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21

H EY.”

I startled and dropped my bike lock. I quickly reached down to grab it, then stood with my fingers wrapped around the handlebars of my bike.

Al stood in front of me. Their hands were looped through the straps of their bag.

“Hey,” I said.

“Can I walk home with you?”

I blinked. “Sure.”

“Not all the way,” they said, crinkling their nose. “But to the corner.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

I pulled my bike from the rack and maneuvered it onto the sidewalk. They fell in step beside me.

“Mateo likes you, huh,” they said without preamble.

I grinned. My face heating with a blush. “We have a date.”

“Get out! Seriously?”

“This Saturday. I have no idea what we’re doing, but yeah. He asked me out after our meeting at Drip.”

They smiled and smacked my covered upper arm with their open palm. “That’s great. Congrats.” The happiness in their smile dimmed. “Just be careful.”

My shoulders slumped. “Yeah, I know. I don’t think Mateo would ask me out just for my powers, but Danny and Javi basically made him sit with me at lunch. And he did. If they asked him to take me to the movies, then he probably would.”

“I hope that’s not it.”

“Me too.”

“That said,” they said as we took a left, heading toward the corner where we’d met the first day of school, “I wanted you to know why we… why I…” They huffed. “Why I’ve been a jerk.”

I stopped. “You haven’t been a jerk.”

They leveled a glare at me.

“Okay, fine. A little bit of one. But you were right—I’ve been clingy. I freaked out when you waved at Lex, thinking you were going to ditch me, because my mom had crawled into my head and placed that awful thought there. And I’d basically pinned all my hopes and happiness for the school year on you. That was unfair and not cool friend behavior. I’m sorry.”

“But I should’ve understood what you’ve been going through. Your brother basically disappeared, and he was the one normal person in your family. No offense.”

“None taken.” I scuffed the toe of my shoe on the sidewalk. “You set a healthy boundary. You tried to do it gently, and I didn’t take it well. I understand, Al. Not going to lie—some of the things you said in the hallway really hurt, but I get it.”

Al tipped their head back and blew out a breath. “Ugh. I hate that you’re being so mature about this.”

“Why?”

“Because—” They winced. “I maybe was, you know, a little jealous.”

I froze in place. “What? Jealous?”

They paused beside me and kicked a pinecone with their chunky boot. “Yeah. You know, I’ve been a witch my whole life. And I’ve worked really hard to become part of our coven. And my mothers have put a lot of pressure on me, especially since Amy is exceeding all expectations. And they have been all over me about focusing more on spells and potions and improving my control.”

“Yeah. I know.”

They took a deep breath. “Well, with all that hanging over me, it sucked to see you just… luck into your powers.”

I almost dropped my bike. My jaw fell open. “Luck into my powers?”

“Yeah. One minute you’re normal Cam, and the next you’re, like, viral psychic clairvoyant Cam who can predict the future, and suddenly everyone wants to be your friend and invite you into their factions with no training and no work. It was… difficult for me.”

Al was envious? Of me? For powers I didn’t even know I had? Much less know how to use ? “For real? That’s… inconceivable.”

They crossed their arms. “Well, conceive it, because I was.”

And wow. That actually made me angry. “Al,” I said, staring at my gloved hands, which were gripping my bike so tightly, my knuckles ached, “I was terrified. I had a glimpse of someone dying. I barely knew what was happening to me.”

“I didn’t say I was proud of it,” they snapped. “I know it was shitty. Okay? I’m sorry. I really am. I was worried about the coven, too, and my place in it. And I did need to concentrate more on my own spells and potions. That wasn’t a lie.”

I licked my lips. “I didn’t say it was.”

“Look, it was childish and immature. And I hate that I put you in a weird position, and I hate that now I’m limited in how I can help you. Please believe me when I say that I’m sorry.”

I hated it too. But I couldn’t blame them. Their mothers expected so much from them, and their younger sister was eclipsing them in magic.

“You came when I called,” I said softly. “When I was crying and running from Juana, you came. And, well, that meant the world to me. Thank you for that. And thank you for being honest with me.”

Al reached out and grabbed my gloved hand. “I want us to be best friends, Cam. As soon as all this is sorted, I really want us to go back to the way we were.”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t think we can do that.”

“What?”

“You were right, Al. I was too dependent on you. I still want us to be friends, and we will be, just in a better way. But I think you were right that we need a little breathing room.”

Al’s mouth formed a smile, but it trembled at the corners. “Okay. Yeah. That makes sense.”

“When this is all over, we’ll figure out a way to be a better us.”

“I’d like that.”

“Me too.”

“Good.”

We started walking again. The sun shining through the trees dappled the sidewalk in light and shadow.

