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“Of course I will, my Witch Queen.”

She grinned back.

“Thank you my Blood Knight.Come on—I have to hurry up before next period!”

The two of them left the table and I hoped that Megan would have time to break the spell.Now that Saint had apparently decided he hated me again, I really didn’t have much protection against the angry Drakes who had been forced to be nice to me against their will all morning long.

15

AVERY

Well, I don’t know what Megan did to the “Good Manners” spell, but she certainly didn’t break it.In fact, if anything, she somehow made itworse.

In the period after lunch, Armand Garcia told me my hair looked nice—“really soft and pretty” to use his words—and actually asked if he couldtouchit!

I politely declined but I won’t deny I was definitely a bit freaked out.

The period after that, Javier Alvarez asked me what I was doing that weekend and if I wanted to “hang out” sometime.He also gave me some flowers he’d picked—as though I was a girl he was asking out on a date.

And the gifts didn’t stop there.After that, Pedro Del Campo gave me a present he said he’d made himself—a batch of lumpy, chocolate chip cookies he must have gone to the Home Ec room to bake.They weren’t very appetizing, since he had burned half of them, but he had found a heart shaped box somewhere and tied it up with a big, pink bow.

“I hope you like them,” he said, looking at me bashfully from the corner of his eye as he handed me the box, which had an enormous grease stain on the bottom where all the cookies had clumped together.“I never baked for anybody before but you’re so nice, Avery—I wanted to do somethingspecialfor you.”

“Um…thank you.”I took the box but dumped it the first chance I got when he wasn’t looking.Oh, yes—the spell wasdefinitelygetting stronger.The Drakes who hated me weren’t just being polite to me now, they were going out of their way to be extra sweet and thoughtful, as though every one of them was my best friend or someone who wanted to go out with me.

There were going to be terrible consequences for this day’s actions, I could tell.Though their smiles were friendly, I could imagine the anger seething under the surface.Not only was Megan’s magic forcing them to be nice to the gay boy they hated, it was making them act like they were interested in a much more than friendly way.I had a very bad feeling that I was going to be paying for this later.

I thought about trying to track my Coven mate down and asking her to try and take off the spell again.Maybe this time I would go with her and help her a bit.Megan was an incredibly powerful witch—the most powerful witch in many generations, in fact.But she was still extremely inexperienced and I suspected she could use some help with the finer details of the “little magic” she was trying to work with.

I was in Study Hall by that time.But before I could raise my hand and ask for a hall pass to go looking for her, there was a knock at the door and then none other than Juan Gonzales himself entered the classroom.

“Oh, Mr.Gonzales!”Ms.Yasmeen, who taught Elementary and Advanced Casting as well as several other magic classes, looked up at the big Drake in surprise.Apparently she had drawn the short straw and was stuck overseeing Study Hall that day.“What areyoudoing here?”she asked, looking up at him blankly.“I don’t think you’re on the Study Hall list.”She scanned a piece of paper with the names of students who were allowed to be there and shook her head.“No, you’re not on the list—what do you want?”

Indeed, I could see that most of the other students were wondering the same thing.Study Hall was pretty full that day, with at least forty students in attendance and all the different kinds of Others were represented.I saw Faes and Sisters and Nocturnes, as well as a big bunch of Drakes, sitting near the back of the classroom.

I, myself, had sat at the front of the class, for precisely that reason.A few of them had already smiled and waved at me and I wanted to keep as far from them as I possibly could to try and keep the magic in check.I didn’t need anyone else asking me out on a date or giving me flowers or cookies or doing anything else that would make them want to punch my face in as soon as the Good Manners spell came off.

“What I want,” Juan Gonzales said loudly, “Is Avery Connor.”He pointed at me with one blunt, stubby finger and since I was sitting right in the front row, he didn’t have far to point.

“Well, I don’t think—” Ms.Yasmeen began.

“I wrote him a poem,” Juan continued.He was staring longingly at me in a way Ireallydidn’t like.Like a lovesick puppy or a desperately yearning lover.

“Apoem?”Ms.Yasmeen said blankly.

“Yes, a poem.And I’m going to recite it to himright now,”Juan said, nodding and never taking his eyes off my face.

Then, right in front of the entire classroom, the big, bulky Drake dropped to one knee in front of me and began to recite.

“Hair of gold and eyes of blue

A heart of love, I have for you.

Lovely Avery, sweet and fine,

I want to make you mine, all mine!”

Ohno!I could barely restrain a groan.It was alovepoem and Juan was reciting it to me in front of theentire classroom.He wouldneverlive this down—and he would doubtless make it his personal mission to pay me back for it.