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Did I hover close to Milo with a manifestation despite him being back in Chicago? Well within my extended range of obsessive observations? Yes, but it helped keep my mind grounded where it needed to be by sending my other half to snoop in manifestation form. Sort of like an unopened piece of mail. Even if it had horrid red letters declaring a “final notice” or “urgent” or something that sent a sickening wave of nausea, it didn’t actually exist until I ripped open that paper.

I didn’t check the thread connecting Milo and me. I kept all my attention fixated on work, here in the halls of Gemini Academy, preparing for the first round of the Spring Showcase, an event where so many of the city’s enchanters arrived to observe potential interns.

I bet Milo planned for this absurdity to fall during the Spring Showcase. It kept me at school. Ensured all my students were here. Guaranteed protection from hundreds of industry professionals. I bet Milo wasn’t even worried about this True Witch escaping and merely wanted to keep me grounded somewhere safe. So here I stayed safely on the Gemini Academy campus grounds while Enchanter Evergreen worked with his Global Guild coven members, awaiting the escape attempt The True Witch plotted as her Celestial Coven lurked in the shadows.

“Awwww, you two look soooo cute all bundled up!” Melanie side-stepped toward Gael, who held his shivering rooster.

The two of them wore matching green winter hats and scarves because, despite it being the first week of April, the Midwest loved to slap us with a cold front one final time. The bitter chill stretched across the city, lamenting winter’s unwillingness to die off and give us a glimmer of spring’s gentle warmth before the sauna of summer kicked in.

“If you need a little heat in your life”—Melanie flicked her zippo, sending a serpent of fire swirling around Gael and King Clucks—“lemme know.”

“Cl-cl-cluck!” The rooster’s furious flapping wings sent the flames cascading through the halls.

I glowered. “ Melanie, if so much as one thing is singed, you’ll never see the inside of a guild. ”

Melanie darted off to put out her magic before she set anyone on actual fire.

“Ba-ba-ba-bawk!”

“ She’s not being extra. It’s called flirting. ” Gael walked into the room with a swagger. “ She just wants another night with this stallion stud— ”

I grumbled, rolling my eyes and tuning out Gael’s conversation with his rooster.

Once the bell rang, I gave my homeroom the first fifteen minutes to review the agenda for the week while I reviewed the schedule Chanelle had sent out to staff. Uff. I couldn’t believe she balanced organizing the first-year and second-year showcases while also preparing her homeroom coven for internships, teaching classes, and a thousand other things. What an annoying overachiever.

“Did you see Gladiatrix’s press conference?” Carter asked, literally floating in his desk as he stretched forward to talk with Jennifer.

“Yep,” she said with disinterest while scrolling through her phone, quietly looking for possible events Gladiatrix would attend.

Apparently, she’d come up with the idea of dragging Carter to the next Gladiatrix sighting to surprise him.

News of the Global Guild setting up shop in Chicago had spread quickly. Gladiatrix worked alongside Enchanter Evergreen, the two drawing all the spotlight attention, which helped the Global Guild slip more forces into the city unbeknownst. Milo claimed they wanted to keep a low profile for the sake of media involvement in The True Witch’s transfer being potentially problematic. But we both knew the real reason he wanted the extra forces slipped in under the radar to remain that way.

Since side conversations had taken hold of everyone’s attention, my mind started to drift toward Milo, curious and concerned, before I moved to the front of the room to start today’s discussion.

“I hope you’re all ready for this week.” I cleared my throat as the last of the chitchat died down. “You impressed scouts during the Will-o’-the-Wisp games. You caught the attention of enchanters during your auditorium interviews. You secured your academic standing by taking the Federally Accelerated Practicum test. You have all maintained incredible class rankings to ensure you stand out and take full advantage of your educational opportunities.”

They basked in the compliments, taking pride in their successes, which almost brought a smile to my face, the joy bouncing around the classroom. I furrowed my brow. Naturally, I needed to humble them.

“But this isn’t like those pity events meant to stir up attention while shining a light on every student, saying that you all matter. This isn’t a state exam you can spend weeks cramming for. This isn’t a class test you can retake if you flunk it. Nope. This is the preliminary round of the second-year showcase. This Friday, you’ll have to do everything in your ability to succeed because the chances of enchanter attendance will be low, so if you screw up and get eliminated in the preliminaries, you can kiss any hope of landing a dream internship goodbye.”

“What about Enchanter Evergreen? Do you think he’ll be attending the preliminary rounds?” Caleb asked with a hand raised, barely able to contain his excitement. He hid his desire to add “ since you’re boyfriends ” and jumped right into his follow-up question that eagerly bounced around his maze of a mind. “And do you think he’d bring any of his Global Guild friends with him?”

“Oh, yeah.” Gael jumped in, his spikes growing as he flashed his phone to everyone. “Have him bring Texas Daddy! I’ve always wanted to meet him and Priscilla. She’s amazing! So big and fluffy.”

Gael scrolled through the recently uploaded selfies Enchanter Diaz and Evergreen had taken together for some case because of course they used Texas Daddy’s popularity to steer attention from the upcoming transfer, too. It seemed the only Global Guild enchanter who remained stationed at the MDC 24/7 was Enchanter Wadsworth.

