics in right before we went to kendo. Hyde was at class before us this afternoon, and left after us. How could he have stolen it while he was in a room with us on the other side of school?”

“That...he was...look, stop being logical. Hyde did it.”

“You have a vendetta.”

“Of course I do!” I hiss. “How could I not have a vendetta?”

“So you’re admitting that this Hyde conclusion could be born of bias.”

“Of course it is! What’s your point?”

Destin makes a motion for silence and points to the classroom window. I stand on tiptoe to peer over the edge. There’s...maybe...is it just a shadow? Branches waving across windows? It’s totally silent.

Then...the faintest metallic sound. I curse the janitor for keeping the hinges oiled. It isn’t enough to spring for.

I squint. There’s definitely a shadow hovering over my locker. Too small to be a person, it seems to cling to the grate. I hear a faint trilling noise - like a cat - and then the shadow melts into the locker door and vanishes.

“What the hell...?” I murmur.

Then the traps go off. The pops echo loudly in the empty hallway, along with a screech from inside the locker. If there’s anyone still in the building, they’ll definitely have heard the racket.

“Come on!” I tell Destin, shoving open the door we’re hiding behind. We burst into the hall. The shadow vaults out of the locker - candy bars and popped traps scattering everywhere - and zooms down the hall. Is that a...a tail? I take off after it. Destin follows, calling “Wait up!”

It turns a corner in the atrium. I skid on the tile floor, turning with it. By the light of the moon shining through the windows I’m only in time to see what is a tail, long and slender, as it leaps through one of the glass panes in the door. It shatters, the high crack resounding throughout the atrium. So the shadow is solid after all.

“What is going on out here?” I hear behind me.

Oh crap, I think. Principal Umino is in her office. But I keep going. I don’t want to lose this thing – it’s our ticket to innocence. If she’ll believe it. I push through the front doors even as I hear Destin behind me, “Um, good evening ma’am...”

Avoiding the broken glass, I leap over the stairs and take off running across the parking lot. The shadow is making for the tree line. I’ll definitely lose it if it gets into the forest. I speed up, sprinting between the only two cars in the lot.

Thwack. I collide with something, and fall on my back. Stars explode in front of my eyes. Hyde stands over me, grinning. “Never clotheslined someone before. First time for everything. Guess what I found, principal?” he yells up to the school.

I struggle to sit up, but the shadow has already vanished. Hyde hoists me to my feet by my collar. I shove him away, though I’m still a little unsteady. He keeps a grip on my shirt and pulls me toward the front doors. “This is a first,” he says. “Lots of firsts tonight. I’ve never busted someone else for vandalism before.”

“I didn’t do anything!” I snap.

“No?” he says, looking at the broken glass as we climb the stairs. “The evidence isn’t on your side, munchkin.”

“You set this up!” I accuse, as he pushes me through the door. “You sent that - that - ninja monkey thing just to get me in trouble!”

He laughs. “You clearly don’t need my help to get in trouble, Dupree.”

Principal Umino stands in the atrium, with Destin at her side looking sheepish. “Thank you Mr. Hyde,” she says, regarding me narrowly. “You’re free to go home now.”

“I don’t know, I think I’ll stick around for a minute,” he grins, leaning back against the stairwell.

The jackass just wants to stand there and gloat. My fingers curl into fists.

“Well?” the principal addresses me. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“We’re totally innocent,” I state fervently.

“Is that right? I’ve been receiving complaints about stolen items for the past week. Many of them suggesting you as the culprit.”

“Why would I steal from my own locker?” I protest. “And Destin’s was cleared out just this afternoon!”

“I’m sure it was,” she says dryly. “Tell me why. Are you looking for revenge on those who’ve wronged you? More importantly, how did you do it? Not a single lock showed signs of entry. If you tell me how you accomplished it, I may be more lenient.”

“I didn’t do it,” I state. “We were here tonight trying to catch the thing that did!”

“The thing?” she says, expressionless.

“He was making up something about - what was it Dupree - a ninja monkey?” Hyde chuckles. “Seriously, you can do better than that.”

“And I suppose you saw it too, Mr. Heron?”

Destin colors under his curtain of hair. “It was...a shadow...” he murmurs lamely.

“How helpful,” she says coldly. “I’ll tell the staff to beware a loose shadow.”

“It’s real, I swear!” I exclaim. “It set off all the mousetraps I stuffed in my locker and then it broke the window - ”

“Mr. Dupree,” she interrupts. “You and Mr. Heron are going to pay back the damages you have incurred. You will spend your free period assisting teachers with whatever odd tasks they assign you, until the end of the semester.”

“This is unfair!” I shout. “We didn’t do anything!”

“You broke into school after hours,” she states. “A transgression on its own. If you insist on continuing to protest, I will bring the matter before your parents.”

I swallow. Umino’s wrath was bad enough. My mom thinks I’m in my room doing homework right now. If she even heard I had snuck out of the house at night...

“Fine,” I grumble.

“If your...shadow turns up, your names will be cleared, of course,” she smiles condescendingly. “Until then, someone must pay the debt to society. You understand. Now go home, all of you,” she orders, with a glance at Hyde as well. She turns on her heel and strides back into her office.

“You’re a groveling kiss-up, is what you are,” I hiss at Hyde, the instant her door shuts.

“And you’ll be mopping the science lab for the next two months,” he leers. “You kids have fun with that.” He strides out the front doors, laughing.

“We’re doomed,” Destin sighs.

I’m inclined to agree with him. “Oh, come on, let’s at least take your comics home,” I grumble. This has not turned out well. This is the opposite of well.

I stuff a couple of the candy bars into my pocket. No sense in letting them go to waste. Destin picks up his comics. He frowns over one bent page but remains silent as we exit the school.

I’m lost in thought as we cross the parking lot. Which means I’m saying everything I’m thinking.

“This is hands down the weirdest thing that has ever happened to us,” I groan. “What kind of ninja monkey would break into a school to steal chocolate and books? Who would train it to do that? And what the hell is it?”

“Did you get a good look at it?” Destin asks.

“It was too dark. I mean I saw a tail, and I think there was fur...”

A light tug at my back pocket distracts me. I spin, but a dark creature about the size of a cat is already sprinting for the trees with a candy bar in its mouth. It leaps for a high branch and disappears, gliding into the forest.

I stand with my mouth open. “Those were wings.”

“Underarm webbing, actually,” Destin says, with the kind of calm that only comes from being totally stunned.

“Like a bat. But it ran like a cat...”

“I thought you said it was a monkey!” He’s starting to freak out now.

“Well now I’m saying ninja catbat!” I return.

“Oh, that’ll go over well,” he says with sarcasm. “Hey, Principal Umino, sorry about earlier. It’s actually a ninja catbat that’s been stealing my comics. Why does it want my comics? Who could say! Maybe ninja catbats love a good illustrated plotline. How should I know? I’ve never heard of them before in my life!”

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry, look, calm down,” I say, gesturing at the ground. Downy grey feathers are sifting around his sneakers.

“Crap,” he says, taking a steadying breath.

“Look, let’s just go home,” I say. “Maybe just stop taking comics to school for awhile.”

“Yeah like that’s going to happen,” he grumbles.

“Then just don’t put them in your locker, alright?” I sigh. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this and clear our names. I am not cleaning Tailor’s chalkboard until Christmas.”

“Get to the bottom of it how?” Destin asks.

“It was headed right towards the old lumbermill,” I say. “So that’s where we’re going on Saturday.”

“It’s condemned for a reason,” he says nervously, pulling a feather out of his sleeve and tossing it aside.

“All the more reason it could hide there,” I state, starting the walk home.

Oh, right, Destin molts when he’s freaked out. I probably should have mentioned that sooner.

Chapter 7

Jul

“The pancakes are really good,” I said, smiling weakly.

“Thank you,” Bea said, returning to her own food with no further acknowledgment.

Bea and I were eating our breakfast in relative silence again. I was learning to appreciate her cooking but she didn’t seem to be warming up to me any. Though still nervous about going to school - I was only just finishing my first week - I was gaining a small amount of appetite in the mornings, which was for the best. Her disapproval seemed to lessen when I ate her food. It helped that it was actually really good. I’d never had homemade pancakes before - I’d had some decent ones at restaurants, but nothing like this. I sipped on orange juice while she drank black coffee. A plate of bacon sat between us, but I hadn’t touched it. I still couldn’t tell her I was vegetarian.

“Are you making any friends at school?” she asked suddenly, and I nearly choked on a piece of pancake.

“Um...ah...not yet,” I admitted.

“Why not?” she asked bluntly.

“They’re not um...they don’t...”

“Speak up, Juliet.”

“Everyone seems to have groups of friends already,” I said quickly. “It’s, um, not that big a deal.” I mean, I wasn’t in elementary school. But if I was honest with myself, it was a big deal. I had been almost invisible at my old school, and I was so tired of feeling so alone. But what was my other option? Being rejected?

“You need to be more assertive,” Bea stated. “Just introduce yourself to people and start talking. Eventually you’ll find someone with similar interests.”

Easy for you to say, I thought. “I’m...not sure assertive is in my blood,” I laughed weakly.

Bea gave me a strange look. “It is. Just...try to make some nice, normal friends. I know there are some weird kids at that school...what about Hayley Dupree? She’s a normal girl,” she stated, taking a swig of coffee.

Maybe a little too normal for me.

Ms. Miller was late to class. That hadn’t happened before. I had my mother’s blank journal in my bag, and I occupied myself by searching the pages, fiber by fiber, for the hundredth time. It had to mean something. My fingers traced my mother’s imprinted name as the tardy chemistry teacher burst into the door, all smiles and energy. I closed the journal self-consciously.

“End of term science projects,” Ms. Miller declared, grinning from ear to ear. “These are going to be a lot of fun, I promise. I’ve picked out some really interesting ones. They’re a little too complex for just two people, so what we’re going to do is, I’m going to be putting two tables together for these.”

Mac’s hand shot up. “Do we get to pick our own partners?” he asked.

“I’m assigning them,” Ms. Miller stated, “to avoid unfair grouping.” Her eyes flicked briefly to the left side of the room. Was she looking at Hayley’s table, or Kei’s? Or both? “You’ll be working out the kinks of the experiment you’re assigned, and writing a paper on the experiment’s premise and the lessons you learn creating it. And you’ll prepare a booth to showcase your work at the holiday school festival in two weeks to your families and the school board.”

There were a couple of groans from around the room.

“None of that,” Ms. Miller said, folding her arms. “The festival is a big deal. It sounds like a lot of work, I know, but it will be a lot of fun. There’s a party afterwards, after all.” She smiled. “New students may not be aware, but we can put on quite a shindig.”

“Shindig?” I murmured softly, trying out the old-fashioned word.

Next to me, Camille cracked a smile.

“So!” Ms. Miller said. “Assignments. Here we go. Jacques and Holly, you’re with Errol and Raeleene.” She gave them all handouts. “You’ll be looking at supercooling fluids. Brandon and McKenna, you’re with Yu-Tien and Kristoff. You guys get the effects of polarity on a stream of water. Very cool. Juliet and Camille, you’re with Rhys and Kei.”

My heart seized up. What, really? Work on a project with him for the next two weeks? There was no way I was suave enough to get through this...

I blankly accepted the papers from Ms. Miller describing our experiment. Something to do with color changing chemicals. I vaguely noticed that Mac and Destin were paired with Hayley and Amity, and neither Mac nor Hayley looked happy about it. I guess some siblings just didn’t get along.

Kei made a sly little wave in our direction. I flushed. Camille rolled her eyes and focused on the experiment handout, frowning at the list of chemical equations. I tried to do the same. We were making invisible ink? I regarded it with new interest. This could actually be really cool. And it didn’t look too complex, all you had to do was get the ratios right...

“Alright,” Ms. Miller said. “You can group up and start divvying up tasks. You should start working on getting your experiment right - a gorgeous display won’t help you in the least if you fail the basic science.”

Kei pulled over his chair and wedged it between Camille and I. He curled an arm around each of our shoulders. “I love getting to know new people,” he said.

Camille smacked his arm away. Unfazed, he turned his nearly-invisible smile on me. “We haven’t been formally introduced. I’m Kei. Your turn,” he said.

“Jul,” I said, certain I was bright red. My skin just wasn’t quite dark enough to hide a blush, to my misfortune.

“There, that wasn’t so bad. We’re a team now, Jul. You, me, Grumpy, and Grumpy.” He looked up at his friend, approaching the table. “This is the illustrious Rhys Ryan; he would murder me in my sleep if he could, but he can’t, so he’s stuck with me.”

“Ignore him, he has no personal boundaries,” Rhys said flatly, eyes on the supply list.

“What?” Kei protested. “Someone has to be friendly, and it’s not going to be you.”

Kei wasn’t kidding; Rhys did not look happy to be here. He really was startlingly handsome, but he was completely devoid of Kei’s easy charm. Rhys scribbled four quick notes on the list. “Here’s how this is going to go,” he stated with authority, brushing dark hair out of the palest blue eyes I’d ever seen. “I’ll write the paper. You two will make the display and run the booth. Kei will get in our way.”

“Not fair,” Camille objected.

“It’s not fair but it’s realistic,” Rhys said flatly, handing me the list. The look on his face would brook no discussion.

“Don’t listen to him, I’ll be very helpful,” Kei said, drawing an ‘x’ over his heart.

I became aware in my periphery that we were getting scrutiny from two directions. Mac, glancing over his shoulder, seemed just as unhappy with Kei as Rhys was, and - I swallowed nervously - Hayley was glaring daggers at me. Well, Kei’s arm was still around my shoulders. Were they a couple or weren’t they?

I stood up abruptly. “I’ll, um, get the materials,” I said by way of excuse. I went up to the front of the room. The supply cabinet was next to Ms. Miller’s desk. She glanced at me apologetically as I picked through the bottles of chemicals.

“Sorry,” she murmured, low enough that only I could hear. “This wasn’t my idea.”

“Wha...” Did she mean the project, or the grouping? I turned to ask her what she meant, but Mac had come up on my other side.

“Is he bothering you?” he asked. “If he is, you should ask to switch groups. Ms. Miller, can she switch groups?”

“No one is switching groups,” she told him, but a small smile marred her mostly-serious decree. “Get your stuff, go back to your table, and worry about your own project.”

I carried a tray of vials and chemicals back to our table, careful this time not to spill anything. I was going to be calmer now, I told myself. I was going to be cool and collected. It didn’t work at all.

Kei was thumbing through my mother’s blank journal. “Hmm? This is a boring book,” he said.

“Ah!” I reached for it, but he evaded me, fanning the pages like a flipbook.

“I was hoping for some juicy secrets.” He noticed the name embossed inside the cover. “Who’s Kyra?”

“Um, me,” I said, not sure why I was lying.

“Hm, a nom de plume? You’re not very prolific,” he said, handing the journal back. “You might want to work on that.”

“Yes,” I agreed. Anything to return it safe to my bag. I reached for it again, and again he snatched it back.

“Unless...” he mused, picking up one of the vials Camille had mixed.

“Hey!” Camille snapped.

“Kei, please,” I said, “It’s just a blank journal I got.”

“People only defend what’s valuable to them,” he stated, pouring the liquid over the exposed pages. I looked in despair at my mother’s soggy journal. Had he ruined it?

The page color began to change, as if dark ink were bleeding across the paper. For just a second, I thought I saw something. Then the black vanished as the paper dried, back to blank once more.

Kei shrugged. “I guess you were right,” he said, setting the journal in front of me. “Oh well. Hey, I’m hungry. Rhys, have you got any snacks?”

“Do I ever have snacks?” Rhys grumbled.

“Hope never dies,” Kei said. “C’est la vie.” He wandered to the door.

“Class is still in session,” Ms. Miller reprimanded him.

“Snacks,” he shrugged. “I might come back.”

Ms. Miller sat back in her seat, clearly frustrated with him. Mac was looking after him suspiciously.

I slumped back in my seat, depressed at the state of my mother’s journal. The curled pages were tinged with chemical stains. It was ruined. Why would he treat my things so carelessly? Did he think that little of me?

“Oh, calm down,” Rhys said, with a disdainful glance. “He’s only doing it because he’s bored. It has nothing to do with you.”

My heart clenched up. “O-oh...” I said, pretending to resume working on the equation, but I felt numb. His words were like a slap in the face. Even if it was true, it was a cruel thing to say.

Camille spared a glare at Rhys, laid down her pen and pushed out of her chair. She stalked out of the classroom as well.

“Camille...” Ms. Miller warned.

“Bathroom,” she replied tersely, the door clicking loud behind her.

This was just going badly all around. I would at least finish the experiment.

I reached for another vial that Camille had prepared, but my eye caught on the list of instructions. Ammonia. It called for a cotton ball soaked in ammonia to turn the ink visible. I hadn’t smelled anything that strong when Kei had doused the journal. I picked up and sniffed the empty vial, and smelled nothing. I took another from the rack Camille had made - the bitter aroma was strong. Had Kei used the wrong vial?

I glanced at Rhys, but he was preoccupied reading a book. Well, what did I have to lose? I took a cotton ball and dipped it in the ammonia. I opened the journal to a page that was mostly dry, and swiped a corner. Blue-black ink bloomed to life, curling designs across the page. My heart beat fast, and I closed the journal quickly, before anyone else could see.

This was just for me.

Camille

Camille strode down the hallway. Sakamoto was standing in front of another lab door, inspecting the lock. He glanced at her approach and returned his attention to the windowless barrier. “It’s a perfect seal,” he said, running a finger along the door jamb. “Couldn’t squeeze a molecule in there without the ice queen’s permission. What do you think she’s got locked in there?”

She didn’t care about any of his momentary obsessions. “Leave Jul alone,” Camille said. “She hasn’t done anything.”

He whistled. “That was almost a speech, coming from you. Your angst is misplaced, though. I mean no harm, I come in peace,” he said, raising his hands innocently. A tiny smile played on his lips. “I like Jul, I really do. She blushes easily. I like everyone, really. Some people are just more interesting than others. You, for example. Why do you care? She’s a complete stranger to you.”

Because she looks sad, and lost, and alone, and I know what that’s like, Camille thought. But she wasn’t about to go spilling her guts to this idiot. She took a step closer, effortlessly falling into a relaxed stance, just in case.

He noticed, and took interest. “I saw what you did to Hyde the other day,” Sakamoto said.

“You weren’t there.”

“I saw. Poor bastard. Is that your idea of conflict resolution?”

“Yes,” she said simply. What did he mean, he saw? He hadn’t been in the dojo, she was certain of it.

“Dear me,” he said with perfect calm. “That’s too bad. I’m not allowed to fight, you know. I really, really wanted to, but Ikeda just won’t teach me. Said I’m all wrong,” he smiled. “Whatever that means.”

He was being vague on purpose. Camille frowned. “You’re warned,” she said, turning to walk back to the classroom.

“You may have to warn me again,” he called after her.

When she got back to the classroom, Jul was already finishing the experiment. The journal, she’d put away. That was disrespectful, what Sakamoto had done. She bent over her own worksheet and scrawled out a cartoon image of Sakamoto saying ‘I’m an ass,’ and passed it to Jul.

Jul covered a short laugh. “Thanks,” she said, and returned to finishing an equation with a smile.

Kei Sakamoto was the least of her problems. She had remedial English with Tailor at the public library later that day, after school. Gabriel dropped her off in the parking lot. She looked out of the windshield at the giant three-story building. It vaguely reminded her of a European-style castle.

“I’m going to get lost in there,” she complained.

“Oh, Tailor won’t let you get lost,” Gabriel said lightly, leaning over the steering wheel to look at the place as well.

“Why can’t we just do this at school like normal?” Camille asked, slumping back in her seat.

“You do what your teacher asks,” he said. “That’s how it works. However...”

“However what?”

“Well, I know I’m supposed to tell you to listen to everything he says, but...”

“But what?” she demanded, frustrated by his evasion.

“Don’t listen to everything he says,” he shrugged. “Especially not today.”

“More explanation, please.”

“Hmm.” He looked up at the building’s almost-turrets. “Because I can’t go in there.”

“You’re not allowed?” she said, thinking it was strange to be disallowed from a public building.

“No, I can’t. I’m not saying people will be angry if I go in - though they would - I’m saying that I literally can’t enter that building. It would be an embarrassing spectacle to attempt it.”

Camille wasn’t sure how to react. This was new.

“So,” Gabriel continued, “I have a feeling that Tailor will use the opportunity to try to, ah, make me look bad.”

“You always look bad,” Camille said, looking at him askance. “When are you getting a haircut?”

“Speak for yourself, tumbleweed,” he said, tucking his hair behind his ears. “Anyway, just...whatever he says...take it with a grain of salt, alright? He knows a lot of things, and people who know a lot tend to assume they know the things they don’t.”

The sentence twisted around in her head. She thought she knew what he meant. “Awkward phrasing.”

“And please remember to speak English,” Gabriel said.

“They’re English lessons,” she returned, “Of course I speak English.”

“Oh good,” he said. “At least the time’s not wasted. I’ll be back in an hour, kiddo.”

Camille entered the library with trepidation. It wasn’t just the thought of some kind of barrier - whatever kept Gabriel out - possibly blocking her as well. It was also the thought of so many books in English stacked to the ceiling for three stories. It made her think of scuba diving, for some reason. Getting thrown into the ocean, with nothing between you and certain death but some spandex and a tiny air tank, maybe. This was like that. Except instead of an air tank all she had was Tailor. Supposedly. She looked around cautiously. He was nowhere to be seen. He said he’d be here.

Somehow the main floor of the library reminded her a little of a space ship. It had this circular sort of kiosk that served as the main desk in the center, with three main areas branching off. Its roof supported the open curving stairwell up to the second floor. The desk would be the bridge of the ship, she decided, even though she doubted whoever ran the library would be sitting there giving directions to college students who couldn’t find a copy of Beowulf.

She was surprised by how attractive and...large...this library was. She hadn’t expected it from a city this size. Plants trailed down the sides of the stairs and it sounded like there was some kind of fountain on an upper floor. In the children’s section off to the right, two little boys played hide and seek between bookshelves until their mother caught them and scolded them in hushed tones. To the left, it was much quieter. ‘Reference Section’ was imprinted on an overhead sign in bold, blocky letters. That was definitely not where she wanted to be. Maybe Tailor was upstairs...?

An alarm went off, loud and whining. Camille winced, covering her ears, her sensitive ears ringing. She realized she’d just walked through the metal detectors. Of course. This again.

Everyone on the first floor was staring at her. She could feel a flush creeping up her neck. She hoped this wouldn’t be as bad as the airport had been. Explaining to an overzealous American security guard that you couldn’t take off the hunk of metal on your arm, with virtually no English to explain yourself - well, that had been difficult. It had taken all of Gabriel’s charm to get them through customs. But Gabriel couldn’t come in here.

“Excuse me?” said a wiry, elderly woman at the front desk. Her expression was pinched as the alarm ended.

Camille held up her left arm, pointing to it with her right.

“Is that so,” the woman said. “Come here and let me see your bag.”

Camille sighed and heaved her camo bag up on the counter of the front desk. At least she was certain she wasn’t carrying anything suspicious. She just set off metal detectors everywhere she went.

“Kids these days and their hoodlum jewelry,” the old woman muttered, sifting through Camille’s textbooks. “Alright, you can go.”

Camille nodded, and looked around the first floor again, seeing no sign of Tailor.

“Can I help you?” the elderly woman prompted again. From the tone of her voice, it sounded like she wasn’t so much desirous of helping as she was obligated.

“I’m...waiting,” Camille said. “For someone. My teacher.”

The old librarian gave her a sour look, like she suspected she was lying. She went back to stamping book checkout cards, throwing Camille the occasional suspicious glance.

Camille adjusted her messenger bag over her shoulder. This was just awkward. She was considering what excuses she could make for leaving - and setting off the alarm again - when Tailor finally came through the front doors.

“It’s hot as hell out there,” he complained. “How are you still wearing that sweatshirt?”

Camille shrugged. There was no simple way to explain what the hoodie meant to her. Besides, it was quite cool inside the library. Now that she’d been inside for awhile she was glad she had it.

“Fine, fine,” he said. “Let’s go upstairs and claim a table. Afternoon, Mrs. Thrush,” he nodded at the old librarian.

“John Tailor,” she acknowledged, sourly.

“You may want to think about getting a library card,” Tailor said, as they climbed the stairs. The fountain was actually in the center of the spiral, halfway between the first and second floor. Camille fought back the urge to run her hands over the ferns surrounding it as they passed.

“Why?” she asked.

Tailor spared a final glance at the main desk through the open stairwell as they reached the second floor. “This way,” he pointed around the walkway to the section that bore the legend ‘Fiction.’ “Because,” he said, quiet enough that it wouldn’t carry throughout the open, echoing space, “Old lady Edna doesn’t trust anyone without a library card. That’s not to say she will once you do,” he admitted, shrugging.

Camille searched the shelves for the books she’d been asked to collect. She knew the exercise was intended to reinforce her comprehension of the alphabet, but she found herself reading the full titles of many of the volumes Tailor was having her pull. There was certainly a trend.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Dante’s Inferno. The Odyssey. Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

Did he think she wouldn’t notice? Or was he telling her something?

She emerged from the stacks with a pile of books and dropped them on the table in front of Tailor.

She raised an eyebrow. “Kaibutsu?”

“English,” he said, not looking up from whatever he was writing.

“Akuma. Youkai. Bakemono.”

“English, Teague.”

“All of these,” she gestured to the pile of books, racking her brain for the right word. “Monsters.”

Tailor looked up then, briefly, then put a final flourish into his notebook and shut it and sat back. “Monsters, yes. But not all of them had to be.”

He pulled one out of the pile. The cover was faded blue cloth imprinted with a gothic script whose gold embossing had long worn away. “Frankenstein’s monster was created by one man’s hubris – pride,” he said, seeing her face twist at the unfamiliar word, “It never should have existed, but it never asked to. And though it was hideous to behold, it was not innately evil or monstrous. What made it so was the reactions of the humans around it. The acts it committed made it a monster – but it was never given another choice.”

He pulled out another book. “Dr. Jekyll wanted a different life. But rather than making the hard choices to improve the life he had, he invented a completely different person to change into - and ended up destroying his life and the lives of others in the process. And the fairy tales, well...” He regarded the tome of stories but seemed reluctant to leaf through it. “Tale after tale of those who chose wisely, and cautionary tales of those who chose poorly.”

Camille’s chin lifted. “You think I chose poorly.”

“I don’t think you’ve chosen yet,” Tailor said, folding his arms and sitting back again. “Right now all the choices have been made for you. You do what Gabriel says without question, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t sound so proud of that,” he said, grimacing. “Don’t you know how to think for yourself? Do you know the reasons behind anything he tells you to do? That hunk of metal,” he gestured at the bracer, “do you know what it is?”

Camille took her arm off the table self-consciously. “Do you?” she challenged, even as part of her was dying to know.

“I don’t,” he said. “But if I had something that was probably unnatural permanently attached to me, I’d want to know what it was.”

“It keeps me safe,” she said defensively.

“How convenient,” he said. “That might even be true. Gabriel does like to mix his lies to make them go down easier.”

Ire bubbled up. “He warned me,” she said. “About you.”

Tailor laughed at that. “Gabriel? Warned you about me? God, the world has gotten strange. I guess I’m back to where I started. Why the hell am I the only one who can see him for what he is? You live with him, it should be so obvious that he’s using you.”

“He saved me,” Camille insisted.

“Yes, but for what purpose?”

Camille stood up, shouldering her bag. “Are we done?”

Tailor caught her wrist, and she looked down at him, defiant.

“Monsters are made by their choices, not their abilities,” Tailor said. “Whatever you can do - whatever you think you’re capable of - you can help people, or you can help yourself. The choice is yours. Do you know what they call a monster who helps people?”

“Confused monster?” Camille said bitterly.

“A hero,” Tailor said. He handed her a dog-eared copy of A Tale of Two Cities. “Your reading assignment.”

She regarded it with a frown, then stuffed it into her bag. “Now we’re done?”

He sighed, sitting back. “Now we’re done.”

She started to walk away, then stopped, and turned.

“Why can’t Gabriel come in the library?” She couldn’t explain it, but somehow this was what was burning a hole in her perfect resolve.

Tailor regarded her silently for several moments. The hushed sounds of people browsing the aisles of books and typing away on laptops suddenly seemed quite loud.

“There’s a spell on the building,” he said at last. “You can’t get in if you’re immortal.”

Immortal. Camille nodded slowly.

“You don’t look very surprised,” Tailor noted.

She wasn’t. Not really. But hearing someone say it out loud, confirm what she’d always guessed at...

“There’s nothing more dangerous than someone who can’t die,” Tailor said. “They have nothing to lose.” He returned to scribbling in his notebook.

Camille stood silently, still absorbing the information. Nothing to lose, was that it?

“You’re wrong,” she murmured.

“What was that?” Tailor looked up.

“You’re wrong,” she repeated. “He has me.”

Chapter 8

Mac

Ten o’clock on Saturday, and my mind is split. Half of my brain is focused on finding that ninja-thing, glad we’ll finally have the time and daylight to trek into the woods and check out the abandoned lumber mill. The other half of my brain is still at school.

“Did you see him? Did you? He was practically groping her! Isn’t Kei supposed to be dating Hayley?”

“They’re not dating,” Destin says, sullenly. We’re in my kitchen, swiping food for our trek into the woods.

“As far as she’s concerned they are! He’s creepy, and he should just stick to Hayley and leave Jul alone.”

“He’s creepy,” is all Destin admits.

I glance sideways at him. “You’re acting weird.”

“I’m worried we’ll end up doing all the work on the project,” he says evasively.

“Not a chance. Hayley never does her own work when she can con someone else into doing it for her - but that’s probably why Miller put her with us. She knew we’d hold her to a line.” I nod to myself.

That doesn’t seem to comfort him. “I’m also worried about wandering around in a rotted out building in the middle of the woods. Why aren’t we telling anyone where we’re going?”

I grab my backpack and sling it over my shoulder. “Because adventure is its own reward.”

“That...has nothing to do with what I just said.”

“Oh! Grab that last sandwich, I forgot to put it with the rest.”

My sister's voice comes from the hall, right outside. "I think there's some juice leftover from - " Hayley and Amity walk into the kitchen and we freeze, holding an open backpack full of sandwiches.

Hayley raises an eyebrow.

“We’re hungry,” I say.

“The last time you made eight sandwiches, I found a note on your bed saying you were going to the Sahara, and would send me a postcard when you found King Solomon’s treasure. You were also nine. Aren’t you a little old for this?”

“You’re never too old for adventure,” I say dramatically. “And that state trooper totally brought us back in one piece, for the record. Now if you'll excuse us, we'll be - ”

“Scouting for a tree fort?” Hayley says, condescendingly.

"Playing cowboys and Indians?" Amity tacks on.

"Maybe some cops and robbers?"  Hayley laughs. "Oh no, wait, or is it mutants and...whatever it is mutants fight? I wouldn't know, I'm not trapped in kindergarten."

"Survival training," I glare at her.

"For what, DragonCon?" Amity derides, naming Atlanta's yearly comic convention.

Hayley gives her a look of mild horror. "How do you even know what that is? I have an excuse, I live with that," she waves a hand at me.

Amity flounders slightly. "I...heard..."

"Never mind." Hayley gives a longsuffering sigh, and turns back to me. "You know there's no way Mom and Dad are letting you go into the woods. We've never been allowed out there."

"Well then maybe they should have picked a house that wasn't surrounded by woods," I return. "Seems like faulty logic to me." I zip up the bag and back towards the door. "Since we're such a huge blight to your eyes, we'll just get going."

"Did you even ask Mom if it was okay?" Hayley says loudly.

"Keep it down!" I hiss, but I already hear the sound of the office door opening, and my mom comes in, paint flecks in her dark blonde hair and a wide paintbrush still in hand. She has this thing for repainting rooms, but she ends up getting more on herself than the walls.

"What's dramatic now?" she says suspiciously, eying the four of us, one hand on the waist of her painting overalls.

"Hayley, as usual," I say.

"Mac and Destin are sneaking off to the woods," Hayley snaps.

Mom's eyebrows raise, blue paint smudge and all.

“We're not going far, Mom.” I reach for the handle. “We’ll be back by dinner, promise...”

“MacAlister Dupree,” my mom says harshly, and I cringe. “You are not wandering around in those woods. They’re full of snakes and poison ivy, and there’ve been reports of coyotes lately.”

Coyotes? Did that have anything to do with the ninja? “We won’t go out of eyeshot of the house, promise,” I lie.

Mom gives me the narrow appraising look that means she’s reading my mind. I hate that look. “No. The girls and I are going shopping in town, you’ll be coming with us. Destin, you’re free to stay or come with us, of course, but I’m not leaving the two of you here to wander off the instant my car leaves the driveway.” She didn’t have to ask him if his dad knew where he was. It was Saturday. Destin spends more time in our house than his own anyway. Also, his dad isn’t nearly so micro-managing as my mom.

“Aw come on, Mom, we wouldn’t do that!” I protest. We would. We absolutely would. But we’d absolutely be back before she was, so she’d never know.

She takes the backpack from me and starts transferring the sandwiches to the fridge.

“The woods are off limits,” she says firmly. “Always have been, always will be.”

Hayley gives me a smirk and sashays out of the kitchen. Amity glances back at us with an expression I don't quite understand - something like hunger - but quickly follows her out.

I glare at Destin for having the nerve to look relieved. Did he want to collate homework handouts? If we were going to clear our names, we had to find that little...whatever it was!

Alright so, to be fair, I should probably come clean about why the whole possibly-mythological-creature thing didn’t freak me out as much as it should. And, you know, Destin and the feathers.

When I was eight and he was nine, Destin fell off the jungle gym in my backyard. He was mostly fine – some scrapes on his hands and bruises – but there was this pile of feathers all around him. At first I thought maybe he fell on a bird or something, but then he swore me to ultimate secrecy and told me the truth.

He wasn’t human. Not him, or his dad, or his mom, or his sister. Their whole family was some sort of other race. Feral, he said. Apparently being feral sometimes meant you got abilities. Usually it was useful things like strength or speed or really good eyesight. Not Destin – he just molted when you scared him. Bummer of a superpower.

So anyway, that was how I first learned that there’s a lot more going on in the world than most people know. Naturally I wanted to know as much about this stuff as possible – but Destin’s knowledge about his heritage is pretty limited. Apparently his parents’ families immigrated from somewhere far away, to get out of a bad situation, and have wanted to lie low ever since. His dad was pretty vague about it to him, he said, and refused to explain any more. He also claims that if I ever let on that I know anything, his dad will go berserk. I’ve never seen the man so much as curse in traffic, so I don’t know about berserk, but so far I’ve kept my mouth shut and done my part to help Destin hide the feathers. The down jacket was my idea. Pretty clever, right?

Meanwhile, foreign people built a weird school in the middle of some old cotton fields and started collecting kids that give me the heebie jeebies.

“It’s the school,” I say. “I’m serious, there’s something really fishy about the whole situation.”

I’d managed to convince my mom to drop us off by the library downtown while she, Hayley, and Amity go dress shopping. Research is a much better fate than listening to them fight about skirt lengths.

“We’re not actually writing that paper for history, are we,” Destin states, as we cross the street to the large, three story stone edifice that is the Havenwood Public Library. For a town as small as ours, we really outdid ourselves on our library. I like to call it THE CASTLE OF BOOKS. In all caps.

“Who said anything about a history paper?”

“You did, five minutes ago, when you asked your mom to take us to the library.”

I make a dismissive sound. “I wrote that already.”

“Well I haven’t.”

“Oh come on, it’s Civil War crap, it took like ten minutes.”

“It’s a five page paper, how do you do that?”

“I’ll give you my notes. Come onnnn, don’t you want to know what’s going on here? We’re clearly in the middle of some crazy mythological stuff, and we have got to figure out some way to clear our names. It’s bad enough that guys like Hyde and Chase want to beat us up, we don’t need the principal for an enemy. You think writing a bad paper for Caldwell is a problem? Umino is scary, dude.”

“Oh alright,” he sighs. “But if my dad finds out we’re doing any of this...”

“Yes!” I exclaim. How he could be so apathetic about his own origins is a mystery to me. If it was me, I’d want to know. “Okay so I’m thinking we start with property records. I mean there has to be a reason why they went to all this effort to build on that particular piece of land – ”

“Kid. Hey, kid.”

There’s a woman sitting on a bench in front of the library, presumably enjoying the shade of the awning. She can’t be comfortable in that much leather – it’s scuffed and stained and her mid-length hair is tangled and unkept. My first assumption is that she’s homeless.

“V’you got a library card?” she asks in a distinct British accent.

“Uh...yeah?” I say, taken off-guard by the question.

The woman holds up a twenty dollar bill. “Be a mate and check something out for me. I’ll make it worth your while.”

“It’s a public library,” I state slowly, not sure she’s all there. “You can check it out yourself.”

“I’m not from around here,” she grins, and it’s unsettling. “That makes things complicated and I’m in a bit of a hurry. Do you want the money or not?”

Something about her pings my creep-o-meter. I’m not sure if it’s the weird request, the squiggly red tattoos running down one side of her neck, or the smell of alcohol that rolls off her. Probably all of the above.

“Yeah sorry, we’re in a hurry too, so uh...no thanks,” I say, and we shuffle past her into the library.

“Dustin Heron,” Edna Thrush says sharply.

Destin twitches. We were trying to sneak past the library’s front desk, but the old lady is like a hawk. A tiny, wrinkled hawk. Or as Destin likes to call her, a troll.

“It’s Destin, ma’am,” he say sheepishly. Destin and I have been going to the library our whole lives, and she always gets his name wrong.

“Whatever unusual name your parents decided to give you, you still owe twenty-two thirty for that late return.”

“I’ll um, I’ll have it next weekend,” he offers.

“You’ll have it now, or you’ll not go a step further. MacAlister Dupree,” she greets me with absolutely zero warmth. Edna the Troll has this thing where she only addresses people by their full names.

“Afternoon, ma’am,” I say, on guard. I’m trying to remember if I owe the library anything. I sure hope not.

Fun sidebar about how Destin got his name. Usually when people ask him about it, he tells them he’s named after a city in Florida where his family used to take vacations. The truth is a little more...pink. See, Destin’s parents were positive they were having twin girls. Like, 100% positive. They had everything all decorated, a closet full of frilly matching dresses, and names already picked out. Angela and Destiny. Their names were embroidered and stamped on everything. Serious. So you can imagine their distress when Destin turned out to be uh, not a girl. Basically they scratched the ‘y’ off most of the stuff and just decided not to waste all the baby presents – they got him some legitimate boy clothes for going out and stuff, but most of Destin’s baby clothes were still pink.

The pictures are hilarious.

Destin turns out his pockets. He has all of three dollars. “Uh...” he stalls, looking at me. I shrug. I’d left all my money at home.

“Um...uh...just a second,” he says, “be right back.” Swiftly, he exits the library and swiftly he returns. He hands the Troll a rumpled twenty dollar bill.

“You didn’t,” I mutter under my breath.

He colors, but says nothing.

“Turn in your books on time, and this won’t happen,” she says to Destin, like she’s teaching him a lesson. The old lady takes book fines a little too seriously if you ask me. All I want to do is get into the reference section and dig out some answers. It’s a shame Ms. Bea isn’t working the front desk – she’d have never even mentioned the fine. Well, she’d maybe mention it, as a reminder, but the old lady wouldn’t treat Destin like a felon, that’s for sure.

Once we’re finally given freedom to pass the front desk, we make our way to the elevator. The place is dead silent. That’s the only thing I dislike about libraries – the oppressive quiet. Well, that, and how musty the books smell. And the mean librarians. And how hard it is to find what you want most of the time.

Alright, so I’m not the world’s biggest fan of libraries. But they have their use. You can find the craziest stuff on the shelves sometimes. That’s the one big difference between going to the library and doing an internet search. Yes, the library is a lot slower, but you have a much greater chance of stumbling across stuff you’d never have thought of otherwise. Plus it’s kind of cool how seriously old some of the books are – I like thinking about who else has read them before me, and why.

