Several things failed to add up in the next few moments. One of them being the way several people were acting like it was daytime out. And sure enough, when he looked out the windows, it appeared to be. And then Tommy was damn near aghast at the state of the phone Vicky had thrown at him. It looked like someone took it all the way to Normandy and back.

"Hey, car guy, you can fix that, right?"

He sighed. The Porter summon appeared. He reached into the bear-shaped, club-eared mustelid's body and withdrew a roll of transparent packing tape.

Tommy walked over to the tables and sat the battered phone in front of him and layered a long piece of the tape over the phone screen. Then, he used the edge of a table to smooth out air bubbles over it. Finally, he withdrew his switchblade and cut the edges off, tossing them into the golden creature's storage. Then he slid it back to her.

"There." It was basically new, now. Hard to even see the myriad cracks. Almost impatiently, he walked past Daniel Mars who had just walked in, a bit surprised he'd even be at a meeting about magic and whatever else was happening to the town. He stopped in front of one of the exists that led outside, and shoved the door open.

It was daytime outside.

He glanced out the window. Then the door.

Then Tommy shut the door, and reopened it again. Daytime still.

He turned around and stared at the others. "It was four in the morning when you told me we'd be meeting here, Kari. It was dark when I walked inside. What the fuck? Is anyone forgetting a whole day, or something? Is time getting fucked up now too?" He shook his head and shut the door, walking back over and plopping down on the opposite side of Vicky. Tommy took a contemplative sip from his canned caffeine while Porter trotted over and stared at Lupe. His ears wiggled, and his head tilted.

At least everyone was bantering instead of trying to kill each other. They could work with that. He could, anyway.

"That thing's got stuff to eat or drink in him, too." Tommy nodded at what Daniel had brought, and then pointed at the thing that suddenly took an interest in the second sassiest bitch in here. "Just ask him, he'll let you at it... Okay-"

Tommy tossed his notebook onto the table in front of him, along with his deck of cards that seemed to have a holographic sheen of gold to them, and kicked his feet up on the table like he owned the place.

"Magic."

---

---

It made perfect sense that the queen of the nerds called for this town's hero at its darkest hour.

It made perfect sense that the fucking nerds would try to figure out how to use their little brains to solve the problems that magic had brought.

The monster that killed the weaker nerds, the weirdness that had followed, and the fact that they were not safe were all that it took to open the eyes of the sheep and bring them back to their shepherd. This was the natural order of life, and this was the natural order of High School. The weak would need protecting, and they would need their protector to be strong. This is why Tyler thought this whole meet and plan idea was a smart decision for once. Everyone, Tyler’s included, suffered at the hands of the monster that attacked that warehouse and somehow brought magic with it. Those images would never leave his mind, and the memory of that nerd whose name escapes his mind being killed when he saved Vicky will never leave him. Yet he could not give in to these emotions. He could not rush out into the streets with a baseball bat, gun, or something else to hunt down the beast that marred the beauty of this town. He, like everyone, should have taken that anger, that fear, that doubt, and turned it into fuel and trained with those emotions.

*twack*

The javelin impacted the field some thirty-five yards in front of Tyler and off-center by a yard or two. The throw was a decent one that would likely land Tyler on the JV team. Disgusting. The thought of not walking onto a starting spot in the star-studded field filled Tyler with anger and hate. He was a star athlete who excelled at throwing objects, introducing a spin, and landing them accurately where he wanted. His eyes drifted past the dart and towards the fifty-yard line, and sized up the tackling dummy he had pushed out there. It was clean. No impact could be seen anywhere across its frame, even if the thirty-five-yard line was filled with brand-new divots. His nostrils flared. His hand reached down and grabbed a rock from a pile of rocks he had assembled, though the pile was only half as tall as it was when he started. He tossed the rock into the air, reached out with his Lux, and swapped the rock with the javelin. The javelin froze in the air right above his right shoulder before it gently dipped down towards the front and began to fall. Tyler caught it by the midsection a moment later. With one quick motion, he stabbed the pointy end into the dirt, and reached down with his left hand into a ball bag and grabbed a football. He pushed the ball in front of him, faked the start of a play, and entered his five-step dropback before he brought the ball back, stepped into the throw, and let loose a beauty of a pass. The ball sailed through the air with force and with a perfect spiral. As it reached the halfway point of its arch and started to descend back towards the ground, aiming right towards the chest of the dummy, Tyler grabbed the Javelin and spun it into the air. He reached out with his magic and, with a second to spare before the football impacted the dummy, swapped it with the javelin, which allowed it to strike true and through. While he was still only painfully decent with the javelin on his own, his football skills could still prove lethal to a monster, provided he had something dangerous to swap the ball with.

His alarm began to scream from his phone a second after the *thud* of the impact reached his ears. Tyler did not want to be late for the meeting. Thus, the athletic shorts, workout tank top, and compression shorts that all sported the blue, white, and orange color scheme of their school would remain on.

A hero always arrived on time and with swagger.

---

As Tyler was walking the halls towards the cafeteria, still dressed in his workout clothes, he saw a weird sight. A student was ahead of him, and not just any student, a new one. What was a new student doing walking the halls of this school this late at night, walking directly towards a place where the other magically inclined individuals were meeting for the first time? Was this the wolf wearing the clothes of a sheep? Was this the danger that had infiltrated his easy path to the professional football league that he was on? Would he allow a monster to attack those nerds unabated? The answer was unclear, but Tyler figured he could get the answer easily enough. What would a potential threat do if someone nearly hurt them? Tyler reasoned they would either drop the ruse, drop a threat, or have some other tell that would cause them to drop the act. That made sense to Tyler, at least as much as magical monsters made sense to him at this moment, and he had just the tool to test his theory. As long as he always had his football, he would always have the right tool for the job.

Tyler went through the motion and launched a missile of a line drive pass. The kind of throw that a receiver would either catch, or would break their hands the next practice on the ball machine, trying to catch them at their max velocity. It moved through the air fast, and it cut right next to the girl's head, though he watched as it was nearly pulled into it for some bullshit reason. A moment later, he reached his magic out and swapped his place with the balls and quickly braced for the impact. He pumped the brakes for two seconds, his shoes squealing out with pain as he did. He learned early on that when you swap with an object in motion, you retain the motion of the object. Therefore, him at a standstill, swapping with a fast-moving football would mean that he would either crash and fall or brace himself beforehand. As his momentum slowed thanks to leaning back and planting his feet down, he did the same stutter steps one might do if they jumped out of a moving vehicle and tried to maintain their speed. Eventually, within a couple of seconds more, he slowed to a near stop and looked back. The girl looked basic as fuck, and unimpressed with his display of magic. There was no surprise, no hint of fear, and she looked like she was thoroughly unamused with what he had just done. His eyes narrowed as his right hand reached into his pocket and grabbed one of several quarters. Tyler felt she was not a threat, but she was weird for that reaction. He flicked the coin into the air. Fucking nerds. He swapped the coin for the football, caught it, and entered the meeting.

Tyler slammed his free hand on the football and looked across the sea of nerds, and was left thoroughly unimpressed. His eyes slowly shifted until he saw the three leaders of this event, Kari, Lupe, and Zakira. Tyler did not mind Kari; she was a nice and smart girl, and she knew what she wanted out of life. Zakira, he did not know well, and knew that he needed to change that. Was she worth bullying, or would she be boring like Kari? Lastly, but certainly not least, was Lupe. In terms of people who annoyed him, Lupe had grown to a level few could reach. She was opinionated, loud, popular, and all too sure of herself and her place in the food chain here. He knew she was also crazy, crazy, and most of all batshit insane when it came to expressing her opinions. He knew as soon as he breathed the wrong way, she would be up his ass and would not back down from the challenge. He could at least respect that. His eyes shifted down to the next person, and he groaned. His eyes rolled, his nostrils flared, and veins popped out of his skin as none other than Vicky was present. Great. Whose fucking brilliant idea was this? Vicky? She was going to ruin everything, make it about her, and drag everyone down with her unless they were willing to survive the torment of her voice screeching about how life was unfair. He needed to look away and quickly spotted Tommy, and some other nerd nearby dropping off drinks and snacks. Was this it? Tyler quickly scanned the room again with a frantic energy and realized that yes. This was all they could muster at this time.

“Are you fucking serious?” Tyler paused as he found an open spot and fell into it with a heavy thud, “is this all you could get? I worried that you, Kari, would waste time I could be spending training, but I decided to give this a shot. You know, because we all went through the same shit together. I figured that might have ignited a spark under your asses to do better, but” Tyler paused as he used the football to point at everyone, “this does not inspire confidence in your leadership. We might need a proven leader to step in at some point,” Tyler paused as he spun the football in front of him and caught it with an aggressive grab.

---

---

So this was the great Cornell High School that her grandma had talked so fondly of? Evelynn suspected it had not changed since that time as it looked old, dilapidated, and depressing. Why the fuck was this meeting in a place that was as suspicious as a school?

