Page 10

“Of course,” Principal Martin says.

Shannon replays the recording with a quick wave of her hand. “What an impressive feat of magic,” she says proudly.

“ Thank you!” Finally someone gets it. I look pointedly at Principal Martin.

“Of course it’s impressive,” Principal Martin says, deferring to Shannon. Her look softens, and I can swear her mouth looks just slightly less sour. “But it was disruptive—”

“It wasn’t supposed to be,” I say. “Look, my spell was fine, it was the pineapple in the kitchens and that mana surge. I assumed they were precut chunks, but they were whole pineapples, and the duplication was supposed to stop, but you know how mana surges can change the slightest—”

Shannon nods vigorously. “It’s very clear the poor duckling must not be challenged enough in her classes!”

Ms. Applebaum claps her hands. “That’s what I said when she first transferred here. Katherine should be in Advanced Spelling, not Basic!”

Dad blinks. “That’s actually a great idea.” He gives me a victorious look before he turns back to Principal Martin. “Give Kat the detentions. Make her clean up the pineapples, no magic. And switch her to Advanced Spelling.”

Okay, that sucks. But at least it’s not Covenstar.

And something else, something hopeful starts to bloom in my chest. Dad called me Kat.

Ms. Applebaum considers this. “I think this works well within policy and also creates a unique learning opportunity for Katherine—”

“All right,” Principal Martin says. “A week’s worth of detentions doing cleanup duty. And you’re transferred to Advanced Spelling starting Monday. You will also join Mr. Vega every lunch hour with the Spellcraft Club.”

“ Every lunch hour—” I start to protest.

Shannon places a hand on my shoulder and squeezes gently as if to say don’t push it . Right, she just got me out of getting shipped off to the East Coast.

Dad smiles at me and I give him a sarcastic thumbs-up.

“All right, I’m needed back at the coffeeshop. I’ll see you at home later,” he says. “Thanks for having me.”

“Take care, Mr. Woo,” Principal Martin says.

Once Dad is gone, Shannon gives me a surreptitious wink before turning back to Principal Martin.

“Delilah, I actually just remembered Kat is needed urgently at a council meeting today,” she says.

“I’ll sign her out of school, of course.

And I gave your secretary a full dossier on the upcoming fundraiser; let me know if you have any feedback or questions. ”

My heart races in excitement. There is definitely not a council meeting today, which means only one thing: shenanigans.

“A council meeting?” Principal Martin’s eyes widen slightly. “Of course.”

“I’m sure such an esteemed educator as yourself could understand that the Chosen One has responsibilities,” Shannon says.

“Oh, absolutely. Ms. Woo, you know that I support you fully.” Principal Martin’s face attempts to rearrange itself.

I bite my lip, trying to stop from laughing as I grab my backpack and get up. I nod at Ms. Applebaum, who’s still captivated by Shannon.

Shannon offers me her elbow and I take it. I barely manage to keep it together until we’re out the door, and then we double over giggling.

I take another sip of my strawberry lemonade. “I still cannot believe you pulled the Chosen One stuff on Principal Martin!”

“Of course, duckling, I certainly couldn’t leave you there for the rest of the day after all that.” Shannon smiles at me fondly and refills my lemonade.

We’re sitting under a gazebo covered with fragrant pink roses at the sprawling Mayfield estate up in the Malibu Hills. In the distance, the Pacific sparkles and the soft rhythm of waves blends harmoniously with the jazz playing from the gramophone.

After a few hours of shopping at the Grove, Shannon teleported us back to her place with the smoothest teleportation spell I’ve ever seen. She programmed something extra to compensate for the nausea that comes with fast-travel, and it was amazing.

“Tell me more about your date!” Shannon squeezes my hands. Her eyes twinkle with excitement.

“Her name is Brenda and she’s really cute,” I say. “I can’t wait.”

“That’s wonderful.” Shannon gives me an approving smile. “I know you haven’t really seen anyone since Gena, and it’s been a while.”

I shrug. Dating when you’re the Chosen One—it’s not as great as one thinks.

Gena was the first person I connected with after Mom, after everything.

