Magian High (13 page)

Trying to dry off and duck the Water Balls at the same time, I elbowed Max and whispered.  “How’d you know they weren’t
going to kill you?”

Max shrugged. 
“Because they don’t want to go back to Corporal.”

“What?  How do you know?”

Max pulled his shirt over his head.  “Who does?  Here we’ve got beautiful Wisers doing our homework for us, don’t we?”  He winked.

I jumped at the bait.  “Lindsey does your homework?”

“Not all.  I just ask for help on the hard ones,” he said with a knowing look.  “I don’t have to get everything right.  Just enough to get a C.”

“So
, you’re using her?”

“Nah, I like her, too.  Didn’t you listen to me yesterday?”

I grinned.  “Yeah, I think I’d rather meet her than hear you blab about her all the time.  How about we take our girls to Binney’s tonight?”

“Gel Ball?” he asked with a wicked grin.

“Sure.”

“Count on getting splattered,” he said.

“Oh, I’m used to that,” I said.  “Seven o’clock?”

“I’ll have to check with her,” he said, suddenly uncertain.  “She’s not like my official girl
yet.  But, yeah, I’ll ask her in art.  Does she know Amity?”

“I think they were friends at Wiser,” I said evasively.  “Just
get her to come.  It’ll be fun.”

“Don’t you think if we were all really nice to her, Miss Flinckey might get her Jump back?” asked Amity.  “She’s a good old girl.  Doesn’t she deserve a little kindness?”

“Do you think it’ll work?” I asked
, looking around the table.  Rikki and Curry had tagged along when they found out where Max was going, so the six of us—Lindsey included— filled a corner booth at Binney’s.

“Rikki, are you showing any signs of magical power
yet?” asked Amity.

Curry’s face took on a new expression, one that almost looked like fear.  On the other hand,
Rikki, Max and Lindsey looked at her like she’d just finished dancing on the pizza. 

“Besides being able to turn him to tapioca by doing this?”
asked Rikki. She cupped her hands over Curry’s ear and either did or said something that made his whole face flush bright red.

I couldn’t help
snickering to see the mighty Curry melting like ice cream in the sun, but then I turned to Amity and searched her face.  “What about you?  Anything?”

She thought about it for a minute and started flicking her fingers.  Next she poured some pop onto her plate and ran her fingers through it, as if trying to pick it up.  She scowled down at the floor and shook her head, finishing her experiment by blowing at my bangs.  Nothing unusual happened except the very weirdness of the actions themselves.

“What are you
doing
?” asked Lindsey.

“Checking for sparks, or Water
Magic or something,” said Amity.

“Why would you do that?” asked Rikki.

Amity looked at her.  “Didn’t Curry tell you?”

“Didn’t Curry tell her
what?
” asked Max, suddenly tensing.  Curry likewise stiffened.

Amity’s eyes asked for advice from me.  I stumbled over my thoughts for a moment and then blurted.  “Magic can be transferred from one person to another.”

All the Nomers except Amity stared at me.  “What?”

Curry shook his head so slightly that I think only
I saw it.  His eyes were pleading for me not to tell, but I’d already gone that far.  I chewed my lower lip for a second and then rested my elbows on the table and lowered my voice.  “Let me tell you about my mom.”

***

“That was…interesting,” said Amity, sitting next to me on the porch.

“How do you think they’ll react once they’ve had
time to stew on it?” I asked.

Amity breathed in a deep sigh.  “I hope we didn’t lose Curry.  Why do you think he got so quiet?”

“He’s always quiet,” I said.

“Quiet and
scared
?”

“You noticed that, too?”

I was about to invite her in when she giggled.

“What?”

“You play Gel Ball like a girl.”

“Uh-uh,” I said.  “If I played half as
well as Rikki, we’d have won.”

She fluffed the back of her hair.  “Did I get all
the blue gel out?”

I willingly took the excuse to run my fingers through her
hair, but then heard a sound on the roof.

“None of that, now,” said a man’s
voice.

Amity yelped and then laughed.  “
You
scared
me!”

Detective Sheldon hung upside down from the roof of the porch, supposedly holding on with his legs—except he lowered himself and turned his straight body like a giant dial in the air to land on the walk way.”