Evelynn did not concern herself too much with that. Nor did she concern herself too much with figuring out where to go. She slid along the side of the building along a narrow delivery lane, and she held her nose as she did. The smell was unlike anything she had smelled since she moved to a town that had a distinct odor already. Nobody had been by to clear this out. That was one of the bad signs that the possible futures always seemed to agree on. While she could not see very far into it, the future showed her that chaos brought an end to certain services the modern world takes for granted, and without that little truck that carried away the rubbish we all produce, a smell would descend on the town. Great. Fucking great. This town was turning into a purgatory made specifically to punish her for causing the death of her family. What a fucking life! Lynn pressed her elbow to her nose, using her arm and her sweater to block the smell even more as she moved towards the back door Kari told her about, and that she saw in several possible futures, and went into the building.

As Evelynn walked through the dark building, she could not help but wonder what school would have been like here. She looked down at her high-waisted shorts, the loose t-shirt tucked into them, the larger purple cardigan that she wore over them, and then the loose strap backpack she wore over it all that contained notebooks, pens, and pencils. Back in St. Portwell, she thought she would’ve been cute if she wore an outfit like this. Would she have been cute here? Would she have been popular? These questions were not important to her before the warehouse. The world was so much smaller back then, which made her problems seem so massive in comparison. Now that the world was crumbling around her, Evelynn felt like her own troubles were small and all she really wanted was to be just a normal girl, going to her normal classes, and to be secretly depressed like everyone else. Yet everyone else did not kill their own parents, not everyone was cursed with the gift of foresight, and not everyone would be here at the meeting tonight. As she passed the Gymnasium, she caught sight of the trophy case that held a particular trophy. The one that was front and center above all the rest. As if it were the most important trophy the school had ever had, and that everyone who came before and earned those trophies was not relevant. Great. From her trip to the possible future moments before she left home, she knew there was a greater than three in five chance that she was about to meet…

She paused the thought as her eyes drifted to the left, and a moment passed before a football swooshed past her head and in front of her. Her eyes slowly shifted and followed the ball until it swapped places with the boy who threw it. Fucking Tyler. She had only briefly seen him at the party, but that, and the possible future, was all it took to form solid opinions on the guy. For starters, he was an egomaniac with a fucking want to be loved and respected simply because he can push a ball down the field with impressive accuracy and power. Sure, if the possible future was to be believed, he had talent, but he was no Dan Fouts. If Dan Fouts, conductor of the Air Coryell offense, couldn’t win the trophy that mattered in this sport, she truly doubted Tyler would amount to much beyond several ‘what if’ videos on YouTube in ten years. Her face betrayed the ick that his appearance gave off as well. Tyler had decided that the best way to greet this meeting was in athletic shorts over compression shorts, and a workout tank top that painfully revealed the muscular arms and chest. A fucking peacock would be less obvious. Tyler looked back, grinned at the new girl, and flicked a coin into the air, then swapped it with the football. A second later, he spun it into the air, turned back, and headed towards the meeting room, and went inside.

Evelynn stopped in her tracks. She groaned. She placed her hand on the temples of her forehead and rubbed. She groaned even louder. This fucking school was filled with so many examples of cliché American High School students that it might as well be a horror movie. Did she really want to go through with this? Like, sure, the monster attack on the warehouse and the emergence of magic meant she would rather band together with others like her than face the horrors around the corner alone. But at the same time, they were already proving to be, like, the worst. They were all so dumb, selfish, and just downright weird. Evelynn dropped her hands from her face, and they naturally formed fists as they dropped. She stomped three times as she gripped her fists even tighter. She exhaled. She released her fists. Evelynn then looked at the door that led to the cafeteria. She needed to figure out what her future holds, and that was not going to be done by looking there herself. With a step, she headed towards the door, and with a shove, she pushed through it, and with a deep breath, she decided to embrace the unknown.

Evelynn took stock of the room with a frown, but it quickly dropped when she saw a familiar face. Mars, Daniel Mars. She smiled. She then caught another familiar face in Kari Wilson. She smiled a little wider and offered a wave. She did not know where she should sit, and judging by the judgment she would experience near Kari if the possible future were believed, she opted to sit next to the guy who experienced the worst of the warehouse right next to her, and helped save her after she was struck. Her hands quickly gripped the straps of her bookbag, navigated the room, and found a seat next to Daniel. “Hey, party boy,” she paused as she thought to herself that she was glad he was here. She looked away from him and back to Kari, and the two girls next to her. She drifted her view over to Vicky and then over to Tyler. She knew she was the odd one out here, and that everyone already likely knew each other. Thus, it was time to make introductions. “Ummm, hi. I am Evelynn, new to the school but not new to the grind. I can see the future and shit.”

---

Blood dripped down her legs, crimson red drops staining white porcelain, turning pink as water diluted them. There was blood on her hands too. She couldn’t get it off, no matter how hard she scrubbed them, or how much pain she caused herself in repentance. It wasn't really there, she knew that, but she couldn't get rid of it, just like she couldn't get rid of her feelings of self hatred and despair no matter how hard she tried.

Tuyen pointed the shower head to the fresh wounds on her thighs, joining ugly lines that spanned years of time. The burning sensation as the water hit them made her wince, further calming the static in her mind. But the thoughts never really went away.

Especially not right now. In the weeks since the event Tuyen had only spiraled further. She attended one day of school, then skipped the rest. Otherwise, she only left the house to go to work.

Until six days ago.

Then the Shadow had played an especially cruel trick on her. Sleep deprivation had already wreaked havoc on her mind. Nothing felt quite real… So it was even more difficult to tell what was a hallucination and what wasn’t.

For a whole day, she’d been back there. In the small apartment she shared with her dad, with the peeling paint on the walls and the mismatched furniture. She was younger. Eleven, maybe, with a lighter heart. A year before it happened- before what happened? Losing him felt like a bad dream. Because he was right there as if plucked from her blurry memories. They talked just like they always did. They ate, and she read him the latest short story she finished. He liked it.

It felt so real.

Then it was gone. Back to the bedroom with its pristine walls and handed down furniture, her dark green blanket gripped tight in her hands and a deep emptiness left in her chest. She hadn’t even told him everything she’d wanted to.

It was the first time since her dad’s funeral that she’d truly considered following him. There wasn’t anyone left for her anymore. Nobody would miss her. Not Min, who’d left for a better future, nor Vicky, who’d been ignoring her for weeks. Nobody. It didn’t seem worth suffering anymore. She was miserable, and she made other people’s lives worse. Maybe if she died she’d be able to go back to the apartment again.

In the end, she couldn’t quite see it through. She was a coward, and the Shadow wouldn’t let her take the easy way out. Instead she hovered just above that point, her ability to function completely gone. It was bad enough she called off work ‘sick’, asking to be taken off the rota for at least a week. Money wasn’t such a concern when she was barely eating, and a future didn’t even seem possible.

As if realising it had gone too far, the Shadow had been quieter since. Not completely silent, but less present. It wasn’t like it was needed to make her mood drop.

No, that didn’t take much. Just as she was beginning to drag herself out of the deep depressive pit, her aunt and uncle came home. Then, her aunt found out about the party, and about how she’d been skipping school. Her reaction had been even worse than normal. She said things even the Shadow didn’t think, told Tuyen she didn’t deserve to be born, and beat her shoulder with a shoe for good measure.

It was another first since her dad’s funeral- the first time she almost cried in front of someone. But she didn’t. She had to function again, no matter how difficult it felt, and how leaving her room felt like she was being dragged across burning coals. She had to leave the house again, trying to pretend she wasn’t drowning and make herself look the part too. And tomorrow was that day. No, it was today, now.

She remembered what Min said when he called her earlier.

”Don’t take anything she said to heart. Remember it’s the anniversary tomorrow… You know how much she loved her sister. Just be careful, and gentler, please?”

She was my mom too, Tuyen had wanted to say. Don’t I deserve some kindness?

But she couldn’t. She agreed, as though she’d ever forget the day her mother died, and like it didn’t affect her just as badly. She knew Min meant well. He’d been concerned about her too, and he was just trying to make her feel better. She didn’t deserve any sympathy anyway. It was her fault. Her mom’s blood was on her hands as much as those teenagers in the warehouse.

A buzz from outside the shower brought her out of her spiralling thoughts before the razor ‘slipped’ again.

Maybe Vicky had finally decided to text her back. It was unlikely… She must be really mad this time. The longest Vicky had ignored her before was a week. In a way it had been harder then, because Tuyen went to school and had to see her everyday, but still–

It wasn’t Vicky. It was… Kari? They’d talked a few times, mostly when Tuyen was in the library alone. They had a similar taste in books… but couldn’t be considered anything close to friends. So why was she texting her?

It was about a meeting… For magic people? But Tuyen didn’t have magic. Who’d told her she even knew about it? She didn’t want to go… but it would be rude not to. Besides, she wasn’t allowed in the house tomorrow. Her aunt wanted her out all day. It was so unfair.

Maybe Vicky would be there. Would she be upset if Tuyen didn’t text her about the meeting? She had to be invited, didn’t she? Biting her chapped lips, Tuyen sent another quick text- the fourth without response. After the first three, she’d been waiting for Vicky to reach out first.

Are you doing anything tomorrow?