I was feeling so empty and lonely and terrified, and suddenly being with her was the only way I could feel anything, even though the hollowness inside my heart didn’t change much.

All those long conversations I had with Gena’s hands in my hair— I thought she had been listening to me. She became a constant for me. But then I overheard her talking to her friends about what a sorry excuse for a human I was, and she was only putting up with me because I was a good hookup.

I was heartbroken and felt so used and humiliated, and I hated it—and then I decided to use it, wearing lower-cut shirts, tighter pants, to play exactly into the role people were writing me into.

I hooked up with Tony Aguirre, the hottest guy on the idleball team, just to see what would happen.

I relished feeling in control, that I chose this, drinking in the way his eyes always followed me, hungry and wanting and impressed.

There were awed whispers as he walked down the hallways, and no one was talking about the prophecy anymore and how I was the Chosen One—but that I was the one doing the choosing.

Choosing to do what I wanted, who I wanted.

Getting rid of Tony was easy; I made out with his best friend under the bleachers when I was ready to move on.

When the dramatic fight escalated into a duel afterward, I’d folded my arms and laughed at the both of them when they demanded I choose one to date, expecting me to bestow upon them some vague unwritten social power for them to impress other people.

I shudder, the cold and disheartening memories now swirling through my mind. I decided then I’d never let anyone get close enough to hurt me, ever again. If people thought I was just here for a good time, then that’s what they got. Kat, the wild flirt. Kat, ready for adventure and spontaneity.

Kat, whose life is tied to the prophecy.

Shannon places her hand gently on my arm, jolting me out of my downward spiral as I stare off into the horizon.

“I know, duckling. It’s hard when everyone expects something from you. I’m proud of you, you know.” She winks at me. “And I bet Advanced Spelling won’t be too bad. Maybe you’ll make some friends!”

I scoff. “I doubt it. But it’s either that or Covenstar,” I say. “Thank you for that, by the way. You totally saved me.”

“Covenstar isn’t bad,” Shannon muses. “But they are super strict. You wouldn’t be able to get away with much, and the punishments are something awful. I should know.”

“You?” I raise my eyebrows.

“I got into all sorts of trouble when I was in school,” Shannon says, eyes glittering with mischief.

I snort, shaking my head. I almost want to ask Shannon if Mom was like that, too, if they got into shenanigans together at Covenstar.

But I don’t really want to go down memory lane with Shannon—she’s great, but whenever she talks about Mom, she gets overcome with her own feelings, and then it’s not really fun anymore.

I grab my backpack and pull out the blue focus object Brenda left behind instead, wanting to change the subject.

“Hey, I figured you would be the best person to ask, since you’re an expert on so many random things.

” It’s been in the back of my mind; I’ve seen it somewhere before, I know I have.

It reminds me of something. There’s a memory that I can’t quite pin down, just out of reach. “Do you know what this is?”

Something weird flickers across Shannon’s face—confusion, probably, but for a moment I thought it was anger.

I must have imagined it, because she shakes her head lightly with a small smile.

Shannon picks it up and puzzles over it before handing it back to me.

“Sadly, no. A decoration of some kind? Where did you get it?”

“Brenda left it at the coffeeshop. I thought it could be some sort of focus object.”

Shannon laughs. “Oh, I never know what you kids use as focus objects nowadays! That must be it.” She taps her runebook. “That reminds me, I left one of my projects in a precarious state and have to check in with my team—do you mind?”

I wave my hand at her and watch as Shannon types out a message rapid quick. It must be hard, being a genius-spellcraft-legacy-mogul and constantly inventing and running a massive company. I feel special that she took the time out of her busy day just to hang out with me.

Shannon finishes her work and then leans in close, conspiratorially whispering, “So, what’s she like, your Brenda?”

“She’s got this, like, intense focus,” I say, grinning, eager to share. I tell her everything about Brenda’s cute plan and her weird runebook and her scholarship application.

“And what time did you meet?” Shannon asks, checking something on her runebook again.

“Uh… probably right before six, that was when her scholarship was due. Why?”

