like a hop, skip, and a jump above a regular old human, or Rester, as they’re sometimes called. If you’re Middling, it’s just how it sounds. You’ve got some magic, but you’re not blowing anyone’s bangs back. Above them, you’ve got Braws. It’s best to steer clear of them altogether, not that a Braw would have anything to do with a Whimsy, but I don’t want you to make the mistake of approaching one. That would be pure foolishness. If they didn’t kill you, you’d never live it down.”
“So Braws are the strongest?” Then a Braw could definitely get me out of here, and probably a Middling too. I was new to this system, but I’d bet there was no way that the two thugs who’d brought me here were more than Middling.
“No, Makers are the strongest, but I’ve never met one of those myself. They’re called Makers because they’re so strong that they can do or make anything they want. They rule the roost, so to speak—if they exist, that is. I’ve only heard of people, who’ve heard of people, who thought someone might’ve met one once a long time ago.”
Okay, some Middling, all Braw, and definitely Makers. There was going to be someone in this place that would get me out.
“You said there were other pop-ups, like me? Are any of them here?” Having an alliance couldn’t hurt. I wasn’t sure anything could hurt right now. All help would be good.
Her mouth opened but she couldn’t seem to get the words out of it. The silence stretched on for a bit as she looked at the floor and her shoes and anywhere but me before she finally said, “No, there aren’t.”
“But I thought you’d said you talked a lot of Whimsy witches through their first days?”
She nodded. “I have, but they don’t tend to last long. Magic usually runs in families, so you don’t get strong magic popping up out of nowhere. Hence, pop-ups, if you haven’t figured out the name. It’s like a blip that occasionally happens. They come but burn out fast.”
Just as I thought this couldn’t get worse.
“How long do they usually live?” I asked, so I knew how long I had to get out of this place.
“Six months, sometimes. This girl, Cassie, she made it to a year. She was the longest, though,” Rabbit said, dropping her head and toying with the laces in her shoes.
The silence stretched out. “You could be different,” she said. “It’s always possible.”
“It’s okay,” I said, letting her off the hook. It didn’t matter because I wouldn’t be here that long. I was getting out of this place and back to Salem way before six months.
She looked up at me through her lashes, as if afraid to look straight at me in case I exploded.
“Really, it’s not your fault. I’m not going to die here.”
She nodded, not believing me for a second.
4
I woke to the sound of a weird rooster alarm clock, only to open my eyes and realize there was an actual rooster sitting on the top railing of the bunk.
I squinted at it. I would’ve sworn it squinted back before it screeched in my direction.
“Get out of bed already!” I heard someone scream down the hall.
Rabbit’s head popped up. “It’s going to keep doing that until you get up.”
The rooster nodded in agreement before it let out a screech.
“I’m up,” I yelled at it, then jumped from the bunk before I lost my hearing.
The second my feet hit the ground, orange-striped clothes were thrust into my hand and I was shuffled into a bathroom by Rabbit.
“We can’t be late,” she said.
I was too afraid to ask what would happen if we were, so I hustled along. There was a line of girls all bustling about in and out of the bathroom, and it seemed we were last in line for everything. Still, not one hello.
A brunette using the sink in front of me looked at the girl at the next sink over and said, “Rabbit finally got another friend.”
“Only one she can get,” the other girl replied, before they both laughed.
Rabbit looked at the other side of the room, as if she hadn’t heard any of it.
I waited until we finally got our turn as the place emptied out before saying, “They’re a mean bunch, huh?”
She shrugged. “It’s not them. It’s just the way it is here. Even for a Whimsy witch, I don’t have much magic. Magic levels stick together.”
That was all the time we had