There. Tuyen took a deep breath, putting her phone back beside the sink. Now she had to actually shower… Shower and deal with the sluggishly bleeding cuts on her legs, then make herself look as human as possible.

---

”Hi Mom. It’s been a while… Almost two months. I’m sorry I didn’t visit before. I have a lot to catch you up on… Will you tell dad for me? I’m not ready to talk to him outloud yet. I- I just can’t w-without- I’m sorry… I don’t want to believe it. But he’s there with you now. I- I hope you’re together at least.”

”There was a party last month… Something attacked everyone. I don’t know what it was, some kind of monster, and it killed so many people… Things have been strange since. Everything’s different… I- I’ve- There’s something haunting me. I don’t know what to do, it- it shows me things. Or- Or I’m just going mad. I don’t know. Someone else also- Well, it’s not quite the same. But it’s not just me being haunted… So I think it’s real, whatever it is.”

”But I’m doing fine, really, I promise. Tell dad that too. He wouldn’t believe it if he was here. You… I don’t know about you. I barely knew you. Dad didn’t tell me what you thought about m- magic. It doesn’t matter. I’m alright, it’s just been strange. I’ll come back sooner this time.”

A small bunch of white chrysanthemums was put in front of the neatly kept grave.

”I love you, mom. Goodbye.”

I love you too, dad. I miss you.

---

It was strange coming back to school now that it was closed, after skipping it for all of the weeks it had been open. It was unnerving just how quiet it was, the oppressive atmosphere drawing Tuyen’s shoulders towards her ears.

She felt some relief at the sight of Vicky’s bike chained to the rack, putting her own much more worn one beside it. The relief quickly turned to anxiety. What if Vicky was mad at her for coming along, or upset she hadn’t made more of an effort? Or worse, if she continued to just outright ignore her.

Hopefully not. She’d even made the trip to Starbucks, suppressing the panic attack from being somewhere with so many people (not that many by most other’s standards) to get the complicated drink her friend couldn’t go a day without. She’d been more careful with it than herself, bashing her knee against a pole to avoid spilling even a little bit of it.

The scrape from that incident was hidden along with the carefully bandaged cuts by the dark green pinafore dress she wore. It fell just above her ankles, layered over a baggy cream sweater that covered the nasty bruise on her shoulder and the other marks on her arms. There were times during the hallucinations when she accidentally scratched herself, and others when she dug her nails into her skin to bring herself out of it. It's sleeves were even long enough to cover her cracked, red hands if she wanted to.

She didn’t want to go inside. She wanted to go back home and hide in her room until she withered away.

What was worse? Facing her aunt, or whoever was invited to this meeting?

The Shadow crawled up the bike rack, white eyes narrowing tauntingly. It didn’t need to speak in her mind for her to understand it. She was a coward. She didn’t want to deal with either.

She took a deep breath. It would be no different from school. She’d fade into the background, listen carefully, and maybe learn something that could help her. People would barely notice her. They wouldn’t be able to notice how pallid her skin had gotten in the last month- golden brown turned to a more dull ashy tone. She could just blame the lack of sun recently anyway- she always went a shade paler in the winter. Nobody would think too hard about how it was barely October.

And she’d put on enough makeup to hide the dark bags under her eyes, though she couldn’t use it to cover the bloodshot eyes that went hand in hand with severe sleep deprivation. It wasn’t like anyone would care, especially if she smiled. She looked like she should a month after watching so many people dying- a little tired, a little stressed, but coping.

Tuyen took a deep breath, finally forcing herself into the building. Thankfully one of the side doors was unlocked, so she didn’t have to try to go in the main door. The soft thuds of her converse on the ground seemed to echo around the empty corridors, causing her to flinch and hurry faster. She didn’t want to linger.

Her entrance was quiet, especially when compared to Tyler’s. She slipped in practically silently, hoping to go unnoticed, but still smiling in case she didn’t. This warm smile was flashed towards Kari in a polite greeting as her gaze flickered between everyone there in a way that was too quick to be relaxed.

There were a couple of people she was relieved to see, and many she wasn’t. Daniel and Tommy’s presence was a small comfort where all the others put her on edge. One shared a similar curse to her, and the other had been kind when he didn’t need to be… The rest she barely knew.

Except Vicky, whose presence brought both comfort and put her on edge.

”Hi, Daniel. It’s nice to see you again,” she said quietly, under the cover of Tyler trying to draw the attention of the whole room. He looked like he was sleeping better than when they talked before, at least- she wanted to talk with him again about their problems, but now wasn't the right time. Not with so many people around. She couldn't linger, though she went a slightly longer route so she walked past him on the way to Vicky. Avoiding the centre of the room, obviously. She had to talk to Vicky quickly… She wanted to. She really did. She missed Vicky, but she also understood why she was ignoring Tuyen. Of course she was. She was busy with magic, and probably still upset about that group chat, and upset that Tuyen hadn’t stood up for her more.

”Vicky! You’re here… I thought you would be, since you actually have magic.” Unlike her, was left unspoken. “I brought you a drink.”

Tuyen stopped just to the side of Vicky, speaking quietly enough that only Tommy should be able to hear as well - especially as she stood more in front of Tommy than Vicky. She put the sugar-free vanilla latte on the table beside her friend. It meant she could take it if she wanted it, or ignore it just like she’d been ignoring Tuyen. Deservedly.

”Don’t worry if you don’t want it. I just wanted to get it for you, it’s your normal order- unless that’s changed. It’s really nice to see you… Hi Tommy.” She turned her smile from Vicky to Tommy, before glancing past him towards Porter. She was a little sad that the massive mustelid was away from his summoner… It would be easier to calm down if she was able to pet him again.

She didn’t sit down, awkwardly standing there as she tried to figure out where she should sit. Beside Vicky would be her preference, but if she gave her the cold shoulder, then she could sit next to Tommy… She’d still be close. Part of it was the selfish desire to be close to her only friend, for whom her feelings were stronger than she wanted them to be, and another part was a less selfish desire to actually be there if another monster appeared.

Her smile wavered a bit as she actually processed what Tyler said. She didn’t have the confidence to voice her thoughts to the group, so she just quietly spoke to Vicky and Tommy instead. ”I thought this was a meeting to figure out what’s going on. Did I miss something? Why is he talking about leadership?”

Tommy did his best to not roll his eyes at Tyler when he came in dressed like a mascot for the Steelheads, whinging about leadership. Vicky and Tyler were practically made for each other, the way they both had so much obnoxious gravitas to them that sucked the air out of whatever room they were in. It was like they’d explode into a singularity if they got too close to one another, and then maybe the rest of them could finally, finally get something done.

“This does not inspire confidence in your leadership. We might need a proven leader to step in at some point,” Tyler paused as he spun the football in front

Tommy groaned. ”This fucking guy…”

It was nice to see that Tuyen was here. Tommy felt at ease knowing she hadn’t been killed, and that someone had managed to get her involved. Even if she couldn’t actually cast spells, that was just all the more reason for her to be here and get on the same page with everyone else. And he didn’t know her that well, but Tuyen was a hell of a lot more reasonable than some of the individuals among them.

”Hey. Not much happening yet.”

Tommy was hoping there’d be more people. Maybe not every teenager in Cornell, god forbid that many people got fucked up, but maybe a few more who might’ve seen something. There were around ten of them in here. Tommy, Vicky, Tyler, Tuyen, Daniel, Kari, Lupe, Zakira, and that new girl. Who… Could see the future?

That sounded ominous as fuck.

”I thought this was a meeting to figure out what’s going on. Did I miss something? Why is he talking about leadership?”

”No, you didn’t miss anything. Except half a day going by in seconds, apparently.”

Tommy stuck his hands behind his head and leaned back in his seat. ”And Tyler’s running his mouth because that’s one of the only two things he knows how to do; Throw a football, and pretend he’s the last damn tough guy on Planet Earth.” And then he turned his head and raised his voice so the Silver Star athlete could hear him. ”Nobody’s leading anybody into anything until we know which way is up. Sit down, Fox. We’ve got shit to talk about.”

He stuck a finger gun towards his deck on the table and dropped the hammer thar was his thumb. The deck flashed gold, and his two other summons appeared. Raptor, his jagged bird companion appeared on the back of an empty chair. And the woven coyote he called the Watcher appeared beside him, sitting and yawning.

Just in cast that punk felt like trying something funny.

---

---

Vicky mockingly let her jaw drop, clutched at imaginary pearls, and mouthed a big “WOW” as Lupe cruised straight past calling her “mommy” or whatever the fuck she always said instead of actually learning names and just went with “bitch” instead. She stared with bemusement as the girls bickered back and forth with one another, refusing to let Vicky get a word in edgewise, throwing her hands up in confusion as Kari chastised Lupe and Vicky for trying to start shit. Like, why was Vicky getting blamed? She hadn’t done anything wrong!

“Drama? I don’t even know what you're talking about,” said Vicky as Kari shot her a weirdly pained look. She curled some hair around her finger and gave a fake smile as she defensively added, “If it’s about that swim team stuff, I was just joking. I do not care.”

Lie.