I only caught glimpses of Milo’s recollections on his conversations with the old man since the MDC had intricate wards to keep out all unauthorized casting including my manifestation that I’d attached to Milo. Wadsworth didn’t care for Milo’s plan, hating the variables, the patience, the false bravado. I couldn’t fault Wadsworth for those feelings since I agreed with the sentiment.

“First off, they’re not Evergreen’s friends,” I said, burying the desire to check in on Milo and prioritizing the upcoming event. “They’re called work colleagues.”

Layla tapped her sharp claws on the table, her train of thought drifting elsewhere. “ He’s only saying that because he’s a friendless bag of dicks who only has work colleagues. ”

Ouch.

“Secondly,” I continued, ignoring the cutting side thoughts from students. “Enchanter Evergreen—like most highly successful guild witches—doesn’t have time to attend the preliminary round.”

He’d already arranged everything in his case to unfold this Friday, the entirety of his plan meant to fall apart and into place all at once. My breathing hitched, thinking about everything I knew, everything I had to ignore, everything I had to simply hope for the best on.

“Honestly,” I said, practically growling, “you’ll be lucky if Enchanter Evergreen or any half-decent enchanters bother showing up to the semi-finals. So instead of wondering who’s who in attendance this Friday, focus on not getting eliminated in the first round.”

I went over the agenda for the week leading up to the second-year Spring Showcase with my students while Milo’s voice rang in my head.

“ Sometimes, the best futures don’t reveal themselves until you’re right on top of the worst possibilities. ”

He could’ve held back his mission, lied about what he knew, what he planned for, but he shared the details. By the end of the week, Milo prepared for The True Witch to break out of the MDC, reveal the identities of her fellow Celestial Coven, and bring chaos down upon the entire city.

“ It’s scary, having to unravel a hundred thousand potentials and realizing the best option won’t show up until the last second on the clock. If you’d prefer, I can lie. Tell you I don’t know. ”

I was grateful Milo shared this piece of himself with me, trusted me with the weight of the world, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t terrified.

The days leading up to the showcase left me edgy. Would Milo’s plan succeed? Would everything fall into place as he’d predicted? Would they detain The True Witch? Stop her Celestial Coven in their tracks?

I zipped down the halls to make the most of my planning period break and have a cigarette to clear my head. Those pounding questions weren’t the ones that should’ve been haunting me. I should’ve been fixated on how my students would perform. Would they succeed in the preliminary round? Would they impress any enchanters? Would they land the right internship? Were they ready for an internship? Were they ready to graduate and enter into a guild? Christ. That was like a year away, and then they’d be adults. Real adults.

Just last week, Carter asked who you send out dirty dishes to, like it was a laundry service. Melanie and Jamius argued over whether or not Lake Michigan was one of the four oceans or seven seas. And Gael crawled across the classroom floor to Kenzo’s desk and then tried to chew through it in some bizarre effort to prove his shark-like teeth were as strong as his spikes.

They weren’t anywhere close to being adults yet.

Chanelle’s heels clicked as she strode through the hallway; pure delight radiated off her in waves. I weaved around a few students and tried to get to the exit as her eyes widened and locked onto me.

“ Dorian. ” She beelined through the crowd and locked her arm around mine, successfully halting my escape and dragging me with her on her wave of success.

Dammit. I huffed. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all, but I just had to share this with someone.”

“How about someone who cares?” I grumbled.

“You care. Or you will. It involves the students.”

Okay, admittedly, that piqued my interest, but I kept a sour expression because I refused to allow Chanelle this opportunity to gloat.

“I just finished meeting with the headmaster, and she informed me that the admin team has officially approved my pitch for the preliminary round of the second-year Spring Showcase.”

“Which is?” I asked suspiciously.

“We’ll be releasing fiends during the first round.” Chanelle waved a hand in front of herself like she was unveiling a majestic show for me to watch. “Think of it like our Will-o’-the-Wisp tag but with higher stakes.”

“Life-threatening stakes,” I clarified. “You’re trying to murder our students.”

“Not murder. Just some light scarring. A bit of torture. Trauma builds character.” She cackled, high on her own joke. “The only thing I’m murdering is enchanter interest in visiting other academy showcases because we’re gonna be the talk of the city. Seriously, everyone who misses this performance is gonna be desperate to see how we raise the stakes in the semi-finals and the grand finale.”

I doubted that. Once news hit of the attempted escape from the MDC, the way the Global Guild would move in to confront and contain the situation would be on everyone’s lips. But I buried that nagging thought and frowned at Chanelle.

“And how exactly are you gonna raise the stakes further? You haven’t sent any email updates explaining what horrors you have in store.”

Chanelle strummed her fingers together, a wicked glint in her deep brown eyes and a mischievous smile so big it filled her entire face. “Oh, just you wait, Dorian.”

Ideas flitted out of her head like a monstrous circus filling the hallways meant to engage and entertain all in attendance. It seemed like chaotic carnage, but I honestly loved the distraction from my own thoughts, floating around Chanelle’s mind as she revealed plans on top of plans for future years where she intended to continue outdoing her own performances for years to come.

That said, I still needed to break free from Chanelle and sneak off for a smoke. With the way she rambled, I would end up trapped for our entire planning period. Hell, she was relentless. She might very well keep talking until summer break.