Page 25

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T HE PICKUP LOOP WAS UNUSUALLY crowded.

When I’d met Gemma out there after school for our faery meeting, it had only been us and a few other kids. Today was wall-to-wall high schoolers.

I shouldered my way through the pack, sleeves pulled down into my gloves. Gemma stood on the very edge of the crowd, her short frame difficult to see over the much taller people around her. There were a few students using levitation spells to peer over the others. There was more than one conjured cloud providing shade. Two girls zipped by on brooms, their hair whipping behind them from beneath their helmets. Everyone else was on their phones, looking down at their screens instead of where they were walking, sometimes stopping abruptly right in front of others. I’d already rammed into one person’s backpack.

“This is dangerous,” I said as I joined Gemma. “It’s like a mosh pit without the music.” And right as I said it, the new Hexes single blasted out from magicked speakers to the roar of the crowd.

Gemma sighed. “Ugh. I hate teenagers.”

“You are a teenager.”

“And?”

I shrugged. We managed to find a spot of real estate right next to the place where cars turned off the main road into the pickup loop. It was a blind turn and stupidly dangerous in design.

“It’s not usually like this,” Gemma whined. “Why is it so loud?”

“At least we’re in the shade.”

The branches of the old oak loomed above us and forked out in a thick fingerlike growth. The foliage had begun to turn, the commencement of autumn evident in the rust orange and yellow of the leaves. Another reminder that we were running out of time.

“Why are all these kids out here?” Al asked as they joined us.

Reese jogged over a moment later, dressed in his cross-country uniform, his wind pants and light jacket zipped up.

“One of the buses isn’t running.” He towered over the rest of us as he took in the scene. “Lopez had better hurry up. I have a meet today and can’t be late for stretches.”

Kaci joined us quietly.

“You okay?” I asked.

Her brow furrowed. “Yes,” she said. She twirled a strand of her hair around her finger. “I think… I closed the portal this morning.” She stood on her tiptoes. “I haven’t seen any of the regulars all day.”

“Isn’t that good?”

A slow smile eased across her face. “Yes. I think so.”

Gemma huffed and tapped her foot. “Where is Mateo? He is literally the most important part of this mission—other than you, Cam, of course. He needs to be here, or we’ll have to resort to text messages.”

Al raised their hand. “I don’t mind text messages.”

Come to think of it, I didn’t either.

We waited a little while longer, the crowd thinning out as students hopped into their rides home.

I blew out a breath. Maybe Mateo had changed his mind, and he didn’t want to take me on a date on Saturday. Or maybe he didn’t want me to read Juana’s future, which would be weird. No, it definitely had to be the date aspect. Or he needed to talk to Danny and Javi before making any decisions, because this really was an attempt to bribe me over to ally with the werewolves and—

The screech of tires broke my train of thought.

A car barreled into the loop. The driver, distracted by his phone, didn’t see the cars parked ahead until it was too late. He hit the brakes, the sound of squealing tires rending the air. He jerked his wheel to avoid rear-ending another car and, in doing so, hopped the curb.

And headed directly to where Kaci, Gemma, and Al had drifted.

“Watch out!” I yelled.

It was a split second, a miniscule slice of time, and they could do nothing. There was no way they could scatter out of the way to avoid being hurt.

Someone pushed me to the side, and I stumbled to my knees, my gaze locked on my three friends.

A mesh of thick vines suddenly erupted from the ground right in front of them. Kaci fell backward with a yelp. Al dodged to the side, and Gemma managed to skitter away. The car struck the tangled net of vegetation, stopping on a dime, the metal crinkling and popping, steam billowing from beneath the hood on impact.

Beside me, Reese glowed.

His eyes were the green of spring. Beneath his skin, veins of bright energy traced along his bones and muscles, illuminating him from within as his body trembled with the strain of manipulating the flora.

The vines engulfed the car.

I stood, amazed, mouth open in awe. Then I noted how it wasn’t just the vegetation that had caught the car. The back wheels of the vehicle had sunk into deep, rich mud.

A mud that smelled… awful .

Like rotten eggs.

I wrinkled my nose and froze. I knew this stench. That was the piece that had been missing. The clue that I hadn’t been able to puzzle together.