“YOU’RE LATE!” shouted Vicky in response to Daniel’s normal, appropriate volume greeting, breaking their (or, let’s be honest, her) rule of only speaking at church or at camp.

She had seen him enter the room from out of her peripheries and her eyes had snapped towards him like a hungry lion, desperate to remove herself from any further involvement with Lupe before she got recruited to help extract the giant, tree-sized stick that had been shoved up that loudmouth’s ass or, worse, be asked to help move chairs. Vicky eyed the cupcakes and the sodas, wanting nothing more than to grip and rip a cola after wolfing down the cupcake with the most icing. How fitting that it was the pastor’s son who would try and lead her down the path of temptation. Vicky grimaced ever so slightly as she flashed back to Bible Camp, hand on her hips, smile too wide, shouting out to a group of kids in matching pastel t-shirts.

What do we do when Satan tempts us, Brother Mars?

Vicky waved away the offer, still unable to believe she had been able to give that presentation to the kids after how drunk she had gotten off of the Bota Box flavored blood of Christ

That’s right, Sister Prescott!

"There."

Tommy passed her phone back to Vicky as she let out a delighted squeal as she snatched it. Seriously, he had fixed it already? Awesome! She was always breaking her phone. Maybe this was a sign that—the phone slid out of her hand, clattered onto the table, and bounced dangerously close to the edge. Vicky stared at the weird, oversized ferret-puppet-robot-thing that was now following Tommy around.

“What.”

Vicky almost broke her rule again, pointing at the Porter and turning to ask Daniel if he saw it too, when Tyler entered the room. Her whole body tensed and went rigid, her already skintight clothes tightening as she involuntarily flexed. Then Vicky snapped like a rubberband as she deflected his eyeroll with a full body shudder. This fucking guy. The nerve of this fucking guy. Not only had he confidently abandoned her to deal with the cops back at the warehouse party, he had done nothing, nothing, nothing to protect her from the absolute shitshow that came after.

Not that she wanted him to defend her! That would only have made things worse, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that he was a little fucking bitch and like, seriously, did he shrink his shirt on purpose to look bigger? Ohmygawd, a football? Was it supposed to be a fucking prop or something? Did he think they would forget that he was the quarterback of their football team if he didn’t carry it around with him at all times? He probably slept with it. What an insecure bitch! Her grip tightened on her invisible softball bat, which she didn’t sleep with, because that would be pathetic.

It slept next to her nightstand so it could always be in arms reach.

Vicky had been so distracted by Tyler that she had hardly noticed the weird new kid slip in, but not so distracted that she had not noticed that she had said hi to Daniel before everyone else. “I can see the future and shit.”

Like, reflexively? Vicky’s eyes widened as she scooted slightly away from the new kid. She was about to razz Evelynn when Tyler opened his big dumb mouth, saying something like, “Blah blah blah, wah wah wah, I gotta twain, I could be twaining, I’m not a natuwal talent like some people, bitch bitch bitch, whine whine whine, we might need a pwoven weader to step in at some point.”

Hold up. Wait. Did Tyler just volunteer Vicky?

No. Wait. Wait, wait, wait.

HE MEANT HIMSELF!?



The meanspirited laugh cut through the chatter followed by a snort that escaped behind it before Vicky could even move her hand to cover her mouth. She failed to compose herself, biting down on her fist to try to stifle the gigglefest, sounding like a muzzled hyena. A proven leader! Tyler? A proven leader! Because what? They’d won a championship? Something unseen and metallic clattered to the ground as Vicky fell back onto the table and kicked her legs. C’mon, be real. Cornell only had the best football team in their division because it was impossible to get a concussion when the whole squad didn’t have a single brain cell between the herd of them.

She managed to pull herself back up to a seated position, so absolutely delighted by Tyler’s arrogance that she had tears in her eyes, her sides so sore from holding back the laughter as best as she could that she almost looked pained. It was a fortunate happenstance, because Tuyen had now arrived, even though she wasn’t supposed to be here, Vicky wasn’t ready for her to be here. It no longer looked like she was just almost in pain, and she was no longer struggling to breathe because of the laughter but because her chest hurt, and was Tuyen talking to Daniel? Seriously? Seriously? Seriously? She was talking to Daniel instead of Vicky?

Then Vicky knew why, she suddenly knew why, it was because Vicky had been ignoring her, and because Vicky had been ignoring her Tuyen was going to give her a taste of her own medicine, or maybe, maybe even, maybe the reason why Tuyen hadn’t come to school was because she had been sick, sick from the betrayal, the betrayal of choosing Gwen and her friends over Vicky, even though that didn’t make sense, that was impossible, that wasn’t fair, Vicky was the only reason they were friends with Tuyen in the first place, and part of Vicky felt a smug satisfaction in knowing that she was so horrible she could even turn someone as nice as Tuyen into an utter backstabbing bitch who abandoned her when Vicky needed her the most, but mostly Vicky felt like Evelynn’s involuntary bodily reaction after she had seen the future, and OHMYGODSHEWASCOMINGTHISWAYNOHELPSOMEBODYSTOPHER!

Vicky drew back like a viper ready to strike as Tuyen approached, wiping away a tear that she could pretend had been from the laughter, bracing herself for what came next. She stared down suspiciously at the peace offering drink as if it was poison, the longlist of ingredients hovering above the date, the fourteenth. It seemed significant, why did it seem significant, why was the fourteenth—Vicky’s glare softened. Tuyen looked pale. Had she actually been sick? Was it that time of the month, or was it like Tommy had said, and time was all fucked up too? She looked back at the date of the drink, expecting it to have changed like it was a dream, but it still said the fourteenth of October.

Why did that—oh.

Sometimes, almost miraculously, Vicky could realize how awful she’d been, and she truly considered that to be a curse. She hopped off of the table, pulled Tuyen into a tight hug, and promised herself that no matter what, no matter how many stupid bitches or dumb boys or scary monsters showed up, her and Tuyen would always be fine and she didn’t need some stupid poopoo powered future sight to know it. She ignored the question about Tyler. He didn’t matter. Ever.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” said Vicky, squeezing tighter.

Perhaps it was the exact thing Tuyen needed to hear at that moment. Perhaps it was the last thing she had wanted to hear. Either way, it was completely undercut by the sudden piercing sound of a loud sip through a straw right next to Tuyen’s ear, followed not by a yum, but by a contemplative hm. Was that…soy? Vicky pulled away, looked at the ingredients list, did her best not to make a face, set the drink down, and picked up seemingly nothing from the ground.

She hopped back up onto the table, slid the drink a little further away from her where it would remain untouched. But since it was the fourteenth, and since Vicky was such a good friend, she wouldn’t say anything, even though Tuyen had spoken to Daniel first. What was with all these girls talking to Daniel? Should she be talking to Daniel? She shot him a look. Something was off about him. Different. New haircut? Did he always have such a nice jawline? Distracted, Vicky hooked her foot around a chair, spun it around, and kicked the back of it to signal Tuyen to sit down beside her. Beneath her, but beside her.

“Chill, Tommy. Put your stupid menagerie away,” said Vicky.

Not taking the bait with Lupe and now squashing some boy beef before it could happen? Wow, see, she really was a natural leader. Kari could hardly wrangle chairs. Plus, that coyote gave her the creeps.

Others might be trickling in, but it was time for show and tell now. She’d pass on asking Evelynn for a demonstration until everyone else had already gone or the room might clear. Striking a finger through the air, her bat materialized with a spark. It was currently pointed at Tommy.

“If the bat’s pointed at you, you tell us what you can do. Weird animals.” Like a clockhand, the bat ticked over from Tommy to Evelynn. “Shitty foresight.” The bat swung over Tuyen’s head, skipping her, as it settled on Daniel.

“What do you got for us, preacher boy? Are you just here to pass out snacks and try to save our souls?” asked Vicky, her smile growing wicked. “Or is it something else. What does that good book say again, Daniel? Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live?”

---

---

It was interesting to Daniel, how the mind readily accepted whatever conformed to its desired view no matter how incidental. Even in this state, with the things he’d seen and how justified his paranoia or depression may be, he fell into the trap of delusion. The bickering, being yelled at by Vicky, the world hadn’t begun ending a few nights ago.

A laugh of amazement almost erupted from Daniel on witnessing Tommy’s backpack spring to life in the form of a four-legged creature. Not even catching Tommy’s casual invitation to ask for any snacks Porter held within, Daniel followed it with wide-eyes and a bemused smile as it ambled across the room and rested before Lupe.

’I think I’ve finally lost my mind.’ Daniel thought to himself, dryly noting how little care most of the other attendees paid the creature. Seems he’d missed even more than he realised.

“Hey, party boy,”

”Serenelight, Lynn.” Daniel smiled. The wonderment of magic replacing his trepidation, the boy let himself lapse, indulge in the fantasy that this was a homeroom and Lynn was living out a mundane first day of school. Instead of a ragtag group of teenagers discussing the torn fabric of reality.

