I went back to the house and went about getting my stuff ready for school the next day. Everyone else was either doing the same or watching TV, trying to chill out before school started up again. Sam was back over with Starla. I was jealous that he was the only one of us who didn’t have to worry about getting ready for school, but then, he’d definitely done his time.As I went about making sure I had everything I wanted to take for lunch the next day, I couldn’t help but go back over Nuthatch’s warning in my head. He had followed me back to the house and then gone upstairs to an area at the end of the hallway we’d sort of designated his space, even though it wasn’t even a room. I realized I needed more guest rooms and considered just magic-ing a few on, but I wanted to do it right. Besides, if Starla ended up not keeping the baby, or if Sam ended up tossing her out on he

 Mage Jaye was waiting for me at the door when I got home from school. I was shocked to see her there. I was hoping she’d be busy doing something else--like gathering frog legs and puppy dog tails for her spells or something. But no… she was sitting on the front porch swing, waiting. I was slow to get out of the truck because of it. I just sat there. “Are you waiting for Ben to open the door for you?” Raven asked from the back seat.“Something like that.” I said.“Only if I can run off the witch on the porch before I open the door,” Ben replied. I looked at him, wide eyed. I’d never heard him call a mage a witch before, but in this case, it was the nicer of the -itch words he could’ve chosen. “It’ll be all right,” he to

“The new School for Mages?” I repeated, thinking that Mage Jaye had lost her mind this time for sure. “Mage Jaye, with all due respect, there’s simply not enough room right here for an entire school.” I was thinking about a building the size of the one that was in Paris right now, and there was no way a building even the size of just the school building itself, without even considering the other buildings, like the dorms, was going to fit in this clearing. The thought of Mage Jaye removing trees from my forest to make room for a building that didn’t even need to be here made me sick to my stomach. She’d clearly already decided that this was happening, and I had no idea how I could convince her otherwise.“It will fit,” she said, without even turning to look at me. I could see the side of her face and recognized that look of wonder she was wearing that s

At lunch, Brice didn’t sit with us. He sat with Starla. I thought it was weird that he was running to the person Melanie was accusing him of having an affair with, but that was just the sort of thing Brice wouldn’t let bother him. If Melanie wanted to say he was sleeping with Starla, he would tell her where to shove it and then do what he wanted.I didn’t get a chance to talk to Ben about it at lunch because Melanie was there, so I’d have to wait until after school to talk to him. During seventh period, drama class, I did get a chance to ask Brice if he was okay. All he said was yes and then sat with someone else. So… I had no idea if he was mad at me, too, or just didn’t want to talk about it. I couldn't blame him if he didn’t want to talk about it, but I was hoping he wasn’t mad at me. I was still thinking the whole thing had to be a misunderstanding. If t

“What do you mean he’s gone?” I asked, sitting up so abruptly, the world went spinning again. Ben put his hands on my shoulders, trying to calm me, but I was beyond alarmed at this point. “He couldn’t have gone too far.”“I don’t know how far away he went, but he’s not answering any of our attempts at getting in touch with him, either through his phone or the mind-link. It’s clear, he wants to be left alone, at least for now.”This was Ben’s way of telling me not to even think about going out to look for Brice. Even if I wanted to, I didn’t think I could. I wasn’t strong enough to transform myself into a bird or anything and go out flying around looking for him. I slumped back against the headrest in defeat. “This sucks,” I whispered.