School Spirits - By Rachel Hawkins Page 0,59

football field without his asthma flaring up.

And it wasn’t just that. How would Mom react to a boy who was so purely…decorative? Sure, Dex had salted a grave, but he’d taken his nice coat off first.

I shook those thoughts off. They were unproductive and pointless. Instead, I smiled at Nana and said, “So you and Dex moved here from New York?” I thought as far as questions went, it was fairly harmless. But I didn’t miss the way Nana stiffened slightly. “We’ve lived a little bit of everywhere. And I’ve told Dex that the important thing is the future, not the past.”

She stroked his hair. “He’s here now, and that’s all that matters.”

Dex smiled at her, but there was something kind of puzzled about it. Maybe he thought her answer was as weird as I did, but it almost seemed like more than that. It was the same look Finn used to get when she couldn’t remember where she’d put her crossbow. (That happened a lot more often than it should have, if you asked me. You should always know where you’ve left deadly weapons.)

“Nana’s right,” Dex finally said, slapping a hand on the counter. “As Shakespeare said, ‘Don’t look back, you should never look back.’”

“That was a Don Henley song, dear, but it’s an excellent sentiment nonetheless,” Nana said, patting his hand. Weirdness passed, she smiled at me again. “Izzy, will you be staying for dinner?”

If the rest of her food was as good as her cookies, I’d be an idiot not to.

Dex answered for me. “She will be. And then we’re going to go out for a while, if that’s okay with you.

Nana’s face creased into a frown. “Are you sure that’s a good idea, sweetie? Your asthma has been so bad lately—”

But Dex just waved that off. “I’m fine. It’s the time of year or something. Asthma season. But I have my trusty inhaler”—he pulled it out of his coat pocket, shaking it—“and the Fair Isolde to protect me if need be.”

When Nana didn’t stop frowning, Dex dropped the act, leaning in closer to her. “I’ll be fine, Nana,” he said, his voice softer. He laid a hand over hers, and his bracelet caught the light. “You worry too much.”

She touched the silver links around his wrist. “I’m your grandmother,” she said. “It’s allowed.”

Watching them together made me smile, and started this kind of warm, blooming feeling in my chest. Not only was Dex cute and smart and funny, but he loved his Nana—

And that’s when something occurred to me. Dex’s Nana. She was related to him by blood. That meant if he was Prodigium, then so was she. That’s how that worked; there was no skipping generations, no freak human kid born to Prodigium parents.

There were no vibes coming off of Nana, and she’d hugged me. Touched my cheek. I hadn’t felt anything. Not even the slightest hint that she was Prodigium. Still, just to be sure, I leaned forward and said, “That’s a pretty ring.”

Just as I’d hoped, she pushed her hand toward me so that I could get a better look. As she did, I caught her fingers.

Nothing. Not even the slightest tingle.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” she said. “I got it from one of those home-shopping shows. You know, the ones that come on late at night and make silly old ladies like me spend more than they should.”

I laughed harder than necessary, trying to cover my confusion. Nana wasn’t Prodigium, so Dex couldn’t be one either. But if that was true, what the heck was I feeling? No matter what everyone kept saying, I knew that little hum of magic when I touched him wasn’t just hormones.

I turned my head and looked at him grinning at his Nana, his silver bracelet winking in the sun, his coat just impossibly, stupidly purple.

Or did I just want Dex to be Prodigium because the idea of liking him was a lot scarier?

CHAPTER 25

Dex and I spent the rest of the afternoon playing video games. I’d never done that before, but it turned out all those years of training paid off in wicked hand-eye coordination. So while I couldn’t beat Dex at Dragon Slayer IV, I didn’t get totally embarrassed either. Once we’d slain dragons, we ate with Nana. Like her cookies, her spaghetti recipe clearly came from heaven, and by the time we left for the cave, I felt happier—and fuller—than I had in weeks.

Okay, so maybe Dex’s Nana seemed a little overly protective. But Dex was