Naturally, that illusion had to be destroyed. Inside Daniel’s soul, a force pulled at him to pay attention to the other meeting entrant, Tyler Fox. Tellingly, Daniel was able to filter out Tyler’s proclamations initially, the quarterback making a grand, self-aggrandizing speech was, if anything, another familiar part of mundane life. Valor, however, found itself awoken from the tedium of teenage ramblings by Tyler’s insistence on leadership. Much of it was drivel, of course, chest pounding over egocentric matters, what piqued Valor’s attention was the implication and the subject. It remembered Tyler, how he fled, how his decisions condemned someone to death, wrestling the sin away from that monster and bearing it himself. There did need to be someone in control of these proceedings, Tyler needed to be judged, they all needed to be judged.

Daniel tightened his knees, resisting the urge that was compelling him, like a puppet, to rise from his seat and commence the application of justice. A fire burned inside his neck, pushed down into a barely audible choke that threatened to pop his skull from his torso. Tuyen broke him from his struggle, her greeting serving as distraction enough for Daniel to bury the knight from ripping free of its vessel. He managed to give her a weak smile, sadly noting the flecks of crimson marring her eyes. He remembered their promise to each other, it gave him enough wherewithal to stay in control. If she’d managed to endure, so would he.

Breathing steadying, letting the sounds of Tommy and Tyler argue drown into a garbled noise in the back of his thoughts, Daniel Mars remained behind the wheel.

”I-” Daniel was about to explain his “abilities”, or try to encourage some civility, maybe he was going to burst into song. The world would never know, as Vicky reemerged with a vengeance.

The condescending laugh provided the foundation of the performance and Vicky, like a master performer, appeared to go forward from there. Vicky could certainly be disarmingly unpredictable at the best of times, yet Tyler seemed to always set something off in her, Daniel wasn’t sure if Vicky or Valor - the uncompromising anticipation of judgement - had been more challenged by Tyler’s speech. He felt a little sad for her, recalling a moment that stuck with him one year at camp.

iYou’re a nice person.

He remembered saying it very innocuously. A statement of fact. Not even adding the surprise he felt inwardly at the revelation. He, personally, never had any enmity towards the cheerleader, but he’d certainly seen the tears of those who incurred her wrath in the past. She looked at him funny when he said that, as if it wounded her, then confused her, then she smiled, hard. Of course she was a nice person, she was always a nice person. Then she left, quickly. Leaving Daniel behind on the log seat feeling like he’d offended her in some way.

He felt much the same way when she began analysing him from the table, awkwardly looking away and fiddling with his hands. He made the mistake of looking back when the bat appeared from thin air back in her hand. Magic still couldn’t help but fascinate him, like a boy in Galilee seeing water turn to wine. His obvious attraction to magic and the possible sacrilegious implications still troubled him.

“What do you got for us, preacher boy? Are you just here to pass out snacks and try to save our souls? Or is it something else. What does that good book say again, Daniel? Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live?”

Screeching, the chair’s legs emitting a high pitched scream as they dragged across the laminated floor. Daniel Mars was on his feet without ever realising he wanted to stand, twisting his body and gripping the bat in his hand. Pale blue lamps stared at Vicky, peeling away the artificial layer and witnessing her in all the ways a person preferred not to be witnessed. Threatening a peacekeeper was a punishable offense, for the sake of harmony with its currently disagreeable host, it would let the first transgression slide. There would not be a second.

And, just as suddenly as that piece of defiance had arrived, it vanished. Daniel’s cold stare softened, as if he’d woken from a coma. His hand quickly relinquished the bat back to Vicky and disgust washed over him, he did not keep the demon at bay this time, its control was surrendered voluntarily.

”I’m sorry.” Daniel quickly said, dropping back onto his seat and gripping his head in his hands. He was naive to think he could control this monster, he was naive to think there was wonderment in any of this.

”I can… I can’t do anything.” He admitted, sitting back and wiping his face. Whatever attempt at composure was gone now, replaced with a dead expression and a thousand yard stare. ”There’s another thing inhabiting my body, my soul. It… I don’t know, found me during the party? It craves justice, whatever that means I usually never know and it’s always bad.”

”It’s strong.” Daniel conceded with a furrowed brow, he directed himself towards Kari’s board, what we know, Daniel realised he didn’t know nearly enough. ”Some of you might have saw at the warehouse. It makes weapons from thin air, is strong enough to toss around debris like paper and it will not stop, ever, until whoever it judges guilty is dead.”

An almost spiteful, quiet laugh - closer to an exhale - passed Daniel’s lips. ”It calls itself Valor.” His gaze lowered with an imperceptible shake of the head. “It’s tough, at least. I- it, took a direct blow from that monster and got back up for more.” His head looked back up, some mixture of shame and insecurity gnawing at his face. ”That’s… that’s it, I guess.”

Daniel went back to looking at no one in particular, the illusion of earlier shattered beyond repair. His hand touched his chest, finding the outline of a cross from his necklace beneath his sweater, he realised he hadn’t answered Vicky’s question, provocative though it may be. He had no answer, none he wanted to verbalise anyway. The matter was clear, they were all abominations, perhaps everyone was, damned from Adam onwards. Daniel bit the inside of his lip, feeling Lynn, Vicky, Tommy, Tyler, Lupe all of them, inching away from him. Even if Tuyen shared a similar curse, even if another being inhabited himself, he felt alone. A freak.

---

It wasn’t unusual for Lexi to be up late. Her wild life often led to sleepless nights by choice- throwing parties in the abandoned steel mill with friends, sneaking into some boy or girl's bedroom once it got dark, band practice till the early hours… All fun things to do late at night. Coming home to her sister commandeering her room wasn’t the kind of fun shit she wanted to be doing.

”Why the fuck are you even here?” Lexi finally asked, after ignoring Danielle for a solid hour. She sat on her bed, window beside her open as she smoked out of it. Dani lounged at the other end, furiously typing on her phone.

“Dad’s is haunted.”

”Ha ha. Bet he was pissed you dyed your hair and you can’t be assed to deal with it.”

“He was,” Dani flicked her recently dyed bright red hair over her shoulder, before fixing Lexi with a deadpan stare. “But I’m not joking. His house is haunted.”

Lexi rolled her eyes. If their father’s house- the house they grew up in- was haunted, surely they would’ve known before now? Something exciting and spooky would’ve happened. But no, somehow it was only recently, when nothing–

Oh, right. They both developed magic.

”So? Quite being a fucking pussy and just tell the ghost to fuck off. I’m not having you stealing my room ‘till you man up.” Lexi kicked her sister’s leg, dismissively waving a hand. She’d only just adjusted this room to be entirely hers, rather than one the two of them shared- no fucking way was she going back to that.

“If I had my way I’d be out of this shitty town. It isn’t my fault the roads are fucked! Like, magically fucked.”

Yeah, yeah, Lexi had heard the story. The big old pity party that Dani was planning to go back to University, only to realise something was absolutely fucked about the roads. So clearly fucked she was too scared to go down them… And got magic out of it. Great. ”Save it with the ‘woe is me’ speech. There’ll be something haunting mom’s place too if your sorry ass doesn’t go back to Gabriel’s.”

“Aw, you’re going to kill me? Really, Lex? You have that in you? Think you can take me?” Dani teased, flashing her a taunting grin. Lexi rolled her eyes again.

She knew from experience that when it came to a physical fight her and Dani were equally matched now- though it hadn’t been the case growing up. One of the pains of being the younger, smaller one. But she didn’t need to be the one to do it. She could just have one of her rats bite Dani’s throat out. What would Dani do about it? Ask a ghost for help.

“Whatever.” Her phone buzzed, drawing her attention away from her annoyance. She expected a text from Natasha, hoping it would give her an excuse to go back out… Huh. Not someone she’d ever expected a message from. How interesting. Her lips pulled up into an evil grin, eyes narrowing with a pleasure similar to what a cat got when playing with a mouse.

”Give me a ride somewhere tomorrow?”

“Huh? What’s in it for me?”

”You don’t join all those ghosts you’ve been complaining about.”

---

For a moment, Tuyen had been terrified that Vicky was going to end their friendship there and then. The way she glared at the cup, and then at Tuyen… It was over wasn’t it? Should she apologise? Beg?

But what she feared didn’t come. Vicky softened… She said what Tuyen had desperately hoped she would. Her tense frame relaxed into the hug, though it was hard not to flinch at the loud slurp in her ear. She relaxed again, though, when she realised it was just Vicky taking a sip, and not some kind of terrifying noise- or hallucination.

”I’m glad too,” she admitted quietly.

She didn’t protest the choice of seat Vicky made for her, just glad that everything was fine between them. She couldn’t lose Vicky today… Not just today. Ever. She’d do anything to keep her friend.

She was a little confused by Tommy’s comment about a day going by in seconds. She hadn’t experienced that? If anything, the day had felt far too long. But days like this always did. It would be better now. She wasn’t alone, even if she wasn’t comfortable in a lot of the company. She could just silently listen.

Thankfully Vicky already knew she didn’t have magic. It wasn’t a lie, either. Even if the bat pointed to Daniel, and he explained his own predicament. His demon allowed him to transform from the sounds of it. Or rather, took over. It wasn’t magic, but it wasn’t normal either. It wasn’t something in between… A third thing perhaps, different from what Vicky and Tommy and the others had. Different from Tuyen’s, even. As far as she was aware, there were no magical weapons or toughness for her.