“You shouldn’t have done that, dude,” I say. “That tattoo lady is bad voodoo.”

“Voodoo?” Destin frowns. “Did you want to get into the library today or not? It’s not a big deal, it’s just checking out a book.”

“What book, exactly? And you know that if she steals it, you’re going to be the one owing the library. Again. So, vicious cycle.”

“She asked for the Grimm on the third floor,” he replies, confused. “So Grimm’s Fairy Tales, I guess. Do they even keep kids’ books on the third floor?”

“Kids’ stuff is all on first,” I confirm, frowning. “Third is all the stuff nobody touches, and librarian offices.”

“Stuff nobody touches?”

“Rare books and public records,” I say, punching the button for the elevator. “Which is where we were going anyway. So how’s that for more coincidences?”

“Take a look at this,” I say, showing him an old register of land deeds and titles. “Most of the property in the area before 1920 belonged to the Etheridges.”

“Never heard of them,” Destin says, not looking up.

“Yeah, it’s weird, right? But there’s this whole list at the turn of the century, and it’s Etheridge, Etheridge, Etheridge, oh hey Graham, that must be Jul’s house, Etheridge, Etheridge...but then...” I reach over and open a second ledger and lay it on top of his. He looks up, annoyed at being interrupted.

“Twenty years later, no more Etheridges,” I point out, running a finger down the list. “All gone. Oh hey, MacAlister,” I say, spotting my name. “And...another MacAlister. And...”

Destin’s annoyance fades as he read the list.

“Mac,” he says, in that voice that means I’ve found something enormous.

I can’t believe it. The 1920 list is peppered with my name. It looked like all the Etheridge properties had been replaced with MacAlister.

“Mac,” Destin says. “Who were you named after?”

“My...my mom’s maiden name is MacAlister,” I say carefully.

Suddenly he snatches a book out of the stack he’d been looking over. “I didn’t think...it didn’t seem like anything, but...” He flips through pages ‘til he makes a sound of recognition and stabs his finger onto the page.

“MacAlister,” he says. “Five years ago, a property off of Stonewall Road was turned over to the city in someone’s will. The original owner was an...” his eyes meet mine. “Etheridge MacAlister.”

“Seriously?” I exclaim, then clap my hand over my mouth when I receive several dirty looks from the other people around us.

“Seriously?” I repeat in a shocked whisper.

“Dude, I’d bet my comic money that’s the exact same property the school was built on.”

I grin. “Let’s see what else this guy’s got.”

“Here it is,” Destin says, turning his computer screen towards mine.

We’ve relocated to the library’s computer lab, since our research has taken a different turn. One thing the internet really excels at - you know, besides cats - is genealogies.

“The Etheridge family tree officially dies out in 1918,” Destin says. “No more Etheridges. Or so it seems. Really what happened is that 1918 is when the last male heir died, leaving everything to a daughter, Marianne, who had married a dude named Thomas MacAlister.” He sits back, looking pleased with himself. “All the property fell to her, and then her son, Etheridge MacAlister. That’s when the names on the deeds changed. And since then, it’s been divvied up amongst their numerous progeny.”

“Then how come I don’t know about any of this? I ought to know if I’m the heir to some huge fortune, dude.”

“I didn’t say you were,” Destin points out. “There are a lot of MacAlisters. Look.” He gestures at the large branching swath of MacAlisters leading into current times. “And people don’t adhere to the ‘everything to the firstborn son’ mentality anymore, it’s not like you’re in line for a crown. This is just a bunch of land. Or it used to be. A lot of it’s been sold by now. It’s been divided and re-divided among families. And if you think about it, you probably do have some sort of inheritance from all of this.”

“How do you mean?”

He looks uncomfortable. “How much do you think your dad really makes?”

I shrug. “A lot.”

“Look, don’t take this the wrong way...but my dad is higher in the company than yours. I’m pretty sure he’s making more money. So how come your mom goes shopping every weekend?”

“Magic,” I say. “And by magic, I mean credit cards.”

“I’d bet my original Venture Bros. line art that your mom is a trust fund baby,” Destin says.

“You’re really in a betting mood today,” I say.

He grins sheepishly.

But when I think about what he said, it sounds logical. If Mr. Heron isn’t making a whole lot, and my dad is lower in the company, he can’t be making much more. But Destin is right, my mom still takes Hayley to fancy salons, gets her top-of-the-line SUV detailed weekly, and comes home with a bag of shoes more nights than not.

“You could ask her about it,” Destin says.

“Ask my mom about money?” I recoil. “If you won’t talk to your dad about...you know...there’s no way in hell I’m talking to my mom about money. Last time I asked for a pair of movie tickets she told me how she fought off a mountain lion with a can opener.”

“That sounds like an exaggeration,” Destin says.

“For twenty bucks there never is happiness.”

“That reminds me...I need to find that book before the tattoo lady comes in and yells at me or something,” Destin says.

I notice Ms. Bea coming out of her office and stand up. “She’ll know where it is for sure,” I say, crossing over to her.

“Mac!” he hisses after me. “I don’t think this is - ”

But I’m already standing in front of her, saying “Hey Ms. Bea!”

“Mac,” she smiles at me. “What can I do for you?”

I know she’s our best bet for finding this thing quickly. Grey hair or not, Ms. Bea’s memory is insane. “So, I know this is kind of a weird question, but bear with me because Destin stupidly made a deal with someone...do you guys have a copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales up here?”

Confusion bends her eyebrows. “We have two or three downstairs.”

“No, up here, on this floor.”

“She was very specific,” Destin says.

“She?”

I want to smack him. “A woman outside told us there was a special copy of it on this floor. We were just wondering if it was true,” I say quickly. No sense in getting Dez in trouble if the book doesn’t even exist.

Suddenly, Ms. Bea’s gaze sharpens. “What woman? What did she look like?”

I’m taken aback by her intensity. “Really messy, all in leather, tattoos – ”

Then the old lady swears, and Destin and I rock back. I didn’t think little old ladies did that. “You didn’t take anything from her, did you?”

“No, why would we steal from a random creepy lady?”

Destin swallows. “She gave me a twenty.”

Bea grabs him by the shoulder and gives him a little shake. “Did you bring it in the building?”

“I – I – I paid my book fines with it,” he stammers.

She speeds away and down the stairs with the pace of someone much younger. We blink at each other for a beat, and then rush after her. What the hell is going on?

By the time we get to the front desk, Bea is breaking into the cash register with a manager’s key. As she opens it, one of the bills on top starts to sizzle. She swears again, snatching it out of the drawer and stomping it out on the ground. Cinders waft around her shoe and die.

“Beatrix?” Edna the Troll gasps.

Ms. Bea lifts her shoe with apprehension. Nothing remains but a small amount of ash on the tile. She lets out a big sigh, seeming to collapse back into herself. “It’s fine. For now, it’s fine. I got her mark before it spread. I don’t think she’s serious, yet.”

Destin and I trade a look. Something is totally going on around here, and it’s starting to feel like all the adults are in on it.

Ms. Bea picks up the telephone on the desk and dials. “Hello Abbey? Bea Graham. Did you leave the boys at the library? I’d like you to come back and pick them up. No, they haven’t done anything,” she says into the phone to my mother, but her expression facing us says the opposite. “There’s just been a small security incident here and I’d feel better if they were elsewhere for the time being. Yes. Yes, of course. Thank you.” She hangs up the phone and glares at us directly. She points at the chairs behind the front desk. “Sit. There,” she says, “Until your mother comes to get you.”

“What did we do wrong?” I ask. “I don’t understand.”

“You listen to me boys,” she says gravely. “For God’s sake, don’t ever talk to that woman again. Don’t take anything from her, and don’t let her touch anything of yours. Mothers tell their children not to talk to strangers for a reason,” she states. With an order to the Troll to not let us move until claimed, she begins her slow, arthritic climb back up the stairs, an old lady once more.

Maybe if they told us why, it would stick, I think.

Chapter 9

Jul

earlier that day

“I’m working at the library this afternoon, so dinner may be a bit late,” Bea said.

It was Saturday, and I was curled up on the couch with my history book, earmarking passages for the paper due Monday. I didn’t like the Civil War era. Or any of the war eras, really. I wanted to get to the parts of history where people were inventing things and improving lives, not mowing them down.

Bea shrugged into a light jacket. It was finally getting cool enough for that, and I was glad. November had no business being flip-flop weather, as it had been last week. “If you need anything, call the library,” she said.

“I remember,” I said. She seemed reluctant when she had to leave me alone. I wasn’t sure if that meant she was worried about me, or if she was worried I’d break her house. “I’m just working on a paper,” I said.

“Good.” She went to the front door, and hesitated. “...How are your grades?”

This was the one thing I could be positive about, so I smiled. “Great. I should make the honor roll. Ms. Miller thinks I could take AP chemistry next year.”

“Oh,” she said. “That’s good. Well...keep up the good work.”

The instant she left the house I pulled my mother’s journal out from under my textbook. I’d treated all the pages with ammonia, and I’d been poring over it every night, trying to decipher it. There was very little in it that was actually written down - most of it was drawn out. I flipped through pages of sketches of castles, thrones, and elaborate jewelry. There were sketches of people, with bewildering notes. Young drawings of my father, carefully inked. He was smiling, which I had never seen him do much of. One of Charlotte, haphazardly penned in a corner, noted boring. Several tagged John, drawn in harsh, jagged lines, as if in anger. Problem or solution? was noted on the page.

The one that particularly stood out - the one I kept coming back to - seemed to be a map of the orchard out back. There were very realistic sketches of apples in the margin, so I was assuming it wasn’t just a random piece of forest. On the facing page was an even more beautiful drawing of an apple tree, that mirrored one in miniature on the map. With Bea out of the house for several hours, I’d decided now was the time to try to find it. I had considered going out at night, but the forest in the dark was more than a little terrifying to me, so that impulse had quickly died.

Nevertheless, it was a grey day, overcast and with a hint of a coming chill. I pulled the hood of my jacket up around my ears and held open the journal. There was a structure marked Graham House on the bottom edge of the map. Supposedly I just went forward in a straight line, and I would find the tree. I steeled myself and started the trek through the grove. The trees closest to the house were tame and orderly, if a little overgrown, and mostly bore pecans. As I progressed deeper into the treeline, though, it began to look as if the forest were trying to reclaim the land, grafting onto the orchard with resolution.

A raindrop hit the side of my nose. I looked up. The sky had turned a deeper grey and I hadn’t even noticed. I zipped the journal into the interior of my jacket. The leaves above me took up a chorus I could almost hear words to.

I hurried between the gnarled tree trunks, hoping to not get caught in a sudden downpour. You would think a New Yorker would always have an umbrella handy, but someone had told me the south wasn’t like that and so mine was buried at the bottom of a bag in my closet. I felt exposed without it. Dead leaves crunched under my feet and I heard what might have been a squirrel leaping across branches overhead. I caught my breath for a moment under what appeared to be another of my grandmother’s pecan trees, judging by the shell casings scattered around the base. I’d seen pecans before, but never in their shells. I was surprised by how pretty they were – smooth and pale with little stripes.

Then came a whoosh that usually preceded a subway train – but this time it was followed by a downpour. I pushed away from the pecan tree, going further into the orchard. My new goal was to find something with a large enough canopy to shelter me.

In the early twilight that the clouds brought, I could no longer see very far into the distance. Not that I’d been able to see terribly far through the trees to begin with. The rain was beginning to disorient me, but I didn’t want to pull out the journal for fear of the rain blurring the drawings.

Then I saw it, looming ahead of me – a huge tree with apples still clinging to its boughs. I hurried forward and huddled against the trunk and breathed a sigh of relief. It was almost completely dry here. I tried to peer in the direction of the house, but saw only a haze. The earth was still warm from the past few days, so it had evaporated most of the rain and spit it back up already, making it almost foggy.

I leaned back against the trunk and stared up into the boughs of the tree. Was this it? I didn’t think apple trees grew this rotund - the others around certainly were more spindly. This one was almost like an oak tree that happened to have fruit attached to it - it had to be at least five feet in diameter.

I brought the journal out from the dry interior of my jacket and checked the tree against the sketch. Yes, the one my mother had drawn was just like this. My heart beat faster, even as rain poured around me. Was she trying to tell me something? A tiny heart had been drawn onto the sketch. I closed it and stowed it back in my jacket. It had to be here on the real tree as well.

I circled the tree, carefully inspecting the bark as I stepped over its knobbly roots.

There. I spotted it. I laughed out loud. It was real. There, carved into the bark, as with a pen knife, was a heart. Inside were initials - SG and KH. I wanted to cry. This was proof, real, tangible proof, that my parents had been in love. It was like proof that I existed. I hadn’t known I’d wanted proof of that, but at this moment, it was indescribably comforting.

Did I dare to hope that my mother had left the journal just for me, to lead me to her after all this time? I didn’t know why she’d left. I didn’t know if she’d wanted to take me with her or not. Maybe she had, maybe Dad hadn’t let her. What if my real home was with her, wherever she was?

Deep down, I always thought I would see her one day. That somehow, I’d get a phone call, or a letter, or just an address. And I would stand in front of some foreign door, both terrified of and desperate for what awaited on the other side.

I placed my hand over the heart, imagining the tree as a door, and the carved initials as the bell. Rain pattered softly. Who’s there? I imagined her saying.

“It’s me,” I murmured, with my forehead on the bark. “Can I come in?”

I fell forward. A section of the bark had swung inward, throwing me off balance. On my hands and knees, I looked up in shock. There, inside the hollow of the trunk, stood a mirror.

The mirror stood a little taller than me, so it had to be close to six feet. The frame was a delicate design of twining thorny vines and roses in silver. And there was not a spec of dirt anywhere on it – no dust or corrosion of any kind. The glass of the mirror was absolutely pristine. It seemed to glow.

I climbed back to my feet, gaping at it in wonder. I saw my reflection – my hair sticking to the sides of my face, rain dripping from my chin and my fingers – as I reached to touch the delicate silver branches and flowers that arched from the mirror’s frame. Who in their right mind would hide something this beautiful? I thought. Is this what my mother wanted me to find?

Then my finger pricked on something and I pulled back, shaking my hand reflexively. It must have been one of the thorns. A drop of my blood hit the mirror.

Against all laws of logic and nature, the surface of the mirror rippled on the droplet’s impact, waves undulating out to the mirror’s rim. The surface began to darken and dim. It seemed to dissolve, until I was no longer looking at a mirror, but a silver-rimmed hole in the back of the trunk. But it did not show the orchard on the opposite side. I beheld through the rose frame a darkened stairwell, leading upward.

It did not even occur to me to step away. I reached out my arm, testing to see if the glass was really gone or if it was an illusion. My hand passed right through, and I swear it even felt cooler on the other side. I pulled my hand back and stared at it, marveling. I had to. I had to go. Zipping the journal safely into my jacket once again, I stepped over the mirror’s rim into the stairwell. I shivered as I passed through, a tingle running through my nervous system that faded as my feet found purchase on the stone floor.

It was noticeably cooler, like I was somehow underground. Or maybe it was the stone walls - though one section at the base of the landing was a solid sheet of iron. I could be in a castle for all I knew. My heart quivered, both terrified and ecstatic. I began to climb, my steps echoing up the spiral. Iron-and-glass oil lamps were nestled in recesses in the stone, casting strange shadows around the tight corners. Strangely, some of the sections of stone were glued together with what seemed to be glass instead of regular mortar – like the walls had veins of glass. And I climbed.

I must have ascended at least four or five stories, maybe more, before I reached a landing with a curtain. I pushed it aside and blinked at the sudden brightness. I shielded my eyes with one hand and stepped forward in wonder.

Sunlight streamed through an open arch directly ahead of me, where a lush garden awaited. To my left and right were two other curtained arches. I stood in a foyer made of white bricks, maybe marble or alabaster.

“Hello?” I called instinctively. “Hello, is anyone here? I don’t mean to intrude, I just sort of...walked in...” I sort of hoped no one answered. I mean, there was no social protocol for this kind of situation. What would I say? Oh, I do apologize, I simply had to step into this mirror I found that turned into a portal to your home. I shook my head. Then again... I thought of my mother, and tried not to get my hopes up.

But the place was silent, not even a breeze touching the garden up ahead.

I should leave, I thought. I don’t belong here. But despite the words in my head, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I did somehow belong here – that I had every right to be here. That I was home. I swept aside the lefthand curtain.

I beheld an empty gothic cathedral sanctuary, every inch made of dark stone, with high vaulted ceilings and support pillars, but no furnishings of any kind. No chair, pews, benches, tables – just cold stone floor, pillars, and a series of unlit colored glass lamps hanging by long chains from the ceiling. The only other adornment was the surplus of stained glass windows that populated every wall.

And what magnificent windows they were. I stepped forward, dazzled. Wherever I was, it must be bright and sunny outside, because the light was streaming through the carefully assembled shards of colored glass. It made the darker glass smolder in rich royal blues, blood crimson, and amethyst purple, and it made the pale colors almost blinding. And then, as I studied each pane individually, I began to realize that they were all connected, almost as if they told two sides of the same story, with the giant pane at the front of the sanctuary showing the point where the stories intersected.

The furthest left pane showed a man at a brookside. The next pane showed him meeting a fox – the fox seemed to be talking to him, and stood on its hind legs. It reminded me of an illustration I’d seen in a children’s book once.

The far right hand pane showed a woman – or was it a girl? The figure was too small to be sure – kneeling in a vast field of flowers. The next pane showed a wolf in the bushes watching her.

They were beautiful, and excited to see what the rest of this place held, I went back through the partition into the foyer, and crossed to the other curtained room.

When I pushed the fabric aside, my breath caught in my throat.

Books. Ladders of books. Towers of books. Sliding ladders leading to more tiers of books. Tables with piles of books heaped on them. There were couches upholstered in heavy fabric nestled in the crooks of shelves for browsing. Lamps of all shapes and sizes hung from the ceiling, stood in random corners, and topped tables and shelves. It was magnificent, and couldn’t be the slightest bit organized, and made me happier than anything in years. It even smelled right – like paper and ink and worn wood and dust and light and shadow. But most of all, possibility.

Oh, I would be coming back here, all right.

Heart lightening, I skipped out to the garden. There were fruit trees here, though I couldn’t name what they bore. They were strange, jewel-colored, and similar to plums, if plums were scarlet or blue or orange. The flowers that grew at their bases were more recognizable - daffodils, irises, and violets, among others. Various colors of rose bushes made hedges and ivy climbed over the garden wall, too high for me to see beyond. What could be on the other side?

My happy revelry was disrupted by a noise.

I heard steps on the stone floor in the entranceway and ducked to the side of the garden wall, out of sight of the atrium. Could it be the owner? Would they be angry that I’d found this place? Oh god...anyone who owned something like this – who knew what they could do to me?

Please don’t come outside, just grab a book and go, please, I silently begged, even as I thought, Mother?

But the steps on the stone didn’t turn to the library. Instead they turned the opposite direction, and went into the sanctuary. The echo became louder in the huge space.

But that room is empty, I wondered, my heart still pounding in my chest. What could they want in there?

The footsteps had ceased and there was silence for several moments. In the absence of sound, I could swear I heard my own heartbeat. Who was it? Was it even a person? What else could exist, if something like this Tower did?

Then, the faint tinkling of glass filled the silence. I blinked. Glass. The lamps in the ceiling? What could be going on in there? My curiosity overrode my fear and I crept along the side of the wall further into the garden, aiming for one of the stained glass windows that overlooked it. I could peek in without being seen, surely...

There was a human-shaped figure beyond the dark glass, standing perfectly still in the center of the sanctuary with one hand outstretched, palm forward. The shadows of the lamps overhead were swinging as if there was a mild breeze running through the place. I squinted from my carefully angled vantage. The glass was too dark...it was hard to make out what he was doing – it looked like a man, I decided, with some disappointment. His head was bowed, and while the rest of him remained still, his outstretched arm swung to the far side of the sanctuary. The colors in the glass there began to change, and the fragments themselves took on new shapes, their edges twisting and elongating, the images there making a new, active scene.

I watched with rapt attention. He didn’t seem to be saying anything. He didn’t even seem to be looking at what he was doing. His fingers twisted in a gesture and the shapes of glass of the man at a brook ordered themselves into a horse and rider, the beast impatiently pawing at the ground with its hooves. He raised his right arm in front of him, towards the giant pane at the front of the sanctuary, and the glass there shifted to take on the scene of a castle on a hill, a stylized sun shining brightly at the top of the large circular pane. He swung his left arm around and the rider spurred the horse into action. Following the movement of his hand, the horseman galloped across all the panes on the left side of the room, disappearing when he hit the edge of a pane and reappearing in the next. His hands came together and the rider appeared at the base of the hill ready to charge towards the castle.

He flicked up his left hand in a halting gesture, and the window froze in place, just as the horse reared back. It was a beautiful frame, stunning in its color, use of motion, and the tangible sense of the rider’s determination. The man’s methods struck me as familiar. It was...not exactly like photography...more than that...it was almost like directing, or composing – that was it – he was composing! But with something other than sound...how did he do it? And he never looked up.

His right arm stretched out to the glass before me and I flinched away, reflexively hiding behind the wall. A glance told me the window I had been looking through was morphing, just as the pane with the rider had originally. It was becoming an indoor scene, the hue of the glass lightening. I wondered if his head was still down, if I could see him more clearly now. Chancing it, I crouched by the corner of the window and peered over the sill as the colors were still setting. The scene was a woman knitting at a window, and through the pale glass that formed her white dress I studied the composer. He was tall, but he didn’t look as old as I’d originally assumed. He wore faded jeans and a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing off lightly muscled forearms. His dark hair was just long enough to obscure his down-turned face at this angle, and I was embarrassed when my heart gave an awkward lurch. He was kind of hot.

The woman in her pane held her needle and cloth with a wistful expression, paying more attention to the sky out her window than her knitting.

“No,” he murmured, the first sound I’d heard from him, and his head twisted in annoyance but still didn’t rise, though I was ready to duck if he did. His fingers flexed and the woman’s hair changed color from brown to a vibrant red. It grew long and curly, and kept growing till it pooled around her feet. His fingers flexed again, freezing her in place like he’d done to the rider.

He sighed, and his hands dropped, going to smooth his hair back as he looked up finally. I dropped silently, my hand over my mouth, kneeling below the sill with my heart pounding, but I was sure he hadn’t seen me. He had been looking at the giant pane of the castle and the rider. No, my face was scarlet because I had recognized him in that brief moment before I hid. It was Rhys, Kei’s handsome, taciturn friend.

I heard the sound of his probably overpriced loafers pacing around the sanctuary and I pressed myself tighter against the wall, as if that would somehow help. My mind raced. Rhys? What the hell? Did he own this place? Did he...a new thought crossed my mind, in light of what he’d just done, did he build it? I’d never expected to find someone I actually knew in the Tower. But I had just seen Rhys reassemble a stained glass window with a thought and a gesture.

On the other hand, if he could do all that, why hadn’t he sensed my presence, or whatever? If he was made of magic – if the Tower was made of his own magic, wouldn’t he have like some kind of intruder detection system? My brows knitted. I didn’t know how these things worked, exactly, but if I could...do that...I would.

I heard the crash of glass from somewhere in the sanctuary. Rhys made a noise of frustration that echoed in the huge, empty space. I risked it and peered stealthily over the ledge again.

“Every time,” he grumbled, seemingly to no one, running his hands through his hair as he paced. “Every time it falls apart.”

The panes of forests and fields that the rider had passed through on the left side of the room had crumbled, littering the stone floor with shards of glass. Rhys inspected his hand. I thought I saw electricity spark between his fingertips.

“What’s the point?” he yelled, and the pane with the castle burst outward, as if from a shockwave.

I cringed, pressing myself against the wall like I could melt into it. What exactly did I sit next to in science class?

“Master Ryan,” I heard another voice say, echoing in the room now. “You’re in high spirits today, sir.” Where was it coming from? I didn’t see anyone else in the room.

“Spare me,” Rhys said. “Every effort I make is wasted. This place is too unstable.”

“Perhaps with more practice,” the voice said.

I craned my neck, trying to get a better angle and still stay out of sight. Rhys was looking towards the door when he spoke, but that side of the room was out of my field of vision. Had someone else come in with him? There was a high-pitched sound that made my ears ring. I assumed it was residual from the panes bursting.

“I have practiced, Porter, you know that. You’ve seen me here almost every day for a year and have I improved at all?”

“You have, sir,” the voice said.

“Yeah, well, it falls apart anyway,” he snapped. “Going through all those records by myself is taking way too much time.”

“I’m afraid I - ”

“Cannot help me, I know,” Rhys cut the voice off.

The faint high-pitched sound was getting louder. I blinked, feeling it all the way in my optical nerves. It was distracting me from the conversation inside, and I had to learn more. I needed to understand what this place was. Rhys had answers, but I wasn’t sure he’d be very happy to see me...

A shrill crack. I looked up. A fracture ran the length of the window above me, threatening to snap the glass woman in half. It cracked again, branching like lightning across her face. I curled up just in time. The window shattered, raining glass all around me. I yelped as I felt some of the sharp pieces graze my fingers.

“What was that?” Rhys demanded.

“Perhaps I should have mentioned sooner,” the voice said placidly, “we have a visitor.”

Reflexively, I bolted through the garden, into the foyer. Rhys was already blocking the exit to the stairwell, and tendrils of glass were creeping across the door to the library. Panicked, I ducked into the sanctuary. I immediately regretted it, but where else would I have gone?

“Porter!” Rhys called. “Stop her!”

“I cannot,” said the placid, hollow voice, echoing through the sanctuary. I spun, looking for the source. A small mirror, on the wall by the door, showed a bleary, ghostly face.

“What do you mean, you can’t?” Rhys demanded, entering the doorway.

“I cannot,” the mirror repeated.

With a low growl of frustration, Rhys made a grasping gesture with one hand. I shrieked as I nearly lost my balance - tendrils of glass had snaked up from the floor, trying to curl around my legs to root me to floor. I danced out of the way and made a break for the door, pushing past Rhys.

“Hold it!” he shouted angrily, but I wasn’t staying for more. I flew down the stairs, and leapt out of the mirror at the base. I slammed the bark hatch shut, catching my breath for the barest moment, leaned against the tree. I patted my jacket, and froze.

I’d dropped my mother’s journal. It must have fallen out somewhere in the Tower. But if I went back inside, Rhys would...

Chest tight, I ran back to the house. It was still raining, and I was soaked by the time I got to the back door. I couldn’t believe I’d lost it.

I took a hot shower, to chase away the chill of the rain, and to hide the puffiness of my eyes. What could I do? How was I supposed to get the journal back? Rhys clearly had control of the Tower, and I saw no way that I could best him. Oh god, I thought, almost dropping my bottle of shampoo. I had to see him at school. On Monday. He was clearly some kind of...magic person...I didn’t know! It was all so weird. Was I supposed to pretend I’d never seen the Tower? Pretend I hadn’t seen him break apart a window with a thought and a gesture? I wasn’t sure if I could. When did life get so thoroughly complicated? All I wanted was a connection to my mother. A way to go home. With every effort I made, it seemed to get further and further away.

When I came downstairs, Bea had already come home and finished dinner. Silently, I sat down at the table, anticipating another awkward meal.

Bea set a plate in front of me that held green beans, carrots, roasted potatoes, and a roll. It was notably absent of the porkchop or cubesteak or fried chicken that usually accompanied every meal, and I looked up at her. The question must have been plain on my face.

“Tell the truth,” she said. “You’re one of those vegetable people, aren’t you.”

I colored. “Well, yes.”

She sighed. “You could have said. I’m not in the habit of wasting food. I won’t get upset if you tell me honestly you don’t like something. I’d rather make food that gets eaten. Alright?”

I blinked. She was...I think she was actually trying to be nice. My heart warmed. “Yes, ma’am,” I said, earnestly, “thank you, this looks really good.”

“It’s just vegetables,” she said, mollified.

“Covered in butter,” I said, smiling.

“That’s called compromise, Juliet,” she said, and I thought I saw a hint of a smirk.

Maybe I had her all wrong. Maybe I had home all wrong. I ate my plate of vegetables covered in butter, and at least for tonight, I was happy.

Chapter 10

Camille

At school Monday morning, Camille found herself the recipient of more than her usual allotment of attention.

She slid into her desk at the front of Tailor’s classroom and was immediately approached by someone who’d never addressed her directly before.

“Where’s Graham?” Rhys Ryan demanded. He stood over her, pale eyes narrowed, arms folded. He could have been handsome, she supposed, if it weren’t for his permanent look of superiority. And his clothes were too clean and pressed, like he’d stepped out of a magazine. Probably hadn’t climbed a tree or a fence in his life.

Camille shrugged. What made him assume she knew Jul’s whereabouts?

“She called in sick,” Sakamoto said, coming in from the hall. He twirled an apple deftly with the fingers of one hand.

“How do you know that?” Ryan asked, then shook his head in annoyance. “Never mind.”

“Oooh, are you worried about her?” Sakamoto asked, following him to their usual seats in the back of the room. “Is it true love? We could double date. People would talk.”

“Is there a soap opera that lives in your brain?” Ryan snapped.

“So that’s a yes. How do you feel about bowling?”

“You are a moron.”

“Mini golf?”

Camille blocked out their continuing argument. Any event that kept Sakamoto away from her was good, as far as she was concerned.

She was disappointed that the other girl was away, though. Gabriel had said to keep an eye on her, and besides that, they needed to figure out when they were going to put together this lame experiment display for the school festival. They only had two weeks to get it in order, and Camille wasn’t exactly an expert on group dynamics. She hoped Jul returned soon so that she wouldn’t have to manage both boys on her own.

By the time chemistry came around, though, Sakamoto’s attention had wandered again.

He sat down next to her in Jul’s empty chair. “I miss Jul. This is boring. Hey, are you ticklish?”

“No,” she said flatly. She would end his life if he tried anything.

“Scary scary,” he said. “So the metal arm thing, I think I’ve got it figured out. You’re actually a cyborg, am I right?”

She tried to ignore him, like Ryan seemed to. Maybe she needed to learn how to hide behind a book like he did. She was already down Jul’s help - all the equations in science class were hard enough without Sakamoto being even more ADD than usual.

“Robots are antisocial, you’re antisocial,” he went on, oblivious. “Plus it would explain how freakishly strong you are.”

What? Her eyes zipped to him, but he just wore that same small, unreadable smile. She thought it genuinely strange that for all his chatter he never seemed to have much of an expression.

“Cyborg, right?” he said.

“Yes,” she said, cautiously. “Cyborg.”

“No, I don’t like that either,” he said, leaning back. “Cyborgs don’t get mad. How about a Hulk? Wait, can there be more than one of those? I could ask the nerds, they’d know...”

Was he toying with her or was he really just an idiot?

“He’s just an idiot,” Ryan said, apparently able to read her expression. That’s when she noticed what he was reading. It looked exactly like the journal Jul had, but hers had been blank. What he was holding was full of sprawling ink sketches. They couldn’t be the same, but the cover was identical. Noticing her attention, he immediately shut it and put it away.

On the way to the cafeteria, she was surprised to spot Jul hovering around her locker, looking indecisive. So she’d come to school after all. Camille considered just walking past. Jul’s business was none of hers, and realistically she didn’t have the vocabulary to carry on a real conversation. And yet...

“You’re sick?” Camille asked her.

Startled, Jul looked down at her. “Oh,” she said, with some relief, “well, yes. Just a cold. I went for um, a walk in the rain, and I guess it got the better of me. I thought I should stay home, but Bea - I mean, my grandmother - she said a little cold wasn’t anything worth skipping school over, so...” she looked over her shoulder anxiously. “Here I am, I guess.”

Something had the girl on edge, but Camille couldn’t think of a good way to inquire. So instead she just said, “Lunch?”

“Oooookay,” Jul said distractedly, glancing around again. “Before the rush. Yeah. Good idea.”

They picked up trays and got in line. The cafeteria generally had two or three choices, different every day. Despite her dislike of the principal, having Japanese leadership was probably the reason they sometimes had things like ramen, katsudon, and beef curry on the menu. They didn’t taste quite like they did in Japan, but she had to admit it was nice to get some of her favorite comfort foods on occasion. Today, however, she was out of luck. Spaghetti, hamburgers, and some kind of chicken and vegetable pie. She distrusted the pale sauce that oozed from the crust.

Jul also looked disappointed at the menu.

“Could I get the spaghetti without any meatballs?” she asked meekly.

The lunch lady just scooped up a serving and handed her a plate.

“Thanks anyway,” Jul sighed, shoulders drooping.

Camille got a plate of the same and moved on to the drink fountain.

“Hey...um...” Jul said, picking up a bottle of water. “Can I sit with you? I’d rather not, um, sit alone. If you don’t mind.”

Camille saw her flick a glance to the end of the line, where Ryan and Sakamoto were at odds again. Jul had always sat alone until now. She was avoiding one of them? Her money was on Sakamoto. It must be because of what he’d done to her journal.

“Okay,” Camille said, getting a cup of some kind of fruity red drink claiming to be from Hawaii.

Once they sat down, Jul relaxed slightly, though she continued to survey the room, sipping absently on her water. Camille wondered what Jul’s purpose had been, asking for her company specifically. Was she supposed to be intimidating? Or had she just been the closest person at the time? Camille twirled her fork in her spaghetti, thinking that this really shouldn’t bother her. It didn’t matter either way, right? She was just supposed to keep an eye on the girl, for Gabriel. She didn’t need a friend.

Suddenly Jul went rigid. Camille glanced over her shoulder; Ryan was headed in their direction, carrying a tray, attention zeroed in on Jul. Camille looked at her, baffled.

“Umm...ahh...” Jul stalled, then her gaze landed on the two closest people. “Mac! Destin!” she said with forced cheer. “You guys should sit with us. You know. Take up all the chairs.”

Mac Dupree seemed too excited by her invitation to notice her unusual phrasing. “Absolutely!” he said, sliding his tray onto the table. His tall friend was more hesitant, but sat down as well.

Camille snuck another glance at Ryan. He had veered away, expression sour. Jul’s ploy had worked, whatever her reasons. Why on earth was she avoiding Ryan? Sure, he was in a perpetual bad mood, but he seemed pretty harmless from what she’d seen.

She turned back around, surveying the table. Whatever Jul was avoiding, she wasn’t sure this was better. The top half of Destin Heron’s face was permanently obscured by a thick curtain of dark hair; the bottom half was already hidden behind an American comic, something to do with spaceships and aliens. Jul’s attention was fixed on her spaghetti, single-mindedly pushing the chunks of meat out of the way. Camille was fine with tucking into her own pasta in silence, but it seemed Mac wouldn’t stand for it.

“Should have gone for the chicken pot pie,” he said.

“Same problem,” Jul shrugged.

Mac gestured to her plate. “Cold pasta, nasty tomato sauce, old hamburger meat.” He swept a hand over his own plate. “Chicken. Vegetables. Potatoes. A glorious flaky crust. They have absolutely nothing in common.”

“They both have meat in them.” Jul smiled sheepishly.

“You’re a vegetarian?” he said, like she had a horrible disease. “I am so sorry, you must live in pain every day.”

Jul shook her head, smiling. Her straight, dark hair swept around her shoulders. “I just don’t like meat, alright? That’s all.”

“Don’t tell me you are too?” Mac asked Camille.

In response, she speared a meatball and popped it into her mouth.

“See, look, even the gold ranger is more sane than you.”

Camille’s eyebrows went up. Did he just call her a Power Ranger?

“Being vegetarian is actually really healthy,” Jul explained.

“Well there’d better be some benefit if you’re going to pass up all the food that tastes good, I guess.”

“Keep it up, you’re doing really well,” Destin muttered.

“I mean, whatever,” Mac floundered. “It takes all kinds, right?”

He was so obvious it was painful to watch. Camille sighed and pushed away her pasta.

“It’s pretty bad, isn’t it?” Jul said.

Camille nodded, knowing Jul meant the food, not Mac. The dark-skinned girl could be pretty oblivious too, in her own way. Why am I still sitting with these people? she wondered, slumping down in her seat. Because if I leave, Ryan will probably come back. Maybe she could swipe a couple of cookies on the way out...

“Told you, should have gotten the pot pie,” Mac said loftily.

“Pot pie...” Camille muttered, trying out the name. “Weird sauce.”

“What? No, the sauce is awesome,” Mac objected.

Destin reached around his comic and nudged his untouched plate towards her. “You can have mine, if you want. I’m not hungry.”

Camille eyed the dish suspiciously. This ‘pot pie’ seemed to be having some kind of identity crisis. It wasn’t sure if it wanted to be a pie or a stew. It smelled alright, though. And she was really hungry...

“Thank you,” she said, reaching for it with her fork.

“How do you get that tall without eating anything, man?” Mac wanted to know.

“Magic beans,” Destin said, turning a page.

Despite the weird color, the pie thing was good, Camille decided. She pulled Destin’s plate closer.

“See?” Mac told Jul. “The pot pie claims another convert.”

“That doesn’t mean I - oh!” Jul exclaimed, staring behind her.

Camille felt something cold drop on her shoulder. Applesauce dripped down the front of her shirt. She looked up and saw a girl who might have been beautiful if she weren’t so smug.

“Oops,” Hayley Dupree said, standing over her with a tray of food and looking utterly insincere. “Sorry, my hand slipped.”

Immediately, Camille picked up her cup of punch and chucked it in Hayley’s face. Her expression was priceless. The red sugar water ran all down her white blouse.

“You little bitch!” she shrieked, swiping at her outfit frantically.

Mac was laughing loudly.

“My hand slipped,” Camille echoed her, grinning.

“Ugh!” Hayley shrieked, tossing her water at Camille. Ice skittered all over the table. The rest of the cafeteria had gone silent, watching them.

Camille shrugged. There were other ways to win fights than using her fists. She grabbed a handful of her spaghetti and flung it at the girl. Hayley dodged most of it - the rest hit her pristine little friend, who squealed and upended her tray on Jul. Apparently that was the starting bell for chaos.

“FOOD FIGHT,” someone yelled, and then the cafeteria was a warzone, handfuls of meals flying across the room. Jul sunk down in her chair, and Destin hid under the table. Mac managed to get a handful of jello into Hayley’s hair before she fled the room, yelling for the principal. Well. Might as well enjoy it while it lasted. She grabbed some more spaghetti, looking to tag Sakamoto, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Five minutes later, she was in Umino’s office, bits of ice still melting in her hair.

“What a charming interlude you’ve caused,” the principal said frostily.

“Hayley caused it,” Camille stated.

“Ms. Dupree explained it all. What she did was accidental. What you did was on purpose. Now how are we going to make amends?”

Suddenly the door burst open, and there was Jul, breathless. “Ms. Umino, it wasn’t her fault, ma’am, Hayley started it! Ask Mac and Destin, they saw it too!”

Umino regarded Jul sternly for several moments. “Even if that were true,” she said, finally, “the fact remains that Ms. Teague exacerbated the situation.”

Exacerbated? Camille wondered. What the hell does that mean?

“I just, um, I just wanted you to know she didn’t start it,” Jul said meekly.

“Very well, Ms. Graham.” The principal rose, straightening her suit jacket. “Still, reparations are in order. Since you seem so enthusiastic in supporting Ms. Teague in her endeavors, I am assigning you both to weekend cleaning detail, effective through the end of the semester. If you want to make a wreck of the indoors, you can contribute to its upkeep.”

Jul’s light chocolate skin flushed. “Yes ma’am.”

“And the ganguro?” Camille demanded. Rin Umino was from Japan, she’d know exactly what a ganguro was - dyed blonde, fake tanned, over-applied makeup. Was there a comparable word in English?

A twitch in her facial muscles was the only sign of recognition. “Ms. Dupree has suffered enough indignity today,” the principal said, her eyes narrowing to a glare. “You need to fix your attitude.”

Hayley needed to fix her outfit. Camille hid a grin.