Shannon chuckles. “So I can tell the story at your wedding, of course!” She finally sets her runebook down and focuses on me. With a few quick gestures, the plates of petits fours and tea sandwiches on the table refill themselves, and Shannon laughs at me again. “What, too soon?”

I roll my eyes at her, scoffing, but part of my stomach flutters at the idea that this could be something more , something I’ve never had before. I shake the thought before I get carried away. “And she was interested in the fact that I like to write my own spells!”

“Ooh, of course she is! You’re so talented. That pineapple thing was inspired , by the way! A food-replication spell that doesn’t change the taste of the food?” Shannon shakes her head. “You could give my research department a run for their money. Let me see!”

I shyly present my runebook to her.

Shannon looks over my work, her blonde curls tumbling into her face as she squints in concentration. She pulls spectacles out of her pocket and sets them on her nose, scanning my spell matrix with intention.

This is one of the reasons I love hanging out with Shannon: She gets it. She never patronizes me or makes me feel like I’m just a kid.

“Do you think this would have worked if they weren’t whole pineapples today?”

Shannon nods. “Absolutely. The connection to the coffeeshop otherspace is solid, and all your other variables are accounted for. It’s really quite incredible. Have you shown your father this?”

I laugh. “If he can’t make it in a cauldron, he wouldn’t get it.”

“He’d be so proud, though!”

I take my runebook back and sigh. “I guess. He’d probably just say I should be in Advanced instead of making trouble on my own.”

“He’ll come around,” Shannon says. “Come on, you should try on some of your new things. What are you going to wear for your date?”

She snaps her fingers and we seamlessly teleport inside her boudoir, a lavender confection of curtains shrouding the most incredible collection of clothes, shoes, and accessories.

Shannon reaches inside the shopping bags from the Grove and pulls out a dress in the newest style—cropped short at the front to reveal your petticoat, with a long train.

This one is in a decadent navy brocade stitched with ravens, and a matching cream petticoat came with it.

“Are you sure I can’t pay you back?”

“Oh, nonsense. Let me spoil you.” Shannon spins me around so I face her full-length mirror. “Do you want me to spell your hair?”

I hesitate, but Shannon’s already holding out her hands.

She’s being so nice, I should just let her.

I take my hair out of my ponytail and shake it out.

I catch my reflection in the mirror, and for a brief moment, I see my mother sitting in front of her mirror humming as she draws a brush through her long hair, laughing as I clamber into her lap and she brushes mine, too.

I bite my lip and try not to think about Mom.

Shannon draws rune after rune, releasing prefab spells she must have at the ready. The hair framing my face falls into pretty ringlets and the rest of it gathers up into an elegant updo with a slight cascade of curls falling down to my neck.

I look incredible, but something about my reflection doesn’t feel quite right.

It isn’t until Shannon steps proudly next to me and smiles that I see why: I’m styled just like she is, same hairdo and the same dress but in a different color.

I look older, like I should have a seat on the Mages’ Council.

Like an adult, someone who knows what she’s doing. Someone who could handle the prophecy.

“It’s lovely, Shannon, thank you.”

“Brenda is going to love you in this!”

“Maybe at our first ball.” I laugh, stepping behind the folding screen. I unlace the bodice and step out of the expensive fabric and back into my own clothes.

Through the window I can see the sun dipping low on the horizon. “Oh no, I need to get home. Where is the nearest trolley stop?”

“Don’t even worry about it,” Shannon says breezily. She draws the quick-release rune for go and then we’re on my front porch. I didn’t even feel it.

“Shannon,” I say, shaking my head and pulling out my runebook. “At least let me pay you back for the mana charge—”

“Nonsense.” Shannon pushes my runebook back at me. “Listen, I know how hard it is, being seventeen. If you ever want someone to talk to, don’t hesitate to call.”

She folds me into her arms. The stiff satin of her dress bunches up as she holds me, and I breathe in the comfort she offers and the sweet cloying scent of roses. I can always just be myself around her.

“Thank you, Shannon.”

Shannon smiles. “Anytime, my dear. Have a wonderful date! I bet Brenda is going to adore you.”

She kisses me quickly on both cheeks before disappearing with a snap of her fingers.