“My poor parents,” I said with a wry grin. “My mom wanted me to make friends so badly with humans, and not only is my witch best friend back, but I have a date with a werewolf and regularly eat lunch with a sprite and a medium. The only other human in our group is far from normal. And I love her for that.”

Al laughed. “Oh, by the way, your parents visited the coven house the other day.”

“What?” I shouted, snapping my head up. Absolute shock rocketed through my body. I almost dropped my bike again. “My parents? Are you sure?”

Al nodded. “Yep.”

“Bullshit.”

Al chuckled as they jumped over a crack in the pavement. “Nope. They were there. They talked with the elders. They wanted a protection spell, I think? Or a charm? It was weird. I couldn’t hear the entire discussion, but after your parents got what they wanted, the whole conversation changed direction toward how the elders could entice you to ally with the coven.”

Huh. My parents had never reached out to Al’s family before. Throughout my friendship with Al, I think my mom had talked to Al’s mothers only a handful of times. And only when she absolutely had to. “I can’t believe they did that. What the hell?”

“I know, right? My mothers were beside themselves. And your mom was so uptight the whole time. She sat right on the edge of her seat.”

That sounded like my mom. “You saw them?”

“I watched through a crack in the door. I heard part of the conversation before I was shooed away.”

“Great.” I groaned. “I hope they behaved themselves. And didn’t utterly offend your coven.”

Al shrugged. “I didn’t hear otherwise.”

“A protection spell? From what? And what if your coven was able to sway them to convince me to ally with them? That’s going to be an awful dinner conversation.”

“I can find out more if you want.”

I waved away the offer. “I don’t really want to know. Whatever they’re up to doesn’t need to concern me. If they think they need protection from me, or from the gifts that are showing up to the house, that’s their problem.” My heart sank, though, at the thought that my parents might believe they needed to be protected from my ability. Did they think I was going to try and see their futures? And use what I saw against them? That… really hurt.

“Your face says differently.”

“Okay, well, maybe ask your moms if it comes up in conversation.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks,” I said with a sigh. “Hey, maybe we can procure a protection spell for Juana. Do you think that would work?”

Al hummed. “Possibly? Two thoughts, though—one is, didn’t you prove today that your glimpses can’t be avoided? And two—a protection charm isn’t strong enough to ward off a werewolf’s greatest weakness.”

“The silver blade of the knife,” I murmured.

“Exactly.”

We made it to the corner, and Al paused. They took out their phone and tapped out a text to their ma. “Speaking of alliances, any thoughts on who you’ll pick?”

I sighed. “None. I have no idea. I’ve only met with the werewolves, and well, you know how that went. And now the faeries are next.”

Al narrowed their brown eyes. “Be careful. The faeries are notoriously aloof. They don’t usually concern themselves with the affairs of the rest of the factions. It’s kind of a big deal that they contacted Gemma.”

So not only did I have a murder mystery to solve, but my parents were also acting weirder than normal, and a coalition of powerful immortal magical faeries wanted to meet with me. “Great,” I said with no enthusiasm. “Just great.”

“Cheer up, buttercup.” Al replied, slinging their arm over my shoulders and giving me a squeeze. “At least you have a date with Mateo on Saturday. You only have to make it through the rest of the week!”

Yeah. I only had to survive classes, a potentially murderous classmate, and whatever else the paranormal world wanted to throw my way. “Thanks for the pep talk,” I muttered.

Al grinned. “What are friends for?”

Dinner that night was hilariously awkward.

My dad scrolled through his phone as he chased peas around on his plate. My mom glared at him and didn’t even look my way.

I cleared my throat. “I talked with Al today,” I said, because I had decided to be an agent of chaos. My mom’s fork clattered against her plate. My dad pulled his gaze away from his screen.

“And what did they have to say?” my mom said primly.

“Only that you two went to the coven house the other day.”

They exchanged nervous glances. My dad coughed. “Well, son—”

“Yes?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Any particular reason you went to converse with witches? When you’ve basically snubbed Al’s moms for the entire time we’ve known them?”

My mom’s lips twisted into a frown. “We’re human, Cam.”

I didn’t respond, because that classification didn’t really fit me anymore. “And?”

“And we went there to… talk to Al’s mothers about… how to raise a gifted teenager,” she said, then took a large sip of her wine.

“We don’t have any experience with this,” my dad continued. “It’s new to us, and we thought the Wilsons could help.”

Oh. That was not what I was expecting at all. It made a strange kind of sense.

“Wow. Okay. Thanks.”

My mom gave me a tight smile. “We’re trying, Cam. We don’t want this to place any more strain on our household. So your dad and I decided to take a few steps and make an effort.”