“Cool!” I said.  “You
are
a Mage.”

“Hey, get me down from here!” called Mom.

“Mom’s on the roof?” I asked, jumping forward and looking up.

Mom sat bundled in one of my hoodies, waving and grinning.  “We had to make sure you two got home on time, you know.”  She stood warily and inched her way over to the edge before letting herself drift to the ground
much slower than a fall would have been.  I hadn’t seen her fly in years, so that was a really impressive step—literally.

“Uh, are you guys on a date?” I asked.

Sheldon glanced at Mom and then shrugged.  “Not exactly, but I am off duty.  I wanted to hear your take on the district mandates for the schools.”

I stuffed my hands in my pockets and sat back down next to Amity.  “It’s what you said would happen. 
It’ll stink, but I’ll survive.”

“Will the other Mages?” he pressed.

“They’ll have to, won’t they?  No other options.”

Mom gestured to the door.  “Why don’t we go inside and you can tell them what you saw, Jed.”

We followed Mom and Sheldon into the house.  “Evidence of a land deal going through?” guessed Amity.

Sheldon smiled at her sadly.  “Evidence of a land deal
already
gone
through.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The Bagler-Farrell Foundation knows they’ve got the sale in the bag.  The land parcel proves it.”

“What’s out there?  Can we go see?” asked Amity.

“Not tonight, honey,” said Mom.  “I can’t leave Kelsey here.”

“Can’t Detective Sheldon take us?”

Mom hesitated, and Sheldon covered for her concern.  “I didn’t drive.  We’d have to take Amity home first.”

“No way,” said Amity.  “You’re not leaving me behind
.  I want to see.”

“Can we
fly there?” I asked.  “Each of us could hold a hand.”

“That’s pretty dangerous,” said Sheldon doubtfully.  “What if we drop her?”

“We won’t.  We’re strong,” I said.

Amity watched us
eagerly.  It made me laugh and I bumped my shoulder against hers.  “You look like a little kid going to a candy store.”

“This isn’t the sting,” said Sheldon
.  “But it may be coming sooner than I originally thought.”

“Please can we go?” begged Amity.  “My parents aren’t expecting me for anothe
r half hour.  Do we have time?”

Mom’s eyes shifted to the clock on the wall.  “Oh, okay
, be back in half an hour.  I’ll get some hot chocolate ready for your return.”

“Thanks, Mom!”

Out on the porch, he said, “All right, we need to hurry.  Can you get up over the housetops so we can go in a straight line?”

“I
doubt it,” I said, suddenly feeling stupid.  “At least not carrying a load.”

“Then we’ll have to rely on speed.”

Mom poked her head out the door.  “Get them back on time or you have to fix my porch this weekend, Jed.”

Sheldon turned away from her and grinned, his big teeth flashing in the dim moonlight.  “
I’ll do that anyway,” he whispered.  “Let’s go!”

We quickly figured out a way to hold on to Amity by clasping arms with each other and having her wrap her arms around our shoulders.  We also each held her hand with both of ours so she wouldn’t slip.  In this manner, we lifted off the ground several feet, higher than my norm, and sped off.  Sheldon directed
us at each turn, and whenever possible, we cut over yards or empty lots, zipping along even faster.  I noticed he kept us to back streets until we reached the edge of town, and he said it was because he didn’t want to be recognized.

“Why don’t you want people to know you’re a Mage?” asked Amity.

“Because Mages employed by the city are…expected to pick sides, shall we say?  And I’m not necessarily falling into allegiance where I’m expected to.”

“Gotcha.”

The cold started to get to me because of our speed, and my hands had begun to loosen their grip on Amity when Sheldon directed us to touch down.  We were about a half a mile out from the next street with buildings, and had flown over a tall chain link fence into a big grassy field.  With solid ground under our feet, Amity shuddered.  “I have to learn to do that myself.  It’s freaky being carried like that.”  She stretched her back to loosen her shoulder blades and then laced her arm through mine.  “Not that it isn’t exhilarating, but I don’t like feeling quite so—”

“
Whoah!”  I hadn’t meant to cut her off, but we’d walked several yards further and now I saw what Sheldon meant.  We all stared down into the enormous concrete pit.  Lit by a few work lights aimed downwards, it looked like the world’s biggest empty swimming pool or something.  “What
is
all that?”