“Hai, sensei,” she acknowledged, making a deep formal bow.

Umino clearly saw through the overdone gesture. “As I said,” she intoned, lip curling. “Your attitude. I will be speaking to your guardian about this incident.”

Camille nodded this time. Speak to Gabriel all you want, she thought. We’re winning.

Jul’s look, however, was one of fear.

Umino gave her an appraising look. “Just make sure your work is done,” she told the tall girl.

“Yes ma’am,” Jul copied her earlier nod, but with a more frantic motion, in repetition. “I’m sorry, ma’am, it won’t happen again.”

So that’s how it was. Jul would assume she was a direct pipeline to trouble now.

“Very well, you may both go,” Umino said, waving them out.

In the hall, with the door shut behind them, Jul let out a long sigh of relief. “That could have been a lot worse,” she said. “Your um, guardian? Will they be mad?”

Camille snorted. “Gabriel? No. High-five, probably.”

Jul smiled. “You’re lucky.”

Camille shrugged. Luckier if he’d let me in on his plans. But if Jul hadn’t burst in, Umino’s punishment might have been much worse...

Camille looked at the other girl and inclined her head down the hall. “Coming?”

“Oh! Yes,” Jul said. “I guess algebra happens no matter what.”

“Too bad,” Camille agreed, as they walked.

“I mean, if we’re going to get sentenced to trash detail, you’d think they’d have the decency to cancel classes. You caused a riot.”

Camille snorted a laugh again.

“Oh, excuse me, I mean you retaliated against an act of terrorism. Which inadvertently caused a riot.”

“A riot,” Camille said, trying out the word. “Me. A riot. Badass.”

“A food fight is a riot with edible projectiles,” Jul maintained. “We could advance warfare by decades if we could convince all sides to just use leftovers as ammunition.”

Camille shook her head, smiling. “Good plan.” Jul was pretty clever when she wasn’t apologizing.

They turned a corner, and Jul put a hand over her mouth, stifling a gasp. Rhys Ryan stood in the hallway, expectant.

“I just wanted to remind you about the display for the festival,” he said pushing his dark hair out of icy cold eyes. “You’re both responsible for it, remember?”

Jul was looking anywhere but at Ryan, paling.

“Your paper?” Camille returned.

Ryan’s attention slid to her, briefly. “Finished,” he stated, then held out a folded scrap of paper to Jul. “Some suggestions.”

Camille went to take it, but Ryan held it out of her reach. “Suggestions for someone who can actually read them,” he said, and Jul reluctantly took the paper, a light tremor in her fingers.

“As you were,” he said dryly, and left.

“Teme,” Camille muttered under her breath, then looked up at Jul. The guy had her spooked, alright. It was none of her business. She should leave well enough alone. “He did what?” she asked.

“I just don’t...um...he scares me,” Jul said quietly. “We, uh...” she coughed. “He’s right, we really should start putting the display together.”

Camille nodded. Might as well get it over with.

“Do you know a good place we could meet?”

She considered. “The cafe. It’s near.”

“Oh, that one down the street? They don’t mind people working on stuff in there?”

“I live there,” Camille said.

Jul blinked slowly, processing the idea. “Oh. Oh! That’s...kind of awesome.”

Camille shrugged. Maybe. She didn’t have a lot to compare it to. It was bigger than her old flat and it always smelled like frosting and coffee. If you were into that kind of thing.

“How about this weekend?” Jul said.

“Friday,” Camille said. “Closes at 6.”

“Cool,” Jul said. “I’m sure we can figure something out.”

Or you could explain what’s really going on... Camille thought, but they continued on to class in silence.

Later that night, Camille heard a knock on her open door. “What do you want?” she asked, sitting on her bed, bent over her homework.

“I’m looking for ice,” Gabriel said, sounding unsteady. “Do we have ice?”

“Have you checked the freezer?” Camille asked with sarcasm.

“I think I used all that...” he said.

Camille looked up; Gabriel was standing in her doorway, glancing forlornly at a dark liquid he was swirling in a glass.

“I had the loveliest time, catching up with an old friend,” Gabriel said. “My oldest friend in the world. You wouldn’t know her, don’t ask.”

Camille’s eyebrows raised. “Are you drunk?”

“Please, I used to drink a whole bottle of whiskey in one sitting,” he said, dropping into the chair by her dresser with less than his usual grace. “Granted, that’s been...” he blinked, eyes unfocused for a moment. “King’s blood, almost a decade. Alright, maybe my tolerance isn’t what it used to be.”

Camille shook her head. Sometimes, he did not seem like a responsible adult. “You should just go to sleep, old man.”

“No, no, no. We survived another night, we should celebrate.” Gabriel took another swig of his drink. “How about a story? I haven’t told you a story in forever. You used to love them.”

“I used to be able to order off the kids menu,” Camille said dryly.

“You don’t have to be a kid to order off the kids menu,” Gabriel stated loftily. “That’s where all restaurants hide their chocolate milk. You’ve got to give up this idea that you can be too old for things. Now. Once upon a time, there were seven heroes.”

Camille groaned. “They became too proud of their gifts, an old witch cursed them, they transformed into monsters and became what they’d hunted. Pride goeth before the fall. The end.”

“You’re no fun,” he frowned. “Alright, once upon a time, there was a man with three sons - ”

She rolled her eyes. “He couldn’t afford to keep them, they apprenticed to three different masters, they each nearly lost their gifts to a crafty innkeeper until the youngest son won it all back. Use your opponents strengths against them. The end.”

“Your memory is a little too good,” Gabriel complained.

“You tell the same stories over and over,” Camille pointed out. “After a few years, the twists stop surprising you.”

“You want a new story, is that it?”

“If I have to sit here and listen to you slur through a fairy tale,” she said, “at least make it one I haven’t heard.” Why was he being so weird?

He regarded her blearily. “Have it your way. Once upon a time,” he murmured, “there was a horrible, selfish man who had only ever caused problems for anyone he met. His gifts brought pain and misery for others, and he was convinced that it was the only way he could live. That it was just part of his DNA, and that the only way to be happy was to continually feed his avarice. Then one day, an angry little girl kicked him in the shins and he was forced to take her home and feed her.”

Camille sighed. “I think I know this story.”

“But you haven’t heard it. So shut up. The girl was a monster. She broke his valuable things he’d spent years hoarding, drew on his walls, refused to take baths, put pins in his shoes, wouldn’t speak English, insisted on eating things that smelled horrible, and the only way to calm her down was to tell her long, complicated stories. He figured this was karma, getting him back.

“He had never spent long amounts of time with anyone, you see, much less a child. He had developed obsessions with certain people before, but obsessing is very different from truly knowing someone, living with them and learning to take the good with the bad. He had no inkling of what ‘camaraderie’ or ‘family’ really meant. But with each passing bedtime story, with every begrudging trek to a ramen shop, things changed. They changed so slowly, at such an imperceptible gradation, that he didn’t notice. They became accustomed to one another, the angry girl and the selfish man. He began to think of her less and less as a temporary nuisance, and more and more as a permanent fixture. But he didn’t fully understand the extent of the change until the day he was sent a letter.”

He leaned back in the chair, staring up at the ceiling. “It was written by a powerful woman, from an even more powerful family. She demanded the girl’s presence in a faraway school. She offered him a great deal of money and priceless artifacts if he would relinquish guardianship of the girl. The man was affronted - offended - that she would assume he’d turn her over for things. But then he remembered that things were all he’d cared for in his long life; how could someone expect differently of him? He told the woman no, but unfortunately it only made her assume the girl was that much more of a prize. She began to make threats, questioning the validity of his guardianship, insinuating the man was hiding from something, making accusations the girl was too dangerous to be ‘loose’ in the world. Still he refused. He decided instead that it was time to make a new plan.”

He took a heavy breath. “The man was selfish, first and foremost. That had not changed. What surprised him was that his system of measuring value had been upended by a scrawny orphan who tormented him with grilled mackerel for six years.”

“I never made you eat mackerel,” Camille muttered.

“You made everything smell like it,” he returned, grimacing as he upended the last of his drink. “Anyway, the new plan was to make the girl so incredibly badass that no matter what she encountered in the world, she would survive it. By this time the man had realized that the girl possessed a great deal of power, and he resolved that she should learn to use it better than he had with his own. He wanted to save her from what he’d decided was the worst fate - looking into the face of the person you care about the most and telling them that your entire, overly long life has been a total failure.”

“Not a total failure, you make good melon bread.”

That surprised a chuckle out of him. She was unaccustomed to serious Gabriel and it worried her when he lost his humor. “Ah, yes, thank you, I forgot. So the man bit the bullet, dragged her kicking and screaming to the faraway school, because if they were going to blackmail her into attendance, he was going to be there to make melon bread.” He glanced up at the clock. “And then the angry girl went to sleep, because she had class with a grumpy English teacher in the morning.”

He rose, walking to the door, empty glass in hand.

“Does this story have a happy ending?” Camille asked.

He regarded her for a moment. “Ask me later,” he said, shutting the door behind him.

Chapter 11

Jul

Mirror, 4pm

Tell anyone, and you’re dead.

That was all it said, in a neat, no-nonsense script. I’d unfolded the piece of paper Rhys had handed me several dozen times and I was still no closer to understanding his motives. Was he my enemy? He certainly didn’t seem like my friend. Did he just want to talk? Even if only that, did I really want to hear what he had to say?

As much of a threat as he seemed to be...if it led to my mother, I did. I absolutely did.

I gingerly stepped through the mirror’s frame, feeling the bizarre climate change from the humidity of the orchard to the chill of the stone stairwell. I climbed the steps with trepidation. I felt more like an intruder, this time. Bea was working at the library again this afternoon, so I’d had to walk home - but at least that meant I had some time to sort this out with Rhys in the Tower. Maybe he’d explain how all of this was possible.

A bleary face appeared in a small mirror on the wall when I reached the gleaming white atrium.

“Master Rhys awaits you in the library,” the face said, and then faded away.

I pushed aside the curtain. The sight of all those books still took my breath away. Rhys looked up at my entrance. He was seated at a wide table, books spread out around him.

“Hi,” I said sheepishly. “Please don’t...um...destroy me.”

“I won’t,” he said.

Tendrils of glass curled up from the floor, snaking around my legs and rooting me to the spot.

“Yet,” Rhys amended, rising from the table.

I twisted in my bonds, but the glass was too thick - I was trapped. My heart hammered in my chest.

Rhys approached a few steps, but kept his distance, well out of reach. “How’d you get in, hunter?” he demanded. “Are you a hybrid?”

“H-hybrid? What? I’m a girl, I’m just a girl, I don’t know what you’re saying!”

“Not convincing,” he stated coldly. “You’re a Graham and you made it into my mirror, and you want to pretend that it was an accident? Do I look stupid?”

“Yes! I mean no!” I floundered, as Rhys’s pale eyes sharpened. “I mean yes it was an accident - I was just following directions.”

“What directions?”

“In...in...” As I scrambled for coherence, something bizarre happened. My mind was suddenly wiped blank. Emotions pushed to one side. Indignation bubbled up inside me. I don’t have to tell him, flashed unexpectedly through my mind. Entitlement I had never felt in my life took over. The immediate certainty of ownership. “Let me go!” I snapped at him, demeanor shifting on a dime. I twisted in the binding glass. “This mirror is on my grandmother’s land. That makes it mine, not yours, you...you...mirror squatter!”

He made a face. “Phrasing. Please don’t ever say that again.”

“I’ll say whatever I want!” I shot back. My nerves burned, up and down my limbs, and it felt good even as it worried me. What was this place doing to me? “You want to know what I am? I am pissed off!” I shouted. There was an audible crack in the glass at my feet, but I paid it no heed. Everything was tumbling out of me, all the injustices, all the frustration. “My father abandoned me, my grandmother hates me, I’m a million miles from home, I don’t have any friends, your friends keep trying to ruin my life - this is the only good thing I’ve stumbled across in years. Years! I finally found something that might connect me to my mom and you want to take it away from me? I won’t let you!” The glass around my limbs burst apart, skittering fragments across the stone floor. They tumbled into grains of sand and lay still.

Rhys took a few steps back, eyes wide. A narrow, analytic look quickly replaced his confusion. “I’m not taking it away,” he said gruffly.

“You tried to trap me.” I folded my arms, still indignant but easing off the ledge. I couldn’t believe I’d exploded like that. And...exploded the glass. I think.

“I don’t know you, I was being cautious,” he said, but I was pretty sure he was just covering his tracks. “I just want you to answer my question. What are you?”

I sighed, deflating. “Just a normal girl.”

“Not possible,” he said flatly. “There are only a handful of normal people in that school, and after what you just did...you’re definitely not one of them.”

He reached inside his jacket and pulled out my mother’s journal. Instinctively I reached for it and he held it higher, giving me an icy warning look. “You carry this around,” he said, “and you expect me to believe you’re just another human?”

“I don’t know, alright?” I blurted, everything tumbling out. “Please, I need it back, it’s all I have of hers. I only just found it, I followed the map to the mirror that got me into the Tower, I didn’t know it was yours, please just let me have the journal back!”

He regarded me narrowly. “No.”

My whole countenance crumpled. “It was my mother’s,” I murmured. “Please, it’s all I have of hers.”

His expression became a bare fraction less stern. “And your mother,” he said. “What was she?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I seriously don’t know anymore.”

“Hmph,” he said gruffly. “Well you’re either a very good liar or you’re woefully ignorant. Either is dangerous. Something like this isn’t safe with you,” he said, brandishing the journal. “Anyone could take it. No, I’m keeping it.”

Tears welled up. What could I do? Mom, I’m sorry. I messed up.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Rhys said quickly. “I’ll keep it here, In Between.”

“Huh?” I said, swiping my eyes with the back of my hand.

“Or the Tower, whatever you called it,” he said. “You can come look at it here, if you follow the rules.”

He left me no choice. I nodded. “What are the rules?”

“You tell absolutely no one about this place, about anything here, and most of all you do not tell anyone about me and my research here. You can’t take anything outside the mirror - not a book, not a cushion, not anything - that you didn’t bring in yourself. I don’t need anything dissolving when you try to take it back into the real world.”

“The real world?” I repeated.

He sighed, and sat stiffly in a chair opposite me. “You really have no idea where you are, do you?”

“I went through a mirror,” I stated.

“And?”

“And that’s it.” I sniffled. At least the tears had subsided. Maybe the freak mood swings were over.

He rested his hands on the chair’s armrests, regarding me with his unnaturally pale eyes. It was like getting stared down by a glacier. I cringed under his scrutiny. I had to look like a wreck after all that. He looked just as intentionally disheveled as ever.

“You didn’t go through a mirror,” he said at last.

“I’m pretty sure I did.”

His eyes relayed a rebuke. “You went in a mirror. You didn’t go through it. We’re inside the mirror.”

“What, really?” I gaped.

“Technically, nothing here really exists,” he stated. “Nothing but what you bring in...everything else is some kind of illusion.”

I blinked. “So...this couch...” I ran my hands over the soft, threadbare cover.

“Not real,” he said flatly.

“That is insane!” I said, bouncing slightly on the fake couch, testing it out.

Rhys rolled his eyes. “There’s no way you could fake that kind of stupidity.”

“Excuse me?” I snapped. This guy was pushing all my buttons, and with a vengeance.

“Listen, June - ”

“Jul.”

“Jul. Whatever. Look, this is all clearly way beyond your ken - ”

“My ken?” I laughed. “Who talks like that? Beyond my ken?”

His look soured. “Some people have vocabularies.”

“Some people were born in the seventeenth century,” I laughed.

He colored slightly. “Look, just because you don’t know the word - ”

My newfound confidence rose. “Oh, I know the word. I know you’re trying to talk down to me by using words you think I don’t know. Well I’ve got news for you. Words have been my only friends for almost sixteen years, so you’re going to have a hard time coming up with a vocabulary that I find intimidating. Alright?”

He regarded me narrowly. “You don’t act like this at school. What kind of game are you playing?”

I ran my hands through my hair, suddenly concerned. “I - I don’t know,” I admitted. “It’s like...all the voices in my head vanish. Something about this place is...” Clarity. The mirror’s interior filled me with clarity. “Do you feel um, different in here at all?”

A conflicted look crossed his face. “Of course I do, what kind of a question is that?”

“A question! You seem to know stuff, so help me out already! Why is my brain going haywire?”

His mouth twisted. “This place is a sort of a dimensional fold between the two worlds on either side of the mirror. There’s our side, the Oncelands, and the other side, the Afterlands. Where we are right now is In Between. There’s not a whole lot of data on it because making a mirror like this is nearly impossible, even by a Mirrormaker, and those are already rare to begin with. This mirror was made by my uncle Soren,” he said, his chin raising. “That makes it more mine than yours, by the way. It was lost over thirty years ago, but I found it here, in this orchard. I’d take it away with me but it won’t budge,” he said sullenly. “I think it’s spelled in place.” He gave me a sudden harsh look. “If you tell anyone it’s here you’re dead.”

I laughed nervously. “Who would believe me?”

“More than you’d think, in this town,” he grumbled. “The humans who run the school would give a lot to get their hands on an artifact of this magnitude. Havenwood has a long history with magic and old connections to the Afterlands - that’s probably why they chose this town as the location for the school. The Umino Corporation has a strong interest in magic, and the school figures into that. I’m just not sure how yet. All I can tell for certain is that they’ve been working hard to keep the roster full of fae and ferals - and the rare human bloodlines with the capacity for magic.” He regarded me distrust. “Like you.”

“Fae and ferals?” I asked. “What are those?”

“Fae are like humans, only better,” he said haughtily. “They have the power to manipulate the world around them, or the perceptions of others - abilities vary from person to person. Ferals are an inferior, animalistic species with powers that pertain to their own forms - things like strength or speed or transformation. The trick is, magic isn’t supposed to work on this side of the mirror, only in the Afterlands - but about a hundred years ago, it slowly started trickling back. It’s gotten stronger in the last two decades, and no one knows why. Only that there are children being born with powers that haven’t been seen in generations, and the Umino Corporation wants to corral them here at Havenwood.”

“So everyone at school has...powers?” I said hesitantly.

“No. It’s hard to tell which is which until they turn sixteen. That’s when most fae and feral abilities manifest. If you don’t gain any...that means you’re human and they find an excuse to expel you. They accept most of the local kids carte blanche at first, just because this area has a history of being settled by suspicious characters. They don’t want to miss any potentials. But let’s face it, if Hayley and Mac Dupree are anything but human, I’m a time traveling chimney sweep.” He opened a nearby book and flipped the pages to a particular passage. “But you’re a Graham, at minimum...so you’re stuck. Here,” he said, pushing the book towards me. He stood and disappeared into the stacks. I glanced after him, and then turned my attention to the book.

The Human Masters

It has been stated elsewhere that humans have no powers beyond the tools they invent. As with all rules, there are exceptions. Loosely and inaccurately chronicled in the legend of 'The Four Accomplished Brothers,' there exist four human bloodlines with inherited abilities. Whether or not these abilities are magical in origin is unknown. These powers may be a genetic anomaly, or an enchantment upon these houses. Unlike fae and ferals, whose abilities are usually randomized by individual and not by family, these four human bloodlines each only exhibit one ability, and each follows different rules. Unlike fae and ferals, whose abilities do not fully manifest until the age of sixteen, these rare humans typically have access to their powers from birth.

The Prophet - the highly sought after ability to peer into the future sometimes manifested in the royal house of Weissager, previous rulers of the kingdom of Angwar. All Weissager Prophets were born blind. However, the royal family perished in the Golden War and their kingdom was claimed by Anastos Ryan.

The Inventor - creativity is a human trait often lacking in ferals and especially fae; in the Miller line this trait is hyper-focused and can express as the Inventor, possessing immense genius. As this is an easily hidden ability, Miller Inventors are often difficult to identify until they choose to share their inventions with the world, but are accredited with the creation of most of the greater magical artifacts, as well as spearheading human technological - non-magic - advancement. The Millers fled to the Oncelands during the New Exodus.

The Null - greatly despised by fae and ferals alike, the Tailor family very rarely produces individuals who act as a sort of magical void - they can nullify the abilities of others, and break the enchantments of most magical objects. It should be noted that they cannot remove abilities permanently, only dampen them. The more powerful a Null, the greater their circumference of influence - the most powerful Null on record could create a magic void five miles across. The Tailors fled to the Oncelands during the New Exodus.

The Hunter - rumored to predate the other three, Hunters belong to the ancient house of Grimm. Unlike the other three, whose abilities are very rarely born into their respective lines, all Grimms are born Hunters. A Hunter possesses heightened awareness of surroundings, infallible memory, and natural proficiency with weaponry. The last confirmed Hunters, Richard and Alan Grimm, were rumored to have been killed during the Golden War by a Ryan raiding party, but other rumors suggest one of the brothers may have escaped across the mirror.

Note: While the connection is still unclear, a Tailor Null is always born at the same time as a Ryan Mirrormaker. Neither ever appears singly - they only exist as a pair.

“Mirrormaker?” I said.

“It’s exactly what it sounds like,” Rhys said, returning to the table with several new books. “The power to create magic mirrors. A rare fae ability exclusive to my family. And that’s what I am. I think.” He spread the books out, looking pensive. “I’ll know for sure in a few months. My powers only work inside this mirror, so far. Outside, in the real world, I may as well be human. My mother’s fault.”

“What did she do?”

“She’s human,” he said distastefully. “So I’m a hybrid. Who knows how my powers will actually turn out? That’s why I have to study,” he said stiffly, flipping open another book. “Somewhere in here, there has to be a book that talks about controlling Mirrormaker powers. This tower was built by Mirrormakers - every one that’s powerful enough to get In Between has added on to it. There’s even a workshop upstairs full of unfinished mirrors. One of them has to have left some sort of instruction manual.”

I ran my hand over the page of the book I held, savoring the texture of aged paper. “So I’m a Grimm, huh?”

“Like your father and grandmother before you. Hunters,” he muttered, attention on his own book. “I shouldn’t even let you stay in here...”

“Let me?” I echoed, some of the alien bravado rising.

“We’re practically archenemies by birth,” he went on, ignoring me. “Or did you miss the parts where my great-great-grandfather nearly succeeded in killing off all the human master bloodlines?”

“But you’re not him, right?” I said.

His gaze flicked up to mine, briefly. “This is the only side of the mirror I’ve ever known. If I can create a travelling mirror, cross over to my father’s kingdom in the Afterlands, I can prove my worthiness as his heir. I’ll be king one day. All I have to do is work out my powers. But there’s no one here to teach me, no clues as to what’s wrong with me...”

“Well it says here every Mirrormaker has a Null to go along with it,” I said.

“Don’t remind me.” He came around the table and leaned over my shoulder to retrieve the book. My heart gave an awkward lurch at the nearness. He smelled like pine and old books.

“You’re not happy you have a counterpart out there somewhere?” I said. “It sounds pretty romantic.”

He gazed down at me, challenging. “It’s anything but,” he said. “The Tailors have been the bane of my house since...since who knows when. Regardless, it doesn’t apply to me. Being a hybrid must have messed it up somehow.”

“You don’t know that.”

“John Tailor is the last of his line,” he said. “My family has kept close tabs on the Tailors for obvious reasons. Would have hunted them to extinction if they hadn’t escaped the Afterlands. They’ve never been very prolific - he’s an only child, and he’s never been married. There are no Tailors my age.”

A chill went through me. Everything I learned about his family kept piling more doubts against his motives. His inheritance was oppression and privilege. But there was something in his desperation to prove himself that I understood.

“Guess you’re not a Mirrormaker then,” I said lightly.

His eyes widened. “Don’t you dare - ”

“I was joking!” I grinned. “Jeez, lighten up!”

The flush that spread across his cheeks was almost as endearing as the way he tried to hide it, looking up and away, trying for haughty. “You’re as bad as Kei.”

“At least I’m better to look at,” I rejoined. What was I saying? It was the Tower talking.

“There is that,” he allowed, and it was my turn to blush. I hoped it wouldn’t be as obvious since I wasn’t as pale as he was.

“Why do you hang out with Kei?” I asked.

“I don’t,” he said flatly. “I’m obligated to endure his presence. He’s...my bodyguard,” he said, reluctance plain in his voice.

“What, seriously?” I looked up at him.

“Yes, seriously.” He leaned against a bookshelf, arms folded, mouth in a hard line. “My mother is a little overprotective.”

“Because you’re the prince of a fairy kingdom,” I prompted.

“How can I get you to never word it like that again?” he asked dryly, one eyebrow arched.

I smiled, and he looked away, eyes on the far wall. “I have an idea,” I said suddenly. “What if I helped you research?”

He looked back, eyes wide, but immediately his expression was cautious. “In trade for the journal, I assume?”

“I’ll be your research assistant,” I said, folding my arms, enjoying the strange new confidence. “If I can help you figure out how to make a traveling mirror, that’s got to be worth one journal?”

“Maybe...” he allowed, struggling not to sound tempted by the idea. “I suppose I could...use another pair of eyes...”

I looked at my watch and gasped. “I need to get home before Bea,” I said, turning to leave.

Rhys caught my arm, looking down at me intently. My heart thudded. “Remember,” he said, “if you tell anyone - anyone at all - the deal is off. If you try to take anything out of here - I don’t care what it is - the deal is off. Understand? My hospitality is extremely limited.”

“No kidding,” I laughed off my nerves. “Alright, yes, I promise. Don’t tell anyone. Got it.”

“Especially Kei,” he growled. “I have to share too much of my life with that moron already. My only saving grace is that he can’t get in this mirror. Bodyguard or not, I trust him about as far as I can throw him. And don’t talk to me at school,” he said, releasing me. “We’re not friends. This is strictly business.”

I got the distinct impression he was trying just a little too hard to remain detached. “Sure thing, your highness,” I said, hurrying out of the library and down the stairwell.

“And don’t call me that!” he called after me, but I smiled, because he didn’t sound hostile anymore.

Chapter 12

Jul

On Friday at 6, I pushed open the doors to the cafe where Camille had claimed she lived.

“Um, hello?” I called, entering timidly. The booths and tables said cafe, but the stained glass windows were giving a different impression. The arches over the pillars were familiar, somehow...

The wide, gothic windows were abstract patterns of glass. The fading sun glittered through the west side, casting a faint orange light. One of the windows had plastic taped over it.

Camille’s bizarre accent, clipped syllables and unusual vowels, echoed from the back of the cafe. “It broke,” she said. “Yesterday. Random.”

Camille hopped over the bar, landing agile as a cat. There was no way I could ever look that graceful. I recalled Rhys’s mention of physical prowess as a sign of being feral. Was Camille such a being?

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “It looks nice in here,” I said. My intent was to be polite, but I was being honest. It was an unusual aesthetic, but it managed to work somehow - like bringing Athens or Rome indoors.

She shrugged. “It’s Gabriel,” she said, like that ought to explain everything.

“Who’s Gabriel?” I asked.

“My guardian,” she said.

“Oh is he here?” Guardian? What about her parents?

“Drinks with Charlotte,” she said, dismissively. “The booth is over here.”

“Charlotte? You mean Ms. Miller?” Her English was improving, I noted, though her pronunciation was still pretty awkward.

“Un,” she made an affirmative sound. I followed her to one side of the cafe, where a tri-fold posterboard was propped up on a table. She’d printed out some sheets with the basic experiment premise and some rough diagrams of each step of the process. It was plain and efficient. It had no personality at all. I wondered if it could be taken as a metaphor for Camille herself: something that ought to be really cool masked by a blunt, utilitarian presentation.

“You know what it really needs,” I blurted, “some of your drawings!”

“What?” she said, coloring slightly.

“Yeah! You draw those adorable little cartoons, we could make the display like a comic! Nobody else would have anything like that,” I said earnestly.

“They’re not that cute,” she muttered, but she regarded the posterboard critically. “Not very protectional.”

“Professional? You mean like what Rhys would want? Oh no, I think he would looooove some anime cartoons on his project.” I grinned at the prospect. “Don’t you?”

She looked at me like she was seeing me for the first time, and she smiled. “Maybe you’re right,” she said.

“It’s showcasing our team’s artistic talent,” I said loftily. “With hearts and sparkles.”

She nodded, tapping her chin. “Ok, I like it.”

I grinned. “Awesome. I can’t draw to save my life, but I can color stuff in. I mean, the project is about color change, right? We should have some really bright designs.”

She nodded, uncharacteristically enthusiastic. “Colors. Be right back.”

She bounded up the stairs at the back of the cafe, where I assumed there were craft supplies.

I sat down, gazing at the colored windows happily. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. I guess all Camille really needed was to be included...I’d always thought I was supposed to wait for others to include me. Maybe I’d had it wrong?

I started counting the colors in the glass pane closest to me. Rhys was going to flip. We should probably fit in some rainbows just for good measure...

A metallic sound came from the front of the cafe - the sound of a lock clicking open. Someone slipped inside, brushing rain drops off his threadbare jean jacket. It was another student, one with a very delinquent look to him. The scar across his nose crinkled as he regarded me narrowly.

“Um, it’s, I think the cafe is closed,” I said, newfound confidence disappearing just that quickly.

“Didn’t come in for cupcakes,” he said, the ring in his lip glittering as he grinned. “Unless you’re offering.”

I swallowed. “Wh-who are you?”

“Hmm.” It was one of the seniors - no, a junior? I’d seen him around before. That scar was hard to miss. He was the one that often picked on Mac at lunch.

He looked at me like I was some sort of dessert. “I’ve had a bad week,” he said, with a pronounced southern drawl. “Maybe you can help me out. Tell me where Katsura’s hidden the sword and maybe I’ll leave all polite-like.”

“Sword?” I repeated, boggled by the random request. “What sword? Who’s Katsura?”

He advanced, and I backed up. “Please. You’re a Graham and you made friends with her? And you’re pretending you don’t know about the sword? Why else would you have made friends with that freak of nature?”

“I think you should leave,” I said, voice trembling.

“Give. Me. The SWORD!” he roared suddenly.

Camille

Camille heard him before he even opened the door. He had a distinct step - impatient, over-forceful. Wasteful. That mongrel, Hyde. What could he possibly want here? Oh yes, she remembered. The boy in love with Jul had warned her Hyde would try to fight her.

She stood at the top of the stairs, just out of view, listening.

“Tell me where Katsura’s hidden the sword and maybe I’ll leave all polite-like,” Hyde said.

Sword? Camille wondered, even as she heard Jul echo her question below. Gabriel had no swords. He’d already said. What was with these people demanding a weapon they didn’t have?

“Please,” Hyde was saying sarcastically. Camille could hear Jul’s heart rate speeding up. “You’re a Graham and you made friends with her?” His disdain was palpable. “And you’re pretending you don’t know about the sword? Why else would you have made friends with that freak of nature?”

What? Was Jul just using her? Gabriel had warned that there would be those seeking to use them to their own ends...

“I think you should leave,” Jul said. Her fear was tangible. No, Camille shook her head. She wouldn’t use me. She’s not that kind of person.

“Give. Me. The SWORD!” Hyde bellowed, and she had enough.

“Yamerou!” she shouted, vaulting over the stairs.

Hyde grinned. “I figured you were here. Coming to the aid of fair maiden? Don’t be a cliché, now.”

Camille settled into a defensive stance. Rain was pattering on the windows. “I’ll shut your mouth, zasshu.”

He laughed. “Man, school needs more people like you. I’m going to assume you won’t give up the sword easy, either?”

“No sword here,” Camille stated.

“Awesome,” he said, swinging at her.

Camille dodged, spinning around the pillar. In her periphery, she saw Jul duck behind the counter. Good, better that she stayed out of it. Gabriel wouldn’t like it if she smashed up the cafe, but he was also fond of saying that necessity was the mother of invention.

Camille kicked a chair at him, but he slid to one side. Was it just her imagination, or was he faster than before? He swept a kick and she blocked it, barely - he nearly knocked her off balance. He struck out with a fist and she caught it with her own, straining against the force. Stronger, too?

“This ain’t school,” he grinned, breath hot on her neck. “Don’t hold back on my account.”

With a shove, Camille broke the hold and twisted away, panting. Her blood pumped loud in her ears and the iron bracer pinched around her left arm. What she wouldn’t give to be rid of the uncomfortable thing.

She and Hyde paced a slow semicircle, each gauging the other.

“Where’s all the attitude from kendo?” he sneered. “Need a sword to feel safe? I’ll wait while you go fetch one. Just make sure it’s the iron one, no fakes now. Chop chop.”

The iron one? Something must have shown on her face, because Hyde lit on it.

“You do know where it is!” he crowed.

“No swords,” Camille snapped. “Lots of muffins. Want a muffin?”

“Should I call someone?” Jul’s voice warbled from behind the counter, peering over the edge.

“No,” Camille said sternly, eyes on Hyde. “He’s leaving.”

“Soon as you fetch me,” he snarled, “that sword!”

He grabbed Camille’s arm and threw her over his shoulder. She twisted in midair, vaulting off a table. She landed solid but stumbled over a chair just behind her. The metal legs scraped loud against the stone floor as she found her footing. He was on her in an instant - this time she curled, using his force to roll him over and get some distance. She was unafraid, yet her limbs trembled - something was wrong with her. Her vision wavered, and she fought to maintain focus. The bracer gripped her arm like a vise.

“Get out...” she rasped, “of my house.”

“This is so disappointing,” he said, stalking closer. “I thought I’d finally get a real fight out of someone, but underneath your fancy moves you’re just like everyone else.”

Her blood flushed in anger and she struck out, lightning quick. Her fist connected with his jaw and he reeled. Before he could recover she landed a kick to his back that collided him against a pillar. He dropped to avoid a second and caught her leg, swinging her against the pillar instead. Winded, she angled back, in a defensive sideways stance.

The dizziness was overwhelming her. The dark, spiky image of Hyde in front of her blurred. She stumbled, and that was all the opening Hyde needed. He swept a kick that knocked her into a table, and she slid to the floor, groaning. Pain flared through her midsection.

Hyde approached, standing over her with a grin. He pressed a foot down on her chest.

“Still don’t want to tell me where the sword is?” he asked, eyes bright.

Her breath became belabored as the bracer pinched tighter. “Go...to hell...” she said.

Hyde’s heel ground into her sternum. Blearily, she saw a shape rise up behind him.

Crash! Hyde stumbled disoriented. Jul stood holding the remnants of a broken jar. Camille curled up on her side, coughing.

Hyde cursed, shaking bits of glass and loose tea from his hair. “That was a bad move, Graham,” he snarled, as she backed up in terror. He tried to make a grab for her, but Camille managed to grab his foot and pull him off balance. He fell forward onto the stone floor, breath collapsing out of him.

The front door opened, chime ringing.

“What fresh hell is this?” Gabriel said. He was framed in the door with rain behind him.

Hyde took one look at him, scrambled to his feet and sprinted past him, out the door. Camille looked after him, baffled. Hyde was afraid, now?

Gabriel also took note of his retreating form, but swiftly crossed to Camille. He knelt beside her, taking up her arm with the bracer, inspecting it, then checking her pulse. Her skin froze while she sweat buckets. His face was grim, but he said, “You’re fine, kiddo. Calm down, you’ll be fine.” Her eyes focused on him, briefly. She took a deep breath, as muscles in her limbs spasmed.

“Calm is for losers,” she muttered, back to Japanese now that he was here. He chuckled, but the humor didn’t reach his eyes. He cleared her hair away where it stuck to her face.

“Is...is she alright?” Jul’s voice quavered. “She looks so pale...”

He glanced at Jul. “Ah. Yes, Camille will be fine. Excuse me a moment, I’ll be right back.” He picked up Camille gingerly and carried her up the stairs. This feeling of weakness was driving her insane.

“Hyde,” Camille said, as he laid her on her bed. “He wanted a sword, said he wouldn’t leave without it.” She could still smell him, that acid tobacco stench that hung in the air. Iron, he’d said. The iron one. Her left hand flexed. “Just like Tailor...”

Gabriel shushed her. “You need to rest, right now. Don’t think about that. Remember your lessons. Think about the ocean. Think about that nasty fish smell you like so much and how sand gets in literally everything.”

She coughed, certain her ribs would be black and blue tomorrow. “You mean the crisp ocean breeze and the calm waves.”

“Or that.” He checked her pulse one more time, and seemed satisfied. “I’ll check on you later, I need to go take care of your friend.”

Her friend. She had a friend. That had never mattered before. Suddenly it mattered a lot. Jul had smashed a guy over the head for her.

“Hey, Gabriel,” she asked, “do we really not have a sword?”

“I don’t,” he said. “Try to sleep,” he said, shutting the door behind him.

She couldn’t help but note his choice of pronoun. Tailor’s warning bobbed up in her mind, and she pushed it back down. Anything Gabriel did, he did for a reason. Still...

Instead of sleeping, she kept her ears open, hoping to catch the conversation downstairs, but she couldn’t hear a thing. It was just like when Tailor and Charlotte had come over - like someone had thrown a blanket over her senses. What was wrong with her?

Jul

I’d found a broom behind the counter and I was sweeping up the broken glass and tea leaves. I felt obligated - I’d broken it, after all. It still felt a bit unreal. Had I just participated in a fight?

The man I assumed was Camille’s guardian came back down the stairs. I don’t know what I’d expected, but he wasn’t it. He looked far too young to be her guardian. He couldn’t be more than thirty. He had a friendly, open expression and distinctly Asian features, reminding me distantly of Kei. I hoped he wasn’t actually anything like Kei. He tucked his chin-length ebony hair behind his ear and I noticed unusual scars at the base of his neck, peeking up from the collar of his shirt. They were puckered and shiny like old burns.

He saw me sweeping and gave a half-smile. “Oh, you don’t have to do that,” he said.

“I didn’t want anyone to step in the glass,” I said. Rhys could have just melted it away. I shook my head. No, not here, I remembered. This isn’t In Between. “I’m, um, sorry about the jar.”

“Don’t be, it went to a worthy cause,” he said. “Ah, my apologies, we haven’t met. I’m Gabriel Katsura, Camille’s guardian. You’re Juliet, of course. Please, have a seat. Can I get you something? Water, tea, hot chocolate? You look pale.”

I laughed shakily. I probably did. “Hot chocolate would be nice, thank you.”

He went behind the counter to make the drink and I gazed unfocused at my hands. What in the world had just happened? Hyde wanted a sword from this man? He’d assumed, because of my name, that I’d know something about it. Clearly, at least some of the things Rhys had told me were true. I wasn’t sure how much of it I could live up to, but...

I’d helped Camille. I hadn’t run away, and maybe it was the adrenaline that hadn’t left my system yet, but that felt good.

He brought back two mugs and set a steaming mug of cocoa in front of me. He leaned back in the booth with a cup of tea. I took a sip; the sweet taste of chocolate and cream further bolstered my spirits.

“Mr. Katsura...”

“Gabriel, please.”

“Gabriel. This doesn’t...um...” I laughed nervously, “this doesn’t happen to you often, does it?”

“A teenage redneck attacking my ward in a cafe? I can safely say that has never happened before,” he said with a smile. “Granted I’ve only had the cafe a couple of months, so it’s hard to form a pattern that quickly. But I’ve cleaned up my share of broken jars over the years.” He gazed calmly over the chairs the fight had put in disarray. “Someone put him up to this...that boy isn’t clever enough to hatch a plan on his own. Are you familiar with him?”

“No, sir.”

“Probably for the best,” he said. “He was never going to have a simple life. But then, never was Camille.”

“What happened to her?” I asked. “She started off so strong, but then it all drained away so quickly.”

He gave me an evaluating look, seemingly satisfied by my concern.

“Camille has a condition,” he said. “She has amazing strength, agility, and endurance - but she has a limit, and a temper that drives her to it. If she crosses that line...” he shook his head. “I don’t know what will happen to her. I can’t be with her all the time. Can I ask you to watch over her while you’re at school? Help her stay calm, and avoid confrontations. It would ease my mind.”

“Um, sure,” I said. “It’s just...” I trailed off.

“What is it?”