“We want to know about your life,” my dad said, setting his phone down. “This… new ability is important to you, so it’s important to us.”

Wait. What was happening? Were these really my parents? Or had someone replaced them when I wasn’t looking? “For real?” I asked.

My dad chuckled under his breath. “For real.”

Was this… an olive branch? Were they actually trying to accept my clairvoyant ability? Or better, trying to accept me ? A small tendril of hope bloomed in my chest. “And you met with the coven elders? What did they say?”

My mom huffed. “They gave us a sales pitch. But it wasn’t very convincing.”

“They did mention that they sent you a new phone,” my dad said, nodding to my cracked screen on the table. “Why aren’t you using it?”

“Oh.” I squashed a bit of meatloaf with my fork. “Because I haven’t transferred my data over yet. That’s all.”

“Well, it was a thoughtful gift.”

I couldn’t believe my dad had said that. This coming from a man who recently had been wary of fruit from the Sprite Alliance. But it seemed like he was trying. “It was thoughtful,” I agreed.

My mom reached over to the empty seat next to her that was usually Aiden’s. She picked up the box that I’d left in the hallway and set it on the table next to my plate. The brand-new phone was nestled inside. “Have you thought about which faction you are going to choose?”

That fledgling hope shined a little brighter. They had done research. I straightened from my slouch. If this was an olive branch, a path toward a peaceful family life, a way to repair the rift between us, I didn’t want to ruin it by being clandestine. I could offer my own gesture of goodwill by answering their questions. “I don’t know yet.” And that was one-hundred-percent honest. “I’m meeting with the different factions with Gemma from Situation Paranormal to ask questions and gather information. Gemma is my human advocate.”

My mom pursed her lips. “The girl from the video app?”

“Yeah. That’s the one. She’s knowledgeable about the paranormal.”

“Is this interrupting your school day?” my dad asked.

I shook my head. “No. We meet at lunch, but we’ve also met after school at Drip, the coffee shop in town.”

My mom set her fork down and folded her hands. “Have you met any of the factions?”

“No—well, I went to a party at the Lopez house. They’re werewolves,” I clarified, because I had no idea if they knew anyone’s names. “But it wasn’t a formal situation. It was just for fun.”

My mom’s eyebrows twitched, but her expression remained impassive. “For fun?”

“Mateo is a friend of mine.” I omitted the part about having a date with him. That was for a different conversation, and I didn’t want to snuff out this little spark of hope just yet. “It wasn’t just me. Gemma, Al, and my other friend Kaci were there.”

“Kaci? You haven’t mentioned her before.”

“She’s a psychic. A medium, to be more specific. She sees ghosts.”

My dad paled. My mom took another gulp of wine.

My dad cleared his throat again. “Any other new friends?”

“Reese. He’s a sprite.”

“Uh-huh.” He shoved a large forkful of meatloaf into his mouth and chewed.

“You wanted me to make new friends. And I have. One of them is human. The others are from different paranormal factions.”

“Just be careful,” she said.

“We love you, son,” Dad said with a wink. “I know we’re not the greatest at showing it now that you’ve grown into an opinionated teenager. And we’ve been a little stressed this year. But we don’t want to lose you.”

Just like we lost Aiden, was left unsaid.

“Okay. Yeah. I’ll be careful. I promise.”

My mom smiled, and it was warm and genuine. “Good.” She reached over and gently squeezed my shoulder.

I couldn’t remember the last time she’d touched me. Not since Aiden had left, I knew that for sure. And I couldn’t help but melt into it.

It was a dream come true. They were being supportive, which was more than I’d hoped for.

“Thank you,” I said to them both.

“Well,” my dad said, dropping his napkin on the plate, “what do you say to a movie? I know the perfect one.”

Movie night? It wasn’t even Thursday. He must be as happy as I was about us clearing the air.

“Yeah. Okay.”

He jumped from his seat. “Great. I’ll make popcorn.”

Mom nudged the box toward me. “It would make me happy if you used the new phone. Then I’d know that you were able to contact anyone if you needed. And I wouldn’t have to worry about your cracked phone malfunctioning.”

“Yeah,” I said, taking the cell phone from the package. “I’ll transfer the data during Dad’s movie.”

She smiled again, and I felt warm all over.

“Good.” She petted my hair with a soft giggle. “Does this mean we can talk about your hair color?”

“Ack. No!” I said as I ducked away, laughing.

For the first time in months, I didn’t feel like I had to be on the defensive around my parents. The relief was palpable. This was a step in the right direction. This felt like a good omen, that the tides were turning, that my parents were on my side.

And for the first time in a long while, I felt like everything might turn out okay.