As Daniel finished speaking, she twisted in her seat to look at him past Vicky, her dark eyes filled with sympathy. She smiled comfortingly at him, as if that would help. Her hands clenched together in her lap, fingers wringing together as she wondered if she should try and say something… Anything to make him feel a little better. But what could she say?

She wasn’t brave enough to admit she was in a similar situation. She didn’t want anyone else to know. It was already hard enough that he did... And he understood somewhat. But she just sounded like she was going insane.

Tap, tap, tap.

Tuyen nearly jumped out of her skin as a loud tapping on one of the windows from the hallway echoed around the room. Her nails dug into her skin, and eyes snapping over to the source.

Tap, tap, tap.

It was a crow… But a crow with only one eye, a gaping socket where the other should be. She bit down on her lips hard enough to draw blood, suppressing the panic she felt seeing it. She couldn’t tell if it was real or not. She could never tell. Why a crow? It wasn’t something she was scared of, but the Shadow didn’t follow any kind of logic. Maybe it was just to freak her out.

She didn’t want to out herself as going insane, but at the same time, what if it was a threat?

”Tommy,” she whispered, leaning around Vicky’s legs to get closer to him. She subtly pointed towards the window. ”Can you see that-”

”So this is where the freakshow is?” Lexi announced her entrance with a typical snide comment, a mirthful gaze flickering across all of the familiar faces. Her lazy smile made it seem like she was just here for a normal gathering. But she was almost always smiling, and it was rarely good.

It was an interesting group. Plenty of losers, and two of her least favourite-favourites- people she fucking hated, but loved to fuck with.

”And Tyler’s already playing with balls! Can’t keep it in your pants, huh?” She grinned at the school’s biggest prick, sauntering into the room. She didn’t properly sit down, instead leaning against the table Vicky had plopped herself on, flicking a cigarette into her mouth and lighting it without any care. She was acting like she owned the place, and looked the part too.

The pockets of her black cargo pants clearly had something in them, bulging in the way they didn’t when they just had a packet of cigarettes in them- maybe it was multiple to get through this meeting. Not that Lexi needed to smoke to deal with people. Other people needed to smoke to deal with her.

More likely there was just everything she could possibly need stuffed in there, because the skimpy bralet on her upper half certainly wasn’t holding anything. She hadn’t even bothered with a jacket.

If anyone looked closely for long enough there was occasional movement. Nothing too obvious, just occasional twitching. It caused the chains hanging off her belt to jingle occasionally, though her movements did the same.

It was less creepy than the tapping that had now ceased… But the crow was still there, half hidden in shadow, but easy to spot for anyone who looked.

”I overheard your shit, Danny- Sounds rough.” Her words were coated in false sympathy. ”How about we perform an exorcism? I know a guy… Don’t worry, it won’t be too satanic. Maybe just a bit of blood. Ah, wait, you need to lose your virginity first. Shame.”

She waved it off, moving onto her next victim. There were so many to pick from.

”Wow, didn’t think you had the balls to show your face after you killed your boyfriend, Posie.” Lexi’s sharp eyes cut to Vicky, smile still filled with fake sympathy. ”Oh wait, sorry, ex-boyfriend. How’s it going with Tyler?”

”That’s not what ha-” Tuyen’s voice was barely above a whisper, but Lexi still caught it, and cut her off.

”Did I ask? Of course you’d defend her, you’re basically stuck up her ass.”

Tuyen bit down on her lips, eyes widening as she forced herself not to panic. She should defend her friend, but she couldn’t, she didn’t know what to say. Lexi terrified her.

Lexi raised her eyebrows, and laughed. ”So, Posie, who’re you gonna point your murder bat at next?”

---

---

Vicky was startled when the normal meek and modest Daniel jumped at her to grab the bat. Eyes that weren’t his own gouged away any sense of power Vicky felt that she wielded over the boy due to her being higher up on the social ladder, or perhaps that judging stare had just been sharp enough to cut through the wool and allow Vicky to truly see how many rungs she had fallen down. What she had said was only meant to be a bit of fun at the expense of Daniel’s devotion. She was a Christian too, even if it was really only in name because it was more acceptable to say that she believed in God when really what she meant was that she believed in herself.

She didn’t pull back or look away, seemingly matching the glare blow for blow as if she refused to be made to look like a chump, but behind her color contacts there was fear. She wasn’t worried about getting hurt—he wouldn’t, he couldn’t, but if he did, she could take him (although, seeing as how she thought she could also take on someone as big as Tyler, Vicky might have the tendency to overestimate her own strength). She was worried that he might inspire other nerds to stand up and push back against her harmless, funny, witty, lighthearted teasing, seriously, seriously, it was just a joke, man! Whatthefuck!

Her lip twitched. Was she about to apologize? For what? She had done nothing wrong. This wasn’t her—”I’m sorry.”

Vicky finally blinked and let out the breath she was holding in. Hallelujah!

“Riiight,” said Vicky as Daniel finished up his explanation about Valor.

She picked her pep back up, acting like she hadn’t been phased at all, and cheerfully resumed the magical show and tell session. Anyone paying attention (and everyone should be paying attention to her because she had the bat and those were the rules) would notice that she moved the bat away from Daniel a bit too eagerly. If Tuyen hadn’t leaned forward in that moment to whisper to Tommy there would’ve been a thwack. Vicky didn’t seem to notice or care, much like a certain somebody didn’t notice or care about the very important detail of what kind of fucking dairy alternative a dear friend, a *best* friend, preferred. Soy?

Soy!?

Soy was bean juice!

“Demonic possession,” quipped Vicky, looking a bit possessed herself as the “playful smile” didn’t quite reach her eyes as it cracked into a sneer, the head of the bat bouncing loudly against the table with a thud-thud-thuddadadada as Vicky’s shoulders slumped and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Lexi was here. Lexi immediately started being an obnoxious, annoying attentionwhore. And she was smoking, too!? Beside Vicky, Tuyen and Tommy would be able to hear a scream being held back, dying after quite the fight inside of the proven leader’s throat, but only a small weird noise escaped from her mouth, something between a cough and a snort, as Lexi pointed out Tyler’s love for balls.

Vicky couldn’t tell what she hated more: how Lexi felt like she could just say whatever she wanted or how Vicky found some of it pretty funny.

”Ah, wait, you need to lose your virginity first. Shame.”

“You don’t count getting diddled by a ghost? Wow, just like Mary,” muttered Vicky beneath another cough and a smirk that faded quickly when she realized Lexi had turned her way. No no, wait, Vicky was off limits. It wasn’t funny when it was turned on her. What about Tommy? Tommy was right there. Do Tommy. Vicky squirmed.

”Wow, didn’t think you had the balls to show your face after you killed your boyfriend, Posie.”

Alarms wailed inside of Posie’s Vicky’s head as she felt flames, flames, flames on the side of her face. Her eyes widened and her pupils reflected the burning embers on the cherry of Lexi’s cigarette, the light growing smaller and smaller as her pupils narrowed and narrowed until the fiery spark vanished and her expression blanked. She would not engage. She wouldn’t, she wouldn’t! Vicky fought off the urge to look towards Tyler, fearful he would just play along with ugly rumors just to get back at her. She fought off the urge to kick Tuyen’s chair to silence her, even though addressing the drama was just as good as admitting to it.

Because she did, she did, she kind of did, technically, in a way, Posie kind of killed him, even though it wasn’t her fault. Why had he come back? Why would he even date someone like her in the first place?

Lexi started talking shit to Tuyen, and for a second she felt her grip tighten on the bat before it loosened again and she was unable to raise it. Then, ”So, Posie, who’re you gonna point your murder bat at next?”

Posie looked beyond Lexi with dead eyes. Then she lowered her eyes and looked down at the bat resting on the table. It might have not been held high and swung carelessly over the heads of her peers, but she still held on to it, and it was pointing at Lexi. She lowered them again, and it would be sometime before Posie looked back up.

She coughed.

---

---

---

“Are you fucking serious? Is this all you could get? I worried that you, Kari, would waste time I could be spending training, but I decided to give this a shot. You know, because we all went through the same shit together. I figured that might have ignited a spark under your asses to do better, but this does not inspire confidence in your leadership. We might need a proven leader to step in at some point,”

Kari’s pen stopped.

Before she could respond, Lupe’s chair scraped violently across the cafeteria floor.

“Lupe-”

Too late.

Lupe crossed the space between the tables in seconds and planted herself directly in front of Tyler. She was significantly shorter than him. It did not seem to occur to her that this mattered.

“... Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to, bitch?” Lupe demanded, tilting her head back to glare at him. She jammed a finger directly into his chest. “Don’t walk in here dressed like you some Gatorade bottle and start talking down to Kari like she’s one of your bitches, dickhead.”

Kari rolled her eyes.

Of course.

She had spent the last few hours trying to create one room where people could exchange information without threatening, insulting, or attacking each other. Tyler had been inside for approximately thirty seconds, and Lupe was already close enough to count his eyelashes.