“Well, we have a lot of annoying people at school,” I said, thinking it sounded silly.

He smiled. “I expected as much. That’s normal.” He glanced at the broken jar of tea. “Granted, this sort of behavior isn’t.”

“Do you have any idea what that guy wanted?” I asked.

He sighed. “Unfortunately, yes. And I’m not in any position to improve the situation. Several people are convinced I have this particular weapon, and the simple fact is, I do not. It used to belong to the Tailor family. It’s an old heirloom of theirs. It went missing several years ago and somehow the blame fell on me.”

“So you don’t have any idea where it is?”

“I have several,” he said lightly, “none of which have satisfied your English teacher. I hadn’t expected others to come looking for it, though...just one more twist to the puzzle, I suppose. Would you like a ride home? I’d hate to think of you walking in this mess.”

I looked out at the rain, falling heavier now. “Thank you,” I said, embarrassed I didn’t have my own transportation.

“Just let me go check on Camille and we’ll get you ferried home.”

In the car, rain pattered against the windshield as we left the cafe parking lot.

“Now that we’re out of her earshot, I have to tell you something,” Gabriel said. “You should stop looking for your father.” For Dad? I hadn’t thought about him in days. The brief guilt I felt was pushed aside by the fear that always accompanied thoughts of him.

I went very still. The sound of the car’s wipers was overloud. “What do you know about him?” I almost whispered.

“Oh, goodness, I began that badly. What I meant to say was, I’m very certain that he’s in no danger. The one you should worry about is you.”

“I’m...I don’t understand,” I said.

He sighed unhappily. “Simon is not a good man. You have probably gathered this. Others will have been too polite to tell you directly. And perhaps you’ll write off my words as untrustworthy, not knowing me, but I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to speak with you again, and you deserve to know the truth.” His eyes were on the road ahead as he spoke. “The day after your father left New York, I saw him in Tokyo.”

“What?” I gasped. What could he have been doing there?

“There was a certain artifact I possessed,” he said grimly, “that protected Camille from being found by someone very dangerous. I spotted Simon in the subway, but he was too far away to reach. When I got home, the item was gone. I’m not accustomed to being stolen from.”

“It could have been a coincidence,” I said. “Maybe someone else took it.”

“I can’t help but notice you took the premise of a protective artifact very easily,” he said. “May I be more candid?”

I nodded, though unsure what he meant.

“It was a mirror. Not just any mirror, mind you, a magic mirror.” He glanced at me, gauging my reaction, and continued. “Different mirrors do different things. This one was small, a mere hand mirror, by appearance of no consequence. But it projected a protective barrier wide enough to cover our neighborhood and run interference on those who would locate one as powerful as Camille. With the barrier gone, we had to move, and quickly. There was only one other place in the world I knew of with a similar barrier - a larger one, practically built in.” His mouth twisted. “Practically. So, we moved to Havenwood.”

I suddenly remembered the book I’d seen in the apartment, with the illustration of a silver-handled mirror with a vinelike design. All his research - had he been looking for a magic mirror the whole time? I fought to keep my expression even. “Why are you telling me all this?” I asked.

“Because I fear what Simon has planned,” he said. “And not just me. Your grandmother...Tailor...well, not Charlotte, but she’ll come around soon enough. I’m telling you all this because you have been the only person near him in the past fifteen years. I’m telling you this because I’m hoping you can help me piece together what he’s been doing.”

He pulled into the driveway of Bea’s house and shut off the engine. He looked at me, expectantly.

Right then, I wanted nothing more than to be in the Tower, where confidence would flood me, and I could hold my own. I wanted to be where I had some control. Instead I was stuck outside my mirror, in this car, with a man who clearly knew too much and yet still was demanding information from me. Unbidden, I began to shake. “What do you want from me?” I asked. “He never tells me anything. Never. I come home from school, he’s not there. I ask what he’s doing, he yells at me for being nosy. I try to stay out of his way, he says I’m not taking care of the apartment.” I started to cry, all of it coming back in an unwanted rush. “He lives at the university, he hides in his room. He doesn’t care what I do as long as the place is clean and I don’t make a noise. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t care. I’m a maid, not his daughter, and I think...I think he hates me...” I broke down, in the passenger seat of a stranger’s car. Did I hope he’d be comforting? I didn’t know what to think.

He reached over and pulled a packet of tissues out of the glove compartment, and handed them to me.

I made a choked sort of laugh, and blew my nose.

“I know this is difficult,” he said. “And unfortunately, it’s going to become more difficult before it gets any better. You’re a teenager,” he said wryly. “It’s a horrible time of life. But it’s also when you begin to choose the sort of person you want to be. You can give in to fear and doubt and selfish impulses, or you can become the person you wish others would be. Kind. Giving. Supportive. You know, the sort of person who breaks jars over thugs to help their friends.”

I made a weak smile. “Is Camille really going to be okay?”

He smiled. “With good friends, she will be. I’m certain of it.”

“I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful,” I said. I wondered if there was some connection to the orchard mirror, but I couldn’t tell him about that. I’d promised Rhys, and as nice as he’d been, I wasn’t sure I trusted Gabriel yet.

“If you think of anything else,” he said gently, “you know where to find me.”

I looked up; Bea had opened the front door, looking out. I thanked Gabriel, and left the car swiftly, jogging through the rain up to the porch.

“Where were you?” she asked.

“Working on that science project with my classmate, like I told you,” I said, hoping the rain hid my recent tears. “Her guardian was nice and gave me a ride back since it was raining.”

“Her guardian?” she repeated with alarm, squinting at Gabriel’s car. Alarm showed clear on her face as she recognized him. “Get inside, Juliet!” she said, ushering me in quickly.

“What did he say to you?” she demanded, locking the door behind her.

“N-nothing!” I said, startled into lying. I didn’t understand her fervor. Though I still wasn’t certain of his motives, he’d been the nicest person I’d met in this town by far. “He said he was glad I was making friends with Camille, that’s all.”

“Camille?” she said. “Camille Teague? Oh, god,” she said, running a hand over her face. “This friend of yours is Gabriel Katsura’s ward? No, no, Juliet, this won’t be any good at all. You are not to spend time with that girl any more.”

“She’s my only friend!” I exclaimed. “You’ve been telling me and telling me that I needed to make friends, and she’s the only one who’s nice to me!”

“You listen to me,” she said seriously. “Gabriel Katsura is a dangerous man, and I want you as far from him as possible.”

The feeling the Tower gave me was welling up. Indignation burned. “Why?” I snapped. “Because he knows things? Because he has answers? You want to keep me in the dark forever, is that it? Weird things are going on all over, and you just want me to shut up and stay home? You’re just like dad, you know that? You’re exactly like him!”

My words seemed to stun her. In a faltering burst of cowardice I ran up the stairs and shut myself in my room.

Chapter 13

Mac

Tailor’s handing me a mop and Destin a bucket of cleaning supplies when the girls come in the front doors Saturday morning. Jul is radiant, dressed in pale pastels that make her skin and hair seem darker than usual, her ponytail twisted haphazard over her shoulder. She tugs on it when she catches sight of Tailor - a sure sign she’s nervous. She’s always pulling on her hair. I want to reach out and take her hand, reassure her, but I just can’t shake the feeling that even though she’s right there, she’s a thousand miles away from me.

“Fellow inmates!” I say brightly, instead. “Welcome to hell.”

Tailor huffs. “You’re the ones stupid enough to get in trouble. I’m the one who has to give up my Saturday to babysit you.”

“So let’s all go get ice cream and no one will be the wiser,” I say. “Or muffins. Isn’t there a cafe just down the street? Benedict or Benvolio or something?”

Tailor’s almost as tall as Destin, and the effect of being stared down over his glasses from almost two feet above is chilling. In church, when they talk about the wrath of heaven, I see an English teacher before his second cup of coffee.

“Or we could clean stuff,” I say meekly.

Tailor quirks an eyebrow, as if challenging me to suggest anything fun ever again in my life. “With the school festival in three days, Principal Umino wants the place spotless. The janitors take care of most things, but since you’ve got nothing better to do, you can do some detail cleaning. The wonder twins get the stairway railings,” he eyed me. “You girls can dust the light fixtures. Tie a duster to a broom handle, I don’t need you falling off a ladder and be forced to take you to the hospital.”

Sentimental, Tailor is not.

“I’ll be in the English classroom. Don’t do anything stupid,” he shoots a look at me.

“Me? Do something stupid?” I grumble under my breath, as Tailor disappears up the stairs.

“It’s like he knows you,” Destin says.

“When do I ever do stupid things?”

“In math last week when Mrs. Ragland asked what the square root of 144 was, you said Jenga,” he reminds me.

“People laughed,” I point out.

“And you got extra homework.”

“Karate yesterday,” Camille says.

Ikeda had made us pick sparring partners, and I’d picked her before Hyde could pick me. Somehow I still ended up getting thrown halfway across the room. “I thought you’d go easy on me because we’re sort of slightly friends!”

“Stupid,” she said flatly.

“Chasing imaginary creatures...” Destin mumbles.

“It is not imaginary! You saw it!”

“What’s not imaginary?” Jul asks.

“The reason we have this ridiculous detention in the first place,” I say, frowning at the window by the front door that was replaced a week ago. You’d never know anything had happened to it.

“Yeah, how did you get detention?” Jul asks.

“I made a riot,” Camille says.

She doesn’t seem to think I can top that. “We found the creepy little monster that’s been stealing out of the lockers,” I say, folding my arms. I dare them to laugh. “I chased it around the school and it broke a window. Umino decided I was lying because she’s evil.”

Jul’s eyes are wide. I’m not sure if I’ve ruined her opinion of me or not.

“Monster?” Camille says.

“It was this freaky little thing with a tail and wings and ears - ”

“He’s calling it a catbat,” Destin says, deadpan.

“Don’t you go pretending you didn’t see it,” I snap at him. “Maybe if you got a haircut you wouldn’t have an excuse - ”

“If you say you saw it, you saw it,” Jul says, apparently nervous we’ll start fighting. “We’d better start cleaning something before Tailor comes back or we’ll never get done with detention, no matter how we got into it.”

She and Camille take the dusters and brooms and go down the stairwell to the basement to clean the lights.

“Thanks for the help,” I tell Destin.

“You’re welcome.”

“That was sarcasm.”

He sighs, dunking a rag in cleaning solution. “Do you ever wonder if girls would like you better if you were less weird?”

“Me?” I swipe the curling ironwork of the banister. “I’m not the one who sheds pillow stuffing.”

Reflexively Destin looks around swiftly, tension in his shoulders. “Keep your voice down!” A single downy feather escapes the hem of his shirt.

“Tailor’s shut upstairs and the girls are in the basement,” I say dismissively. “And let’s be clear about something. I’m not weird - I just don’t hide under the covers when something weird happens. There’s a difference. Also, weird means ‘not boring,’ and I am perfectly fine with being not boring.”

“So is that a yes or a no to being weird? Because I think you just claimed both.”

“What I am is awesome. End of discussion.”

He chuckles and goes back to work on the grime in the grooves of the railing.

Sometimes I wonder if he’d spend the rest of his life shut up in his room with comics and a laptop without me there to drag him out into the sun.

I look up at the wide staircase curving up from both sides of the atrium, railings all twisted in iron vines. I heave a sigh. This is going to take all day.

A flash of yellow catches my eye at the top of the staircase. I stare, unbelieving, but I swear I see a flash of pink tongue before the shadow darts away down the second floor hall.

Why that little...

I sprint up the stairs after it.

“Mac?” Destin calls in shock.

“It’s taunting me!” I yell back, tearing down the hall, catching sight of it zipping into the upward stairwell.

And it was not going to get away with it.

Jul

We descended the stairs to the basement in silence.

There weren’t any visible bruises on Camille, and the color was back to her face, but she held herself gingerly, almost wincing as she took each step down. I remembered that most of the beating she’d taken last night had been to her torso, hidden now by her signature oversized red hoodie. I didn’t think I’d even be vertical after the fight she’d had.

“You look a lot better,” I said.

“I feel like crap,” she said lightly, as we crossed the door into the basement level.

“I-I’m sorry - ”

“Did you hit me?” she asked.

“N-no!” I stammered, staring at her.

“So why apologize?”

She was grinning at me, and it was infectious. The corners of my mouth quirked up as well.

“You really believe Mac?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I’ve seen too many weird things lately to rule out a...what was it...catbat?”

She just shook her head. “I don’t know.”

I look up at the long line of lights running down the ceiling. “Well, if you want to start at this end I’ll go around the corner,” I told her.

She snatched up one of the dusters, gave it an expert twirl, and stretched up towards the first light.

I hefted up the other duster and started off down the hall. I was glad she seemed to be alright - and selfishly, more glad that she seemed to like me even better now. Strange that an event that ought to have been traumatic had left me with a smile on my face.

Turning the corner of the L-shaped hall, I went down to the end, hearing my footsteps echo on the tile floor. Half of these labs weren’t even used as classrooms, and stayed locked up. The school had a lot of unused classrooms, presumably expecting that someday they’d have the students to fill them. I looked up at the circular recessed light at the end. Maybe if we got done quickly Tailor would let us leave early?

“Hiya,” said a voice.

I turned around and came face to face with Kei. I stifled a gasp. Where on earth had he come from? The school was supposed to be empty!

“Kei, what are you - ”

He pressed a finger to my mouth, smiling like the Mona Lisa. His flat black eyes glinted. Then he pulled back, opening his hand as he did so. Something cool and metallic fell down the front of my shirt and I yelped.

“Jul?” I heard Camille call.

“I’m here!” I said, an octave too high, turning towards her voice. She came around the corner, a look of puzzlement on her face.

“My ears aren’t working again,” she said, worriedly. “Not since I got here. This building is wrong.”

I turned back around, sure Kei would react, but he wasn’t there. I spun, looking for him, but there was no trace of him.

“What are you looking for?” Camille asked, next to me.

“It was Kei, he was just...”

Immediately she was on alert. “What? Where?”

I reached a hand down the front of my shirt. The metal item had caught in my bra. I pulled it out and found that it was a key. B4 was etched into the top.

Camille was looking at me curiously. “Jul...”

I flushed. “He dropped it down my collar and vanished! What do you want me to say?”

She shook her head. “Not him. Please, not him.”

“Oh, god, no!” I exclaimed, realizing her meaning. “I mean, I thought...but that was...”

She sighed and took the key from me, inspecting it. “So what is this?”

“A key to one of the classrooms down here, maybe?” I said, glad for the change of subject.

“B-4,” she pointed to the room next to Ms. Miller’s chemistry lab. “Empty, I thought?”

“I’ve never seen anyone go in there,” I admitted.

She fitted the key into the lock and twisted; the door popped open.

There were several tables scattered throughout the room, all with wide apparatus pinning down old, flaking pieces of parchment. More were tacked to the walls, like pale ghosts hovering. But despite the care with which each piece of paper was fastened, every single one was blank.

The table at the center of the room held a series of beakers, flasks, and bottles in a range of colors. Hastily scribbled annotations on sticky notes and lined paper were strewn near. I perused them while Camille stared up at the empty parchment.

“These formulas,” I said, looking closely at the bottles. “They remind me of our science experiment.”

“Invisible ink?” she said.

“Someone wants to know what’s on this paper,” I said.

“Umino.”

“And Ms. Miller, I think.” The swooping handwriting on the notes was familiar. “There’s so many of these pages. Where did they come from?”

Camille shrugged, and sniffed the paper. She shook her head. “My nose, my ears, still aren’t working right. Here, they never do. I hate this school.”

I peered closely at one of the pieces of parchment tacked to the wall. It was yellowed, with frayed edges. The unmistakable feeling of something hidden flowed through me as I looked at it. My mother’s journal all over again.

The rainy day in the orchard flashed into my mind. My hand on the tree trunk and wishing for home.

Barely knowing what I was doing, I pressed my hand against the parchment.

Show me.

Lines furled away from my touch. I sprang back, but they continued to crawl across the page, some jagged, some curling. Slowly an image took shape - a portrait, composed of flowing black brushstrokes, except for the eyes. They had been painted in a vivid emerald green. It was a man with long, straight hair, and a handsome face twisted in a wicked grin.

“Uwaa,” Camille murmured. “Nanda- what did you do?”

“Apparently all you have to do is ask,” I said. Hand shaking, I pressed my fingers to the next one. “Show me,” I told it. Same as before, lines drew out from my touch, the faintest shadow dissipating as I took my hand away.

Excited, Camille pressed her hand to the next one. “Show me!”

Nothing happened.

“You have to concentrate,” I told her.

“I did,” she said. She looked at me curiously. “Maybe it’s just you?”

I looked back at the second parchment, black ink settling into the shape of a castle with twisting turrets and furling banners.

Just me?

Camille looked at me incredulously. “You are a monster,” she said.

I stared at her, my eyes wide, hands twisting at my hair over my shoulder, but she was smiling, a wide grin that lit her whole face, green-gold eyes sparkling. “Me, too,” she said. “Me too.”

She said it like it wasn’t a curse. Like we were special. Me, special?

“What can you do?” I asked.

“Hear better, smell better - usually. And I break stuff,” she laughed. “Like you.”

“I haven’t broken anything!” I protested.

Camille pointed to the portrait leering down at us. “You broke this. The spell.”

I stared up at it in wonder. That’s what I was doing? Breaking spells?

I put my hand over one of the scrolls pinned on a table, trying to see if I could sense what was hiding the image. I felt a faint resistance in my mind, like a fine mesh over the whole parchment. I imagined peeling it away, this time slowly. Show me.

The scroll almost seemed to waver like a mirage, hazed over with a misty sheen. When I touched my fingers to the paper, the mist dissipated to nothing. The lines of the image beneath bled out from my touch, stretching into the shape of a high waterfall.

I stepped back, breathing heavily. “You’re right!” I gasped.

“Awesome,” Camille stated, looking eminently impressed.

Show me. Show me. Show me. I touched each piece in turn, laughing, watching images bloom to life under my hand. Before I knew it, I’d dispelled every image in the room. I looked around at my handiwork.

Most of the paintings were landscapes or buildings - ancient-looking places. Forests, rivers, thatched-roof villages, castles. Some were objects - a jewelry box, a crown, a mirror similar to the one in the orchard, but with different scrollwork. A silver fox, staring back with intelligent eyes. But the portraits were the most curious of all.

Camille was staring transfixed at one in particular. I came up next to her and saw why - the face scrawled on the parchment was unmistakably Gabriel. The expression was all wrong - serious and foreboding, reminiscent almost of Rhys in one of his moods - but the features pegged him as her guardian, right down to the odd puckered scars peeking around his collar. At the bottom of the page was an icy blue symbol, like a sideways 8, and the name Gohei Katsura.

“Is that his real name, do you think?” I asked softly.

She was silent a moment. “What is that?” she asked, pointing to the symbol instead.

“I think it’s the symbol for infinity,” I said, and at her faint look of confusion, added, “you know, something that goes on forever.”

“I saw that,” she said, spinning away to a different corner of the room. “Here,” she said, pointing to another portrait, “and there,” indicating the one I’d touched first. I looked back up at the green-eyed man, unsettled by his grin. The inscription read Hemlock, and nothing else but the infinity symbol in the same emerald color as his eyes. I moved toward Camille and the other portrait. This was of a woman, and though she wasn’t necessarily the most beautiful, there was a sort of magnetic pull to her expression, one of captivating total self-assurance. Meredith the Ender, it read, with the infinity painted in blood red.

Camille murmured something.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Three immortals,” she repeated, looking up at the woman with an odd reluctance. “Once upon a time, chosen by gods. Pawns in a war. Bets on the winner.” She shook her head. “A story Gabriel told me.”

“Who won?” I asked.

“‘Ask me later,’ he said.” She looked at his portrait, expression unreadable.

The painting pinned up next to it caught my eye. The Tailor’s Sword was scrawled across the bottom.

“Camille,” I tugged on her sleeve, pointing at it. “You think this is what that guy wanted?”

It was a very plain-looking sword, in an ancient style. There was nothing distinct about the handle, or the hilt; nothing remarkable except perhaps its total lack of individuality.

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” I said. “It doesn’t even look cool.”

Camille shrugged, rubbing her bracer with her right hand as if she could scratch the skin beneath. “Doesn’t have to, if it’s magic,” she said. She looked across the room. “Oi, one more.”

I followed her gaze, seeing one blank parchment. “I thought I got them all,” I said, approaching it. I pressed my hand to it. “Show me.”

Nothing happened. “Maybe it’s really just blank,” I said.

“Yeah right,” Camille said. “Just being an ass. Show it who’s boss.”

Brows knitted in concentration, I focused on the rough paper under my fingers, trying to pull the image out of it, looking for the web of what it hid behind. An outline ghosted into my mind, sketchy and colorless, of a woman in a flowing, low-cut gown studded with gemstones, long hair cascading in looping curls down her shoulders and back. A delicate, heart-shaped face with curling lashes, looking shyly over her shoulder, partially hidden by a lacy parasol. She was almost familiar, but I needed to peel back the spell to see her more clearly. The resistance was as tightly woven as silk, and my hand on the parchment made a fist, as if I could rip it away. Sharp pains spiked up my arm. I cried out, sinking to my knees.

“Jul!” Camille exclaimed.

I looked at my trembling arm. Black, vein-like marks pulsed, until the pain subsided and they vanished. “Holy crap,” I breathed.

“Holy crap,” she echoed. “Are you alright?”

“I think so,” I said, accepting her proffered hand, standing shakily. The parchment was still blank of the woman I’d caught a glimpse of, but at the bottom in the same titling scrawl as the other paintings, was one word.

Harbinger.

“What’s that?” Camille asked.

I shook my head. I was so far out of my league.

The latch behind us clicked and we turned.

“You idiots,” came Tailor’s horrified voice from the doorway. “What have you done?”

Mac

Who left the door to the roof open? Don’t they know catbats can escape the building that way?

The little monster cringes to a halt at the top of the stairs, apparently stunned by the sudden sunlight. Sensitive eyes, eh? Finally, something to my advantage. I bound up the stairs and grab for the scruff of its neck.

“Gotcha!” I exclaim, too soon. It skitters beyond my reaching fingers, squinting blearily at the ground. In the sun, its fur no longer looks like an extension of shadow - it’s a dingy dark grey, matted with leaves and dirt. Its eyes are as big around as golf balls, with eerie yellow irises. The long, flicking tail is tufted like a kangaroo rat. Leathery scales grow from its joints and its jaw. Its wide, catlike ears flatten as it looks back at me. It opens its mouth and hisses, jaw unhinging like a snake to show an extra-wide mouth filled with deceptively long, needlelike teeth.

I rock back slightly. What the hell is this thing? I wonder, but I’m not going to be deterred. I have to prove my innocence, especially after the mess I just caused.

“Can it, catbatsnakemonkey,” I tell the creature. “You’re coming with me.” I advance cautiously, wary of its teeth.

It backs up, disoriented, weaving. I’m not going to let it get back into the door behind me.

“You’re going to help me prove to the principal that I’m not insane.” I hold out my jacket, inching closer. “So I’m gonna wrap you up in this, and you’re not going to give me rabies. Deal?”

It dives at me with a screech. I catch it, trying to keep it away from my face. I stumble back and trip over an exposed pipe, and fall off the roof. My jacket flutters away and I yell, still clutching the creature. In an instant, my face will be splattered across the dumpster -

But it doesn’t happen.

A weird feeling goes through me, like my entire nervous system is rotating a quarter of an inch.

And then I land in a big pile of mud, in near darkness. I cough, tasting the clay in my mouth. The catbat has wriggled out of my hands and leaps for a dark spot on the floor. It’s about to vanish through it. I grab its tail.

“Oh no you - ”

My nerves twist again, and I fall forward, landing on tile floor.

“ - don’t,” I grunt. Free of me at last, the creature sprints down the hall.

The hall?

I’m back at school - inside, no less. I’m covered in red clay mud, and my shoulders hurt from the impact with the floor. I push up on my hands, looking behind me. The lockers? Had I just hitchhiked with a...a...I barely believe my own conclusion.

A...teleporter?

The creature had pulled me through the dumpster, then whatever was in that cave, and then finally dumped me back out through the lockers.

“That was AWESOME!” I yell, not caring who heard.

I hear a door slam and the pounding of someone coming down the stairs very fast. I struggle to my feet, wondering how I’d explain myself.

Tailor comes around the corner and freezes, a nanosecond of relief in his expression before he explodes in fury. “What in the hell were you thinking?” he seethes. “My god, Mac, if you hadn’t - if someone else saw you - ” he looks around swiftly. “Go to my classroom right now, I’ve had enough of all of you!”

“All of us?” I try to sound as innocent as I can, covered in mud.

“All of you,” he snarls.

Jul

Camille and I slumped guiltily in desks at the front of the English classroom. On her other side, Destin hunched over as if attempting to make himself not massively taller than the rest of us. Mac stood to one side, arms folded, blonde curls matted from the mud that spattered him head to toe. Apparently he was unwilling to sit and get mud all over a chair since he’d be the one cleaning it up. He caught me staring wide-eyed at all the mud and flushed. “The catbat’s a teleporter,” he said, presumably to distract from his state.

“Explains a lot,” Destin said miserably.

Tailor slammed the door and turned on us, furious.

“You four are idiots,” Tailor snapped. “This isn’t Scooby-Doo. There are no rubber masks, no disgruntled janitors hiding Aztec gold, no consequence-free ending. You think that detention is the worst the principal can do? A note to your parents? Expulsion? You should pray for expulsion. The more you dig up, the more likely it is that Rin will never let you leave. These are forces you aren’t old enough to handle - forces that could easily destroy you even if you were. If you would just keep your heads down, you might be able to graduate before she pieces things together, and go live normal lives. You are helping her,” he pointed an accusatory finger at me and Camille, “and you have to stop. And you,” he turned on Mac, “are even worse. Bea told me everything. You have no idea what you almost did at the library.”

“Hey, how were we supposed to know tattoo lady was going to - um - what exactly did she do?” Mac asked.

“And then,” Tailor went on, ignoring him, “you go baiting imps and chasing them through the halls. You’ve always been impulsive, Dupree, but you’re bordering on suicidal. That thing could have left you anywhere!”

“Imp?” he brightened. “The catbat is an imp?”

Tailor groaned. “Mac, what do I have to say to make you understand?” he said, running a hand over his face. “You’re the only one in this room who’s definitely normal. In two years, you’ll be free. The only thing you should be worrying about is how to hide Heron’s infernal feathers so he can escape them too.”

Destin’s cinnamon skin flushed. “What? I don’t...I mean, what feathers?”

“Learn to keep them under control before someone else notices,” Tailor snapped. “And pray you don’t develop anything useful.”

“What happens,” Camille said, speaking up for the first time, “if we’re useful?”

He gave her a hard look, but I thought I saw pity under it. Of all of us, she was clearly the most supernatural one. As far as he knows, I thought, my fingers flexing. Was he worried about her? “Fine,” he said, and pulled a nearby chair. He propped his right foot on it, like he was going to tie his shoelaces, but instead he rolled up his pants leg and pushed down his sock. Wrapped around his ankle was a blocky tattoo in the design of a chain.

“Never pegged you for a tattoo kind of guy,” Mac said.

“It’s a spell,” Tailor said icily, rolling his pants leg back down. “When the Uminos find a toy they want to keep, they make sure it can’t run away. I’m bound to the school. I can’t go more than twenty miles away. It’s like running into a brick wall.” He grimaced. “Magic hasn’t worked in our world for almost a thousand years. But over the past hundred years or so, it’s been slowly trickling back - and it’s been getting worse the last few years. Most of the fae and ferals here still don’t even know what they are. There’s not even a guarantee you’ll develop any powers,” his eyes flicked to me for a moment, and I suddenly recalled his horror when he’d met me. “It’s all still so random and unpredictable. But the Uminos are a family with a long memory, and they want to control all they can. They’ll find a way to make you a deal you can’t refuse, and you’ll be theirs. Unless you can stay off their radar,” he said, glaring at each of us in turn. “And you certainly shouldn’t be piecing together any of their research for them,” he said, giving me another hard look. “You’re all preposterously lucky that I was the only person here today.” I swallowed, remembering Kei’s brief appearance. “And even then,” he went on, “if Rin were to ask the right questions, I’d have to tell her. There’s only so much help I can give you. So please, if you have any sense of self-preservation, stay out of Umino business, stay away from the imp, and for the love of god, stay away from the Ender.”

Camille’s eyes widened.

“The Ender?” Mac asked.

Tailor sighed. “The woman you nearly helped burn down the library. Meredith the Ender. All you need to know is that she is immortal, certifiable, and made out of fire. I don’t know why she’s come back here,” he said grimly, “and the sooner she moves on the better. You see a woman in leather, you stay away from her. Got it?” He looked curiously at Camille, who had gone fairly pale. “Alright, Teague?”

Camille shook her head, as if to clear it. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, alright.”

“Then please, all of you get out of this building before you cause any more damage. Good luck explaining your state to your mother,” he shot a look at Mac, who seemed chilled by the prospect.

The others filed out the door ahead of me.

“Jul, wait,” Tailor said. “A word.”

I paused, looking back at him fearfully. It occurred to me just then that he was the only adult who hadn’t persisted in calling me Juliet.

“Shut the door,” he said.

I swallowed and did as he asked, returning meekly to stand by his desk.

“Your grandmother told me you’ve met Gabriel Katsura,” Tailor said, folding his arms and leaning back against the desk. His gaze was cool and cautious behind his glasses. I wondered briefly if he would look less intimidating without them.

“Are you going to tell me to stay away from him too?” I asked.

“Absolutely yes,” he said. “Him, but not Camille. I think she can be freed from his influence, and I think you could use her attachment to you - ”

“Use her?” I interrupted, surprising myself. “Gabriel’s been nothing but kind - he just wants to help. What has he done that’s got everyone so mad at him for? All I hear is what bad news he is, but you’re the one talking about using people - ”

“Don’t,” Tailor snapped, with real venom, and I startled into silence. “Don’t you ever talk to me about using people - ”

He froze, and turned away swiftly. What little I could see of his expression was blank. He let out a long breath. “No. I didn’t mean you. That wasn’t right. Forget that.” His hand went up to rub the back of his neck, his fingers in his mousy brown hair.

“Is it my mom?” I asked. “Is...is that why you don’t like me?”

I could see his shoulder muscles tense.

“Ms. Miller said...that you all went to school together.” And she drew you all in her journal. “She said you didn’t get along.”

He turned back then, and gave me a long, evaluating look, and again I got the feeling that he was waiting for something, as if there was something under my skin that would reveal itself at any moment.

“Simon was my best friend,” he said. “And she ruined him. In every possible way. So no, I’m not a fan of hers. She was like Gabriel that way. People just fell over themselves trying to make her happy. Simon included. I don’t trust charming people. They never say what they mean.” He looked at me again, then sighed, shaking his head. “But you’re not her. You look so much like her it’s hard not to treat you the same. Maybe if you looked anything like Simon it would be easier,” he smiled wryly. “But he was kind of an ass too.”

“You sound like you need better friends,” I said.

“Friends can be more dangerous than enemies,” he said. “I learned that the hard way. But not having any can be even more dangerous. The truth is that Kyra never did have friends. She had admirers, and Simon was obsessed with her - but she always kept everyone at arm’s length, even him. It was...unhealthy.” His brow creased. “You’re not her. And stupid as their actions have been today, you seem to have better taste in friends than I did, so I’m not going to tell you to abandon them. I will reiterate,” his gaze sharpened, “that you’re messing with some things that none of you are equipped to handle. Camille’s the only one of you with powers - unless you count Heron’s molting - and hers aren’t very strong. Not yet, anyway. Rin Umino is an extremely dangerous person to get on the wrong side of, and she already has a close eye on her. I thought when she arrived that she’d be a young female Gabriel,” he said, shaking his head. “I miscalculated, same as I did with you. My advice - do what you can to remove her from the Uminos’ watchlist, not push her higher up it. I’m going to have a hell of a time explaining how the prophetic scrolls they’ve been trying to translate for months just suddenly revealed themselves. How did you do that? How did you even get into the room?”

“There was a key on the floor,” I found myself lying. “We used it and saw all the paintings. What do you mean, revealed?”

He sighed. “Never mind. Just go home, and stay out of trouble until the festival. The principal is on the warpath making everything perfect.”

I walked to the door and paused, thinking that despite his name-calling and stern looks, he wouldn’t be hiding our involvement unless he actually cared. I looked back at him. “You’re not as mean as you pretend to be, are you?” I said. So why was I lying to him?

His mouth opened and closed, seeming to have no response.

I smiled weakly, saying, “See you Monday,” and closed the door.

Outside the front doors, Camille was waiting with Mac and Destin. They all looked at me expectantly when I stepped out into the cool morning air.

“So,” Mac said, swiping some of the mud from his face. “We have some free time. Who wants to completely ignore what Tailor just said?”

Chapter 14

Mac

“So...feathers, huh?” Jul looks askance at Destin.

He cringes.

“You are hereby sworn to absolute secrecy,” I tell her, pushing aside a low-hanging branch. “Both of you,” I glare at Camille. She returns the stare, unimpressed.

We were trekking through the woods between the school and the Graham property - following the line between them until it dead-ended at a place I was sure would provide some answers: the remains of the old lumbermill.

It had taken less time than I expected to bring them up to date on our run-in with the woman Tailor had called ‘the Ender’ - talk about an overkill title - and the girls had told us about some magic Tailor family sword that Hyde seemed all fired up to get his hands on, and the paintings Jul had popped spells on in the basement. Well, technically Jul had done pretty much all the explaining. Camille just kind of grunted approval here and there.

“Yeah, but why feathers?” Jul seems genuinely curious.

Destin shrugs, blushing. “How should I know? Feral powers aren’t predictable or inherited.”

“It only happens when he’s freaked out, it’s no big deal,” I say, hopping over a fallen log.

“I thought feral and fae powers weren’t supposed to show up until you turned sixteen,” Jul says.

“Where’d you hear that?” I ask.

“I was...there’s...” she stammers, “there’s a library. In my grandmother’s house. She um, doesn’t know I found it.”

“When did we become juvenile delinquents?” Destin asks nervously.

“Since nobody will tell us what’s going on,” I remind him. “Right, so this place we’re checking out - ”

“Monster house?” Camille interrupts dryly.

“I didn’t say it was a monster house, I said I saw the imp run in this direction, and the old lumbermill is out here. Me and Dez were doing some research on it since then, and check this out - the police report from forty years ago says it was burned down by a woman named Meredith, who was never apprehended. Tailor said she was immortal and made of fire, so that could be her.”

“You forgot certifiable,” Destin says.

“There were three people there at the time, doing inventory or something, and one of them died, a guy named Omen Taft. One of the other two was your grandmother, Jul. I mean, it has to be - how many Beatrix Grahams could there be in Havenwood?”

Confusion crosses her face. “What does that mean?”

“No idea. That’s why we’re checking the place out. That, and look for signs of the imp. Wow, I cannot tell you how nice it is to have an actual name for the stupid thing.”

“Who was the other?” Camille asks.

“Huh?”

“The third? At the fire?”

“Oh,” I say. “Some woman named Wilde. Zelda or Xena or something else crazy. I couldn’t find anything else on her, or the guy Taft. Not even a death certificate for him. It’s like that police report is the only proof either of them existed.”

I look up, seeing tumbled-down brick and rotten wood planks rising out of the undergrowth.

“Behold,” I say. “We’re here.”

Camille raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. Jul is more tactful.

“It looks...spooky?” she offers.

“It does at night,” I say defensively.

But it’s the middle of the day - so the old abandoned lumbermill almost looks picturesque. The woods have grown back in around it, and vines climb in and out the busted windows.

“It’s condemned.” I say the word as menacingly as I can. “So that’s pretty hardcore. They keep talking about tearing it down, but nobody’s gotten around to it. Plus they’d have to re-clear a road to get in here.”

Jul skirts around an empty bottle. “Nobody uh...lives here, right?”

I shrug. “Sometimes people come out here on Halloween. That’s about it. I mean it’s wedged between three private properties - somebody would notice.”

Camille stalks forward, pushing an overzealous hydrangea aside.

“Just watch out for spiders,” I tell her.

“Spiders?” Jul squeaks.

“And poison ivy. Other than that it’s fine. Probably.”

Camille shrugs and steps through the open door.

“Is she afraid of anything?” I ask, but no one is listening.

Inside the mill, the rusted remains of the sawing machines still rest in the wide loading bay, the garage-style door wide open to the sun. The small sections of the roof that aren’t totally burnt away are caved in around the metal rafters. Only the parts of the building that are metal or brick have held up in any capacity. The brick walls still hold a black char, and some of the metal railings show warping from the fire. Decades of pine needles and oak leaves carpet the concrete floor. There’s an office recessed from the main mill floor, with what used to be a wide observation window - but it’s cobwebs and shards now. There’s another door further back that interests me.

I move past the corroded saw blades, glancing at the melted chains still hanging from one wall.

Destin is pointing out the poison ivy trailing through one window to Jul, explaining how to spot it by its glossy leaves.

Camille turns around, head raised, nostrils flared. “Do you smell it?”

Jul looks over at her, stepping towards the center of the mill floor, frowning in concentration. “Just pine and rust,” she says.

Destin wanders into the office area, ducking clear of cobwebs. The floorboards creaks.

“What is it?” I ask her.

Frustration crosses her face. “Shimetta. Tsumetai. Water.”

“Water doesn’t have a smell,” I say.

“Yes it does,” Jul backs her up. “You know how things kind of smell different when they’re damp?”

Camille points at Jul. “That. Yes, thank you.”

“What, like there’s some leaky pipes around here or something?” I say. “There shouldn’t even be pipes. What would that mean?”

“I don’t know,” Camille snaps.

“I think Mac’s just jealous he doesn’t have a superpower,” Jul tells her.

“I’d pick something other than super smell, that’s all,” I grumble.

“Yeah, I picked this,” Camille returns.

“Guys, cut it out,” Jul entreats us.

“How about,” I say, trying to employ diplomacy, “you go track down the mystery of the old leaky pipes, and me and Jul will go check out the storeroom.”

Camille gives me a look that all but says, Try anything funny and I’ll throw you into next week. She wanders over to the machinery and the open bay, looking out at the forest beyond.

As if I’m ever not a total gentleman. Who does she take me for? Kei?

Jul follows me to the windowed metal door - though this glass, like all the others, is broken too. “You could have a little more faith in her abilities,” she says. “She’s here to help too. She notices things no one else does.”

“Hence letting her do her thing without me getting in the way making jokes about it,” I say, opening the door.

This room still has most of its ceiling intact, with the exception of one gaping hole. There’s a moldy old mattress in one corner, and some boxes and old furniture piled up against one wall. Empty liquor bottles line a shelf, but they’re covered in a thick layer of dust so they’re probably leftovers from Halloween parties. The floor here is wood, not concrete like the rest of the place. Still no signs of the imp - but then again, I’m not entirely sure what to look for. A nest made out of my stolen comics?

I step inside. Glass crunches under my feet.

“The glass is all on this side,” I muse. “You think something from the floor was thrown through it? If it had popped from heat it would have been on both sides.”

The floor creaks as Jul crosses the room gingerly. “That is not something that would have occurred to me,” she says, sounding impressed. There’s a pressed wood desk to one side that catches her interest and she works at tugging one of the drawers open.

“Physics, my dear Watson,” I say, grinning. “Although I don’t know how useful that tidbit is.” I look up at the molding wallpaper. There’s some pictures and things hung up in this room that survived the fire, it seems. A tall, plain glass mirror, surface clouded with age. A company photo under cracked glass shows a couple dozen people lined up in front of the factory. The focus is too far out to pick out anyone’s face, but it’s interesting to see what the lumbermill looked like at its prime, without the forest looking like it’s trying to eat it alive.

There’s a crash as the drawer suddenly comes unstuck and Jul loses her balance. She falls in a tangle of limbs, bits of notepads and paperclips raining down on her. She jumps up just as fast, brushing herself off frantically. “Oh my god are there spiders on me? Do you see any spiders?” she asks, voice pitched way too high. “Are they in my hair?”

