Of Witches and Wind (48 page)

Definitely not the stuff of nightmares and goblin-induced visions.

“Did you get the part?” I asked, a little bit curious.

Madison looked hurt, just for an instant. She hadn't been called back, and she
had
wanted it.

She clearly had her own doubts to conquer.

Mrs. Lapin clunked in, her clogs hitting the linoleum with big thumps. She smiled at us, but she had a much larger mug of coffee in her hand than usual. “Hello, ladies! How were your breaks?”

“Busy,” I said, because the others didn't speak up. “And kind of stressful. But I found out that I'm getting a new stepmother.”

“Ah,” said Mrs. Lapin with blank brightness. Mom gave me that look sometimes, on Sunday mornings, when I overloaded her too much on her day off.

Someone knocked on the classroom door, and Mrs. Lapin hurried to open it.

Across from me, the other girls didn't seem to know what to do with themselves. One of the KATs started folding the pages of her magazine to make a fan.

“New student,” said a grown-up outside.

“There must be some kind of mistake,” said Mrs. Lapin. “You can't be assigned here. I'm only supposed to have girls.”

“It's the long eyelashes. They make me look like a girl,” said a familiar voice, and I whirled around. Chase popped his head in and waved. I was too surprised to wave back. “Hey.”

I had no idea what he was doing here, but I definitely wasn't complaining.

Madison perked up, like she did when the captain of the eighth-grade soccer team walked by. “Hi.”

“I was talking to Rory, actually.” Giving Madison and the
KATs a weird look, Chase slipped past a dumbfounded Mrs. Lapin and fell into the desk beside me. He must have come through the ruby door across the street. “Hey. It's later, just so you know.”

“What?” I said, still stunned.

“I said, ‘See you later,' like two minutes ago. It's ‘later.' ” Chase had obviously been planning that for a while. Ben's corniness
had
rubbed off on him.

“I'll just . . . go visit the office to sort this out.” Mrs. Lapin left the room, giant coffee mug in hand.

I leaned forward so the others couldn't eavesdrop. “What are you doing here?”

“I always wanted to try out regular school.” I knew that by “regular,” Chase really meant “human.” “Lena's trying to come too. But her grandmother thinks switching schools will be disruptive for her education, and Melodie keeps telling her that even though she can make the temporary transports, it's a waste of perfectly good dragon scales.”

For me. That was why they were doing this. They didn't want me to feel alone. Even if I lived to be as old as Iron Hans, I would never find friends better than Chase and Lena.

“So?” Chase stretched out his legs under the desk and crossed his ankles. “Good surprise or bad surprise?”

“Good surprise. Definitely good,” I said, so happily that Chase grinned back. Life at school was about to get a lot more awesome.

 

'm not going to lie: writing this book was epic, and it absolutely
wouldn't have been finished if I didn't have certain people in my life.
Special thanks goes to:

Joanna Volpe, my wonderful agent, and Danielle Barthel, her savvy
assistant, who both read the very earliest drafts more than once and gave me great
feedback (which is no mean feat, considering that back then, this manuscript was about a
hundred pages longer than it is now). Just so everybody knows, the people of New Leaf
Literary are, in general, totally awesome.

Courtney Bongiolatti, my first editor, who suggested a big plot shuffle,
which was as brilliant as it was terrifying. Julia Maguire, my new editor, who took over
seamlessly and dove straight into a big, complicated manuscript without even missing a
beat. I couldn't have asked for a smoother transition! Karen Sherman, my copy
editor, who saved me from publishing many embarrassing mistakes, including misspelling
the name of Rory's new stepmother about fifty times. Chloë Foglia and Cory
Loftis, who wowed me with the cover a
second
time.
And everyone else at
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, you guys have my undying gratitude for
working so hard to share
The Ever Afters
with the world.

Angela, my dear—I'm sorry for BBMing you
a thousand complaints about various deadlines. I know you were busy planning your
wedding. Thank you for always encouraging me to take a break and calm down. Mom and
Dad—thank you so much for hanging in there with me. This book was fueled by a
million hugs, and most of them came from you two. To the extended Trenkelbach and Randol
clans, I'm sure that a big portion of my sales comes from you guys—either
from your own purchases or through your word of mouth. You guys are the best, and I feel
incredibly lucky to have such a supportive family.

Last but not least,
Of Witches and Wind
is all
about how surviving middle school is so much easier when you have great, caring, loyal
friends. Angela, Dana, Ems, Kaitlyn, Katie, Martha, and Will—I hope y'all
know I'm talking about you.

A
LSO BY
S
HELBY
B
ACH

The Ever Afters: Of Giants and Ice

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

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1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

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