“Lupe.”

“No, mami. He came in here running his mouth like his knuckledraggin' ass can do anything other than throw a football.”

“Lupe,” Zakira repeated quietly.

Lupe did not move.

Kari pushed her glasses farther up her nose, looked past Lupe, and addressed Tyler herself.

“When did I say I was the leader?”

“Do you really think that you need to say ‘I am the leader’ to be considered the leader? You just,” Tyler looked at the others in the room, “know it. Sheep flock to a shepherd, and girl they flock to you. Can you keep them safe?”

“If not, I can make room for all of you and we can be done with the pretend work, and get on with fixing this city.”

Lupe’s mouth opened.

Kari raised one finger without looking at her.

“Don’t.”

Lupe slowly turned her head.

“But-”

“I just said don’t.”

Lupe stared at Kari for another second, then stepped backward. Not far. Just enough that she was no longer directly in Tyler’s face, nor could she keep her finger in her chest. She crossed her arms and remained beside Kari like an angry, five-foot-one security guard.

Kari looked back at Tyler.

“No one is making room for anyone.”

She closed her notebook.

The sound was not particularly loud, but it carried through the cafeteria now that most of the room had gone quiet.

“This isn’t football, Tyler. We’re not holding tryouts, picking captains, or deciding who gets to order everyone else around.”

Her ribs pulled when she straightened, but Kari ignored them.

“And this isn’t pretend work. People are missing. People are dead. Things are walking around Cornell that shouldn't be possible. Roads are changing, buildings are connecting to places they shouldn’t, and apparently time might be doing whatever the hell it wants to Tommy.”

Kari gestured vaguely in Tommy’s direction without taking her eyes off Tyler.

“None of us knows enough to fix the city alone. I don’t. You don’t. Nobody here does.” She punctuated her statement with a sigh.

Lupe nodded emphatically beside her.

Kari glanced toward her.

“That wasn’t an invitation.”

Lupe pressed her lips together.

Kari continued.

“The point of this meeting is to figure out what everyone knows. What happened to each of us at the warehouse. What we’ve seen since then. What our abilities can do, what they can’t do, and what happens when they go wrong.”

Her eyes moved across the occupied tables.

“Then we exchange information. We compare it. We figure out which parts match, which parts don’t, and which parts we’ve been too scared to tell anyone because they sound insane.”

A short pause.

“Then we come up with a plan.”

Kari looked back at Tyler.

“A real one. Based on what’s actually happening. Not whoever walks into the room and announces that they’re the strongest.”

Lupe made a tiny approving noise.

Kari pointed at her without turning.

The noise stopped.

“You want to help fix Cornell? Good. That’s why you were invited. Sit down, listen, and tell us what you know when it’s your turn.”

Kari opened her notebook again.

“But I never said I was the leader of... whatever this is.”

Lupe leaned closer to Kari and spoke lowly to her.

“... You sounded pretty leader-ish just now, mami.”

Kari’s eyes remained on the page.

“I will throw you out of here by your hair.”

Lupe muttered under her breath but returned to her chair. She dragged it closer to Kari’s table before sitting, positioning herself between Kari and Tyler as subtly as a brick through a window. Zakira remained where she was, leaning against the edge of another table. She had become quieter as more people entered, her gaze moving from one face to another without lingering. She said nothing else. Kari looked around the cafeteria. Most of the chairs were occupied now. Some people had responded to her invitation. Some had apparently just followed someone else inside. A few stood instead of sitting. A few looked like they were already regretting coming.

Kari mentally ran through the names.

Enough faces matched the list that something in her brain decided the count was complete.

It did not occur to her that Ella was missing.

“Okay.”

Her voice came out quieter than she intended.

Nobody immediately responded.

Kari cleared her throat.

“Okay. I think that’s everyone.”

Lupe glanced around.

^{“God help us.”}

“Lupe.”

“What? Look around, mami. We ain't the Avengers.”

Kari took a breath and looked down at her notebook.

WHAT WE KNOW.

WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW.

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW.

WHAT WE DO NEXT.

Four headings.

Simple.

Manageable.

Probably.

“The warehouse wasn’t an isolated incident.”

Kari rested both hands against the table.

“I think everyone here already knows that, but we need to stop treating everything that happened afterward like separate problems.” Or God forbid, someone else's. Kari tacked the last part on in her head.

As she spoke, Zakira pushed away from the table, and Kari glanced toward her - but Zakira gave a small motion toward the hallway with no explanation. Then she walked out of the cafeteria. Kari watched her leave for half a second before continuing.

“The creature at the warehouse... it wasn’t the only thing that came through. Some of us encountered other..." Kari paused as Lupe grimaced beside her. ”...creatures. Some of us can do things I never thought were possible. Some of us have something attached to us now.”

Her eyes briefly moved toward Daniel before returning to the notebook.

“Some people who were there are still missing. June. Isabelle. Maybe others we don’t know about.”

Kari swallowed.

“Camille and Kersten were alive after the warehouse.”

Her voice tightened despite her efforts.

Lupe shifted beside her but did not interrupt.

“They went into the steel mill. I followed them.”

Kari’s fingers pressed harder against the table.

“There was something inside. I’ve been calling it Gorge. It was strong enough to break through walls, eating made it even stronger, and nothing really stopped it. Zakira and Lupe hit it with everything they had. It didn’t matter.”

Lupe finally spoke, her voice quieter than before.

“I mean, mami, it kind of mattered...”

Kari looked at her.

Lupe shrugged one shoulder.

“We escaped.”

Kari held her gaze for a moment.

Then nodded.

“It mattered enough to escape.”

That distinction hurt.

She continued.

“What's stranger is that, in the mill... There was like another place connected to it. A jungle, or..." Kari trailed off. All eyes were on her. I'm going to sound fucking crazy right now. She briefly thought to herself before she continued. ”... Or another Cornell entirely. I don’t know.”

The cafeteria doors opened again.

Kari turned.

Zakira reappeared, walking backward as she pulled something through the doorway. The wheels squealed against the floor before a large whiteboard emerged behind her, apparently liberated from one of the nearby classrooms.

Lupe stared.

“Did you just steal a whiteboard?”

Zakira continued pulling it into the room.

“Borrowed.”

Kari looked at her.

Zakira looked back.

“Your notebook is too small.”

Kari glanced down at the page.

Then around at everyone.

She hated that Zakira was right.

“... Put it here.”

Zakira rolled the board beside the central table and locked the wheels with her shoe. A few faded equations remained in one corner from whatever class had last used it.

Lupe leaned back in her chair.

“Grand theft whiteboard, mami.”

“We're already here illegally.”

“I’m here so I don't get fined.”

“You came voluntarily.”

“Emotionally, I was coerced emotionally, mami.”

Kari stood slowly.

Zakira silently picked up a dry-erase marker from the board’s tray and held it out.

Kari took it.

“Thank you, Zakky.”

Zakira nodded and moved away from the center of the room again, returning to the edge of the gathering. She dug into her bag before pulling out an apple. She took a bite as she resumed watching.

Kari turned toward the whiteboard.

Her hand hesitated.

Then she wrote four headings in large letters.

WHAT WE KNOW.

WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW.

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW.

WHAT WE DO NEXT.

The marker squeaked beneath the final line.

Kari stepped aside so everyone could see.

“Those are the rules.”

She pointed toward the first heading.

“If you saw something, experienced anything, or can demonstrate it, it goes here.”

The marker moved to the second.

“If you think something is true but can’t prove it, it goes here.”

Then the third.

“Anything we don’t understand. Missing people, creatures, places, whatever happened to time today.”

Finally, the fourth.

“We do not touch this one until we’ve heard from everyone.”

Lupe raised her hand.

Kari stared at her.

“Yes?”

“Can ‘Tyler needs to shut the fuck up’ go under what we know?”

Kari lowered the marker.

“Lupe.”

“Demonstrable fact.” Lupe grinned.

From the edge of the room, Zakira spoke without changing her expression.

“... Wrong meeting.”

Lupe frowned.

“There’s another?”

Kari turned back toward the board before either of them could continue.

“We’re starting with the warehouse.”

She underlined the first heading.

“Everything anyone remembers. Even if it seems small. Even if it doesn’t make sense.”

Kari looked over her shoulder at the gathered faces.

“Especially if it doesn’t make sense.”

---

"Prism– Princess– Daylight– Blade!"

With a minute worth of dramatic spins and poses, Ella’s channeler elongated into a blade made of light. She grinned. She had it! This was the fifth consecutive time she’d done it with no problems! She swung it towards her makeshift target- some old chairs she’d dragged out of the basement.

After the party, Ella had spent a week under forced house arrest to recover from a concussion, before training like crazy. She met up with her bestest friends Nora and Kari of course, but when she wasn’t at school or running she was training. Originally, she could only transform into a magical girl, but now she actually had magic attacks.

It was exciting, though the excitement was dampened by what happened at the party. A lot of people had died. While Ella still remained as positive as she could, it had still affected her. Of course it had… She still had nightmares from it. But a magical girl couldn’t cower in fear. She had to get better and protect people who couldn’t! And it wasn’t like she was alone… She had a team.