“Foundations for
a new school would be my guess,” said Sheldon.

In the distance, a tiny flame, like a cigarette lighter, flared.  We instinctively crouched lower.  “Some guy just came out of the Porto-Potty,” whispered Sheldon.  “
It’s probably the security guard.”

“Are we trespassing?” I asked.

“Duh,” whispered Amity.

“We’d better get out of here,” said Sheldon, backing away.  “It wouldn’t do for me to get caught breaking the law, you know.”

Despite the fact that we got home in time to drop off Amity, Detective Sheldon came over Saturday morning to help us fix the porch.  It was actually pretty cool, once I got past the weirdness.  He knew how to work Kelsey, keeping her busy without giving her any task where she could ruin anything.  I noticed that he didn’t use magic for anything.

“Where’d you learn all this stuff?” I asked him.

“My dad,” he said through tight lips that were holding nails.  He took one out of his mouth and hammered it into place with two whacks.

“He was a contractor?”

“He was a Nomer,” he said, pausing to give me a look.

My mouth fe
ll open a little.  “Like Mom?”

“Yep
, he got some magic out of the marriage, of course, but he still preferred to use his own skills.”

I hammered a nail at my end of the board step and thought for a minute.  Sitting back on my knees, I asked, “
Detec—”

“Call me Jed when I’m not in uniform
, please.”

“Um…Jed?
  Why isn’t it common knowledge that magic is passed along through love?”

He stopped and wiped his brow with the back of his hand.  “I guess I hadn’t thought of it as not being common knowledge, but yes, it’s kind of a taboo subject. 
It’s usually just talked about in the families, I guess.”

“But why?
  It’s not like it’s transmitting some horrible disease.  It’s giving someone else power.”

“And draining your own.”
  He smiled grimly.  “Mages, as a whole, don’t like to get too close to each other.  We can be a selfish bunch.”

I thought about how aloof
Magian High teachers and students seemed when I viewed them through Amity’s eyes.

“Did you know,” he said, reaching for another plank and fitting it snugly into place, “that we got more calls for problems at Magian
High than at the other two high schools in town?”

“That’s embarrassing.”

“Not surprising, though.  The Mage Punkers were worse than any of the gangs or trouble kids elsewhere—and not because they had magic.  It was because they had no affection, no loyalty, and no conscience because they didn’t care.”  He hammered in two more nails and then rested his hand on my shoulder.  “That’s why mixing the kids up is so good for them, especially those Corporals who really know how to work together.  This desegregation has the potential of changing the whole culture of Mages.”  With a heavy stamp on the board, he pronounced it secure.  “I think it’s time for some lemonade.”  Making a megaphone with his hands, he called, “Hey, Kelsey!  Can you and Toodles bring us something to drink?”

“
Toodles?”

“Isn’t that what she named the unicorn I gave her?”

“Froodles,” I corrected.

“Silly me.”

“She loves that thing,” I said.  “You squeeze the hoof and the horn lights up.”

Sheldon
smiled.  “I hoped it would help her feel protected after that night with the Punkers.”

I watched him put away the tools for a minute.  He must have felt my stare because he turned and looked at me inquisitively.  “
Is everything okay?”

“Just…Thanks for helping my family feel safe again.  All of us.”

He seemed taken aback by the comment, but then he grinned.  “It’s my job.”

“You’re off duty.”

“It’s my job as a friend.”

“Two glasses of limey lemony luscious liquid!” announced Kelsey from the door.  She peered back into the house.  “Did I say that right, Mommy?”

Mom’s laughter rang from inside.  “You said it just right, honey.”

I took the glasses from Kelsey and passed one down to
Sheldon.  We nodded to each other and raised the drinks in a subtle salute.  “Thanks, Kelsey.”

Reaching into her hoodie, she pulled out Froodle
s and waved a hoof at us.  “Thank you, boys, for working so hard!” she said in a clear imitation of Mom’s voice.

It was a silly gesture
, a simple thing for her to get the drinks, but it all felt good.  Like family.

***

As Max and I were headed out to the track, a student aid from the office brought a note asking us to come down and see Mr. Whittle.

