It took me a moment to process what Starla had just told me. Even then, once the words had registered, I was still useless. “You don’t know?” I repeated. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“You don’t know who the father of your baby was?” Sam asked, scratching his chin. “Did you sleep with so many men you can’t keep track, or…?”
“No!” Starla objected, clearly upset that he’d accuse her of something like that. “No, I didn’t. Only one other guy. And you, Sam.”
“Well, I’m not a genius,” Sam began, but then he turned to me, and under his breath, asked, “am I?” I laughed because even though he couldn't remember a damn thing, he was still Sam. “I’ll take that as a no,” he said, turning back to Starla. “I’m not a genius, but I’m pretty sure, if it wasn’t me, then it had to be this other guy. Unless of cou
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“I’m so sorry to bother you, Harlow,” Liam Finch said as he wandered over toward me, his hands shoved down deep in his pockets, his eyes on the ground. I could tell Sam wasn’t sure he should leave us. He was lingering a few feet away from where I’d stopped, between our houses.“Sam, it’s fine. Just tell them I’ll be right there,” I said.“Okay.” He looked at Liam a little bit like a person stares at a spider before they squish them and then headed toward my house.“What’s going on, Liam?” I asked as he awkwardly came to a stop in front of me.“Well, I just, uh… I didn’t want to come,” he said, looking up into my eyes for the first time. “I want you to
After school the next day, I came home to find Mage Jaye sitting in Sam’s living room, chatting away, as the two of them sipped tea out of delicate little teacups with flowers and gold leaf decorations on them. The only reason I had come over was to get Starla because I was planning on following through with my promise to take her over to the Buzzards’ house, but I had been planning on doing it without telling Mage Jaye. Now that she was here, I realized that probably wasn’t going to work.Sam and Jaye were laughing gleefully as they sipped their tea and ate sandwich cookies off of a gold tray. I stood in the doorway for a moment, trying to rectify what I was seeing. I knew Sam wasn’t himself, but she had to be messing with him to get him to act like this. I swear, he even had his pinky up as he took a sip of tea.“Ha
It took me a moment to absorb what Sam had just said to me. “You’re taking Starla to Cody’s house?” I repeated. “But Mage Jaye just told me not to take her.”“I know that,” he said. “But she didn’t tell me not to.”I folded my arms and stared at him for a moment, not sure what to say. “Why would you do that?” I asked him.He shrugged nonchalantly. “Why wouldn’t I? I want to know just as much as you do whether or not this Cody feller is her baby’s daddy. I’ve been there before, right?”I nodded.“So maybe I can find it again.”
I flew through the night as quickly as my wings would carry me, using my eagle instincts to find the right air currents and propel myself through the air. Seeing flashes of light from time to time in the distance made me think that Cody and his team of mages were up to no good, so I flew even faster, using my magic as a sort of eagle engine.Normally, it would take about an hour for me to get there through the air, but this time, it took about twenty-five minutes. By the time I landed, shifting back into my human form, I was exhausted and breathing heavy. I did my best to try and seem normal as I took in the sight around me. It wasn’t pretty.Some man who looked a lot like Cody, except taller and thinner, had his hand up, a beam of blue light protruding out of it, aimed directly at Starla, who was in her human form completely inanimate
As soon as the birds perched on the trees behind me, Jason’s eyes doubled in size. I wasn’t exactly sure why Mage Jaye had instructed the other mages to stay in that form, or why she hadn’t shifted herself, but I was glad for it. The entire experience was scarier this way.Jason was trying to count. I remembered his comment about math and almost laughed. He couldn’t even see all of the birds in the trees, let alone count them all. While I was certain Mage Jaye was going to chew me out royally for this one, she had brought everyone she had available with her, and I appreciated it. I did deserve to get in trouble for not listening to her, after all, even if I hadn’t technically set out to disobey her.Melanie was there, too. I saw her approach on Joshua’s left, a bit out of breath. She’d had to run the whole way, after al
Getting called to the principal’s office during school hours is one thing. Being summoned to the heat mage’s office at nine o’clock in the evening is something quite different, especially when you don’t even go to school there. But once I was sure all of my pack mates were all right, I really had no choice but to go to see Mage Jaye. Sam insisted on going with me because he was my legal guardian, after all, and Ben went because he wanted to make sure that I was okay..When we got to the school, Maggie greeted us, though she looked more than a little apprehensive, standing in the hallway outside of the office. She was smiling but in a tight-lipped, pained sort of way. “She’ll be right with you,” Maggie said.I nodded, thinking Jaye might just prolong this for a while because she liked to torture me. It didn’t take
Maggie was upset, but she shrugged it off and said she’d manage. I was just so tired! All I wanted to do was go home and go to sleep. Sam and I walked out together, and as soon as Maggie was gone, he said, “Guess you told her.”I socked him in the arm, and he rubbed it, looking injured. “What was that for?”“Oh, like that hurt.”“It did!” He shook his head at me. “Maybe you’re stronger than I remember.”I had to stifle a laugh because it just sounded so ridiculous. “I wasn’t trying to show her. I just can’t Fionna anymore tonight.”“I understand that.” He stopped rubbing his arm as we headed down the steps
I desperately wanted to go to sleep. There was no reason in the world that I could think of to open the window and carry on a conversation with Fionna Flamingo under the circumstances. But then… Maggie had asked me for my help with her, and here she was.Reluctantly, I opened the window and called to her. “Fionna? What are you doing?”Rather than using a human voice that might come from a bird, which wouldn’t have been very hard, she just squawked at me again. I took a deep breath and tried not to roll my eyes. “Come here,” I told her.She didn’t have to be asked twice.As awkward as it is to fit a wolf through my window, getting a giant flamingo to come through isn’t any easier. Somehow, she managed. Then, s