“Whoa, whoa, calm down,” I tell her. “Here, lean down, I’ll check.”

“I keep forgetting I’m way taller than you,” she laughs nervously.

Her hair is softer than it looks. This shouldn’t be as big a deal as my heartbeat seems to think it is. I run my fingers lightly over the ebony strands, briefly wondering if there’s a legitimate way I could extend the inspection, but I can’t think of it fast enough.

“Mac?” she prompts.

“You’re clear,” I say, backing up and hoping I’m not blushing.

“Oh good,” she sighs, standing straight and giving the web in the rafters a wary look. “This place just creeps me out. I don’t think I’ve ever been around this many crawly things in my life.”

“New York doesn’t have bugs?”

“Mac, this place is like a setting for a horror movie. All that’s missing is the saw blades coming to life. We’ve already fallen victim to the first major horror mistake.”

“Not having a strongly defined villain?” I offer, kneeling to sift through the fallen notepads.

“Never go off alone,” she states ominously.

“We’re not alone,” I point out.

“Or split up! You know what I mean!”

“I do. Sorry,” I grin. “I didn’t realize you were that into horror movies.”

“I’m not, I’m interested in never being in one!”

My fingers close around something solid under the flakes of paper. “Too late, Daphne, Fred’s found a clue,” I say, standing with a box in hand.

“I thought I was Velma?”

The box is made of faded blue velvet, shallow and rectangular. About the size that would hold a fancy necklace or a tiara, I’d guess. I take off the lid, but there’s nothing inside. The cushion is shaped to fit the form of an old-style hand mirror.

“I was hoping for something a little more dramatic,” I admit.

“Look, there’s a note,” Jul says, plucking out a piece of paper folded between the cushion and the rim. She unfolds it, and we read the cramped, meandering handwriting.

Beatrix,

I have fixed it, you see. You said I could, and I did. I gift you this creation, my debt to you repaid. The design has been improved. Not just for conversation, this mirror now offers protection, and possesses the singular ability of being able to locate anyone, anywhere.

After all you have seen, you may not wish to see me.

But if you do...

~ Soren

“Okay,” I say, “is it just me, or is this guy totally hitting on your grandma?”

I glance at Jul, expecting her to be embarrassed or something, but she’s gone pale, staring at the page.

“I mean, if it’s creepy or whatever, I understand - ”

A shadow looms from the doorframe, and I look up, expecting Destin. “Dude, where have you - ”

But this is not my best friend. This is Meredith, the so-called Ender.

The lanky tattooed woman leans lazily against the doorframe, a bottle swinging loose in her other hand. She blinks at us, as if not entirely sure we’re there, and upends the last of whatever’s in the bottle. Apparently satisfied we’re real, she gives us an unsteady, suspicious glare.

This time I really take a good look at her. The red tattoos I’d thought were blocky look more like flames on second inspection, covering one side of her throat and down one arm. Bits also seem to peek from around her hairline, though her dark, tangled hair obscures it. She has a wide, small-featured face with grey eyes that seem over-large by comparison. About Jul’s height, but not quite as thin. She wears a sleeveless shirt and pants made of weathered, scorched brown leather.

Pointing a finger at us, the woman says, “You shouldn’t be here.” She tosses the bottle into a corner where it shatters against the wall, and advances on Jul and I. We both take steps back, hearing the floor crack loudly. The timber beneath us buckles and collapses. My stomach sinks as we fall; then, a hard yank on my arm as it nearly comes out of the socket. The woman has a firm grip on my wrist, and on Jul’s, who’s dangling next to me, staring up in shock. The arsonist saved us?

“That’s why you shouldn’t be here,” she says, chuckling. “You know this rat pit is condemned, don’t you?”

I feel my wrist start to scorch. “Ow, ow, ow!” I yelp, almost wishing she’d just drop me, even though I can’t see what’s in the darkness below.

“Minor burns or rocky death, your choice. Don’t be a pansy, reach up and help yourself,” Meredith says, slurring. “My hands are full and I don’t have super strength, you know.”

Wincing, I reach up with my free hand and lever myself back onto the floor. I start to get up to help Jul, but Meredith is already pulling her over.

“Are you okay?” I demand, as Jul gets to her feet, but she’s looking in confusion at the hand-shaped burn around my wrist. Her arms are unmarked.

Meredith is intrigued, eyes roving over Jul. “Well now,” she says, running a finger under Jul’s chin. “That is a new development.”

I take Jul’s hand and pull her away. There’s a fine tremor in her fingers and I grip tighter. We edge toward the wall.

Meredith is still scrutinizing her every feature. “You seem familiar. Is it you? Several shades too pretty for the Wolf, if you ask me, but what do I know?” She laughs, as if at a private joke. She reaches a hand out for Jul, grinning widely.

I hear a shriek and a tailed shadow falls from the rafters, tangling up in Meredith’s hair. The imp scratches at her face, leaving smoking red lines. Weaving as she tries to pull it off her, she bellows curses at the thing; long, impressive strings of profanity, some in languages I’d never heard. She stumbles, losing her footing, and falls over the edge. The imp leaps free, gliding to land on the edge of the sinkhole. It blinks its wide, yellow eyes at me, posture smug.

Still in shock, I edge closer to peer into the hole. There’s a faint glow coming from what must be two stories down. Is there some sort of cave underneath this place? No wonder it’s condemned.

In the yellowish glow, I can make out the shape of Meredith impaled on a stalagmite, the calcified rock poking up through her midsection. She groans, lifting her head, looking at the injury. “Son of a bitch,” she swears, but sounding more annoyed than anything else.

That’s when I notice the glow is coming from her wounds. Magma seeps out around the hole in her chest, melting through the stalagmite. She wrenches the spike away, tossing it aside and standing with a groan.

“That was my last shirt!” she yells up, a ragged circle showing just below her ribs where her flesh is reforming.

Holy. Crap.

I look at Jul. “Um, make a break for it?” I suggest.

She nods frantically, snatching up the velvet box where it had fallen.

“Blighting mortals, can’t you at least toss down my other bottle!” Meredith’s petulant voice follows us as we hurry out to find Destin and Camille.

“I didn’t hear her,” Camille bemoans. “What’s wrong with me?”

“Well the good news is, you saw how freaked Dez was and look! Not a single feather,” I say, thumping him on the back. “Mind over matter, right buddy?”

“Huh? I wasn’t thinking about that at all,” he admits.

We’d agreed that we needed to be long gone before Meredith found her way out of the cave, and Jul’s house was closest, and empty. Ms. Bea was working at the library again today and Jul insisted that she was going to find something to bandage my arm.

A light rustle in the dead leaves makes me glance back, and for the first time I’m relieved to see those unnatural yellow eyes instead of something else.

“Why is it following us?” Destin asks, unnerved, looking over his shoulder at the imp. It darts between the barren trees, keeping mostly out of sight and about twenty feet back, but it’s definitely following us.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s checking to see if we run into any more fire-breathing immortals on the way to grandmother’s house. And speaking of, what was she talking about, the wolf?”

“Wolf?” Camille repeats.

“Yeah, she wanted to know if Jul was a wolf. Is that like a metaphor, or...?”

“Monster,” Camille says.

I raise my eyebrows at her, my surprise almost masking the steady throb of pain in my wrist. “Oh yeah? What do you know about it?”

“Story Gabriel tells. Once upon a time,” she says slowly, as if trying to remember the words, “there were seven heroes. They fought many monsters and saved many kingdoms. Won treasure, fame, love - even some kingdoms for themselves. With time, they became arrogant. Lazy. Selfish. It was...nan no itta...” she mutters to herself, “they ah, ‘bought into their own hype.’ So, the gods cursed them, making them into the same monsters they once swore to destroy. Cursed them to return always, to remind all mortals.” Her gaze is distant as she looks up at the roof of Jul’s house rising above the treeline.

“Remind them what?” Destin prompts.

Back to earth, she glances at him. “This is what happens when you waste a gift,” she says.

I scrape my shoes on the doormat at the back door, certain that Ms. Bea will murder me if I track anything into her house. I leave my mud-spackled jacket outside for the same reason. The interior looks no different from before Jul got there - same peeling floral wallpaper, same faded decorative china hung on the walls. Same little old lady smell of dusty porcelain and regular baking.

“There’s got to be a medicine cabinet somewhere,” Jul says, pulling open drawers in the kitchen. “I’m sure I can find something for your arm.”

“I’m totally fine, don’t worry about it,” I say, but it’s a blatant lie. Meredith’s handprint around my wrist is a blistered, angry red. I hold the arm gingerly, trying not to wince.

“There’s nothing here,” Jul frowns into the last drawer. “It’s all ladles and potholders.”

“Check the bathroom?” Destin suggests.

“There aren’t any cabinets in the half-bath on this floor,” Jul says, then hesitantly, “but there is a bathroom attached to Bea’s room.” She looks down the hall, as if the idea of going in there is sacrilege.

“Really, I’m fine,” I say again.

“You’re not,” she insists. “I’ll...I’ll be right back.”

I glance around the kitchen, lifting the lid on a jar. “Think she’s got cookies stashed somewhere?”

“We’re not supposed to be here,” Destin reminds me. “That means leaving things the way we found them.”

I replace the lid and go to the window, eyeing the imp perched on the porch railing. “Yeah, I guess. If that’s even possible. Hey, where’d the gold ranger get to?”

“Baka no ebi,” Camille grumbles from down the hall. “Just looking.”

“Oh, please tell me you are not in the teacup room,” I say, standing and crossing the hall, Destin on my heels.

Sure enough, she’s in the only room in the house where everything inside is insanely fragile. The chairs and tables are ancient and look like they’re built of toothpicks and velvet tissue, and glass cabinets all around full of china cups that don’t look strong enough to handle a mild insult, much less a cup of tea.

Every single cup and saucer is different, and to my surprise, Camille seems totally fascinated by them. She peers through a cabinet at a shelf devoted to cups in the shape of different flowers.

“I would never have pegged you for a tea party kind of girl,” I say.

“Party?” she says, without inflection. “I just like tea.” There’s a spot of color on her face. I’m betting that’s as close to embarrassed as she gets.

Destin stands in the middle of the room, arms close at his sides, as if afraid that one touch will cause a chain reaction and the whole room will implode in burst of porcelain. Which frankly, I would pay to see.

“Guys!” Jul exclaims, standing at the door, holding a box of gauze. “Please come out of there, what if you break something?”

“You say that like we’re accident-prone or something,” I say. “...Alright, you have a point.” But my eye is caught by a series of frames hung on one wall. I’d always known this room was here, but I’d never gone inside for obvious reasons, so I’ve never seen this wall.

Most of the black and white photographs feature one or both of two girls with wide smiles - one pale with black hair, one dark with what looks like white hair, despite her youth. Picnics, a day at the beach in old-style bathing suits.

“That can’t be Ms. Bea,” I say, blinking at a picture of them sitting with legs dangling off the back of a pickup truck, grinning at the camera.

“You didn’t think she’d always been old, did you?” Destin asks.

“I didn’t think she’d be a babe,” I reply. “That’s just weird.”

Destin looks at a picture of them in an office, with two guys. He leans back in surprise. “I think that’s my grandfather,” he says.

“What, seriously?”

“Yeah, I recognize the police uniform he’s wearing. I didn’t know he was friends with Ms. Bea. Who’s the other guy? He looks pretty young, like our age.”

Despite Jul’s soft sound of protest, I carefully lift the picture off the wall and pop off the back cover. Omen’s first day of work, is scrawled across the back of the photo in looping script. Bea, Zinnia, Omen, Marco - 1976.

“This is him!” I say, fitting the picture back together and turning it around to get another look. “This is the guy who died in the fire. This must have been taken at the mill - it burned down the next year.” He was younger than the rest, Destin was right - maybe fifteen, while the other three were about twenty. “He looks normal enough to me,” I say.

“Kinda reminds me of you, actually,” Destin says. Omen’s hair and skin are as dark as mine are pale, but he’s about my height - Destin’s grandfather towers over him, with a hand on his shoulder. Omen’s grin at the camera is wide, oblivious that his death is a mere year away.

“Morbid, dude,” I tell him.

“What? He has the look of someone who’d walk right into certain danger and drag his friends with him.”

Jul, however, is transfixed by a small portrait propped up on a side table. It’s painted, not a photograph like the others. The face is almost familiar, but the expression is wrong, and the hair. Mentally I switch out the blue-white hair for a dark brown, and trade the far-off, detached smile with a disapproving frown.

“Is that Rhys with white hair?” I ask, standing at Jul’s shoulder.

“I don’t think that’s him,” Jul says, but her expression is strange as she stares at it.

“Distant relative,” says a cold voice from the door. Ms. Bea stands there, arms folded. “What are you doing in my room?”

“Um...” I offer, “...scavenger hunt?”

Chapter 15

Jul

My grandmother had caught me and my friends snooping in an off-limits room when we were supposed to be at school for detention. And yet, I was the one feeling righteous indignation.

“What happened at the mill?” I asked, shocking myself with my own forwardness.

“The mill?” She managed to not even glance at the photos on the wall.

“Meredith burnt it down forty years ago,” I said. “You were there. Your friend died. And now she’s come back.” I trembled, remembering the woman’s scalding fingers reaching for me. But I hadn’t burned. “You knew a Mirrormaker - ” I pointed at the portrait, “didn’t you? I bet you know everything. You certainly can’t forget, all Grimms are Hunters, after all - ”

“Busy girl,” Bea said angrily. “So this was Simon’s plan? Did he send you here to play the innocent, all the while grooming informants out of your friends?”

I gasped as if punched. “What?”

“You think I don’t see you, greedily turning over every leaf in Havenwood? He’s sent you for the Tower mirror, and he’s never getting it. I swore he’d never have it.”

“This isn’t about the mirror!” I cried.

“Why else would you dig up the past with such fervor?”

“Because I want to know who I am!” I shouted. “I have to sneak, and hide, and lie, because no one will give me a straight answer.”

There. I’d said it. And from the shock on Bea’s face, there was no taking it back.

Camille, Mac, and Destin stood stock still, silent spectators to my outburst.

“All of us,” I said. “You and Tailor, you keep telling us to ignore what’s around us, but how could we? We’re here. We’re involved. If you want to protect us, give us the tools to protect ourselves. If you don’t, we’ll find a way to arm ourselves.”

I felt Camille take a step up to stand beside me. Gratitude flowed through me for the silent solidarity.

Bea’s expression was incredulous, and somehow distant, as if seeing something other than Camille and I standing there. “You’re not here for the mirror?” she said at last.

Maybe if I finally told the truth, all of it, maybe then she would finally believe me.

“I know where the mirror is,” I said, and she went rigid. “I’ve even been inside,” I raised my chin. “I’ve been doing a lot of reading. But Dad has nothing to do with it,” I stated firmly. “He’s never mentioned anything to me. He never let me look at his research. I didn’t even know magic was real until I found the stupid thing by accident. I haven’t even told my friends about it, because it just seemed...too much.” No lies, just...omitting Rhys. He’s not going to be happy...

“I’m sorry, guys,” I turned and apologized to the others. “I was going to show it to you eventually, it just...felt really private, I guess,” I said, suddenly embarrassed. He’s going to kill me.

“Don’t,” Bea said sharply, then shook her head, letting out a long sigh and softened her tone. “Please, don’t show it to anyone. Not ever.” She gave me a long, considering look. “You want the truth, Juliet? Then swear to me that you will keep its location a total secret from this moment on. From everyone. That mirror is more important than you, or me, or this entire town. You can’t tell Simon, you can’t tell Camille,” her eyes flicked to the blonde girl, “you can’t even tell Tailor. I’m serious. I’ll tell you what you want to know, but in return you have to help me guard it.”

I nodded slowly. Rhys already knew, but did I need to tell her that? Surely I could keep one thing to myself? “Ok,” I said. “I’ll keep the mirror a secret. Tell us about the mill.”

She let out a breath she’d been holding. “Just remember, this is what you asked for,” she said. “You won’t like it all. The more you know, the more you have to be afraid of.”

Camille gasped, looking out the window. Bea followed her stare but quickly lost all sense of alarm, seeing a pair of wide yellow eyes peering in.

“Oh, don’t worry about him, he’s just hungry,” Bea said dismissively. Seeming to deflate, she looked around at us all. “Well, who else is hungry?”

Mac raised his hand immediately. The rest of us slowly followed suit, with varying degrees of sheepishness.

“I thought as much. Get in the kitchen before you break my china.”

“I never get tired of the part where the imp is your pet,” Mac said, totally engrossed in watching the creature on the back porch have a staring contest with the cold pie Bea had set out there. She stood at the kitchen counter putting together something she called ‘long sandwiches’ for the others while I munched on a bag of carrots.

“I’d hardly call it a pet,” Bea said offhand, layering a split loaf of French bread with meat, cheese, and ranch dressing. “But it’s harmless. Mostly. Imps will steal from anyone, and they look like vicious little vermin, but they’re only truly dangerous to people who wronged them when they were alive, or if you threaten them. Skittery little bastards though,” she said, eyeing the creature through the window. “I’ve been feeding that one for years and he still won’t come near me. Imps just don’t trust anything they didn’t steal.”

“And they eat candy bars and pie?” Mac asked eagerly.

“That one does. All imps are different. You know what they are, right?”

“Not even slightly,” Mac said, unabashed.

“Well,” Bea said, watching the yellow-eyed creature sniff the pie cautiously. “When people die, usually they ‘pass on’ or whatever that means. Maybe there’s another life. Maybe they vanish entirely. Who knows? But every so often, there comes some poor idiot who just can’t let go, for whatever reason.” She shrugged, opening the oven to lay both sandwich halves under the broiler.

“So they’re ghosts?” Mac said eagerly.

“You’re jumping ahead of me, boy,” Bea reprimanded him, closing the oven. “When a person’s heart isn’t strong enough to handle the transition, the echo of their mind becomes a ghost. That’s why ghosts can’t feel. And imps can’t think, because they’re what happens when a person’s mind is the weak half. That thing out there is a distant shadow of some poor idiot’s heart. It’s skittish, inconstant, and reacts totally on impulse. As for what it eats - that’s dependant on the person they used to be. This one won’t touch anything that’s not made of pure sugar,” she said wryly.

Camille pulled a face.

“Oh, that’s nothing,” Bea said, looking askance at her. “I once saw one that subsisted exclusively on frogs. It was disgusting.”

The imp outside was buried head-first in the crust, crumbs flying upwards. My stomach twisted at the thought of those teeth turned on something living.

“That one’s been around for some time,” Bea said. “I first saw it when I was a little girl. I have no idea how long it’s hung around Havenwood.”

“Are you sure it’s the same one?” Destin asked.

“I’ve never seen eyes that color before, or since,” she said. “I don’t know who he used to be, or how long he’s been dead, but I’ll tell you one thing: he hates Meredith.”

“We noticed,” Mac said. We’d already told her about running into Meredith at the mill. She’d taken it better than I’d expected - apparently less keen on lectures than Tailor, she’d seemed to gather that we’d learned our own lesson about the Ender.

“To be fair, I’ve yet to meet someone who doesn’t hate her,” Bea said, removing the crisped sandwich halves from the oven and deftly flipping the top half over the bottom. She set the assembled sandwich on a cutting board and sliced it into 2-inch sections. “She’s come to Havenwood twice before, in my lifetime. Her only goal is killing the Wolf.”

“Yeah, so, I’m still kinda rusty on exactly what that is?” Mac said, reaching for a sandwich piece. “Other than apparently not an actual wolf,” he said, mouth full. Then his eyes went wide. “I just realized this is the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten in my entire life.”

“The Wolf is a person,” Bea said, pushing the tray toward Destin and Camille before Mac could eat the entire loaf. “Or rather, it’s a bundle of power attached to a person. Kill that person, a new Wolf is born within the year. It’s impossible to predict who and where. Every one of them is bad news - the power of the Wolf inevitably corrupting the host - or so it’s said.” Her gaze out the window was distant. “I’ve seen two of them, but I’m still not convinced how inevitable that is. Meredith is convinced, though, and even if she sees proof to the contrary, she forgets. I don’t know why, but every time the Wolf is killed, her memories are wiped clean.”

“But she’s immortal?” I asked.

“You see the problem,” she said, with a significant look at me. “Right now, she has no more memories than you do. An immortal made of fire, with all the maturity of a teenager.”

“No offense taken,” Mac said, mouth full of sandwich.

Bea gives him a silencing, though not unkind, look. “You want to know about the mill fire. I’ll tell you. But I’ll need to take a step back, for you to understand my full meaning.

“My name is Beatrix Graham, but generations ago it was Grimm. They changed it when they left the Afterlands and crossed to this side of the mirror, wanting to hide from the tyrants we’d left behind. My parents never told me,” she said, pointedly not looking at me. “They’d decided we were safe, that it was time to let history fade and melt into the rest of humanity.” Now her eyes met mine. “Soren had other ideas.”

Seeing the others’ looks of confusion, she explained, “Soren was a Mirrormaker - which is exactly what it sounds like. When he was a child, and still learning his powers, Soren made a few unintentional anomalies. One resulted in pulling me into the Afterlands.” Her expression was carefully blank. “I ended up spending a lot of time there, and brought some friends back here with me - orphans of war that wanted to live here, free of magic, seeking normal lives. Zinnia Wilde, my best friend, and two feral boys. Marco Heron,” she glanced at Destin, “and Omen Taft. Omen was like a little brother to us all. He’d wanted to stay and fight the war his parents had lost their lives for, but we wanted to give him something better. Something simpler. Safer. Zinnia and I got him a job hauling lumber for the mill. Marco had become a police officer. We thought we were done with the other side, that we could forget it all.

“Then Meredith came.” Her tone was grim enough that even Mac had stopped eating, attention totally focused on her story. “I’d heard of her,” she said, a dark smile crossing her face. “She’d sounded cool, honestly. An immortal guardian protecting the world from its monsters with a righteous cleansing fire. At first, I even wanted to help her find the Wolf, when she’d declared it was hiding in our town. But that was before we knew it was Omen.”

She crossed to the window, looking out at the imp curled up in the pie pan, sleeping off the sugar rush. “His temper had been getting worse, it was true, but we thought it was just teenage hormones. He was stronger than he had any right to be - but he was feral, so we’d chalked it up to that. I think I’d had some instinct about it, because every time Meredith wanted to visit the lumber mill, I’d distracted her...but it was only a matter of time. The instant Omen turned sixteen, Meredith knew exactly where he was. He, Zinnia and I were doing inventory at the mill. You’ve seen the remains of the place. You can imagine the rest,” she said bluntly. “He resisted, but you can’t really stop her, only slow her down. She burnt him alive. He was only sixteen. He hadn’t even hurt anyone. Yet. Yet, she said, but it was Omen, so...” I couldn’t see her expression with her back turned to us. “That’s when I knew that she was the real monster. And that was when I knew that you can’t hide from forces like that.” She looked at each of us in turn. “John Tailor still thinks you can. I won’t tell you such fairy tales. I’ve learned to err on the side of caution, but no matter if any of you have powers or not,” she glanced at Mac, “you’re involved, Juliet is right about that. Meredith has no allegiances, no sympathies, no motives beyond hunting the Wolf. She won’t hesitate to harm anyone who gets between her and her goal.” Bea looked at us intently. “So is that enough to convince you to stay out of her path?”

“Tattoo lady is bad news,” Mac said. “Got it.”

“But we still don’t know who she’s looking for,” I said. “I mean, who this Wolf person is.”

Bea shrugged.

“I think I know,” Camille said, expression stony as she looked up at me. “Well, I think Gabriel knows. I’m going to ask him.”

“Gabriel,” Bea said darkly, “won’t tell you anything unless it’s in his best interest for you to know. He’s come to Havenwood before, and once he has whatever he’s come for, he’ll be gone. Mark my words,” she said.

Camille stood abruptly. “Thank you for the food,” she said formally. What Bea had said must have unnerved her.

“Yeah we better get back home before mom gets suspicious,” Mac said, snagging the last piece of the sandwich.

After the others had left, I reached into my jacket pocket and pushed the velvet box toward Bea across the counter.

She gasped in recognition, and for several moments seemed to be without words. Finally, she reached for it. “Where did you find this?” Bea asked softly.

“A drawer at the mill. The note was written to you, so I thought you’d want to have it,” I said. “It seemed kind of personal.” An understatement, that was clear.

Her eyes rested on me a moment, considering, then returned to the box, her fingers barely touching the fabric.

“Some people,” she said absently, “are never allowed to live normal lives, however much they may wish to. No matter how hard we work to disentangle ourselves, the mirrored world pulls us back in.”

“That’s basically what Tailor told us. But he said that if we avoid the principal, we could still leave - ”

She laughed, abruptly. “Behind all that anger, John is an optimist, even after all that’s happened. I don’t think he can help himself. Whatever he says, he’s never truly lost hope. But he’s wrong, Juliet. The moment you were born, your fate was sealed. Your mother only complicated it by leaving you at Simon’s mercy.” She sighed. “I fear I’ve done little better by you. Can you forgive me?”

The corner of my mouth curved up. “I should find you empty boxes more often.”

“I was harsh on Simon,” she admitted, setting the box aside, note still tucked inside. “I felt I had to be. His father died before he was born, never even knew he existed...I was afraid to raise a child alone. My parents had died years before, and I had no relatives. I did what I thought was best. I thought that if I kept him under tight discipline, I could teach him control...I wonder now if I only made him hate me, and if I’m the one who drove him away.”

“Is he the Wolf?” I said.

“No, Juliet, he’s not the Wolf. The last one died sixteen years ago. Whoever it is now, they’d be about your age, if the pattern holds. Exactly what Simon is, I’ve never been able to prove. He never exhibited powers that I saw, but I know now that it’s because of John. Even when he was too young to realize it, John had been dampening the powers of those around him to an astonishing degree. I’ve never known a Null to have such a widespread effect, and we didn’t catch on to what he was doing until well after Simon and Kyra left. I’ve been trying to help John find ways to control it, but it’s been slow. There’s not much literature on the subject. His family was nearly hunted to extinction in the Afterlands before they escaped over here. As it is, he severely dampens the abilities of any fae or feral within about a mile of him. We don’t think Rin Umino has figured it out yet. If she knew his presence at the school actually hindered their plans for the students...well, there’s no way she’d keep him bound there. Likely she’d ship him to her sister’s labs to figure out what makes him tick,” she said grimly.

“So it’s because of Tailor that Camille’s senses aren’t working?” I said, incredulous. “That’s been driving her crazy.”

“I think it’s part of what drove Simon crazy too...” she admitted. “He was always so frustrated with his lack of powers. But John was with him all the time, so they were buried. Even I don’t know how he turned out. Surely you saw something at home?” she asked, intently. “You’re the only one who’s been close to him in the last fifteen years. You had to have seen some signs.”

It was basically what Gabriel had said. “He wasn’t at home much,” I admitted. “He was always out, usually researching at the university. He would bring home giant stacks of books and shut himself up in his room when he was at the apartment. He only really came out for food.” I swallowed. “Or to yell at me to clean the apartment.”

“And you with no singing mice to help you,” she smiled sadly. “I have to say, I never liked Cinderella. I just can’t get behind a heroine who doesn’t know when enough is enough.”

“It’s hard to know what ‘enough’ is when you have nothing to compare your situation to,” I said, gaze on the pale blue countertop.

After a moment, she pushed a jar of chocolate chip cookies into my view.

“I’ve never thought about it that way,” Bea said, serious.

I looked up at her gratefully. I took a bite of one, chewing thoughtfully. “So you know a lot,” I asked slowly, “about Mirrormakers?”

Her eyebrows raised. “Just the one.”

“What was he like?”

Her expression was empty, eyes on the box. “Distant,” she said at last. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I’ve heard a few things about the Ryans as a family that makes them sound...”

“Unpleasant?” she smiled wryly.

“But Soren wasn’t?”

“He was a very frustrating man,” she admitted. “But he meant well. He just didn’t have as much control over his life as he did over mirrors.”

I could have told her everything about Rhys right then, but still I held back. “So you think difficult people are worth the effort?”

“Depends,” she said.

“On what?”

“On whether they have a good reason for being difficult,” she said, reaching for a cookie.

Chapter 16

Jul

On Monday, I ended up behind Rhys in line for lunch. He didn't even glance at me, expression flat as he stiffly reached for a tray with a sandwich. He'd strictly kept to the pretense that we had no contact beyond school, ignoring me even more completely than he had before. And it was starting to tick me off.

"Can you hand me a spoon?" I asked him.

He flicked me a glance that read, Seriously? and moved on to the drink station.

Ire rankled. I didn't care if he was some magic prince, it didn't give him a right to be this rude. Especially after all the research I'd done for him in the Tower yesterday. I'd stopped in for a few hours in the afternoon, before Bea got home from work. I hadn't found anything instructive yet, but there had been a list of different kinds of magic mirrors in one that was worth mentioning. Business arrangement or not, it wouldn't kill him to show a little gratitude.

I moved along in line to stand next to him at the drink station. "I left you a book on the library table," I murmured, and his hand hesitated, reaching for a bottle of water. "It had a section that - "

"Shut up," he said under his breath. "What did I tell you?"

"That you would find interesting," I finished, blinking innocently. "The end. What did you think I was going to say?"

"I told you, we're not friends," he frowned at me.

"That's the face. We were talking about chemistry and you were scary," I said, backing away with my tray, faking timidity.

His expression went slightly bewildered and I managed not to smirk as I crossed the room to where Camille sat eating thick noodles out of a soup bowl with chopsticks. I sat down next to her with my tray. She'd recommended it, so I'd gotten the same thing she had, something called ‘kitsune udon.’

"Ok, how do you pronounce this?" I asked her. "I know udon is noodles, but what's the first part mean?"

"Kit-soo-neh," she said, accenting the first syllable. She pointed at the big triangles floating in the broth. "Kitsune is fox. See the fox ears?"

"Well now I don't want to eat them!" I exclaimed.

"It's tofu, tofu!" she chided.

"I know, that's what I get for asking. They're too cute now."

Camille shrugged and reached for mine with her chopsticks. I hurriedly covered my bowl with my hand. "I was kidding!" I laughed. "Eat your own lunch!"

“Ladies, it’s hot wings day!” Mac announced, setting his tray down triumphantly. Then he looked in shock at mine and Camille’s plates. “Did you forget your hot wings? Where are your hot wings?”

“You should say hot wings some more times,” Destin said, sliding calmly into the last open seat.

“Still a vegetarian,” I reminded him.

“Still makes no sense to me,” Mac said.

Camille eyed Mac’s plate dubiously.

“What?” Mac wanted to know.

“Chicken wings?” she asked.

“Well yeah.”

“They’re orange,” was her only comment, and she shifted her attention to her sandwich.

“Wait a minute,” Mac said slowly. “You’re not...are you saying...that you’ve never had hot wings before?”

“No.”

“No...you’ve had them, or no, you haven’t had them?”

She blinked, looked at me, then back at Mac. “Both of those are ‘no’?”

“Focus, woman, this is important! Have you ever eaten hot wings?”

“I have not,” she said cautiously.

“That’s insane!” Mac exclaimed, earning him some looks from nearby tables. He immediately pushed his plate at Camille. “Here! Eat these right now! My generosity knows no bounds.”

Camille looked baffled, but she reached for the plate anyway. Mac snatched it back suddenly. “Never mind, my generosity does have bounds. I forgot I was really hungry.” Then he frowned. “You’re serious? Never?”

Camille shrugged.

Slowly, like it pained him, he edged his plate forward again. “Ok, you can have one. One! I’m seriously starving, but I can’t let you go on living life without hot wings.”

“You sure you’re not going to take it back?” I asked.

“Quick, take it before I change my mind!” he said.

Camille shrugged again and reached for her fork.

“Put that down!” Mac ordered, aghast. “You really weren’t kidding! No, you eat them with your hands.”

“It’s covered in sauce,” Camille frowned.

“That’s half the point!” Mac insisted. “It’s like ribs, if you don’t have sauce all over your hands and face when you’re done eating them, you’re doing it wrong.”

“I don’t know, I’ve seen people eat them with only getting like two fingers dirty,” I offered.

“They’re doing it wrong,” Mac stated flatly.

Camille picked up a chicken wing with two fingers, looking at the bright orange sauce dubiously.

“Ok now,” Mac instructed, reclaiming his plate and digging into his wings in earnest, “Now you eat everything that’s not bones. You’re welcome.”

“I like buffalo sauce but wings look like they’d be really hard to eat,” I said, dipping into my soup.

“You’re missing the point,” Mac said with his mouth full. “If you’re not going to destroy the wings, you might as well just get boneless.” Beside him, Destin made a show of eating one of his boneless nuggets. “You don’t think about it as difficult, you think about it as awesome. And then it doesn’t seem difficult anymore.”

“That would sound more profound if you didn’t have sauce all over your face,” Destin said.

Meanwhile, Camille had wiped her hands with several napkins and was standing up.

“Aw come on, you seriously didn’t like it?” Mac complained.

“I’m going to get more,” Camille said gruffly, and took her tray back to the lunch counter.

“Alright, maybe she’s ok,” Mac admitted, in her absence.

My gaze wandered across the cafeteria to where Rhys sat with Kei, Hayley, and Amity. Hayley was chattering away at Amity and tugged on Kei's sleeve, demanding something or other. Rhys was buried in a book, ignoring them completely. Kei leaned over and tried to read over his shoulder, and Rhys snapped the book shut, giving him a genuine glare. It wasn't the same look of blanket disdain he gave everyone else - there was real loathing there. I remembered Rhys saying that Kei was his bodyguard. What would make him despise him like that? Why did Rhys even stay around the others when it was so obvious he'd rather be alone?

Kei looked up and met my gaze from across the room and he winked, like he'd done on the first day. I looked away quickly, but I didn't feel any of the thrill I had before. Between the way he'd appeared and vanished so suddenly outside the empty lab, and the look Rhys gave him - not to mention what he'd done to my mother's journal - he was beginning to make me nervous for non-romantic reasons.

That night, I couldn't sleep, so I snuck out of the house and went to the orchard mirror. I found the Tower mercifully empty. It was the middle of the night, after all. I didn’t expect Rhys to be here, and I wasn’t sure I had the energy to deal with him tonight. A thick tome lay on the table, and I moved closer to inspect it. Rhys must have left it out, forgotten to re-shelve it.

The book had a faded red cloth cover, with gold embossing that had all but worn off. Encyclopaedia of Spellcraft, third edition. Thinking this looked promising, I opened the cover. Property of the Runesong Monastery was stamped inside. I found that curious. Did that mean someone had stolen it and brought it here, or had a Mirrormaker created it from memory? I scanned down the table of contents, thinking I should look for something to do with iron swords. I tried not to get distracted by the other intriguing subjects - Uses for Feral Blood; Alchemy and other Human Spellcraft; Immortals in Folklore; Dragons Through the Ages; Baking with Magic; and then, towards the bottom of the page:

The Magical Properties of Iron, I read. Now we're getting somewhere. This could be useful in helping Camille. I thumbed to the page, spread the book on the table and read eagerly:

Iron is the most magic-friendly of all the metals. It readily takes to spells, seeming to make it a logical choice for enchanting. However, it is not often used, because of its capacity to take in more than is intended. A greedy metal, iron is entirely avoided by the fae, who despise its tendency to draw their magic out of them against their will, with unpredictable results. For this reason, they apply their enchantments to wood, or metals more difficult to spell, such as gold and silver. Iron is particularly harmful to dryads, whose powers are derived from the earth and plant life. Iron can be used to bar their connection to the earth and its flora, rendering them powerless. See chapter 12 for more information on dryads and other hybrids.

Unenchanted iron can be used by ferals or humans, but once enchanted, iron can only be wielded by a human, lest there be unexpected side effects. Though ferals (like humans) cannot perform magic, volatile magic will react to them, because of the magical properties of their blood. For more information on feral blood, see chapter 8.

Note: Enchanted iron may be reforged without losing its enchantment.

Iron can also be used as a portaling medium for imps. For more information on creatures from Below, see chapter 14.

Famous enchanted iron artifacts:

The Crown of Angwar - worn by the monarchs of the human kingdom of Angwar. Intended to prevent any non-human from succeeding the throne. It will permanently absorb the powers of any non-human who wears it. Following the invasion and takeover of Angwar by the fae Ryan dynasty, the crown was lost.

The Grey Ward - shield used by the warrior priestess Theodora Vogel in the War of Temples. Capable of absorbing incoming spells, and reflecting them back at attackers. Often credited as the sole reason the Vogels won the Battle of Waycross. The shield resides at the Runesong Monastery.

The Wand of Willard the Mad - iron wand employed by the fae Willard Bloom. Known to be one of the most volatile artifacts in existence, and has never been successfully bent to a user's will. It is unknown whether using the wand drove Bloom insane or whether he was already before he forged it. The wand is on display at the Museum of Curiosities in Matoba.

The Tailor's Sword - imbued with the ancient power of the human Tailor family, this sword was forged to kill immortals by severing their soul from their body. Taken across the mirror when the Tailors fled the Inquisition.

"I hadn't finished reading that," Rhys said, over my shoulder, and I jumped. I hadn't heard him come in - I must have been pretty intent on the book.

"Then you should have left a bookmark or something," I said, feeling my face warm.

"What's your interest in iron?" he asked, leaning over the back of the couch to see the contents of the page.

I hadn't told him about the sword. Camille might not want me sharing that information - I got the impression she didn't like him very much.

"Looking for ways to weaken fae?" he said, tone becoming suspicious at my hesitation.

"I think there's an imp at the school," I said quickly. "I wanted to know how it's been getting around."

"Did you lose something to it, too?" he sighed, setting his backpack down on the table.  "I'm about to buy Hayley a new bracelet, just so she'll shut up about the old one."

The image of him sitting at their table, but looking so apart, came into my mind. "Why do you hang out with them?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"It's been bugging me. I mean I just don't get it. You don't seem to like them at all."

"I don't," he said flatly. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

His eyes narrowed at the challenge. "Being with them requires the least amount of effort. Kei draws enough attention that no one bothers me, and Hayley talks enough I don't have to contribute."

"I guess you're right," I said. "I don't understand. I'd want to hang out with people I like."

"I don't like people."

"No kidding?" I said. "Nothing about you gives that impression."

He frowned at my sarcasm. "I don't get you. First you're a frightened mouse at school. Then you're this..." he gestured vaguely at me. "Other person."

"Maybe I'm sick of being a mouse," I said, setting the book aside. "Do you think I'm better that way?"

"No," he said, then immediately changed his mind. "I mean yes. Mice mind their own business."

"Mice don't find you books on mirrors," I said, handing him the book I'd mentioned in the lunch line earlier. "You're welcome, by the way."

He sourly accepted it and sat down in an armchair on the other side of the table.

"So what's it like?" I asked, suddenly curious. "Your kingdom."

"There used to be lots of kingdoms on the other side," he said, "but now there's only ours. Most of them joined us of their own volition, wanting a piece of the stability we had. Others started to fear our size, and went to war with us." He shrugged. "They lost. This was all a long time ago. Now my father rules the whole continent from Angwar Castle."

"But what's it like?" I asked. "Is it as hot there as it is in Havenwood? Are there towers? Dungeons? Tapestries? I bet there's lots of tapestries."

"I don't know," he said, voice neutral. "I've never been there."

"But I thought - "

"The only way to get there," he said, expression closed, "is through a traveling mirror. And there are none of those left." He glanced down at the book I'd given him. "Until someone makes more."

"Oh," I said. "So your father - "

"If I can't make a traveling mirror it doesn't matter who my father is," he snapped. "He doesn't even think I can - " He broke off abruptly.

I hadn't thought I'd be stepping into a touchy subject. So he was a prince, but only in name as long as he was on this side. I bit my lip. "My dad's not too confident in my abilities either," I said, smiling weakly. "He never even told me what he was working on. Like he thought I'd never amount to anything. And yet here I am," I looked around, "in a Tower made of magic helping a fairy prince regain his birthright."