“What,
now?
” I asked.  “Should we change out of our P.E. clothes?”

Coach shrugged.  “I’d get up there quick.  He’s a busy man.”

Max and I took the stairs two at a time up to the main floor and rounded the corner into the main hall.  “You think we’re in trouble for something?” he asked.

I sighed.  “I don’t know what
I could possibly have done, but that never stopped me from getting in trouble before.”

“We’re not getting arrested, are we?” he asked, only half joking.

“Better not be,” I said, pushing on the office door with my back to swing it open for the two of us to enter.

There stood Mr. Whittle and Amity.  She looked a little nervous when she saw us, but Mr. Whittle beamed.  “Oh good, they caught you before you got out
on the track.  I saved you from the drizzle.  You can thank me later.”  Slapping us on the backs, he ushered us into his office where we all stood in a row exchanging worried glances.  “Sit down, sit down,” he said.  He pulled an extra chair from the main office into his own office and we sat down with me in the middle.

“Sir, is there a problem?” I asked, as he rounded his desk.

“Yes, there is.  But you’re going to fix it for us, if I know you.”  He clasped his hands in front of him and looked at each of us in turn.  “It’s convenient that the three of you are already friends.  All accomplished seniors from the three old schools.”

Max looked skeptical.  “Accomplished?”

“What’s going on?” asked Amity.

“Mr. Blakely has asked me to head up a new student group designed to promote unity between the three former school groups. 
A Unity Team, if you will.”

“Wait, we’re part of a what?” asked Max.

Mr. Whittle leaned back comfortably.  “We wanted to get a male and a female senior from each of the old districts to head up a team of students who will help promote unity on campus.  You’d be coming up with ways for all of the students to learn about the strengths of each group and helping us all see how working together is best for all of us.”

“Okay,” said Amity
, clearly trying to suppress a grin.  “This sounds great.  Who are the other three?”

“Well, since you three were the ones who seemed most actively interested in the caus
e—”  Max made a surprised grunt.  Whittle chuckled.  “Maybe you were guilty by association, but your old principal spoke highly of you, Max.”  Next to me, Max’s face registered a mixture of pride and confusion.  “But as I was about to say, we trust each of you to pick your own counterpart from the senior class of your old school.”

“Does it have to be a senior?” asked Max.  “My sister is—”

“Let’s stick with seniors for now,” said Mr. Whittle.  “They’re the ones who will have the strongest impressions of what is different between the old way and the new way of doing school, so they’ll have the best ideas for how to adapt.”

“Actually,” said Amity, “I disagree.  A younger girl like Rikki doesn’t have the biases that—”

“Please, Miss Griffin.  Seniors only, for the leadership team.  Rikki can be in the club, of course.”

Amity sagged a bit.  “Do I have to pick a
boy?
”

Mr. Whittle leaned forward, looking mildly annoyed. 
“One boy and one girl from each school.  We don’t want anyone balking about fairness here, okay?  Surely you know some nice Wiser boy who might want to see us all get along?”

I had to stifle a laugh.  The look on Amity’s face told me
didn’t share his confidence.  “It’s okay,” I teased.  “You can look at other guys long enough to fill out the team.”

“Sort it out.  Get me a name by the end of the school day, and we’ll figure out how to get meetings going.  Maybe during Study Hall?” he asked, gesturing to me and Max.  “That is, if Amity is willing to stop studying for an hour?”

Amity made a dramatic show of acquiescing.  “Oh, all right, if it’s for a good cause.”

“Good.  Here are your passes back to class.”  He slid three pre-signed hall passes across the desk at us.  “Take the long way, boys, and avoid the rain.”

“Really?” asked Max.

“No,”
said Whittle with a smile.

Out in the hall, Amity grabbed my wrist.  “Elizabeth.  You have to pick Elizabeth.”

“Duh.”

She fixed her eyes on Max.  “Sorry Lindsey can’t be on the leadership team.”

He shrugged.  “Not sure she’d want to be anyway.”  Our faces must have fallen because he quickly added, “She doesn’t like to give up study time for much of anything.  Not even me!”

Amity nodded knowingly. 
“Right.  Well, find us a good girl from the Corporals, and I’ll try to think of some guy from Wiser who isn’t a completely obnoxious know-it-all.”