Slowly Reese’s power ebbed away, the green glow of his eyes and skin receding. Gemma and Al helped Kaci to her feet as the driver exited the car, yelling about the damage.

And all I could do was stare at my friend.

“Reese?” I asked, betrayal and hurt thudding beneath my ribs. “What…?”

His shoulders sagged, and his lips turned down. He appeared utterly defeated. His eyes dimmed as he gave me a sad smile. “Sorry, Cam.”

“I don’t understand.”

He ran a hand through his sweat-soaked hair. “I’ve wanted to tell you—”

“Reese!”

Mateo had emerged from the school in time to witness the accident, and his voice cut through the chaos with a roar. He must have put the clues together as well, because he was charging toward us. His expression was murderous. And his hands were… claws.

I didn’t know what Reese was going to say. I didn’t know if there was a good explanation. But I knew I wasn’t going to get it if this turned into a physical fight. I made a split-second decision, just as Reese had, and hoped I didn’t regret it later.

“Run,” I said softly.

Reese’s eyebrows drew together. “What?”

“Run!”

He didn’t need to be told again. He took off, tossing a spark of sprite magic behind him. A wall of thick grass burst upward, concealing his path of escape and blocking anyone from following him.

I made a show of tripping over an obstacle of roots myself and fell to the ground, crying out in fake pain, holding my ankle.

As I expected, Mateo slid to a stop beside me.

“Cam! Are you okay?”

I waved away his help and sat up, my jeans and gloves covered in dirt and bracken. “I’m fine. How are the others?”

Mateo bit down on his bottom lip. He glanced over his shoulder, then back in the direction that Reese had run. His claws stretched and curled as his chest heaved. I didn’t think he even realized.

“I don’t—”

“You should check on them,” I said, quickly cutting him off.

“Yeah.” He swallowed, his throat bobbing. “Yeah.”

He stalked away from me, toward the others.

I sat in my spot in the shade, marveling at the vines wrapped around the car and at the swamp that had emerged from the concrete.

I didn’t know how to feel. I was angry, of course. The glimpse had plagued me for over a month, and one of my new friends had known since the day in the coffee shop that he was somehow involved. And he hadn’t said anything. He’d watched us toil and struggle to make plans and accuse someone else. He hadn’t spoken up.

But he’d saved Gemma from Dennis. He’d just saved Al and Kaci too, when he’d known that it would reveal himself. And he hadn’t hidden he was a swamp sprite. He just hadn’t pointed out how the clues connected.

And if he had, how would we have reacted? He knew he was the one with the most fragile connection to the group. He wasn’t anyone’s BFF or human advisor.

But I just didn’t get it.

I added “sad and confused” to my growing list of emotions.

Gemma came over and plopped down next to me. “It was Reese?” she asked tentatively, tears gathering behind her glasses. “He’s responsible for the smell in the meadow? He knew this whole time?”

“I guess,” I said with a shrug. “He was in the hallway. His powers smell like a swamp and match the smell I had in the glimpse. And he has a motive, since I learned it was Juana who actually broke up with Mia, and apparently Mia didn’t take it well.”

“Wow,” Gemma said. She swiped the sleeve of her pink hoodie over her cheeks. “Our friend is a potential murderer.”

My stomach sank at the thought. “Yeah.”

“Wait. Juana broke up with Mia? Does that mean Mateo lied too?”

“Yeah. Maybe.”

Gemma sniffed. She wiped away another tear and smeared swamp mud across her face. “I don’t believe it,” she said, her jaw clenched. “There has to be another reason for him being there. He wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“Gemma,” I said wearily, rubbing my fingers over my brow.

“What? He could’ve been protecting her, for all we know. He could’ve been trying to stop what happened. Maybe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe—”

“Okay!” I said, dropping my arms and staring at her. “Maybe, but try explaining that to Mateo.”

Gemma wilted. She kicked out her foot. “This all sucks.”

“Tell me about it.”

“What do we do now?” she asked. “Should we tell the Lopez family?”

“Not yet,” I said, watching as Mateo hugged Kaci, his hands back to human, and made sure Al was okay a few feet away. “I still want to have my date.”