"Fae," he corrected. "Hybrid." But the corner of his mouth quirked up.

"This library is enormous," I said. "And it was built by Mirrormakers, right? There's got to be at least one lousy recipe for a traveling mirror."

His brow creased. "Lately," he admitted, "I haven't even been able to change the windows in the sanctuary. I don't know what's wrong."

"You'll figure it out," I said. "You're stubborn enough."

That startled a laugh out of him. Holy crap, he actually knew how to laugh. "Maybe," he said, "but who knows how long it'll take? I don't have an eternity."

"We'll have to make you immortal then," I said.

"Excellent. Get on that, minion," he smirked.

"You do not get to call me your minion," I objected.

"I do if you don't quit with that 'fairy prince' crap."

"Oh alright, alright," I said. I thought of Bea’s warning about the Ender the day before. "Incidentally, what do you know about immortals?"

“I know that you don’t get in the way of someone who can’t be killed.”

I recalled Meredith peeling away the spike that had impaled her, and was inclined to agree. “Are there a lot of them? Immortals, I mean.”

“There’s a lot of people you don’t get in the way of,” he said, “and there’s people who live long lives, but there are only three people I’ve heard of who are truly immortal. Where is that really old one...”

He shuffled several books aside, and pulled out one with overlarge parchment pages. He sat next to me on the couch, setting the book on the table between us.

“There’s some legend or other that they’re instruments of the gods, but people will come up with anything to explain the unexplainable,” he said, flipping the page to a series of portraits very similar to the ones I’d uncovered. “She’s been hunting monsters for the last hundred years,” he said, pointing at Meredith, “though before she went amnesiac she destroyed enough cities herself. Him - ” he pointed at the one of Gabriel, named here also as Gohei, “he’s the one that used to do the monster hunting. Self-appointed protector of humanity. Was famous for it for ages. Seems to keep to himself now.” He moved on to the green-haired man. “The Thief - he’s serious bad news. He’s assassinated kings, stolen countless priceless artifacts, thrown entire nations into poverty. He and Meredith did a lot of damage on the other side, before she crossed over here. Hemlock hasn’t been seen in a century, though. He’s either hiding or someone finally figured out how to kill him.”

He shrugged, but I was transfixed by the portrait. It was by a different hand, a border drawn around the edge of the page in twisting vines, but it was the same green-eyed man I’d seen in the school lab.

Gabriel, Meredith, and Hemlock. Three immortals, Camille had said. Bets on the winner.

“How long have they been around?” I asked.

“Nobody seems to know,” he said. “And they aren’t very forthcoming. Don’t tell me you’ve got a crush,” Rhys said, noticing my stare.

“Please,” I said, flushing. “I’ve seen him before, is all.”

“You have?”

I explained what had happened earlier at school, with the paintings.

Suddenly he was on edge, excited. “You broke the spells? You saw the prophecies?” He got up, digging through his backpack for a notepad. “Tell me as many of them as you remember!”

I racked my brain, telling him as much detail as I could, but I really only remembered about half of them, and there had been at least thirty, maybe more.

“...and a fox,” I finished. “It was silver, and something about its face was way too smart for a normal animal.”

“Foxes are clever,” he said absently, looking over his notes. “Are you sure you can’t remember more?”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ll bet I won’t be able to get back in there anyway, they probably have the place on lockdown now.” I slumped down on the couch, folding my arms.

A strange expression had come over Rhys, looking at me.

“Is there something on my face?” I asked, self-consciously.

“When’s your birthday?” he asked unexpectedly.

“May 1st,” I replied, baffled.

He looked away quickly. “You broke the spells hiding the prophecies. Probably did the same to the orchard mirror. I can’t properly twist glass when you’re around. And yet, you can’t remember half the paintings.”

“It was a lot of paintings,” I said, defensive.

“I agree,” he said, “but not for someone with infallible memory.”

My skin went cold. “What are you saying?”

“All Grimms are Hunters, and all Hunters have infallible memory. I’m saying...what if you’re not a Grimm?”

I opened my mouth and closed it.

“May 1st is my birthday, too. You’re the one who said it,” he said, rising. “Mirrormakers and Nulls are born in pairs.”

“But that would mean...that would mean...”

Simon was my best friend, Tailor had said. And she ruined him.

Tailor...and my mother?

“He’s the only one left,” Rhys said, his voice softening. “If you are - if you’re a Null, it has to be him. Would that be so horrible? Think of the things you could do! This is a gift - ”

Maybe if you looked anything like him...

“A gift?” I cried. My head was reeling. The mirror, Rhys’s broken glass, Camille’s complaints that her hearing wasn’t working at school...at the lumbermill...it was because I was there. It was because everything I knew was wrong.

“I know, so many fae fear and hate Nulls,” he said, as if that were what I was thinking of, “but it’s okay, they’ll have to listen to me. I’ll keep you safe. You can learn to control it - you said it yourself, this library goes on forever! We’ll find something. Don’t you see, we’re a set. This was always - ”

“Always what?” I exclaimed, feeling hysterical. “Meant to be? I was meant to be lied to my entire life? I was meant to be ditched at birth by my mother, meant to be jettisoned at fifteen by the man who raised me like a servant, only to find out he wasn’t even my father, and that my so-called ‘gift’ is making things fall apart? I was meant to be pushed into some crazy destiny no one’s prepared me for, meant to - ”

Then his mouth was on mine, like a plea, begging me to understand something he didn’t have words for. I had never been kissed before, and I don’t think I expected it would be this...urgent.

He pulled away slightly, looking about as dazed as I felt.

“I told Bea,” I said involuntarily, as if the kiss had pulled it right out of me.

“What?”

“About the mirror,” I said, unable to stop myself. “She knows I’ve been coming here.”

He stood abruptly, eyes wide. I reached toward him but he backed away from me.

“I think she could help you,” I pleaded, “she knew the last Mirrormaker - ”

“Of course she did!” he shouted at me, furious now. “She’s the one who got him killed! I should have known better - Grimm, Tailor, what does it matter - you’re always going to be against us! Get out!”

“Rhys - ”

“Get out of my mirror!” he shouted, and I hurried down the steps, eyes blurring with tears.

Chapter 17

Camille

She came in through the front doors of the cafe. It was usually empty, and it was now - it seemed that her prediction that they’d never get any business was proving true. She wandered behind the counter into the kitchen, hearing sounds of baking in progress. She stuffed her hands into the front pocket of her hoodie and leaned against the door jamb. He was turned towards the opposite wall, whisking a bowl. He might even be making her favorite melon bread.

“Gohei,” she said.

Every muscle in Gabriel’s body tensed, as if he’d been hit. Back still facing her, he resumed stirring the bowl he’d nearly dropped.

“I hate that name,” he said. “Don’t ever call me that.”

“Aren’t you going to ask me where I heard it?”

“Doesn’t matter,” he said, tone suspiciously light. “So long as you never say it in my presence again.”

He was angry. She hadn’t seen him angry in years, not since he’d first taken guardianship of her. He hadn’t liked her at first, that had been clear. But then, she’d liked him even less. He’d been impatient, intolerant, dispassionate. At some point along the way, they’d stopped fighting and become a team. Like the story he’d told, it had happened so gradually she hadn’t noticed when she stopped hating this person who swept in and took over her life. But she knew when the trust she’d placed in him had started deteriorating.

“It’s me, isn’t it,” she said.

“Pardon?”

“I’m the Wolf.”

Slowly, he set down the bowl and turned to face her. “Now I want to know where you’ve been.”

“Doesn’t matter,” she echoed him from moments ago, ire truly starting to rise now. “Tell me now. And don’t say ‘ask me later,’ when that fire woman is hunting - ”

“Yes,” he said. “You are.” His expression was hard.

She swallowed. All the signs had been screaming at her, but she had still hoped...a distant part had wanted him to keep lying, because it was comforting...

“So that woman,” she said.

“Is looking for you, yes. And she will kill you if she figures it out.”

“Why?” she asked, feeling the icy grip of fear. “Why does she hate me?”

“Not you, it,” he said. “The power you have.”

“It can’t be that awful - ”

“I knew a Wolf once,” Gabriel said. “The most terrifying creature I’ve ever seen. He was wildly unbalanced, and a literal bomb. He destroyed an entire city. And he was so close to so much worse. He was the living equivalent of the worst human weapons arsenal, but he had no allegiance. No goals. No empathy. He loved nothing and no one.” He sighed. “And I trained him to be that way.”

Camille stared at him. “Why would you do that?”

“I’m selfish and petty,” he said simply. “I wanted to punish his parents. And when I found out they’d given birth to the Wolf, I knew how to do it. I molded him into the worst monster of them all, and his mother was forced to kill him.” He looked at Camille, his dark eyes impassive. “She ran him through with the Tailor’s Sword. It was the only time I’ve seen it used.”

She held up her left arm, displaying the iron surrounding it.

He sighed. “Yes.”

“You said you didn’t steal it.”

“I lied,” he said easily. “I took it from the Tailors sixteen years ago. And then, when I realized what you were, I had it reforged into the bracer. It seeks to eradicate magic - it always has, like any Null. A change in shape won’t alter its purpose. But this way - it would only limit you, not destroy you. As a feral, you can’t perform magic, but you’re still made of it; it flows through your veins. The bracer siphons it off when you’re in danger of losing yourself.”

“Siphons what off?”

He wasn’t quite looking at her anymore, his gaze on her left arm and the iron circling it.

“My blood?” she realized suddenly. “It drinks my blood?”

He said nothing.

“What is wrong with you?” Camille exclaimed, pushing from the doorframe and backing away. “That is sick! How could you do this to me?”

“To keep you alive,” he said. “To keep you from hurting other people. To save you the guilt.”

“You think I would hurt people?” Camille snapped. “You think so little of me, that I would, what, get mad and just kill people for no reason?”

“I know the Wolf,” Gabriel said. “I’ve seen centuries of it. A new one every fifteen or twenty years - every one different, but somehow still the same. They never last long once they reach the age, they’re just too obvious. Too openly violent. And now that the Ender has started hunting it...well.” He shook his head. “Let’s just say that the last one making it to twenty was a miracle I’ll never understand.”

The thing on her arm seemed horrifying now, like an alien parasite.

“Camille, please,” he begged, “please listen to me. Don’t ever take it off. Not ever. I won’t be around forever - ”

“You’re immortal,” she retorted.

“I won’t be around forever,” he stated again, firmly. “And there’s no guarantee a Null will be able to keep you in check when you turn sixteen, and the worst of it comes crashing down on you. You need this bracer to keep you sane. As long as you can keep your wits, you can beat it.”

Camille looked up at him, wanting to believe him. “You sure about that?” After all the lies he’d told, she just couldn’t fully believe him anymore.

“What did you think all the training was for?” He ruffled her hair fondly, but his smile was weak around the edges. “If you quit fighting, I’ll force feed you milk tea and chocolate croissants until you get so fat you have to be rolled around like a giant golden beach ball.”

Camille pulled a face. “Ugh! Milk tea?”

Gabriel shrugged, and turned back to stirring the bowl. “Your choice. Now go put some more glitter on that posterboard of yours, that godforsaken festival is tomorrow and I want the sight of it to sicken Rin.”

Camille smiled, though her heart wasn’t in it. “That, I can definitely do.”

It was normal banter, but she felt as if, somehow, something had ended forever.

The school the next day was a riot of color, with streamers and balloons strung from every corner. Delicate paper snowflakes hung from the ceiling. Jul reached up a long, thin arm and twirled one on its string. “I think that’s the closest we’ll see to snow this year,” she said.

Camille chuckled, carrying a box containing their display materials. Jul had the posterboard folded and tucked under her arm, trying not to hit anyone with it as they wove through the crowd in the hall. Even though the festival hadn’t technically started yet, most of the students were there setting up, and some of the families and visitors had already found their way in. Camille was wearing her kendo uniform since she was expected to participate in some exhibition matches later. Truthfully, she was grateful to have the excuse not to dress up, like most everyone else was. Jul was wearing some sort of dark violet sheathe dress that looked like silk with a layer of lace over it, that managed to make her look even taller and thinner than usual. Or maybe it was the heels.

They followed the flow into the gymnasium, weaving among the tables of half-assembled science projects.

“Where’s Gabriel? Didn’t he come in with you?” Jul asked, and Camille nodded her chin towards him talking with Ms. Miller off by a table of punch and cookies. He was back to his usual self, if more sharply dressed than usual - none of the temper he’d shown last night was present.

“Your grandmother?” Camille asked.

“She dropped me off,” Jul said, finding their table among the lineup and removing the sheet of paper printed with Graham, Ryan, Sakamoto, Teague. “Said she’d come by later, once the festival actually got going. I got the impression this isn’t really her sort of thing.” A half smile quirked her face as she unfolded the cardboard.

So Bea was at home. And Gabriel was distracted. Her own absence would likely go unnoticed for half an hour or more.

Handing Jul the box, she said, “I’ll be right back, ok?” Glancing over at Gabriel laughing at something Charlotte had said, she told Jul, “If Gabriel asks, say I forgot something at the cafe.”

“Okay,” Jul said. She looked confused, but accepted the supplies. “Just don’t make me do this thing alone, alright?”

Camille smiled. “I won’t.” Her friend’s stage fright was nothing if not predictable. Pulling on her favorite hoodie over her gi, she hurried out to the parking lot and took off at a jog. At this pace, she reached the Graham house in a mere five minutes.

Camille knocked on the peeling wood door, peering back at the decrepit Cadillac in Bea’s driveway. She knew that Jul was waiting for her, but she didn’t know when she’d get this chance again.

Bea opened the door, surprise clear on her face. “Camille?”

“Tell me,” she said, “about Gabriel.”

Mac

“Destin can drive us, Mom! It’s right around the corner, you don’t have to go!” I call out, standing in front of the refrigerator. I’m starving, but all I see is condiments and leftover tuna casserole. If she’d let us go to the festival on our own, we could swing through a drive thru...my stomach rumbles at the prospect.

“How many times do I have to remind you that you’re not riding with anyone who doesn’t have their license?” she calls back, two rooms away. “And it’s not right around the corner, but I don’t care how close it is. No license, no ride.”

I’m already uncomfortable, dressed in the sort of clothes that are usually reserved for church. Hayley, because she’s on some decorating committee, had needed to be at the school earlier, so she’d been dropped off by Dad hours ago on his way to the airport for a business trip. That still leaves me and Destin needing a ride to the high school for the main festivities, but I still don’t see why Mom has to be so strict about who does the driving.

There’s a loud knock on the front door.

My mom calls from the living room, “If that’s another tracter, quote them something nice and long from the Old Testament about judgment and hellfire, and then ever-so-politely tell them we attend church twice a week and shut the door. Why anyone would go door-to-door in the Bible Belt...I swear...it’s like trying to sell candles to a candlemaker.”

I smile, reaching for the handle, because it would be great if I could remember a huge judgment-y passage from the Bible just to see the look on their face.

But the person on the other side of the door has enough judgment and hellfire to go around.

Meredith leans against the frame, grinning. “‘Allo.”

Reflexively I try to shut the door but she sticks her foot out, heavy boot wedging it open. “You know where the Wolf is,” she says, eyes glinting like flint. “I can smell it on you. It’s not you, but you’re close to it. You owe me, after that nasty spell in the woods.” She’s wearing a brown leather jacket, but the shirt underneath still bears the hole around her midsection where she was impaled. Her skin is pale and unmarked. I swallow nervously. She can’t be here. This is my house. I live here.

“Charming an imp to do your bidding, that was a nifty trick,” she says. “Did you make the spell that’s hiding the Wolf, too? You’re right young to have talents like that. I may not be able to follow the beast, like I’m supposed to - but I can follow you, and burn everything you touch until you take me to it.” She looks over my shoulder, smirking. “Is it him?”

I bristle, instinctively knowing Destin’s come out of the kitchen. “No, it’s not,” I say fervently. “Go bother someone else. I don’t know who your stupid Wolf is.”

“You do,” she states, staring down at me.

“Mac,” Destin warns, under his breath.

“No, I’m serious,” I say, hoping I sound serious. “This is my house, you can’t come in.”

She makes a leering grin. “What, you think I’m a vampire or something, that I can’t cross the threshold without an invitation? Those pulp fiction monsters from the cinema aren’t real. You have no idea what you’re messing with, little boy. I’ve held back thus far because I think you’re funny. Much more of this, though, I’ll stop thinking that. If you want to escape this with your happy little suburban life in tact, you will give me the Wolf. This house is structurally unsound, you know...” she intones, eyeing the eaves and the timbers that uphold the porch.

“You’re crazy,” I say, repeating, “I don’t know your stupid Wolf. You’re imagining things.” She can’t. She cannot set my house on fire. My mom is in the living room. “If you don’t leave, I’ll call the police.”

She laughs at that, hearty and loud. “Oh do, do. I love policemen. They’re usually smokers.” Her voice drops as she says conspiratorially, in her thick British accent, “Lungs full of tar, my boy, they burn like charcoal briquettes. Roast a man from the inside out. It’s quite the spectacle.”

My hand on the doorknob grips tighter to keep from shaking. What had we done? Is this all real? Freaky crap doesn’t happen at my house. This is where my stuff is. This is the place where I hide my sister’s makeup and play video games and have Thanksgiving with my family and Destin and his dad.

When you go looking for adventure, it isn’t supposed to follow you home and burn your house down.

“Are we going to cooperate, then?” she says, smirking at my expression.

I swallow, looking up at her, hearing Tailor’s warning in the back of my head. What do I do?

“Meredith?” my mother says, coming in from the living room.

Wait, what? The disheveled woman on the doorstep looks as confused as I feel.

“Oh my god, Meredith!” my mother exclaims, running up and throwing her arms around the woman. “I can’t believe you’re showing up here! I never thought I’d see you again! What are you doing out of London?”

“I’m...uh...” Meredith flounders, “ah...visiting you,” she says unconvincingly, but my mother buys it.

“I can’t believe you remembered where I live!”

“Aye, that’s me,” she says. “Remembering things. That’s what I do. Mind like a steel trap.” She taps a finger against her skull.

What the hell was going on?

“Mom!” I protest.

“Oh! Mac, this is an old friend of mine from college. Meredith Ender. Well, I was in college. She wasn’t really in school. It was during the year I was studying abroad in London.”

“Showed you the ropes, did I?” Meredith says, but it sounds to me more like she’s fishing for information than reminiscing.

“A little too well,” my mom confirms, with a little giggle. “I wonder if that pub still has us on the no-fly list.”

“That was a long time ago,” Meredith states with uncertainty.

My mom sighs. “Don’t remind me. I’m starting to feel my age. But look at you, you haven’t aged a day! Well, are you going to come in or not?”

“Mom!” I protest louder. How could she possibly know this person and still want her in our house?

“Mac, she is company. What is your problem?”

What’s your problem? I wanted to shout back, but Mom clearly has no idea. The tattooed woman grins wickedly at me and follows my mother through the foyer, into the living room. “Nice digs,” she comments.

“We do alright,” my mother says modestly. “To tell you the truth, some days I wake up and wonder how I got here.”

“Who do those boys belong to?” Meredith asks, glancing at Destin and I, standing stupidly in the hallway. “They can’t be yours.”

“Oh, I can only claim Mac,” my mother says obliviously, smiling at me. “Destin lives next door. He’s over here often enough he might as well be mine, though.”

“Is that right,” Meredith comments, regarding me curiously. I don’t understand the sudden interest. “Well he does look just like you. The hair.” She makes a vague gesture between me and my mother.

Mom pats her curls self-consciously.

I want to run and get help, but I don’t want to leave my mom in the clutches of a crazy magic arsonist, no matter if they’re old college buddies. And besides, who would I get help from? Who would know what to do with this person?

Realization sparks in the back of my head. Ms. Bea. She’d known immediately what to do at the library. She practically keeps the imp as a pet. Maybe she can help. But that still leaves my mom alone with pyro lady. I look up at Destin. In a near telepathic exchange, I can tell he’s already had the same idea.

“Did you forget that thing at the library?” I ask him.

“Yeah,” he says. Ms. Bea wouldn’t be working right now - she’d be at home. But Meredith will probably assume we’re making up code for bringing her the Wolf. I hope.

“You should go get that,” I say. “I’ll wait here.”

“Are you sure?” Destin asks.

“Well, it’s my house,” I say. I hope it’s vague enough not to alert my mom something’s up.

Destin seems to understand. He nods, saying “I’ll be right back,” and with a glance at my mom obliviously conversing with our blackmailer, he leaves through the front door. He cares about my mom too, I understand that. She had pretty much filled in after his mom had left when he was eight. It was up to us now to keep her safe.

“Mac, was it?” Meredith calls from the living room, already making herself at home. “Why don’t you fetch your mum and I a drink? Surely you carry the good stuff, darling?” she queries my mom.

Mom laughs. “It’s a bit early for that, isn’t it?”

“So you do have the good stuff! Any drinking pal o’ mine would,” Meredith declares. “Bring it forth!”

“Oh, alright,” my mother relents, blushing. “But only because it’s a special occasion.” She gets up and goes to the kitchen.

I cross the living room slowly and sit in the chair furthest from where Meredith is sprawled across the couch, scuffed boots propped up on the coffee table.

“You can’t hold my mom hostage,” I say lowly.

“It seems to be working pretty well,” she leers at me. “Relax, munchkin, once I get my Wolf I’ll be out of your hair. Scout’s honor. Your better half had best be bringing it.”

“He is,” I say.

“Excellent. Then we all get to stay civil and life will go on. I’ll forget I ever saw your miniscule face and leave Havenwood forever. Maybe. Probably. Well, that I can’t promise.”

My mom comes back in with a tray, two glasses, and a crystal bottle of something dark.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Meredith exclaims happily. “Well done, McAbbey. What shall we drink to?”

“To old friends?” my mother smiles.

“To old friends,” Meredith agrees, holding her drink aloft, “and finding lost things.” She spares a little grin at me, and downs her drink.

Destin, run fast.

Camille

Bea sat across the kitchen table from Camille, regarding her seriously. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“You said Gabriel came to Havenwood before,” Camille said. “Tell me.”

“Twice, in my remembrance. The first time was just before the lumbermill burned. He had been discreet then, not making much of an impression, and in truth I barely noticed him until he returned sixteen years later. He made quite the spectacle then - he was doing research on the area, he said, looking for a good site for an exclusive private school. On behalf of the Uminos.”

Camille had thought she was prepared for a surprise, but her jaw dropped. “Working for Umino?”

“We were a poor southern town, and he came in waving money and the prospect of a prestigious institution,” Bea said. “People’s heads were turned. It was exactly the sort of thing local government drools over. He wanted my orchard,” Bea said, grimly. “Offered me ridiculous sums of money. I distrusted his interest and refused to sell family land. We’ve lived here since we crossed the mirror and changed our name, after all. I wasn’t giving it up to some foreigner. In the end, he settled for the closest thing to it. The MacAlisters sold the Umino Corporation the plot of land where the school sits now, and made a mint off it.”

“But why?” Camille asked. “What do the Uminos want?”

“I just don’t know,” Bea admitted. “I’d never heard of them before they came to Havenwood. It’s clear they have an interest in the area - and in bringing fae and ferals here - but I just can’t fathom their purpose. I wasn’t planning on giving them Juliet, but when I saw her...I was just too afraid...”

Afraid? Of Jul?

There was a loud pounding on the door. “Ms. Bea! Ms. Bea!” someone shouted.

She hurried to the door, and there stood Destin, breathing heavily and sweating like he’d run a mile. “The tattoo lady,” he gasped. “She’s at Mac’s house.”

“No,” she said, paling, and snatched up her keys.

Destin explained what had transpired as Bea drove them to Mac’s house. Her hands on the steering wheel were tense.

“That idiot,” Bea moaned. “What does he think he can do? He’s as helpless as Abbey.”

“He sent me to you,” Destin reminded her.

Her mouth set in a grim line, Bea acknowledged, “I suppose. This is a bigger problem than you know. Meredith hasn’t been to Havenwood in sixteen years, and she won’t remember a minute of it. If we knew who her target was, where the Wolf is, we could start to plan - ”

“Um,” Camille said. “Well...”

Bea glanced at her expression in the rear view mirror, horror dawning. She swore. “It’s you, isn’t it?”

“You?” Destin exclaimed, leaning away from her involuntarily. A feather escaped his collar and floated to the seat between them.

“Perfect,” Bea grumbled.

She pulled the car into the driveway of a large, attractive two-story brick house with an expansive, carefully groomed yard. “You two stay in the car,” she insisted. “Destin, if anything happens - ” she handed him the keys. “You drive to the school, you get to John Tailor and you tell him - ”

Just then, the front door opened and Mac ran down the steps to meet them. “Come on!” he said excitedly. “It’s ok, I think, but we’re going to need a hand...”

Swiftly, Bea exited the car and followed him into the house. Destin and Camille shared a look and went in after them.

Inside the house, a grungy woman dressed in leather was passed out on an expensive-looking rug, clutching an empty whisky glass.

A short blonde woman - Camille assumed this was Mac’s mother - stood over her. Seeing them enter, she folded her arms and smiled slightly at Bea’s look of shock. “And you said an acting degree was a waste of my time.”

Bea shook her head slightly, as if to clear it. “I take it back, Abbey, I take it all back. What did you do?”

Mrs. Dupree picked up a crystal decanter half-full of dark liquid. “I keep a bottle for special occasions. Even immortals aren’t immune to knockout drops. She might have forgotten the last time she came to town, but I haven’t.” She made a rude sound. “London. I wish I studied in London.”

“She is not going to be happy when she wakes up,” Bea said grimly.

“Please tell me you have a contingency plan, here,” Mrs. Dupree said. She curled an arm each around Mac and Destin and gave them a hug. “That was very clever of you, boys, but remind me to give you a lecture later about talking to strangers.”

Mac looked at his mother in awe. “You’re kind of a genius,” Mac said, like the thought had never occurred to him.

“Well, I wasn’t exactly planning on finding the Ender passed out on your floor, dear,” Bea said. “That’s hard to plan for. But there is a way to contain her for awhile...help me get her into the car.”

Mrs. Dupree gawked. “What?”

“Do as I say, girl, before she wakes up,” Bea snapped. “Do you want to get it right this time?”

Mrs. Dupree’s face pulled harsh. “Yes ma’am,” she said. “Yes ma’am I do.”

Mac

We had to wear oven mitts to drag her out of my house, into Ms. Bea’s car, and then into her house. Destin and I had a hard time maneuvering her in and out of the car, but we managed. I just hope Bea actually has a way to contain her, like she claims. Meredith could wake up any minute and I’m seriously doubting she’ll just laugh off the whole drugged-and-kidnapped thing.

Inexplicably, Bea directs us to drag her into the room with all the teacups.

“What, is china her kryptonite?” I say, exasperated.

Bea gives me a withering look and reaches into one of the three bookcases against one wall of the room, twisting a bookend in the shape of a chesspiece. With a rumble, the bookcase recedes into the wall, revealing a set of stairs leading down, and a computer monitor hidden in an alcove.

“Got one more set of stairs in you?” Bea asks, coolly. “We’re running out of time.”

Wiping the astonishment from our faces, Destin and I haul the unconscious immortal down the stone steps, cool, dry air rising up to meet us. Bea stops Camille at the top step, a hand out. “Stay here,” she tells her. “Keep an eye on the monitor for me.”

It’s clear that Camille doesn’t think the monitor needs watching any more than I do, but she almost looks grateful. She had sat as far away from the Ender in the car as she could...she had followed at a distance into the house. I had wondered before if Camille was afraid of anything - and it turns out it’s a five and a half foot alcoholic furnace.

Bea flicks a lightswitch at the base of the stairs, revealing a stone door. She punches a code into a keypad in the wall and it swings open.

“This is some fancy spy stuff, Ms. Bea,” I comment.

“My other car is an Aston Martin,” she says.

I perk up. “Really?”

“No,” she says flatly, as we enter the basement.

Every bit of the room is made of stone. The floor, the ceiling, the walls - even the inside of the door is lined with thick granite. In the center of the room stands a cage, about twenty feet square, also made of granite, with thick stone pillars in place of bars. Unless Meredith has super strength I don’t see a way she’s getting out of this.

“She doesn’t have super strength, does she?” I ask.

“Last I checked, no,” Bea says. “She may be indestructible, but she’s not Superman.”

Destin looks behind us nervously. “She doesn’t have any friends with super strength, I hope?”

“She doesn’t have any friends,” Bea says, holding the cage door open.

We lay the disheveled, leather-clad woman in the center and exit. I for one am glad to be able to take off the oven mitts. I’m sweating from prolonged nearness to her extreme body heat. Bea shuts the cage and twists the stone lock.

“Get upstairs,” Bea tells us. “She’s fixated on you, if she sees you it’ll only agitate her. I want to see how much she knows.”

Meredith stirs slightly, and that’s all the prompting I need. Destin and I hurry back up the stairs, joining Camille at the computer monitor in the tearoom. It shows a clear view of the cage, with sound. There must be a camera planted in a corner of the stone room. I sure hope Ms. Bea knows what she’s doing.

“Why didn’t you say you were the Wolf?” Destin asks Camille quietly.

“I didn’t know,” she replies, “until yesterday.”

My jaw drops. “Seriously? It was you the whole time?”

The Ender groans, and our attention is recaptured by the image of her pushing herself up on her hands unsteadily. “Ugh, I feel like I’ve been trampled by the post. McAbbey, have we got any more?”

If she didn’t remember anything, why was she calling my mom by that ridiculous nickname?

“I’m afraid you’re enjoying a different sort of hospitality now,” Bea says, entering the room but staying a healthy distance from the stone cage.

Meredith glances up at her blearily through her tangled hair. “Holy hell, you got old. Wait, who are you?” She coughs, sitting back against the granite bars. “Forget it, I don’t care. Just give me a minute and I’ll burn this place to the ground.” She coughs again. “Heh, she wasn’t kidding, that was the good stuff.”

“We’re underground with two stories above that,” Bea states. “Setting anything on fire would bury you under fifty feet of rubble, trapped in a stone cage.”

Meredith seems to notice the cage for the first time. “Stone? That’s clever. Have I terrorized you before? Wait, don’t answer that.”

“The first time you came to Havenwood was in nineteen - ”

“I SAID DON’T ANSWER THAT,” Meredith roars, throwing herself at the bars. Sparks spit around her.

Bea is stock still, watching her cautiously.

“It might take me awhile, but I can torch my way out of this,” she growls. “Everything burns eventually, even stone. Your fifty feet of rubble would be an inconvenience for me, nothing more. I am the definition of resilience. Look it up in the dictionary. Resilience. Noun. Meredith. When are you people going to learn that putting obstructions between me and you only hurts you?”

“Why are you here? There’s nothing to interest you in Havenwood.”

“You, grandma, are lying,” Meredith states. “The Wolf is here, I can feel it, it’s just so bloody foggy in your air. I have to find it and I have to destroy it. It’s my thing, it’s what I do. I’ll tell you the same thing I told the Hardy boys, the sooner you give it to me, the sooner I’ll get out of your hair. And you can go back to being old and boring and I can go back to the pub. Everyone wins.”

“And what if I keep you here forever?”

“I just told you...everything...melts,” Meredith says, smoke rising from her fingers around the bars.

“I’ve lost two to you,” Bea said. “I won’t lose another.” She turned her back on the cage and walked to the door.

“You think it’s cute now!” Meredith shouted after her. “In another couple of months it’s going to start murdering people and you will beg me to end it!”

“I don’t follow zealots,” Bea said. “Not anymore.” She punched the keypad and the heavy stone door sealed behind her. She came back up the stairs into the tearoom.

Destin, Camille, and I are waiting by the computer panel. She gives us a hard, considering look.

“You need to get to school,” she says.

“And just leave her here?” I say. The monitor already shows a firestorm brewing around Meredith, swirling around the cage’s stone bars, making them glow.

Bea follows my gaze. “Yes,” she says. “This is the most dangerous place to be right now. What we need is a Null. We need John Tailor.”

Chapter 18

Jul

Camille had said she’d be back - but it looked like whatever she’d forgotten was keeping her busy. Fidgeting with the arrangement of our experiment, I hoped she’d return soon. I didn’t know how much longer I could stand here alone. I hadn’t seen Mac or Destin either, and wondered what was keeping them. Though it was possible I’d just not managed to spot them yet. The gymnasium was packed to the brim with students and their families, grouped up around winding rows of folding tables draped with standard white cloth and each showing a science project in varying stages of assembly.

I stood back from the table to admire our handiwork. Mostly Camille’s, to be fair. The tri-fold display contained all the pertinent information about our invisible ink experiment - told as a bright, cheery comic. Camille had called the art style ‘chibi,’ which meant tiny bodies and large heads drawn overly-cute.

“I think the glitter paint for the rainbows were the right choice,” I said to myself.

“Well I don’t,” said an unmistakable voice of disdain. I turned - there was Rhys, arms folded over his crisp dress shirt.

Guilt bubbled up along with indignation. My movements were stiff as I rearranged the test tubes and the pieces of paper showing the stages to and from invisibility. I could stand to be invisible right about now.

“I thought you wouldn’t be coming,” I said, back to him as I focused on the display.

“I had to bring you this,” he said, and I turned to accept the folder he handed me. The paper. Right. His contribution. My eyes met his briefly as I took it, and just as quickly I looked away. He was still angry with me.

“Thank you for bringing it,” I said, formally, and turned back to fiddling with the test tubes.

He made a small sound of astonishment behind me. “That’s it?” he said. “That’s all you’re going to say?”

“I’m not apologizing, if that’s what you’re looking for,” I said, focus on the table so my voice wouldn’t waver.

“You promised me - ”

“You blackmailed me into promising you,” I said, the fabric of my dress sighing as I turned on him, angry enough to hold his gaze now. My heels put me at eye level with him. I kept my voice low so as to not attract unwanted attention from nearby groups. “Holding my journal hostage. You act like I betrayed some trust, but how could I trust you when you’re always threatening to take things away from me?”

That got a reaction. Off-balance, he fumbled a response. “I had to - you - you don’t know what’s at stake - ”

“I know that if you really want to be king one day,” I said, “you won’t ever have loyalty if you rule by fear.”

I didn’t want to make him angry like this, but also I did - I knew that he could do better, I was certain of it, and he shouldn’t think he had to resort to bullying. If no one ever made Rhys compare his situation to others, he’d never know he had options.

“Everything alright here?” Tailor said, coming up behind me, eyes on Rhys.

Rhys regarded Tailor narrowly, his dislike plain. “Nothing that’s your business.”

A muscle under Tailor’s eye twitched. “Everything that happens inside these walls is my business, Ryan. The rules are the principal’s, but I’m the one who enforces them.”

“And what about outside?” Rhys said lowly. “Are you forgetting whose jurisdiction that is?”

“Certainly not yours,” Tailor said, tone flat. “You’re on the wrong side of the mirror, Ryan. I don’t know what your mother’s led you to believe, but you don’t have a kingdom here.”

“Yet,” Rhys said.

Tailor’s gaze was cool. “Don’t say that in front of the principal,” he said, with exaggerated pleasantry.

Rhys glared at him, and, with a look in my direction that might almost have been remorseful, he stalked off into the crowd.

“Royalty,” Tailor sighed. “They think they own everything.”

Does he know? I couldn’t even look at Tailor now, even though I really wanted to. I wanted another look at his eyes, to see if maybe the color matched mine. Had he known the whole time? Did he have any idea?

“Have you seen Charlotte?” he asked, surveying the crowd. “She’s supposed to be grading this mess.”

“She was talking to Gabriel awhile ago,” I said.

“One of these days,” he grumbled, almost to himself, “she’s going to do something she can’t take back...”

“And you’re going to say ‘I told you so’?”

He glanced at me, his flat brown eyes like a solid negative force. “Or nothing,” I amended.

“Forget it, I’m going to check the classrooms,” he grumbled, heading off for a side door to the stairwell.

I turn back to fiddling with my display, wondering why men only ever seemed to be scary. Where was Mac when you needed balance?

As if summoned, he appeared at my elbow. “Holy crap you will not believe the day we’ve had,” he said. Destin and Bea were weaving through the crowd behind him.

“Have you seen John Tailor?” Bea asked, expression intent.

“He was just here,” I said, confused by everyone’s collective unease. “He went to look for Charlotte. I’ll go get him - can you watch my board until Camille gets back?”

“Umino grabbed her when we came in, to get her ready for kendo stuff,” Mac said.

“She was with you?”

“Just go get John,” Bea said tersely. “We’ll explain everything when you both come back.”

“A-alright,” I said, slipping through the crowd to the door Tailor had used. I went up the stairwell and out the door to the second floor. I spotted someone down the hall, looking over the banister at the atrium below. I approached, thinking it was Tailor, but I soon realized it was Gabriel.

“What are you - ” I started, but he clapped a hand over my mouth and pointed to the three people in the atrium below.

Tailor

There she is.

I come around the hall and can see her in the foyer, talking to someone whose back is to me. A man, with dark hair and a long wool coat. I assume it’s Gabriel. They’d been spending far too much time together. Charlotte has always had the worst taste in men, and it had only deteriorated when her older brothers left town. She has this habit of attaching herself to people who see her as nothing more than a resource. Gabriel is by far the worst person I can imagine her with.

I’m about to call out to her, berate her for abandoning the festival, and the students she’s supposed to be grading. But before I can, the man spots me, recognition sparking in his bright blue eyes, and he immediately bends down to kiss her. It’s a kiss for my benefit, I know instinctively. Just as he intends, I freeze, blood running cold. Simon.

I’ve always known, somehow, that he would come back eventually. But this is not what I’d been prepared for. Simon pulls back from Charlotte, smirking at me over her bright copper hair.

I was wrong. This is worse than Gabriel.

Charlotte turns, flushing bright red. “Oh! John...look, Simon’s come home!”

“Is that what this is?” I say, tone as flat as I can manage.

“Look at you, Tailor, you’re a step away from being an old professor. Just what I expected,” Simon says, giving me an evaluating look and curling a possessive arm around Charlotte’s shoulders.

I haven’t seen him in over a decade, but he hasn’t changed much. There are lines starting to show around his forehead and two-day stubble on his face. A little ragged around the edges, maybe. A little dark around the eyes, a little cruel around the mouth. But some girls go for that.

“I’m - I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Charlotte says. “I know you were worried about him, but I knew he was fine.”

Damnit, Charlotte. He can’t be serious about her. He’d always ignored her. This is some sort of punishment he’s arranged for me. Because as much as I’ve wanted to forget, Charlotte always did like him. All of the awful boyfriends she’s had over the years, may have just been replacements for Simon. She’d been a wreck when he and Kyra had run away senior year.

“I wasn’t really all that worried, to be honest,” I say.

Simon leans against the banister in the foyer, as if he owns the place. It ticks me off. He’d never been part of this school; he’d left before it was even built. I’ve never had any true claim on Charlotte, but Havenwood is a part of me. I hate it most of the time, and maybe it’s the spell binding me to the foundation talking, but this is my school, not his. I am not his subordinate here.

“Aren’t you going to tell him our happy news, Charlotte?” Simon says.

Charlotte fidgets.

“There’s going to be another Graham,” he says smoothly. “A real one, this time.”

I look at Charlotte. At her stomach. She flushes harder.

“John, don’t look like that,” Charlotte pleads. “It’s good news.”

Then why do you look so guilty? I think. There’s a sort of buzzing in my ears. Half of me wants to run away, at least until I hit the limit of the binding spell. The other half wants to murder Simon where he stands.

“That’s more like it,” Simon says appreciatively, eyes on my expression. “Do you get it now? You know what it feels like?”

“What what feels like?” I say through my teeth.

“Are you seriously going to pretend it never happened?” He’s suddenly seething, pushing past Charlotte to get in my face. “I suffered in ignorance for years because of you, trying to understand why my powers wouldn’t work in my own home. I was free of you...I should have been fine. But every night I came home to my apartment, there was a little brat waiting, and my powers would curdle and die. Did you think I’d never figure it out? Did you think I was that stupid?”

