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
I knew when my alarm went off that something was way different. I was so exhausted from not getting enough sleep lately and using so much of my powers, it took me a moment for everything to come back to me. Pictures flooded my mind. The war with Jason Buzzard. My pack frozen. Sam’s memory loss. Mage Jaye’s anger. Fionna. That came to me a little later than it should have. As I reached over to turn my alarm off, I realized I couldn’t move easily because I was being weighed down by something--someone. And it wasn’t Ben.I sat up quickly and realized that Fionna had switched into her human form at some point in the night and had curled up with me, on Ben’s pillow, and on my shoulder. Horrified, I shouted, “Fionna!” and leapt out of the bed, ending up near the closet doors as I stared at her, my eyes wide.She yawned and st
“Harlow, why are you looking at Alec like he’s a hot tamale and you haven’t had Mexican food in a long time?” Brice asked me as I stood motionless between the two of them.I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, so I just stood there for a long moment, probably with my mouth hanging open, probably drooling a little bit. I had to remind myself that I was going to be late to school. I could see myself standing in the principal’s office, explaining to the secretary that I was late because there was a new hot guy in my house, and even though he was dating my roommate, and I am promised to marry someone else, and have a couple of other guy situations I can’t quite shake, I became frozen in place the moment I laid eyes on him, like he was one of those suave Latin lovers who sweep a lady off of her feet in those silly movies. Yes, I could see the secretary writing tha
Raven pushed my frozen-in-shock body out the door. Somehow, I got my feet moving so that I didn’t trip and fall down the steps. It was weird not holding Ben’s hand as I walked to his truck, but I had probably just embarrassed the hell out of him and not because I had said something stupid again but because I was fangirling on a guy that I’d just met who was dating my roommate. Whether or not Alec liked girls or boys or both or neither, it didn’t matter. He was Brice’s dude, and I had my own dude, one that opened his truck door for me but didn’t wait for me to get in like he always does so he can close it for me. Instead, he left it gaping open, much like my mouth had been at Alec’s news, and went around to the driver’s side.I had no idea what to say. Clearly, words were not my thing that morning. If I were smart, I wouldn’t say anything at all. But, I
Lunch was awkward. Ben pretended to not be mad at me, but it’s not like I can’t tell when he’s angry and can’t let something go. Not that I expected him to just let it go. We absolutely needed to talk. We couldn’t do it at school, though, so I was doing my best to be normal. He wasn’t trying as hard. He talked to the other people at the table, but more or less ignored me. At least he sat by me. I was glad Raven wasn’t at lunch with us so she couldn’t say anything about the sandwich I was eating.As soon as the truck pulled into the driveway after school, I turned to Ben, and before I could even open my mouth, he said, “We need to talk.”I’ve never seen two people move as quickly as Raven and Tony did when they got out of the backseat. They may as well have been the ones with magical powers,
“What is that?” I asked Ben, moving toward the swath of pink I could see in the distance between trees.“I don’t know,” he said, following along behind me. He was probably looking to take me hope, drop me off, and never have to see me again after the conversation we had just had. But we were switching frames of mind now. We were no longer “relationship” Ben and Harlow. We were “work” Ben and Harlow. And “work” Ben and Harlow are able to put things behind them and set aside their differences much more easily than “relationship” Ben and Harlow were.I picked my way between the trees until it came into focus. It was a tree, and what I was seeing was pink bark. Unlike the last trees that Brice and I had seen in these same woods, further away from here, it was a bright fuschia pink from th