Wait! She had a meeting today!

The light sword shattered, dissipating into nothingness as she ran back into her house to check her phone.

11:44.

Oh no… She was definitely going to be late!

---

One of the last people burst in in a flurry of noise and colour. Ella’s cheeks were slightly flushed and there was a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead, but she didn’t seem all that out of breath after running the whole way here. While her outfit was as cute and pink as normal, there was the addition of her sailor moon wand hanging from a makeshift holster at her waist.

"Sorry I’m late!" Ella shouted. "I lost track of time, have we started yet?!"

Not waiting for a response, and completely ignoring the tension still simmering under the surface, she bounded right towards Kari. She didn’t even notice the massive whiteboard or the fact Kari looked like she was holding a lesson. Nope, she was completely oblivious to this all, swooping Kari up into a tight hug as if she hadn’t seen her, like, a week ago.

"Kari! I missed you! Is Nora– Oh, wait, I’m interrupting, aren’t I?!" She only noticed something was off now, letting go of Kari and stepping back. She quickly read the board, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck. Whoops! They clearly had already started! Without her!

Which didn’t bother Ella at all, because she was the one that was running late. "Sorry!"

She shuffled back towards Lupe, unable to resist giving her a tight hug too. Honestly, she wanted to hug the whole room, she was just so glad to see them all alive! But she didn’t want to ruin how the meeting was going… Not that she had any idea what was happening.

"Can you catch me up?" She whispered to Lupe, not particularly conspicuously because quiet wasn’t a word in her vocabulary.

Tommy leaned forward to look at what Tuyen was pointing out. He couldn't see anything. So he quietly shook his head and sat up straight, grabbing his deck off the table just in case he had to fight something soon. He was glad nobody seemed willing to put up with Tyler's shit, and nobody seemed to be taking Lexi's either. Except for the damn cigarette... Fucking nasty.

He elected not to comment on the preacher boy being possessed. The irony of that wasn't lost on him, but he didn't imagine Daniel needed anyone's snide comments right now. And, admittedly, something told Tommy that the guy would probably respond poorly to anything coming from the guy who created monsters out of thin air. So instead, he grabbed his notebook and took to the floor for a moment. His monsters all reacted to him standing up, Raptor ruffled his feathers and the Watcher tilted its head.

Porter walked around and sat right in front of Tuyen, staring at Tommy. Raptor hopped onto a table and leered at Lexi.

"I'll go first," He decided, swiping a marker off the bottom of the whiteboard and pointing it in Ella's direction. "We just got started, you didn't miss anything important except some saber rattling from the peanut gallery. Okay, so everyone's seen enough strangeness by now we all know there's a lot to this... I've been digging, snooping around and trying to get a handle on things. Here's what I got."

He wrote several things down in the first three columns.

WHAT WE KNOW.


WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW.


WHAT WE DON'T KNOW.


"I drove over to the diner last week." Tommy thumped the back of the marker against the first line he wrote down. "Brought my mom lunch like I usually do. I ran into Tuyen, we talked, and I showed her the big fat monster that's sitting with her right now. Then she walked in, and she didn't even see him. She damn near walked right over him, like he was invisible to her. Gave us both one hell of a scare, and we just pretended everything was normal. Her and my dad both know nothing about magic. They weren't there, so they weren't exposed to it. Tuyen thinks some people can't see magic at all, and experience tells me she's right, and I think you've got to be... Brought in before you know it. That's good and bad. It means people might not see things, but that also means they can't run from something they don't know is after them."

Thump. Onto the second one. "I spent some time trying to teleport around or make things invisible, the way Tyler and Vicky can. Nothing happened. Whenever I tried to use magic without the cards I stick those monsters in? It's harder, it feels like there's something inside me tearing itself out. And everyone here who can throw spells around has said they've seen the dead come back to speak to them." He flipped through the pages of the notebook in his hands. "Kari called hers White Lux. There's a pattern to how magic works, we've all got something different, but it seems like there's a theme going through it. Kari can learn things and Vicky can hide things. I can make monsters out of thin air... I don't know how much that helps, but that means we can push the limits when we feel them out."

Then he moved over to the top of the second column. The theoretical ideas.

Thump. "This one, I've noticed that things get more stable the longer we look at them. Streets are stretching out longer than they ought to, but when I stare, they go back to normal. And since most people in Cornell are living in less than blissful ignorance, I think they expect things to be normal, which means they stay normal. Or they are normal around them. It's like they're not even pretending half the time, if I'm right. I wonder whether we can take advantage of that, but I wouldn't know how."

That one bothered Tommy the most. If most people had some kind of grounding effect on the town, where they weren't exposed and so normalcy stuck around them for longer, how did that work? How fragile was it? Was that something they wouldn't have forever as things got worse? Was it a skill that could be taught, enforcing normalcy over an area magically?

Thump. "Other Cornells. This one's more Kari than me, but she's onto something. We made a monster that's currently up in the air watching the whole block. Think of it like a crystal ball only Kari can see through.. The further out we go from downtown, it's like a giant came down with a machete and hacked away pieces of the town, and replaced them with something else. I've seen people wandering around at all hours, not knowing where they were, then they're gone with the wind by morning. Billboards on the highway look different, buildings made from bricks looks a few years younger. I think if we try to leave, we just walk into another place like this. And we might not come back, but that monster we made? I can bring him back to me anytime, so we send him instead of anyone who can bleed."

And finally, Tommy waved at the two questions on the third column. "Nothing I've seen or heard, from anyone or anything, answers this. I want to be optimistic and say there's an explanation, some kind of cause and effect, some invisible hand that did this one way or another. But..." He made a gesture with the book in his hand. "I've got nothing. I'd sure as hell like to cast some spell right now that puts things right, but I can't."

---

Lexi’s taunting smile deepened when Vicky didn’t even put up a fight. She really was all bark with no bite. The bat pointed at her was easily pushed to the side. Pathetic. But this was why she was Lexi’s favourite victim. Even her lack of reaction was a reaction. There was nothing more entertaining.

Her eyes lazily moved to Kari as she started going through a bunch of bullshit she didn’t care about, before trying to emulate their lame teachers with an even lamer whiteboard. Lexi wasn’t particularly interested in all this nonsense about fixing Cornell. It wasn’t anymore of a shithole than it had been before all the magic fuckery started.

Tuyen’s head was lowered, trying not to think about the one-eyed crow that was probably not real. She glanced up. It was gone. Another hallucination. It wasn’t the Shadow’s normal style, and didn’t dig deep into her- but it shook her in a different way. It meant she couldn’t trust anything during this meeting. Anything she heard could be changed by it.

Porter sitting right in front of her offered a distraction at least, and she hesitantly patted his head. When there was no rejection, she continued, the feeling of his thick fur underneath her fingers helping calm her down. It made it easy to keep up her happy face, pretending the only things that weren’t fine for her were the issues with the town.

Tommy had a lot to say, and she listened carefully. Some of it she already knew, some of it wasn’t relevant to her- she had no magic, and she hadn’t had any dead speak to her. How nice that would be. If I got magic, I could’ve spoken to my parents.

She’d noticed the streets being weird, though hadn’t paid much attention to it whenever she walked home from work. Thanks to the Shadow she saw so much, she couldn’t trust what she saw in the same way others could. Lingering and looking for too long was asking for trouble. Other Cornells sounded crazy- but everything had gone crazy. But if that was the case, how had her aunt and uncle gotten back without any problems? Was it that people couldn’t leave, but they could come back?

”The magic pattern’s genetic, Timmy. Don’t need a thousand word essay to say that,” Lexi rolled her eyes when he finally stopped going on and on. He made Kari’s speech look riveting in comparison. ”Relative’s get something similar. Dunno how many categories, don’t care, but my sister can see ghosts, and I can bring back dead animals. Necromancy. Mystery solved.”

”I can’t speak about magic,” Tuyen spoke up, acting as if Lexi cutting her off earlier hadn’t completely knocked her confidence. But she didn’t have much in the first place… Keeping up the act was more important. Normally that meant completely blending into the background, or into Vicky’s shadow. Not many people noticed her. But Tommy had mentioned her by name, so she felt she had to say something. ”But being able to see it doesn’t depend on having it. I can see Tommy’s summons even without it… And maybe it’s why the monster in the warehouse was invisible at first. Suddenly I could see it, and I’ve been able to see magic since.”

She smiled at Tommy, before continuing. ”Also, people can come back to Cornell even if they can’t leave. My aunt and uncle came back a couple of days ago… Though I don’t know how relevant that is.”

All boring shit to Lexi. She didn’t care if people could come back in- once she left she wouldn’t be. Not being able to leave was a much worse problem, but she didn’t know anymore than Tommy did. Just that her sister had kindled right before and saved herself from the fate of wandering around forever.

”The freaky furry in the warehouse, the thing leader nerd said to start with,” Lexi side eyed Tommy and Tuyen, ”wasn’t just a bloodthirsty, ugly fucker. It seemed more interested in me and Justice Man than anyone running, cause I didn’t run and he tried to put up a fight.”