I’d stopped breathing while he spoke. “No,” I say, a horrible night of despair I’d tried to forget pushing its way back up into my memory. I hated her so much, for the way she manipulated Simon. And me.

Charlotte is looking at me like I’m a stranger. Panic rises, but I push it down. “No,” I say. “You’re imagining things, Jul isn’t - ”

“So you’re saying you never slept with Kyra?” Simon demands, and I flinch at the words. Said out loud, they seem real. I want it to be impossible. That night should never have happened.

“Tell me the truth!” Simon shouts.

My voice sounds over-quiet in the wake of his outburst. “Once,” I say, swallowing. “Only once...”

“Once is all it takes, buddy,” Simon snaps. “Do you have any idea what you made? I’ve done the research. I know the prophecies. Born of absolute power and nothingness.” He laughs, and it echoes bitter around the atrium. “That’s your girl. The monster to end all monsters. If she’d been mine - if she’d actually been mine - none of this would be happening right now. Kyra would never have left me. So I’d never have taken that mirror from Gabriel Katsura, and he wouldn’t have needed to move his pet Wolf into your range. The Ender wouldn’t have followed them here. And I wouldn’t have had to bring Charlotte into this.” He kisses her on the forehead but his grin is cruel.

She pushes him away, aghast and trembling. “Simon!”

“Everything that’s happening,” Simon states, focused on me, “is your fault. I want you to remember, when you look at the ruin I’m going to make of your life, that you ruined mine first.”

“Simon - ” I protest, but the windows by the doors begin to melt, the glass peeling away and twisting into jagged shapes that hang in the air. They float around him, an airborne barrier of crystalline knives.

“Has my mother told you where my father’s mirror is, yet?” he asks, advancing. “His masterwork. The one that goes In Between.” The glass knives twirl around him. “Give me the mirror and maybe I’ll go quietly.”

I back up, an arm out to shield Charlotte. Good god, she’s carrying his child, is he insane? I reach for the part of me that keeps my students in check, but it’s unchanged. The same ever-present heaviness I’ve felt since I was small. The heaviness that had unknowingly kept Simon from his true strength - from the part of him that had no place on this side of the mirror.

He chuckles at my confusion. “I’ve been building up an immunity to undisciplined Tailors for years,” he snarls, saying the name like a curse. “You’ll need better training if you want to compete with the likes of me. Now let’s see,” he says, withdrawing a handmirror rimmed in silver vines from the interior of his coat. “Where is your lovely daughter?”

Jul

My mouth was cool as Gabriel suddenly took his hand away, reaching inside his jacket. He pulled out a vial and hurled it over the banister. It shattered on the floor at my fa- at Simon’s feet, furling sickly yellow smoke. The three of them coughed, collapsing unconscious. Simon’s glass barrier clattered lifeless to the floor.

“Was that a spell?” I asked.

“Or science,” he said. “Depends on who you ask. I doubt when Charlotte gave it to me that she expected she’d be on the receiving end,” he said, descending the stairs swiftly.

I followed, my steps tentative.

“I’ll have that back...” Gabriel picked up the handmirror from Simon’s grip and tucked it inside his own jacket. Then he pulled a small scroll of paper from another interior pocket. He put it in Tailor’s hand, curling his slack fingers around it.

“If only that were enough...” he murmured.

I looked down at the two men on the ground. Even unconscious, Dad - Simon - looked haunted, hand outstretched for something that wasn’t there. Tailor’s glasses had slid down his nose, showing long eyelashes that I’d seen in my own mirror. So he really hadn’t known, after all. So I was a mistake he’d made. Born of absolute power and nothingness. What had Dad meant by that?

“You said you wanted to help Camille,” Gabriel said, looking toward the hall that led to the gymnasium. She’d be in there now, warming up for the exhibition match. “How far are you willing to go?”

“What do you mean?”

“She is the Wolf,” he said, and I gasped. “The one Meredith has come to destroy. But we can’t use the Tailor’s Sword on Meredith without exposing Camille to the full brunt of her own powers. She would be lost. There is, however, another way to neutralize Meredith,” he said, his black hair swinging around his face as he turned to me sharply. “I wasn’t quite sure how to reach it, until just now. A weapon, hidden inside a mirror. I think you know the one I mean. We have to get there before Simon. Camille will never be safe as long as Meredith runs loose - and no one will be safe if Simon claims that mirror.”

Bea had said never to show anyone that mirror. But if Simon wasn’t my father, then Bea wasn’t my grandmother. Not really. My heart constricted. What did I owe her, really? Maybe she’d vowed to hide it, but saving my friend was more important than some dusty old promise.

Guilt flared up like a warning sign. Bea had helped me. Helped all of us, even Camille, despite her distrust of Gabriel. But the thought of Meredith reaching Camille...of finding her a pile of ashes, when I could have saved her...

“It’s just finding a weapon?” I asked.

“In and out,” Gabriel said. “No need to be In Between any longer than we have to.” He seemed nervous, somehow. Reluctant. It sealed my decision.

“Okay,” I said, looking down at Tailor. “For Camille.”

“Lead the way,” Gabriel said.

The monster to end all monsters, Dad had said. That was just his jealousy talking...right?

The sky was bright over Bea’s house as Gabriel pulled his weathered car into the driveway. Smoke billowed up from the chimney, and bursts of flame spit up, threatening to catch the roof.

“What on earth...?” I wondered.

“So it’s here after all,” Gabriel said grimly. “I was so sure it was at the school. I underestimated her paranoia.”

“What’s here?”

“Beatrix thinks she can contain the uncontainable,” he said. “Hurry, we need to rectify her mistake before the house goes up in flames.” He exited the car swiftly. I followed, and we entered the house.

He immediately made for the tearoom, inspecting the wall with the bookshelves. “There used to be a door to the basement here,” he said, pulling books out of the way. His eyes caught on the chesspiece bookend. “The queen, is it?” He twisted it, and there was a grinding sound as the shelf slid back. He made an appreciative noise, looking at the steps that appeared at his feet. “She’s been quite busy in the last decade,” he said.

The computer monitor showed a figure wreathed in fire in a room made of stone.

“Clever girl,” Gabriel said, staring at the screen. “Clever, and also very stupid.”

He picked up a headset and put it on. “Meredith?” he called. “Meredith, can you hear me?”

The flames dwindled, leaving the image much darker. A bedraggled woman in charred, stained leather looked up curiously.

“Who’s there?” she demanded.

Gabriel cast me a brief look and answered, “An old friend. Give me a moment and I’ll have you out of there.”

“Let her out?” I exclaimed. “Are you crazy?”

“Look at her,” he said, setting down the headset. “Do you see those walls?” The marble slabs that formed her prison still glowed from the firestorm she’d been brewing moments ago. The smoldering stubs of what used to be cage bars dotted the floor around her. “Your grandmother is clever, but she doesn’t know Meredith like I do. The prison is already melting, if the roof doesn’t catch first. The stone will keep her at bay for maybe another hour, and when she gets out... Have you ever seen hellfire with a temper?” He descended the steps swiftly, and I followed.

“You said she wants to kill Camille,” I said. “How does letting her out help anything?”

“Your house will remain intact, for one. I can direct her where I want her to go, for another. I’ve got a much better temporary solution lined up, one that if executed properly, will prevent her from harming Camille for the near future. And while that’s in place, you and I can unearth a permanent solution In Between.”

At the base of the steps was a heavy stone door, and a keypad recessed into the wall. Gabriel approached it, inspecting its design.

“Five letters...oh, Beatrix,” he chuckled. He punched a code into the keypad. SOREN. “Paranoid, but sentimental,” he said, and pressed enter. A noise of denial came from the pad. Blinking in surprise, Gabriel glanced back at the chesspiece that had opened the door and immediately punched in GAVIN. The light turned green.

“How did you know that?” I asked. “Who’s Gavin?”

“Ask me later,” he said. “You might want to go hide somewhere.”

I swallowed, remembering her grip on me at the lumbermill. “I - I don’t think she can hurt me.”

His mouth twisted. “Lucky you,” he said, and pushed the door open.

“There he is,” Meredith grinned, stepping around the molten pillars. Smoke rose from her leather attire. “Hey, handsome. Delivering my Wolf at last? I had a feeling about this one - ”

“It’s not her,” Gabriel said, pushing me behind him. “She’s a Null, or couldn’t you tell?”

“What’s a Null?” She quirked an eyebrow.

Gabriel waved a hand in annoyance. “You forgot. Never mind. The point is, I found it for you.”

“And here I thought you’d never come through,” she grinned.

With a glance at me, he stepped forward and whispered something in her ear. Her eyes widened, and then she laughed. “No wonder,” she said. “Those Uminos are always a pain in the ass. It’s like their whole purpose is to piss me off.”

“Not their whole purpose,” Gabriel says, stepping back.

“Well, hopefully next time I see you, I won’t remember I owe you one,” she said. “Sure you don’t want a good-bye kiss?”

“I’ll pass on the burns, thanks,” Gabriel said.

“Too bad, too bad,” she laughed, striding out the door.

I watched her go, apprehensive. “Are you really sure that was the right thing to do?”

“Sloppy, last minute execution, perhaps. A risk, I won’t deny. Nothing here is ideal, but it’s going to work out in the end,” he said. “Well, as long as Tailor figures out his present.”

Chapter 19

Mac

“Oh no...oh no, Mac, look,” Destin says, nodding at the front of the gym.

I turn; there’s Meredith, scanning the room intently. I turn around, hoping she won’t spot us easily from the back.

“What’s she doing here?” I say in hushed panic. “Did she burn down the house? I mean, that fast? That was like three feet of solid granite!”

“We don’t know what she’s capable of,” Destin points out.

“Ok, what do we do, what do we do?”

“We’ve got to get Camille out of here,” Destin says.

“Alright, you get little red riding hoodie and I’ll get the big flaming wolf,” I say.

“She’s gonna torch you, man,” Destin warns.

“Just get going!” I say, pushing him towards the dojo where Camille will be warming up. She and Hyde are supposed to have an exhibition match any minute now.

I move towards the front of the room, dodging between clusters of people admiring the science exhibits. Meredith couldn’t look more out of place, clad exclusively in stained brown leather, tangled hair sticking out every which way. People instinctively shy away from her, but she seems to take no notice. Her eyes land on the most official-looking person in the room.

I have to do something before this gets really out of hand. I check on Destin’s progress but he hasn’t even made it to the dojo yet, caught in a cluster of families.

Meredith marches up to Principal Umino, who’s preoccupied with conversation she’s having with a bored-looking man in a suit.

“You can assure Ms. Sorvari,” Umino was saying, “that her son recieves the utmost consideration, and has been scoring some of the highest marks we’ve ever seen.”

“And where is Rhys?” the man asked.

“He was just here, I saw him only a moment ago - ”

“Hallo, I’m Meredith,” the British woman interrupts with a grin. “Let’s have the Wolf, then, shall we?”

“Excuse me?” Umino says, regarding her like a ripe bag of garbage.

I check on Destin again. He’s with Camille, but Hayley seems to be arguing with them about something. When will my stupid sister get a clue and leave us alone?

“Tell me where he is,” Meredith says in sing-song, “or I burn this school to the ground.”

“Pardon me,” the man says, leaving swiftly. Now there’s someone with brain cells.

The principal continues to look at her with disdain. “We have no...wolves...here,” she says. “And pretending to be the Ender is not amusing.”

Meredith grins. “Everyone’s a critic.”

She flings out her hand, and a fireball crashes into the banner overhead. People start screaming.

“Am I amusing yet?” Meredith asks.

Umino backs away from her, eyes wide. “You’re not...you can’t be...”

Suddenly Hyde is here, dressed in his gi. Something catches fire and he goes looking for the source?

“What’s your problem, lady?” he demands.

“Hyde, remove her from the premises!” Umino commands, backing away, voice pitched a shade too high.

“Get out of here!” I shout at him. “She’s insane!”

Meredith is looking between me and the principal, interest piqued by my involvement. “Too late to help your buddy, munchkin,” she grins at me. “A little birdie told me all about it.”

“He’s not my buddy,” Hyde snarls.

He swings a punch at her and she ducks, whistling. She reaches up, grabbing his wrist. Hyde cries out, pulling away. A red handprint sizzles against his skin. He’s an ass, but I’m not going to stand here and watch him get torched.

Distance. He needs distance. I skim around the edge of the room, heading for the weapons rack in the dojo. I snatch up a bo staff and turn back into the auditorium. Hyde is dodging her approach, shoving a table between them to delay her. People are pouring out of the gym in droves.

“Here!” I shout at him, tossing the staff.

He catches it, a brief look of surprise on his face before he returns his attention to Meredith, twirling the weapon.

“Don’t let her touch you!” I tell him.

“You think?” he snaps.

He swings the staff at her. She backs up, dodging the metal-plated tip. “No fair tag-teaming,” she grins, chucking a fireball low. Hyde jumps clear, and it bursts to sparks across the floor, extinguishing. He swings again, and scores a hit across her shoulder. She stumbles, cursing.

Camille is frozen in place on the far side of the room. The place is mostly empty now. She seems trapped, eyes wide and glued to Meredith, fingers curled in Destin’s sleeve. I can see him pleading with her from over here. What’s wrong with her? And what’s wrong with him? She’s tiny and he’s a giant, he should just pick her up and carry her out. Do I have to do everything myself?

The sprinkler system kicks in, no doubt reacting to all the smoke. Everything is instantly soaked, but Hyde and Meredith battle on. She throws a fireball that ignites one table’s posterboard, and Hyde’s sleeve. He swears, smacking the fabric to smother the cinders.

Avoiding the carnage they’re creating, I sprint over to Destin and Camille. “It’s time to go, gold ranger,” I tell her. She looks at me, and for the first time I see real fear in her eyes. True terror from someone I’d thought was immune. I hesitate, resolve shaken.

I hear a cry from across the room. Turning to look, I see Hyde sprawled across the floor, staff knocked clear, Meredith hovering over him triumphant. I should feel some satisfaction, seeing him so completely outclassed - but despite his asshattery, he doesn’t deserve to die like this.

Meredith’s hand curls around Hyde’s neck. Steam fizzles up from her grasp.

“Shame,” she grins. “I’m a little sorry I caught you before you turned sixteen. If you’d been at full power this might have been more fun.”

Hyde coughs. I can smell his flesh burning from here. “I’m seventeen,” he says, lip curling.

She frowns, pausing. “No,” she says, lines of doubt creasing her forehead. “No, that doesn’t work. The last Wolf died sixteen years ago, the new one can’t be more than fifteen, you must be lying...” She stares at him as if she could see through him. “Damn it,” she says softly, then yells, “damn it!” hurling him from her. He hits the side of a table and slides to the floor. “It’s not you. How could it not be you? You’re perfect. The strength, the speed, the temperament. On top of that, you’re Regenerative. Those wounds are almost gone. Do you have any idea how rare that is? How can you have all that and not be the Wolf?”

“My secret is a balanced breakfast,” Hyde snaps hoarsely, his hand to his throat. The fresh scorch marks there are still visible, but already the burns on his arms have almost faded. I look at him, seeing him in an entirely new light. Holy crap, he’s practically Wolverine.

Meredith lets out a shriek of frustration, turning on me. “You know where it is!” she declares hotly. “I saw its touch on you the moment I saw you outside the library. It’s so close. You know. You’ve been protecting it this whole time.” She grabs the front of my shirt. Steam rises from the wet fabric. “Tell me,” she says through her crooked English teeth, “or I’ll start searing off non-vital parts until you do.”

My eyes go wide.

“STOP!” Camille roars.

I turn my head towards her, gaze pulling as if magnetic. Destin is backing away from her, slowly. The air around her seems to shimmer, like a pulse. Her right hand is on her bracer, white-knuckled, clutching at it like a lifeline.

“Bloody hell,” Meredith murmurs. “Was that all it took? All this time, and all I had to do was - ”

She slams my head against the wall and I slide to the floor, dazed.

“Leave my friends alone,” Camille bellows, and I don’t know how it happens - maybe I’m hallucinating, but I swear that the bracer pours off her arm, then clatters against the floor. A solid iron sword.

Meredith’s eyes widen, and she backs up. “That’s not...”

Camille picks up the sword, a fine tremor in her limbs. Her left forearm, where the bracer had been, is even paler than the rest of her skin, and covered in tiny white scars. I don’t think she notices. She points the sword at Meredith.

“Supposed to kill immortals,” she growls. “Want to find out?”

A ball of fire forms in Meredith’s hand, and a manic grin on her face. “Why not?”

She throws the fireball and Camille swings the sword, shearing it. Destin and I duck, expecting some sort of shrapnel, but the fire vanishes, seemingly swallowed by the blade.

“That is a handy trick,” Meredith says appreciatively.

Camille grins and lunges with a yell, Meredith twisting out of the way. The sword nicks her forearm and a few molten drops fall, searing holes in the floor.

Meredith curses, fending off another advance with a blast of flame. “Who in their right mind would teach the Wolf how to swordfight? That’s like putting lasers on a shark!” She hurls another burst at Camille’s feet, but she catches that with the blade as well. Lightning-fast, Meredith steps in, her hand closing over Camille’s holding the sword. Camille cries out and drops the blade. It slides across the lacquer gym floor. I start to reach for it instinctively, but it skids to a rest at the feet of someone who’d been suspiciously absent all day.

Kei reaches down and picks up the sword. “Let’s see you keep your cool without this,” he says, with a smirk at Camille.

I can barely believe my eyes as he dissolves into dark whorls, not quite smoke - and vanishes, sword and all.

Even Meredith looks baffled. But recovering quickly, she shrugs, grabbing the front of Camille’s gi. “Never look a gift horse in the mouth, I say.” Flames lick out from her hand, and with a cry Camille pushes away hard, the seared fabric flaking off her shoulders. Panic in her eyes, she runs with impossible speed out of the auditorium, in her undershirt and white karate pants, gold hair streaming behind her. Meredith swears and chases after her, with the speed of someone less supernatural.

Tailor stumbles through the back door, looking ill and clutching a roll of parchment. He takes in the charred ruin of the gymnasium and Destin and I standing in the middle. I wonder if we look as stunned as he does.

“Meredith,” he says.

Hyde climbs to his feet, brushing the ash from his clothes. “Too bad about Teague,” he says. “Now I’ll never get a decent rematch.”

“She’s not dead!” I snap at him.

Tailor reacts. “Camille! Where is she?”

“They just ran off,” I say, “and she’s lost the sword - or the bracer - or whatever it is - ”

“And Meredith knows she’s the Wolf,” he says grimly, and swears.

“Can’t you do something?” I plead. “Aren’t you Mr. Magicbreaker or something? Put her on ice, man!”

“It doesn’t work like that - ” he starts to protest, then glances down at the paper clutched in his hand. “But there is something. Come on, I think I know where she’s gone.”

Destin and I hurry after him, out the front doors.

“And what am I supposed to tell Umino?” Hyde snaps after us, left in the charred mess of upturned tables and glowing impact craters in the walls.

Jul, wherever you are, please be okay.

Jul

Gabriel and I stood before the orchard mirror, moonlight trickling through the branches overhead.

“It’s been an age since I’ve seen it,” he said, fingers brushing over the silver scrollwork around the edges. The surface shimmered and went transparent, showing the stone steps inside. “It remembers me, how charming,” he smiled slightly. He stepped through the surface, into the Tower. He glanced up the stairwell as I climbed in behind him, leaving the orchard behind for the cool stone interior of the Tower.

I started to climb the stairs, then paused as I realized he was still standing in the entryway. “Are you coming?” I asked.

“No, what we want is right here,” he said, running a hand over the iron wall at the base of the steps. A light frost spread across the metal from his touch and he jerked his hand back, as if burned. “I thought as much,” he muttered to himself. “Here’s where you’re needed, Juliet dear. Open the door to the cellar.”

I looked up at the solid sheet of iron, twenty feet high and ten feet across. “I - I don’t see a door,” I said.

“It’s there, love. Close your eyes and focus. I know you can do this - you’re the only one who can.”

I closed my eyes, brows knitting together in concentration.

“Think about seams and hinges,” Gabriel coaxed. “Imagine them in your mind’s eye. Think about handles and knobs and passing from one place to the next. Imagine that you see it.”

“What does it look like?” I asked.

“You tell me.”

Attention still turned inward, I invented a door. An outline appeared in my mind - a tall, thin aperture. Instead of a handle, a hideous iron-sculpted face protruded from the door, scowling and trollish, with large, knobby teeth and wide, unblinking eyes. “It doesn’t look like a normal door...” I murmured. “Where’s the handle?”

“Where indeed?” Gabriel asked.

Something in his tone made me open my eyes - there was the tall door with the statue staring back at me.

I took a step back reflexively. “The weapon is in there?”

“Iron is the only thing that I can’t breach, even when I was at my prime. They thought I could never regain myself this way. Now tell me, dear, how do we open it?”

There was a metallic groaning sound. I jumped as the monstrous metal face began to move, creaking as it spoke. “I open for no man but Gohei Katsura.” The voice rumbled through the hallway.

“Well that’s convenient,” Gabriel said. “That’s me. So open up.”

“You speak the truth and yet also you lie,” the sculpture said, its voice a metallic whine. “You are Gohei Katsura, but you are not Gohei Katsura.”

“Does any of us really know who we are?” Gabriel said offhand. “The mystery of identity and existence and all that. Come on now, we’re on a schedule here.”

“I cannot open for half of Gohei Katsura.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course he’s - ” I started to explain, but Gabriel slapped a hand over my mouth.

“Do you have a riddle or something we can solve?” he asked the sculpture instead. “That’s more traditional, yes?” He looked at me. “Why did you invent something with a mouth? This is tedious.”

“I didn’t...I don’t...” I stammered. If only Rhys was here. He could fix this.

No, Rhys wasn’t going to help me anymore. My bravado burned. That crazy woman could find Camille at any moment. My dad could be here any moment. I didn’t have time for this. “Just open already!” I snapped, my voice echoing loudly off the metal barrier.

“I only...open...for....” the sculpture tried to repeat, but the metallic voice dropped pitch and faded out. The sculpture began to twist and melt, somehow becoming even more grotesque. A more echoing groan began, that of gears turning deep within the door.

The iron door cracked open, and I beheld a stairway leading down, walls, steps, and ceiling all of iron.

“Excellent!” Gabriel said, patting my head. “Well done.” He paused at the top of the steps, looking down. “Well done,” he echoed, subdued. Then he shook his head, and began the descent.

We followed the stairs down, our footsteps ringing metallic in the near-darkness. Oil lamps hung overhead, flickering lowly.

“You should know,” he said abruptly, “now that you’ve broken the seal, that what we’re looking for is my body.”

I hesitated on the steps behind him. “What?”

“This form is...on loan,” he said, glancing back at me. “The best of a bad situation.” At the base of the stairs he paused with his hand on the latch of another iron door, with a barred window. “I’ve lived a century with a face I despise, waiting for you.” He smiled at me, but there was no warmth in it. “Once I have my real body back, and I’m fully myself again, that’s when things will get interesting for you and I. The important thing - the only thing you need to remember - is that this is the best chance she has,” he said, “I wanted to do it differently, but I ran out of time. That’s the problem with mortals,” his lips quirked. “Time. It’s not ideal, but this is the only way I could think of.”

Gabriel lifted the latch and pushed. The door swung open with a grating creak.

The soft sounds of someone stirring came from inside. “Who’s there?” a weak voice called.

My eyes widened. “There’s someone in there?” I whispered to Gabriel.

“How would the door have put it...it’s me, but it’s not me,” he said, mouth twisting, and pushed me through the thin opening.

The cellar was as large as one of the science labs at school, and every inch was made of solid iron. In the center was a cage about twenty feet square. Inside it stood a pale, haggard man with emerald green eyes and long, scraggly pine-green hair. I’d seen him before somewhere...Where had I seen him...

The look on the man’s face was pure horror as he stared at Gabriel.

“What a hell this would have been,” Gabriel said, looking around at the dark metal room. “No sun. No earth. Not a thing green or growing. I do believe I would have gone slowly insane, and withered to nothing. Maybe even died. That was your plan, wasn’t it?” he asked the other man.

The emerald eyes of the man behind the bars burned.

“I see you’ve fared a bit better than I would have,” Gabriel commented. “Found yourself a little minion, have you? Has he been bringing you little presents?” He looked at the books, magazines, and comics in neat stacks around the cell.

The man remained silent, expression guarded.

Gabriel shrugged. “Details. You know what the really disappointing thing in all this has been? Not being able to use your powers. I kept hoping I’d figure them out, but it appears that’s part of the spell. I mean, I hadn’t had time to work out all the kinks of the body switch. I’d only just discovered the spell when you sprung this stupid trap on me. It really was the back-up plan’s back-up plan. But you should be grateful the body switch represses powers. If I could use yours, well, I wouldn’t be here right now. And you probably would have gone insane if you had access to mine, trapped in this hole for a hundred years...from a certain perspective, it’s like I did you a favor.”

The man’s mouth pressed into a hard line.

“Perhaps not, you’re right,” Gabriel said with an exaggerated sigh. “The world has changed, hunter. It’s not the place it was when I left you here, if you haven’t already gathered that from your imp book club,” he said, glancing at the stacks of reading material. “The humans have forgotten us completely. They don’t believe in anything but their own ingenuity anymore. Except for a few. Your own students, in fact. The Uminos have gone far, far beyond their original purpose in your absence. I might have egged them on.” Gabriel shrugged. “Meanwhile...in the Afterlands, the Ryans are in Angwar preparing for a final war. They’ve almost closed their grip on the other kingdoms. The ferals of Farpeak are all that stand between them and total dominance. You know how those Ryans are, they just can’t ever be satisfied with what they have. But with no more traveling mirrors, we’ll be safe until another Mirrormaker gets their act together.”

My heart thumped. Rhys’s powers were problematic, but Dad had made blades of the school windows as if it were nothing. I had no idea what he was capable of, not anymore.

“So. Why am I telling you all this?” Gabriel asked the man, his voice turning cold. “What is the point of giving your enemy any information at all?” He gave a little smirk. “Because you care too damn much. Oh, wait ‘til you see what Meredith and I have been up to. You’re going to love it.”

The green-haired man’s lip curled into a snarl.

Gabriel and Meredith? Working together? What was he saying? And his tone had become so cruel, so devoid of empathy. My head swirled with information. Had I made a horrible mistake?

“She’s still around, of course. Back to murdering people left and right when the mood hits her. No one really knows how to stop her, after all.” Gabriel faked a realization. “Oh wait, you do. Well I should let you out, shouldn’t I, so you can stop her from terrorizing the villagers? Just like old times.” He lifted a long cord from around his neck - from it hung an ancient skeleton key.

The man backed up slowly, unsteadily. He eyed Gabriel with deep distrust as the key went into the cage’s padlock.

“I’m letting you out, hunter, aren’t you grateful?” Gabriel taunted.

“What’s the benefit to you?” the other man spoke at last, his voice creaky with disuse as the lock clicked open.

“You say that like I think only of myself,” Gabriel said, opening the cage door. “Can’t I just offer you a helping hand?”

He reached out and grasped the other man’s hand tightly, a rune on his palm suddenly flaring to brightness.

Swirls of energy arced between the two men - bright, stabbing bursts of acid green flowing from Gabriel to the green-haired man, and pinwheeling, icy blue whorls moving the opposite direction, almost like the energies were combating each other even as they barreled past to a new destination.

Or, if what Gabriel had said was true, an old destination.

As the energies balanced, both men collapsed. Gabriel was the first to snap awake, reaching up for the padlock, key in hand. Was he going to lock the other man back inside after all?

Then I remembered - that wasn’t Gabriel. Not anymore.

Gabriel - in his pale, starved, green-haired body, leapt at the other man, tackling him to the floor. He curled a hand around the other man’s throat. “Who am I kidding?” he said, grinning wickedly. “You know me too well.” A sickly green light pulsed under his fingers.

“No!” the man shouted, but then made choking noises even though Gabriel took his hand away. A spiky, acid green design covered the man’s entire throat like a tattoo, except it seemed to glow slightly.

Gabriel sat back, panting, pine-green hair sticking to his unfamiliar face, narrow with high cheekbones and a wide, cruel mouth. His hand held aloft a ball of whorling frost, that seemed to do war with the green arcs twining from his fingers. His other hand reached into a pocket of his rotting, dated clothing and lifted up a bell, no larger than an acorn. The frost seeped into the little item, disappearing, and with a burst of green light it was gone. Then the bell was still, looking not the least bit out of the ordinary. “How fortunate that was still there,” Gabriel laughed, and it sounded strange with this unfamiliar form. “Thanks for hanging onto my stuff for me, pal-o’-mine. Though I can’t say I appreciate what you’ve done to my hair.” He plucked at the tangled mess that cascaded over his shoulders.

The man’s hand was over the seal at his throat. Hatred burned in his narrow, dark eyes, eyes that I had thought were Gabriel’s.

“Oh, fume all you want,” Gabriel grinned, pushing his unruly hair out of his face. “We both know you’re nearly useless unless you can speak. So welcome back to the world, Katsura. You still can’t lay a finger on me.” That twisted half-smile. Those glittering green eyes. It was the same face, the exact same expression I’d seen on the painting in the lab.

The Thief. Hemlock, the one who’d been missing for a century. The immortal who was counted among the greatest villains of history. Gabriel was Hemlock. What had I done?

He tucked the bell into an interior pocket. “I’m sure your voice will come in handy some time. It can be marvelously persuasive.”

Expression furious, the man dove at him; Hemlock caught his wrists and snapped, “Haurio.” The man immediately began to weaken, even as the hollows in Hemlock’s cheeks filled out, his posture becoming steadier. Finally Hemlock let go, and the man hit the floor with a metallic smack. It looked like that had hurt, but he couldn’t even groan - not with his voice missing.

“That should be familiar to you.” Hemlock said conversationally, nudging him in the side with his foot. The man was breathing, but he seemed too exhausted to move. Hemlock knelt and retrieved the hand mirror from the interior of the other man’s jacket, where he’d stowed it when he’d taken it from Dad. “I was worried I’d have trouble getting back into the swing of things, it having been so long.” He tucked the mirror into his belt, flexed his fingers, and cracked his knuckles. “Where we’re going, I’d rather you not follow. Come on, Juliet, love, we’ve wasted enough time here as it is.”

He reached out to me; I shrank back. “I don’t bite, sweetheart,” he said. “I’m here to help you, remember?”

“You’re the Thief!” I shouted, backing up toward the door. “You were the Thief the whole time!”

He sighed. “Not ‘til just now, love. I can’t very well be the Thief without my powers, can I? I needed to get my body back.” He smirked. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

My heart hammered in my chest. This was all my fault. I had done it. I had opened the door, given him everything he needed. If I’d only done what Bea had asked -

“We’re short on time, but I suppose I owe you a small explanation. My name is Hemlock, but you can go on calling me Gabriel if you like. This fellow here is Gohei Katsura. Gohei and I have had a bit of an ongoing misunderstanding for the last...how long, would you say, pal?” he asked the mute man, who was still struggling to sit up. “Let’s just say we’re into centuries now. It’s all very complicated and tedious.”

“You lied!” I insisted.

“I may have lied about my identity,” he said, “but I wasn’t lying about helping you. There are no limits to what you and I can do together. Simon is on his way, girl, and while I may not be the most upstanding citizen on either side of the mirror, you will fare far better with me than with him. He’ll use your powers to take over the world.”

“And what will you use them for?” I demanded.

His grin was unsettling. “To free it, of course.”

“I wasn’t aware that anything needed freeing.”

“You’re woefully misinformed.” He raised his head and called out, “Imp, to me.”

The spindly little monster materialized as if falling through the iron ceiling, to land atop the cage. It blinked its large, yellow eyes at us, clinging to the rim.

“All the hard work you’ve put in taming the thing and now it’s mine,” Hemlock smirked at Gohei. “Come here,” he beckoned the creature.

The imp’s head cocked, birdlike, a sort of trilling sound in the back of its throat.

“You know me,” Hemlock said smoothly. “You know this voice. Now come here and port me out.”

The imp fidgeted, lamp-like eyes wide. Gohei snorted something like a laugh on the floor, and the creature took notice of him. It dropped, landing on his shoulder, tail curling protectively around his neck.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Hemlock said, incredulous. “There’s no way it can tell the difference - ”

He took a step towards them, and the lanky little monster hissed at Hemlock, bat-like ears slicked back, showing a mouth full of slender, needle-sharp teeth.

Hemlock recoiled, expression sour. “Live this long and you can still learn something new every day,” he muttered to himself. He suddenly looked up, as if hearing something I couldn’t. “Oh that’s not good,” he said. He grabbed my hand and began to pull me towards the hallway. “We need to get to the sanctuary, now.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you!” I shouted. “I want to go home!”

“Be careful what you wish for,” Hemlock said, distracted, eyes on the ceiling.

The imp clinging to Gohei screamed at us as Hemlock pulled me up the stairwell. I struggled in his grip, reaching for the mirror’s opening and the forest beyond.

Hemlock gave me a yank up the stone stairwell instead. “I said the sanctuary. Control yourself, girl, because I can get you out of here just as easily if you’re unconscious,” he snapped.

I stilled, heart hammering. What had happened to the kind man who gave out hot chocolate and looked at Camille like she was the most important thing in the world?

We passed a silent, blank-faced Porter in the foyer. Throwing an anxious glance at the library curtain, Hemlock swept us through the opposite one to the sanctuary.

“All that remains,” Hemlock said, his green eyes glittering, “is the Hearthstone.” He knelt by the base of a pillar, pulling the edge of a tile free.

He was so much stronger than me - I couldn’t overpower him. But my power was to negate power, and almost everything inside this mirror was conjured of magic. I looked up. A row of Rhys’s glass lanterns hung overhead. I focused all my thoughts on them, willing the magic tying them to dissolve. After all, they weren’t real, right?

Hemlock’s fingers curled around something small, with a short laugh, just as a lantern crashed over him. He sat back hard, a trickle of blood running from his hairline.

“Juliet!” he roared.

I ran back through the curtain and nearly collided with Rhys coming out of the library.

“Jul!” he exclaimed. “What - ”

I had no time to feel relief to see him. My heart dropped into my stomach as I beheld the man I’d called father ascending the stairs, eyes on me and clutching the iron sword in a gloved hand. Where on earth had he gotten that?

Instinctively, Rhys and I backed onto the terrace, even as I knew there was no outlet. The high walls were insurmountable. Rhys’s hands were on my shoulders as Simon came through the arch, sword leveled at us.

“You’re too dangerous,” Simon said. “You’ll break everything. You’re just not worth the risk. I should have known when she left,” he said angrily, “that it was because of you.”

Vines curled out from the wall and Simon leapt aside, slashing them away. They withered where the sword sheared them. Hemlock stepped onto the terrace as well, a bright green ring now sparkling on his finger.

“This is becoming vastly overcrowded,” he said. “Goodness, Simon, you’ve seen better days.”

“Who are you?” Simon snapped.

“But then I suppose it’s been a rough night for many of us.” Hemlock went on, ignoring him. “Myself, I’m doing quite well, actually. Best I’ve felt in a hundred years.” With a wicked grin, his hand wearing the ring clenched, and the entire wall seemed to come alive, vines whipping to lash Simon against it, sword and all. He groaned as his back hit the stone, hard.

“Jul, I need you to turn it off,” Rhys said in my ear. “Whatever it is that you do, that Tailor thing - I need you to turn it off!”

But I didn’t know how. I had tried the focus, the concentration, nothing had ever come of it. Our backs were literally to the wall, and Rhys was counting on me.

Hemlock let out a long breath. “Now, where was I...?” His gaze slid to me, and Rhys pushed me behind him. “You do inspire the most loyal friends,” Hemlock commented. “Boyfriends, I should say. You know they only like you because you’re pretty, right? If you had any personality, you’d have garnered some female friends.”

As if he’d forgotten Camille. Anger burned. “Bea and Tailor were right about you,” I snapped. “All you do is lie and steal.”

Hemlock spread his arms, quirking an eyebrow. “Uh, Thief? It’s my nature. I have no more control over it than you do your little...void thingie.” He held up his hand, showing the ring. “Which this counteracts, by the way. Now are you going to come along, or am I going to have to harm the young prince’s pretty face?”

“Jul...” Rhys said, under his breath.

I scrambled for focus. Behind Hemlock, the vines around the Tailor’s sword in Simon’s grip were withering.

“There’s no way out,” I said. “No other way out of the mirror.” I came out from behind Rhys, and Hemlock smirked, pleased.

My hand slid into Rhys’s, and the warmth was steadying. “Not unless you make one,” I say, looking into his eyes. The pale blue is almost clear as they widen. I imagine a switch in my mind, like I’d done with the door downstairs. I don’t feel the barrier fall, but he does.

Hemlock barely has time to look confused before we rise into the air, hoisted aloft by a pillar of glass. He screams in fury, vines twisting up after us. As I look down at him, I see no trace of the man I’d thought he was, and I can’t help wondering: what will happen to Camille now?

Chapter 20

Camille

He had to be here. He just had to be. Everything he’d warned me about was coming true - Gabriel would know what to do. He always did, even if he didn’t explain, even if he wouldn’t share his reasons, he always knew how to fix whatever had gone wrong.

We were well past wrong.

“Gabriel!” I shouted, pushing through the front doors of the cafe. “Gabriel, where are you?” The place was empty, the lights out. I streaked up the stairs, taking them two at a time, could have done three if my legs weren’t so damned short. My blood ran hot and I’d never been this fast in my life. “Gabriel!” I cried, throwing open the door to his room. It was his usual mess - bed unmade, clothes in heaps on the floor, stacks of books half-read. His laptop’s screensaver cycled through images of dense forests, throwing a sickly green light around the dark room. But no sign of the man himself.

I cursed loudly, and tore into his closet. There had to be something here, something I could use, something he’d kept hidden for emergencies. I threw aside shoes, boxes of photographs, stacks of magazines. I needed a weapon. He wouldn’t leave me with nothing, not at a time like this. I thought of the bracer - the sword - lost so carelessly.

I should have listened more closely, I berated myself. All his stories I’d thought were fiction, the bracer I’d resented him for. And then lost. My fingers curled in the fallen magazines. I should have trusted him more. I’d take it all back, everything I’d said, I’d ignore everything Bea and Tailor had ever told me - trade everything to have Gabriel here now. I punched the frame of the closet and the wood split.

I heard the latch on the door downstairs click open as if it were right next to me. My hearing had never been sharper. I jumped to my feet, heart in my throat. “Gabriel, I need you!” I shouted, vaulting over the stairs as I’d done against Hyde -

And skidded to a halt.

Meredith stood in the doorway. “Such abject desperation in your voice,” she commented, letting the door gently shut on its own behind her. “Not terribly attractive, kiddo.”

I almost cringed, hearing Gabriel’s pet name come out of her mouth.

“You’re fast,” she said. “Not all of them are, you know. Every Wolf is different. But every Wolf is also the same - agents of destruction, all.” She grinned at me. “You’re not 16 yet, so I can stop you before it gets out of hand. Pre-emptive strike,” she hit the ‘k’ sound hard, almost biting it off.

“I don’t hurt people,” I shot back.

“You will. I’m doing you a favor, kiddo - ”

“Don’t call me that!” I roared, slamming my hand down on the counter. It shattered, spraying bits of glass across the stone floor.

Meredith quirked an eyebrow. “There’s that famous temper. Answer me this riddle before I dispatch you, though - what makes a man hunt six Wolves and hide the seventh?”

“What?” I snapped.

“I don’t know what Gabriel did before he started helping me with this endeavor,” Meredith said, sauntering closer. “In fact, I don’t remember the others at all. I don’t really care about them. Past is past. What I don’t understand is why he hid you. Why lie now? You’re not even his real child, that’s clear.” She tilted her head, regarding me. “You’re not doing him, are you?”

I stared at her, aghast. “Gross!”

“I never can tell with kids these days,” Meredith shrugged. “All these rubbish vampire stories in the cinema. But I’m with you, I think it’s creepy for a teenager to date a bloke who’s older than the London Bridge. Now,” she said, holding up a hand. A fireball smoldered in her palm, throwing grisly shadows around the tables and chairs. “Before I start to like you, let’s put you out of your misery.”

She hurled it and I dove behind the busted counter. Flames bloomed through the display case, and I shied away from the sudden heat. My fingers curled around a large, jagged shard of glass from the floor. Meredith advanced on me and I struck out, slicing her cheek. A spray of glowing blood arced out, splattering burning holes in the wall. I pushed past her, back into the dining room. An enormous fireball barely missed my shoulder and collided with the front door, transforming it into a wall of flame. I skidded to a halt, turning to see Meredith advance on me. My blood pounded through my veins. I hefted up a table, barely registering the weight, and hurled it at her, snarling. She fell, and I dashed up the stairs. Fire was swirling around her like a storm, melting the debris as she rose from it. The flames from the display case were eating their way through the kitchen, and it was only a matter of time before they found the gas line.

I froze at the top of the stairs, out of escape paths.

Meredith climbed the stairs slowly, the vortex around her igniting the stairs, climbing up the walls to the ceiling. She’d blocked me off.

“There’s a good Wolfie,” she purred, dark eyes reflecting the firelight. “Now hold still.” She reached out for me with a smoking hand.

My life was burning down around me, but I was not losing to this psycho. I leapt to the top of the railing and launched myself into the upper air of the atrium. I caught one of the hanging lamps, swung, and crashed through the stained glass window by the front door.

I heard the Ender scream in frustration as I hit the gravel in the parking lot, rolling several feet in tiny stones and shards of glass. I groaned - this was way worse than being beaten up by Hyde. I reached out a trembling hand, trying to push myself up. I had to run before she could get out of the building. All that had saved me so far was the fact that being a human volcano hadn’t made her strong or fast.

I started to crawl, adrenaline beginning to mask the pain. I had to find Gabriel. I didn’t know how, but he’d fix this. The cafe crackled and roared behind me, making the parking lot bright. Heat rolled off the building in waves. Everything we had was burning, but we could start over, couldn’t we? He’d always said we’d survive...that I would survive this...

I heard sound of Meredith’s boots crunching in the gravel behind me. I shivered from adrenaline and sweat, on my knees, a tendril of despair curling around my heart. I pushed myself up to my feet and stood to face her on unsteady legs. She brushed debris from her shoulders, looking at me with pitiless eyes.

“You’re brave,” she said. “It’s too bad the Wolf was born in you. I think I would have liked you.”

She reached for me, but then her eyes go wide as I’m pulled back. Gabriel?

Tailor pushed me behind him. Mac and Destin stood on either side of me.

Meredith groaned. “This just goes on and on! How many bodyguards do you have?”

“I’m not a bodyguard, I’m an English teacher,” Tailor said, unrolling a small scroll of paper. Strange symbols were painted in black across its surface. It reminded me of the holy seals I’d seen in Buddhist temples.

“That’s some scary paper, teach,” Meredith said, deadpan. “You know what paper doesn’t do so well against?” She flung out her arm and a fireball flew toward me.

Mac

We jump clear of the fireball, but Meredith’s goal had been to distract us so she could get to Camille.

Tailor throws the rectangle of paper, and it flies with unaccountable rigidity toward the Ender. Meredith is heading for Camille, and I’m the only one close enough to reach her.

“Camille, run!” I shout. I grab Meredith by the arm just as Tailor’s seal hits her across the shoulder.

“Damnit, Mac!” Tailor snaps.

The paper clings to Meredith’s tattooed skin like a wet bandage. In a flash, the seal goes up in flames. Smoke sizzles all the way down her arm and into mine. I bellow at the sharp pain; she curses, releasing me. Her arm hangs limp and she cradles it. The paper’s burned away, but the symbols on it have embedded themselves in her skin over the shoulderblade, twining and repeating in three rings around her right arm, overlaying the red flame pattern. I’m inches from passed out on the ground, smoke rising from my hand.

“Not again!” Meredith howls, rounding on Tailor. “That is it!”

“For God’s sake, Dupree, wake up!” Tailor calls, backing away.

“Huh?” I stir, the searing pain in my hand gradually lessening.

“I’ve changed my mind,” Meredith seethes. “I think I’ll kill you,” she stabs a finger at Tailor, “then the Wolf, and then the munchkin brigade, just to be safe.” A ball of fire materializes in her hand and her lip curls in a malicious grin.

“I wish you wouldn’t kill anybody,” I say groggily, rising with my uninjured hand to my head.

Meredith freezes, eyes wide. The fireball vanishes as quickly as she’d called it into being. She looks at her empty hand in confusion. One of the three rings on her arm is fading.

“Ha!” Tailor exclaims. “Ha! Ha ha ha!” He cackles, almost hysterical. “Mac, you idiot, that was perfect!”

“It was?” I say, then look at my smoking hand and gasp. “What the heck is this?” I poke at the row of three red flames marked into the back of my hand. “Ow!” I recoil from the tender flesh. As I watch, one of the three flame marks ghosts to nothing.

“Minor annoyance,” Meredith says. “Let’s try that again!” She flings her arm towards Tailor, but nothing emerges.

Tailor’s grin is wide. “Trouble performing?”

“I swear this has never happened to me before,” Meredith quips.

“Mac, listen carefully,” Tailor says urgently, “you can’t ever say the words ‘I wish’ ever again. Understand? If you never finish your wishes, she’s stuck like this forever.”

“Wait, wishes?” Meredith and I say in unison.

“You wished for her to not kill anyone,” Tailor says smugly. “So she can’t, until she completes the contract.”

“So...we win?” I say uncertainly.

“Contract?” Meredith exclaims.

“Standard contract between a mortal and an immortal,” Tailor says. “A very complex spell that found its way to me just this evening. I was going to save it for someone else, but desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“Um, guys...” Destin says, concern in his voice.

“Wait a minute,” Meredith says slowly. “Are you...you’re not saying I’m a...”

“Genie!” I whoop, suddenly comprehending. “You are my very own personal genie!”

“I AM NOT A GENIE,” Meredith roars.

“Where’s the lamp?” I want to know. “Or is it a bottle?”

“It’s a verbal contract,” Tailor corrects, though sounding more than a little pleased with himself. “The bottle’s an exaggeration.”

“You!” Meredith says suddenly, pointing a finger at Tailor again. “You’re one of those - those - thingies!”

“Excuse me?”

“One of those human thingies...ahhh...what are they called...the ones that make everything awful...argh!” She kicks the wall of the cafe in frustration. “This is for real, isn’t it?”

“Very much so,” Tailor says. “No more killing for you. Camille is safe.”

“Um...guys?” Destin says, louder this time, fear in his voice. “I’m not sure about that.”

He was looking at Camille. She’s curled in on herself, arms around her ribs as if holding herself together. Her expression is unfocused and she’s sweating buckets.

Tailor reaches for her and she backs up, one hand out. “Don’t touch me,” she says, breathing heavily.

Meredith makes a rude sound. “There it is.”

Tailor glares at her to shut up. She merely folds her arms and returns the glare with a grin. “I can feel your blood burning, you little freak,” she taunts Camille. “Without that sword, you’re coming apart at the seams. You think this is bad? This is only the beginning. If you cared for these lives at all,” she says, arms wide to indicate me, Destin, and Tailor - “you would beg me to end you. If I could.” Her expression narrows as her gaze flicks to me.

“You’re wrong about her,” Tailor says, but Camille sinks to her knees, curling up.

“Your best boy Gabriel abandoned you, you know that, don’t you?” Meredith tells Camille nastily. “He gave you up to me. He told me the Wolf was at the school, he sent me right to you.”

Hunched on the ground, Camille’s back tightens, her hands fisting in her hair.

“Camille...” I say, approaching her slowly. “Camille, don’t listen to her.”

“She knows I’m right!” Meredith cackles. “You know why he held on to you? He thought he could change you, the old softie, but he was wrong. The Wolf is the enemy, and that doesn’t change. He gave up on you. Then all he had to do was wait for me to show up and finish the job. And even if it’s not me, soon enough, someone will...you’re a monster, you’re a bloody monster, and nothing he ever did or said could stop it from taking you over!”

“Uruse,” she mutters from behind her curtain of hair.

“He gave up on you,” Meredith repeats.

“Camille...” I reach for her shoulder.

“YAMEROU!” she screams as she strikes out at me. I fall back, and suddenly she’s standing over me, a feverish yellow gleam making her green eyes unnatural. Her tangled curls spill over her torn, filthy uniform. Her lips pull back slightly from her teeth. For a brief, terrifying moment, I wonder if maybe Meredith is right.

And then Camille is gone, the moon glinting silver off her hair as she disappears into the woods.

Chapter 21

Jul

The pillar rose to dizzying heights. I clung to Rhys as we shot higher. The walls of the Tower seemed to go upwards forever, disappearing in a haze over our heads. I couldn’t bring myself to look down, afraid of what I’d see. Finally the ascent stopped, and Rhys said, “We have to jump.”

I looked up at him then, fingers curled tight in his jacket. “Are you insane?”

“He’s still coming,” Rhys said, face white as he looked down, “and I can’t maintain this much longer. I’m not a real Mirrormaker, Jul, I’m just a hybrid - ”

“You have to get us out of here,” I pleaded. “You’re the only one who can - ”

A high-pitched crack sounded from the glass at our feet and I gasped. There was an open window in the Tower only a small gap away, but the thought of missing that gap was paralyzing. Swallowing my fear, I leapt, clearing the window and tumbling to the floor inside. Rhys looked down at the vines speeding up the pillar after him and jumped as well. A green tendril caught his ankle at the last second and tugged him off balance. His hands caught the window ledge and he cried out as his body slammed into the outer wall of the Tower. I scrambled to my feet and reached to pull him in. The glass pillar was collapsing in jagged hunks, the vines falling with it and pulling taut on Rhys’s ankle. I grabbed one of his arms, anchoring him.

“Go,” he groaned. “Keep going up, I’ll make a ledge or something I can land on - ”

“Crash through, you mean,” I snapped. “I’m not leaving you, now slice that thing free and get in here!”

Eyes lighting in understanding, he reached with his free hand to pull a stone free of the wall. It melted into a jagged glass blade in his hand, and he struck at the vine, severing it, and it fell to the terrace, stories below. I pulled him through the window and he got to his feet, panting. “Good idea,” he said. “Now what on earth is going on?”

“I don’t even know!” I exclaimed, looking around the room in panic. Where had we ended up? “First Gabriel said we were going to save Camille from Meredith, and then he switched bodies or something, and then he started talking about using my powers, about how I was supposed to help him change the world or something...” The reality of what I’d done crashed over me and I pulled at my hair, taking large, unsteady breaths. “I never should have brought him here - you were right, you were right the whole time, oh god, Rhys, I’m so sorry - ”

He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close. I wasn’t safe, but at least Rhys wasn’t angry with me. “I shouldn’t have thrown you out,” he said into my hair. “If I hadn’t - if you’d thought I’d help, this never would have happened.”

Reluctantly, I pulled away from him and looked around the room, taking stock of our situation. The room we were in had no doors, and only the one window. There was a large four-post bed in the center, draped with white curtains, and around the walls stood a series of mirrors. Most had the same rose-and-vine silver scrollwork as the one in the orchard, but some were more plain. The sizes varied, too. Some were taller than me, and stood on their own legs; others were hung directly on the wall, shaped in ovals, rectangles, and squares. One was shaped like a starburst, with four long and four short points. One hung empty, a thick obsidian frame with no glass. One lay across the room’s only table, broken pieces laid out as if awaiting reassembly.

I reached out to touch one of the mirrors - wondering if the surface would change, like the one in the orchard - but it merely remained reflective of the room.

Suddenly Rhys cried out, being snapped back against the wall and wrapped in vines. They even twisted over his mouth to silence him. Hemlock climbed into the window, using the vines as handholds. He stepped gracefully to the floor and surveyed the room. “The workshop,” he said appreciatively. “Fiona brought me here once...now there was a talent. If you were Fiona this might be going differently,” he grinned at Rhys, who glared and twisted in his bonds. “Or even Soren. Everyone talks about Soren, but all he did was build on her work. You Ryans and your patriarchy.”

Hemlock took my arm and pulled me with him towards the line of standing mirrors. “One of these should do,” Hemlock said, touching the surface of one briefly. “He’s turned them all off,” he frowned. “He thought of everything, didn’t he? Everything but you.” He gave me a shake. “Turn it back on.”

“I’m not a Mirrormaker, I can’t - ”

“No, you’re a Harbinger,” Hemlock said, his emerald eyes flashing. “And a Null besides. You can - ”

He cried out, falling. The floor had crumbled under his feet and he clutched at the edge of the hole, dangling. I backed away, but another hand gripped my shoulder like a vice. I turned to look up at the man I’d called my father. He held the iron sword in his other hand - so plain a weapon - and his expression was empty.

“Dad,” I said, “What are you - ”

A searing pain through my ribs. A heaviness, a foreign chill. The crack of glass behind me as I knocked back into a mirror. I looked down. The hilt protruded from my chest. My hand came up to touch it, disbelieving. Blood flowed freely from the wound, straight through my heart.

Oh.

Camille

Back across the lawn between the cafe and the school. All the world is smell and sound. I am free, unfettered. As I should be. I dive over hedges and sprint under the trees, faster than the wind. I catch a branch above me and swing, exulting in my power. It snaps and crashes to the ground, and I twist in midair to land deftly on top of it. I grin, but then just as fast the grin is gone. Trees are all well and good, but there is no satisfaction in it. No justice.

I want to hurt someone who deserves it.

I’ve been holding back for so long, trapped under words like calm and temperance and that most hated, most limiting of all words: compassion. I never want to feel sympathy again. I used to be like this all the time, back when I had free run of the streets of Tokyo. Before Gabriel dampened my blood. Why had I run from the cafe? I could go give that so-called ‘Ender’ what was coming to her...

I can feel lightning in my veins, and the only iron I have now is in my fists. I smile at my own metaphor, fingers clenched tightly as I inspect my knuckles. Small hands, to be sure. But that made it all the better. No one would ever expect me. They never did.

I catch a scent on the wind and my head turns. My blood boils fresh as it conjures up images in my mind. Her standing assured and haughty in her ridiculous hair and expensive clothes, the snide little comments at Jul’s expense. The way she sneers at Mac in public. Destin’s heartbeat going erratic whenever she comes near, just to see her ignore him. If they gave a prize for exploitation of love, it would be hers. Justice, incoming. My fingers flex and a grin of pure certainty crosses my face.

I am going to kill Hayley.

I bound across the schoolyard, unencumbered. I don’t care if she hears me. It wouldn’t matter. She’s human, human, human. I can smell it now, I am dead certain. With a nose like this I know what everything is. Extra human with human on top. She will be so easy. Too easy. I’ll just have to remind myself of the wonderful irony that the girl who thinks herself the most powerful within the walls of this building is in fact one of the most helpless. I should tell her that, I think. I’d like to see the look on her face.

Then I catch sight of her in the dusk and my blood pounds, ringing in my ears. I think, just kill her. Flesh. Limbs. Claws. Justice. They’d thank me. Worthless girl.

She’s seated on a park-style bench in the garden area between the gymnasium and the forest. Moonlight glints off her honey-gold hair. Her head is in her hands and I can smell the saline and mascara.

She’s crying. I laugh, and it startles her. Looking up, she rubs her eyes quickly, calling out, “Who’s there?”

“All alone in the woods?” I say, emerging through the trees.

“Camille?” Her defiant look becomes uneasy as she sees me in the light of the moon. “What’s going on?”

A grin spreads across my face. She clutches her purse to her, leaning away instinctively.

“You’re a real bitch, you know that, right?” I tell her.

“I...I don’t understand,” she stutters. Hayley, stuttering. And quivering like a rabbit. The queen in all her glory. God, this was a good night.

“You think you can get away with treating us like crap.” I snarl in her face. “No more. I’m ending your story right now.”

“What are you saying?” she exclaims, scrambling up from the bench. Let her try to run. She won’t get more than two steps in those ridiculous heels before I rip her throat open.

“You’re speaking to her in Japanese, you moron. She doesn’t understand you.”

I hadn’t smelled him. I whirl, and there’s Kei Sakamoto standing behind me, hands in his pockets. Where had he come from? And why couldn’t I smell him? It was like he didn’t exist.

He stretches lazily, lacing his fingers over his head. “You ducked out on your presentation, Lassie. Miller’s really going to dock your grade.”

My lip curls. I’m not here to chat. I’m busy. I turn back to Hayley, but now Sakamoto is standing between me and her.

He couldn’t have moved that fast. My gaze zips between where he was and where he stands now.

“Hayley’s no fun,” Sakamoto says. “Not for you. Want to play with me instead?”

“Get out of my way,” I say. A rumble sounds deep in my chest.

“Jul Graham is dead,” he says.

What? My head spins. The angry red pulse in my mind blanks to white. He must be lying. He has to be. My friend.

“What!” Hayley exclaims. “How?”

“Well, honestly I had no idea what Simon wanted it for when he commissioned me to find the Tailor’s Sword, but it seems pretty clear now,” he says, offhand.

My eyes travel unbidden to my overpale, pockmarked left arm. My friend.

The red pulse kicks back in, building steadily.

“Every day you walked through these doors with the only thing that could kill her strapped to your arm,” Kei says, amused. “Pretty heavy stuff. Her being dead, I mean, but man, that bracer was pretty heavy too.”

I roar and dive at him. Hayley runs away into the night screaming.

I swipe at him, and he ducks, spinning under my swing. How could he be so callous? Was this all really just some source of entertainment to him? Never mind. I’m busy. My vision is hazing red. When I paint the sidewalk with his insides he won’t find it all so funny.

I leap at him and he falls to his back, planting his feet in my ribs and launching me over him. I land in an easy roll and spring back to my feet, ready for anything.

But he’s not there.

“Let’s play a game,” comes his voice. I can’t pinpoint it. It seems to come from the trees.

“Hide and seek, maybe,” he says. I spin. This time it sounds like he’s behind me, towards the forest. But I see nothing.

“Or better yet...”

I spin again, furious, desperate for something to hit.

“Tag,” he says, right into my ear.

I swipe at him, but he’s already running, and fast, into the woods. I let out a roar of frustration and tear off after him.

Hemlock

“No!” I screamed, hauling myself up from the hole. I hadn’t seen him. He must have slid into the room when I was focused on her. Up through the floor, maybe. In through the window, maybe. Mirrormakers can change anything in this tower. Sneaky little abomination. I should have killed him when I had the chance.

“I wonder if this has ever been used on a Tailor before,” Simon sneered, twisting the sword with a horrible squelching sound, combined with the crunch of broken glass. Juliet’s eyes went glassy as she slumped over the blade. He pulled it out, blood streaming, and she collapsed to the floor in a red pool of glinting shards. She looked up at him, her mouth gaping like a fish. He watched her life drain away, expressionless. She wanted to say something, it was clear, but her lungs were filling with blood.

“You idiot!” I hissed, moving toward her.

Simon pointed the Tailor’s Sword in my direction, and I froze. “That’s one less weapon for you to collect,” he said.

I backed away, hands up. My final chance for vengeance was dying on the floor, but I wasn’t going to lose my soul for her. “You don’t know what you’ve done,” I told Simon.

Her blood is sinking into the cracks in the stone floor, the glittering bits of glass along with it. Does he see the Tower devouring her life? Did he really hate her so much that he would be this stupid?

“Rhys!” Juliet shrieked at last. A shockwave of power burst from her, rocking us both back. A dark violet-black energy curled up from the floor around her body, ghostly tendrils of power that sunk into her skin and vanished. Blood burbled from her lips and she went still. Juliet Graham was dead. The ever-present avarice I’d regained with my body gripped me with full force.

“That was mine!” I roared.

The Tower rumbled beneath our feet. The first look of confusion crossed Simon’s face. “You need earth for an earthquake.”

Magic fizzled from the mirrors ringing the room, tiny little ghosts of static filtering through the air. Another shockwave rocked the Tower, and several of the mirrors cracked.

I turned slowly, not quite prepared for the source. Lightning crackled around the Ryan boy I’d bound. My vines were dissolving into sand in front of my eyes. He was stock still, his colorless eyes wide and frozen on Juliet’s lifeless form.

The ceiling burst. Hunks of glass skittered across the floor. Some folded into sand. Some embedded themselves against the floor and melded there. Crackles of electricity arced out from him through the room, lighting the drapes of the bed on fire.

“Get out,” he murmured.

He could have been his uncle. For a moment, I felt actual fear, and backed away. I hadn’t expected this. He was unproven, he shouldn’t have this much power...

“Who the hell are you?” Simon demanded, shifting his grip on the sword. But it wasn’t until he stepped into Rhys’s line of sight, between him and Juliet, that Rhys reacted.

“GET OUT!” he howled.

A violent wind ripped through the room, rocketing in through the window. It whipped both Simon and I against the walls but left Rhys and Juliet untouched. The glass debris in the room whirled; I held up my arms to shield myself from the razor-sharp fragments.

“Know your exit, rookie,” I said, inclining my head toward one of the standing mirrors. Simon could activate it and we could escape the grief-stricken boy. The last time I’d seen someone this berserk, he’d destroyed the entire city of San Francisco. But that had been a Wolf. Mirrormakers were something else entirely.

Simon hesitated, but Rhys was gaining focus, and his focus was on Simon and the sword still dripping his girlfriend’s blood.

“YOU,” the boy roared. Lightning crackled and glass whirled around him.

With no further hesitation, Simon pressed his hand to the mirror. The surface shimmered and he jumped through. I dove after him, uncaring of the destination.

I rolled across a dusty wood floor, with moonlight filtering through a hole in the roof overhead. Stacks of old boxes and rows of bottles were scattered around. The lumbermill? It connected to the storeroom of the old lumbermill? I looked back at the mirror I’d exited from. Static arced from the frame like grasping fingers. Eyes wide, Simon picked up the closest thing, a broken chair, and hurled it at the mirror. The crash resounded through the mill and into the forest. The broken glass twitched on the ground for a moment, as if animated, but as the static dispersed they fell still. Silence ruled again. Simon took a steadying breath, pushing his hair back from his face. So he was at least intelligent enough to fear the boy’s raw power. I wondered which of them was stronger. Time would tell, I supposed.

Simon reached for the iron sword he’d set aside, but it had vanished. He spun, turning on me, but I held up my hands innocently.

“You stole it once already,” he stated.

I hesitated. I remembered stealing it from the Tailor household, but I didn’t remember why. I shook off the confusion. “And I’d do it again,” I said, “but you don’t have to be the Thief to steal.”

“Who said I’m stealing?” said a voice from up in the rafters. “It’s more like borrowing. But permanent.”

We both looked up; an Asian boy was perched on the edge of the hole in the roof, turning the sword over in his hands. He was a student at the school - one of Umino’s minions, if I remembered right. When I thought of the school, my mind felt hazy, like large parts were blanked out.

“We had a deal, Kei!” Simon yelled up at him.

“You got what you wanted out of it,” the boy said, looking with interest at the blood coating the blade. “It doesn’t belong to you, anyway.”

“What could you possibly want with it?” Simon demanded.

“What does a scarecrow need with a brain, or a tin man with a heart?” Kei postulated. “Ciao.” He vanished with a little salute, taking the sword with him.

Simon looked at me across the room. His expression changed as he realized he was alone with me, and without the only weapon in the world that could do me permanent harm. The shards of the broken mirror rose to twirl around him in a protective barrier. “So,” he said. “You want to do this now?”

I smiled at him. “Do you even know who I am?”

“Hemlock,” Simon stated. “I’ve been researching mirrors and the Afterlands for fifteen years. Give me some credit.”

“So you’re aware you’ll lose.”

The shards whirled faster, in time with Simon’s breath speeding up. Hybridize lines as disparate as the Grimms and the Ryans and you were bound to get some awkward results. He had the power and neuroses of a Ryan and the single-mindedness of a Grimm. And the bullheadedness of both. Too complicated to keep in play.

I smirked as he backed away. No one would mourn this one. What would be easiest? Strangle him? Poison?

“She said you’d do it,” he said. “She said you’d kill me just to remove the complication.” Fear oozed from his pores.

Of course that was why Simon had taken my mirror. To find her. It could locate anyone, speak with anyone, and there was only one person he’d ever been that devoted to.

I frowned. How dare she try to anticipate my moves! She thinks she can get in my head? That child?

“And how is Kyra? Oh wait, I’ll ask her myself,” I said, sliding my hand inside my jacket to retrieve the handmirror. “Show me Kyra Harman,” I told it.

The surface wavered, but then reverted to normal reflection. Access denied.

“What did you do to it?” I snapped at him.

“Insurance,” he said, licking his lips nervously. “It only works for me now. If you kill me, that mirror is useless.”

“You really think,” I said, advancing on him, “that I value this object so highly that I would drag your miserable hide around with it?”

He swallowed.

I smiled, and tucked the mirror back into my jacket. “You had better hope that it remains valuable.” I grabbed Simon’s wrist and said, “Proxima.” His glass shards sliced lines across my face and forearm but they were little more than annoyances. My skin knit back together before blood could even ooze out.

Simon jerked as a thorny green design wrapped around his skin. “You chained me?” he exclaimed.

“To me,” I affirmed. “As if I trust you to follow me around otherwise. You have a leeway of a mile. Don’t make me shorten it. Now come on, we’re leaving town before the cavalry arrives.”

An odd feeling of wrongness overtook me for a brief moment, the ragged edges of the hole in my memory rubbing raw. I recalled the primary side effect of returning from a body switch. Something was missing in my head, something I’d left behind when I left Gohei’s form. I’d known this would happen, that I would be giving up part of myself, but I had no idea what that part was.

Camille

The forest swallows me whole, and I welcome it. Had I thought of this place as alien? No. This is home. My vision adjusts to the darkness, and my hearing sharpens. Everything would be perfect, if I could only smell him.

I skid to a halt in a small clearing, frustration getting the better of me.

“Coward!” I yell at the trees. “Show yourself!”

I hear only the wind in the boughs and the blood in my own veins. The silence is too much. I wrench a thick branch off of a nearby tree and hurl it away. Still dissatisfied, I wrap my arms around the tree trunk and twist. With a loud crack, it comes apart, crashing to the forest floor. A distant part of me registers the action as being far off the scale of my abilities, but right now I’m only angry that it wasn’t him I twisted in half.

“You miss me that much?” He materializes out of dark whorls among the fallen branches, grin first like the Cheshire Cat. “I ran a quick errand.” Sakamoto holds up a sword. It seems to fold in on itself, curling into an object that he tosses in the air. I’d know that iron cylinder anywhere. My right hand reflexively scratches at my left forearm. The blood that Gabriel had reforged it to siphon off pumps fast through my veins.

“I changed my mind,” he says, in answer to a question I hadn’t asked. “You’re no fun like this. Your brain is completely gone. This isn’t even going to be hard.”

I won’t let him distract me. “Who?” I roar. “Who killed her?!” I lunge at him, and this time he stays solid, twisting in my grip to bear me down to the ground. The wind goes out of me as I hit the earth. Body pressed along mine, he snaps the bracer over my arm, the internal lock sounding with a loud metal click. Immediately I feel pricks in my skin, and I shriek, feeling my power draining away. Furious, I throw Sakamoto so hard he flies through the air. Just before he ought to splatter against a tree, he disperses, reforming to stand at my feet.

The bracer is hungry, eating me alive. I’m breathing hard, sweat running down my face. The bright red clarity drains away, leaving me hollow. Dizziness overwhelms me as I lay back. I mutter a curse at Sakamoto in Japanese and see him smirk before I pass out on the forest floor.

“Mac, Destin, I found her!” Tailor called, sounding both close and far away.

Camille’s eyes fluttered open. Her limbs felt dull and limp, and her throat was dry. The air was bright around her, but it was the bright yellow blaze of the cafe. Somehow she was back, lying in the grass at the edge of the parking lot.

Tailor knelt at her side, checking her for injuries. “You have the bracer back?” he noticed. “When did you get that?”

Camille groaned, not even having enough energy to form an explanation. Mac and Destin came out from the treeline to stand over her too. So they’d been looking for her. The idiots, she could have killed them. She’d almost attacked Hayley. And Jul was...

Tears leaked out the side of her eyes. Sakamoto had to be lying. He just had to be. He had been trying to get a reaction from her, that’s all he ever did.

“What happened?” Mac exclaimed.

“I just found her here,” Tailor said. “I think she’s okay - ”

“Then why is she crying?” Mac demanded, kneeling on her other side. “Hey, you’re alright, right? Come on, gold ranger, you’re fine, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Camille croaked. He really wasn’t so bad for a loudmouth shrimp.

He sat back in relief. “I knew you weren’t Hulking out on us.”

Except she had been. If Sakamoto hadn’t replaced the bracer...

“Oh, this is unfortunate,” said an unfamiliar voice. “I’m going to have to start over completely from scratch.”

Summoning all her energy to turn her head, Camille saw a strange man standing on the edge of the forest, not far from them, looking up at the burning cafe. He had long, tangled green hair and threadbare, outdated clothing. His expression was petulant as he looked at them.

“Well, John, how did you talk Meredith into burning my cafe?”

His cafe?

Tailor voiced her question. “Who the hell are you?” he said, standing to face the man.

“I’m exactly who you always thought I was,” he grinned, a smirk that Camille recognized from the paintings Jul had revealed. The third immortal.

“I’ve gotten used to you calling me Gabriel, so you can keep that up if you like,” he said, “but now that I have my real body back you may as well know that I also answer to Hemlock. Or the Thief. Hmm,” he considered, tapping a finger against his chin. “Gabriel Hemlock. I like the sound of that.”

Camille’s mind whirled. No. No, it couldn’t be. It was his expression, his stance, his cadence, but the form was all wrong. The narrow face, the wide cruel mouth, the glittering green eyes. He had the sort of beauty that was harsh enough to cut yourself on. He was not Gabriel.

Tailor’s eyes were wide and disbelieving. “A body switch? You mean you were hiding in that form for - ”

“Nineteen oh six,” the green haired man said lightly, “was the last time I was fully myself. It’s been a rough century, I’ve got to tell you.” He stretched his long limbs. “And I’ve got your Juliet to thank for fixing me. Ah, that’s right, I should tell you - Simon went and ran her through with that infernal sword of yours.”

Everyone reacted.

“An utter waste, I agree,” the man claiming to be Gabriel said, “but what’s done is done. I thought I’d left something here...” his face twisted in confusion, “but whatever it was, no doubt it’s burnt up in the fire. Ah well. Good news for you, John, you won’t be seeing me for some time. I’ve got so much work to do. I’ll let you get back to,” he looked at Camille curiously, “the blonde girl.” There wasn’t even a hint of recognition on his face.

That proved it. It wasn’t Gabriel.

“Give my best to Charlotte,” he said, waving as he disappeared into the trees, without a look back. She wanted to get up and follow, yell at this stranger, demand answers, but her body would not respond.

It wasn’t Gabriel.

Tailor’s cellphone was in his hand and he was dialing. “Bea?” he said into it. “Bea, did you get home? Tell me - ” He was silent for several moments, expression going distant as he listened. “We’ll be right there,” he said, finally, and hung up.

“She’s found her,” he said.

Chapter 22

Mac

We burst through the door at the Graham house to see Ms. Bea pacing in the living room.

“I found her in the orchard,” she says, “lying at the foot of the tree. The mirror is gone.”

I’m not sure which she sounds more upset about. Me, I couldn’t give a crap about some mirror. Jul is dead on the couch.

Camille, somewhat recovered, immediately stumbles to her side, but I’m frozen. The front of Jul’s dress is coated in dried blood, cascading from the tear in the fabric by her heart.

Camille gasps. “There’s no - uh - ” She puts her hand over her own heart, trying to telegraph a word she’s forgotten.

“No heart?” I exclaim. Oh God. I’m going to be sick.

“No wound?” Bea says tersely. “Yes, I know. She has a pulse, too - an incredibly weak one, but it’s there. She just won’t wake up. Her body is there, but she’s not.”

She’s not dead. Relief floods me.

“What does that mean?” Tailor demands. “Gabriel said Simon killed her!”

“Gabriel?” she says. “Gabriel can’t even speak. Found him in the orchard too, he helped me bring her in. There’s some kind of spell on him, but I can’t even get a good look at it because the blasted imp won’t let me anywhere near him.”

“Wait, what?” I demand, but just then he comes through the doorway from the kitchen. Camille’s guardian - well, the guy who looks like him - moves a little stiffly, looking at each object around him as if it’s foreign. He gives a slight bow of the head to us. There’s a new spiky acid-green tattoo-looking thing covering his entire throat. There’s also the imp perched on his shoulder, its long tail flicking as it squints its lamplike eyes at us all.

Tailor gives him a hard look. “Bea, we saw the real Gabriel at the cafe just before I called you. That’s whoever he switched bodies with.”

She gapes at the man. “Animus mutatus? Why on earth would he do that? That spell has horrendous side effects!”

The man is staring at Camille, forehead creased in confusion.

“Gohei,” Camille says hollowly. “You’re Gohei. He was Hemlock.”

Gohei inclines his head in a single long nod.

Camille sits down, hard.

Bea and Tailor exchange a look. Apparently something dire is afoot, but honestly, right now, I don’t care. I go over and sit in the chair next to the couch and take Jul’s hand, no longer intimidated by the idea. Her skin is cool, but Bea is right - she has a faint pulse that beats every five seconds or so.

“I found where you hid your whiiii-skey,” comes a voice from the kitchen in sing-song.

“I forgot to mention...” Bea groans.

Oh, great. Not her again.

“What is with all of these gloomy faces?” Meredith says, breezing in and flopping into a chair. “It’s like someone died.”

“I’d think you wouldn’t want to drink other people’s liquor after the day you’ve had,” Bea says, giving her a wide berth.

The imp on Gohei’s shoulder hisses, tail flicking angrily. He puts a hand up to hold it in place.

“Sweetheart, after the day I’ve had, I need all the liquor,” she sighs, drinking straight from the bottle.

“You burnt down a building,” Tailor says coldly. “You almost killed Camille.”

“And now I’m perfectly harmless,” she grins, displaying the spell marks on her upper arm like a hall pass.

“You still want to kill Camille,” Tailor snaps.

“She’s a time bomb, I’d be nutters if I didn’t,” she shrugs, taking another swig of the bottle. “Surely you’ve heard of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer? Here’s your opportunity. I can either stay here, or go team up with your favorite boy Gabriel. There’s a man with a plan.”

“Why not go straight to him, then?” Tailor asks. “Why bother with us at all?”

“Because despite how I’ve behaved today, I want this world to be ordinary. I like ordinary,” she says fondly. “It has happy hour and chili cheese dogs and American padded rugby featuring muscular men in shiny spandex pants. I only misbehave to keep it that way. The Wolf will ruin you all,” she points around the room, “and I’m certain you’ll learn to see things my way. So!” she smiles, enjoying the antagonism. “Anyone got a spare room?”

“Like we need more complications,” Tailor grumbles.

“Hey, you’re the one who bound me to the munchkin,” she states, pointing to the rings around her arm. “You want to be free of me, just say the magic words,” she grins at me.

“Can you bring Jul back to life?” I snap at her.

She actually seems to consider this. She reaches into the back pocket of her pants and pulls out a tiny leatherbound notebook. She flips through the pages briefly. “Doesn’t seem like it, no,” she says, tucking the notebook away. “Not on my list of things I’m capable of.”

“Do you even know what’s wrong with her?” I demand.

She sets the bottle down and comes closer, observing her with curiosity. “There was...” Her brow creases in thought. “Maybe...augh!” she cries out, hand to her head. “No!” she shouts, suddenly furious. “I have no idea! Quit asking me questions! I don’t care what happens to your girlfriend!” She storms out of the front door. Gohei looks after her, expression blank. The imp calms.

“Gabriel said Simon ran her through with the Tailor’s Sword,” Tailor is saying behind me. “It was made for killing immortals. But I never really thought about how it worked. My father said something about it severing the connection with their souls, removing it...”

“Below,” Destin says, speaking up for the first time.

I turn - he’s looking at Gohei, who’s pointing down.

Tailor makes a move to approach the man, but the imp hisses at him, and Tailor stays where he is. “You know what the sword does?” he asks, intent.

Gohei gives a light shrug, as if to say, Of course.

“Then tell us!” I say, but he points to his neck and quirks an eyebrow.

“Oh for the love of...” Bea says, rummaging in a drawer and handing him a pad of paper and a pencil. He regards the writing utensil with curiosity, but proceeds to scribble out a response. He hands the pad back to her and she reads aloud, “Immortal bodies are indestructible. In order to combat us, the Tailors forged a weapon that would sever our souls, sending them Below.”

“Below?” I repeat.

Again, he points down.

“What, like hell?” I exclaim. I look at Jul’s impassive face. She can’t seriously be in hell.

“It’s been called a lot of things,” Bea said, looking at her as well. “That’s probably the least accurate. Probably.”

Camille stands, expression stony. “Alright,” she says. “So how do we get her back?”

Epilogue

Rhys

What was the point?

I sat in my room, staring at the mirror. When I’d come to, in the orchard, there had been Jul’s body lying beside me and the mirror to the Tower, surface marred with spidery cracks. I’d never been able to move it before - or I would have ages ago - but now that it was broken whatever had held it in place was gone. I’d carried it away with me and brought it home. No one would get into my mirror ever again. I traced one of the silver roses with my finger.

But what was the point?

I was going to bring her the journal. I’d thought that handing over the stupid thing would suffice to mend fences between us. That’s why I’d gone back to the Tower, to retrieve it. I pulled it out of the interior of my jacket now, looking at the inscription embossed inside the cover. Kyra. Her mother’s journal, she’d said. It had brought her to me, and I’d...

Well.

It took the greatest focus to manipulate glass - I often centered my thoughts on an endless expanse of calm ocean. Me, alone, with nothing but tranquility on every horizon. But the ocean was dark now, and the sky overcast.

It seemed ridiculous that I should be this distraught. She was one girl. I barely knew her.

I barely knew anyone, and it had never bothered me before.

And yet, I couldn’t stop feeling this immense sense of loss. And guilt. The ocean in my mind began to churn. If only I hadn’t been so...if I hadn’t locked her out in the first place...

I paced around my room. My bed looked too much like the one that had burned in the Tower. The bookshelves around me that rose from floor to ceiling felt oppressive, looming. Full of research I had yet to do. This was what I had wanted. A clear path to the throne, that was all that mattered. Anything else was a distraction.

I shoved a stack of books, and they crashed to the floor. Gods help me, I wanted Jul to distract me. I was alone, with nothing on the horizon. No way to tell north from south. I’d had bearings, before. But what was the point?

Turning to the mirror behind me, I reached out to trace the cracks with my fingers. I’d lost Jul. I’d lost the Tower.

Because of that man... Lightning crackled over the ocean. My teeth ground together, thinking of Simon Graham. Maybe I couldn’t have Jul back, but I could avenge her. If I could find a way to make my powers work here, outside the mirror, I could destroy him. I’d lost the library in the Tower, but perhaps something in this journal -

I heard a soft hiss, like papers rustling. I looked around - there couldn’t be wind in my room.

“...ss”

On edge, I spun, searching for the source. “Who’s there?” I demanded.

“...yss...”

I strained to listen, perfectly still.

“Rhys?” the quiet voice said. “Rhys, is that you?”

I stared wide-eyed at the broken mirror. The cracks obscured it, but the face was unmistakable. Her perfect, delicate face - her plush lips and her wide dark eyes, eyes I could lose myself forever in.

“Rhys, help me,” Jul begged, her voice sounding hazy and far away. “You have to get me out of here!”

There was a lighthouse, a beacon in the distance. I could swim for it.

“I will,” I told her. “I will, I swear.”

To be continued...

Content

THE THIEF
by
Aine Crabtree

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Epilogue