point. I don’t like to be poked, so can we really fault this magic for not liking it? I don’t think so.”
At least when he was chiming in now, he was on my side.
“Don’t sweat it, Rabbit. You still have until after Yule, maybe even longer, to learn all this stuff,” Zab said.
Yule, what they called Christmas around here, was only days away. I’d never thought I’d be spending the holidays here, but it wasn’t too bad, because at least I liked most of the people I was with.
“Can we get a tree?” I looked over at Zab and Musso.
Musso paused for a second before he said, “Yeah, we put one up in the back room every year.”
It was a bald-faced lie, and I could’ve kissed him for it. “See? We can study this stuff as we decorate for Yule. It’ll be fun.”
“You’re right. It’ll be fun,” Rabbit repeated, trying to gear herself up. “What other subjects did we need to cover today?”
I looked down at my pad. “Starting a fire. In Rest, there are these things called matches. You don’t use your hands.”
The lines on her forehead deepened. “Matches?”
“Rabbit, you’re going tomorrow,” Hawk said.
We all fell silent as all eyes turned to Hawk, who was standing in the doorway.
I was too stunned to say anything. I’d thought we had weeks.
“Okay,” Rabbit replied as she chewed on her lip and looked at me.
“We should wait until after Yule. I’m not sure I’ve told her about everything yet.” I couldn’t tell him she wasn’t ready. Then she’d know she wasn’t ready either, and we were already working with a confidence problem.
Hawk glanced at me before turning his attention to Rabbit. “My schedule is too busy after Yule. It has to be now.”
Rabbit swapped her lip out for the pencil. She’d never question Hawk. She was a Whimsy witch, and Whimsy witches took what they got without complaint. Luckily, she had me, who didn’t give a shit what level witch she was. I didn’t care what level I was, either. My magic could be wiped clean tomorrow and I wouldn’t miss it.
He couldn’t give her one last Yule in Xest? Her whole life was about to get upended. He might not know how horrible that was, but I did. It wasn’t that hard to jump, from what I’d seen.
“How long is it really going to take that you can’t squeeze it in?” I asked.
The room went from a normal quiet that happened when people stopped talking to the kind where you were all lined up in front of a ditch, waiting for the firing squad.
“Because that won’t work for me,” Hawk answered, giving me a look that suggested I accept it.
“And tomorrow won’t work for us,” I said.
Rabbit gasped. Good thing I’d thrown that “us” in instead of “her,” or she might’ve keeled over.
“Too bad,” he said.
I stood. “You’re being a—”
“Give us the room,” Hawk said.
They cleared out in less than two seconds, including Rabbit. Even though I was fighting her fight, I didn’t blame her, or them. They’d been born into a caste system that had probably never been questioned. Ever.
The last body gone, with a flick of Hawk’s wrist, all the surrounding sounds disappeared.
“Did you not stop to think that I might have a good reason?” he asked, more aggravation leaking into his tone now that we were alone.
“I find it hard to imagine what reason you have that would rob her of her last Yule here.” He probably had a date night with Belinda. It was one thing to make me sit around all night waiting for him, but he wasn’t doing this to Rabbit.
He made a humming noise. “I guess that’s my answer, then. How about this? She couldn’t light another candle this morning. Couldn’t even get it to smoke.”
She was almost out of magic?
I walked over and shut the door to the back room. It didn’t matter if they couldn’t hear us. I was afraid someone might walk past and see me. The way I was feeling right now, they wouldn’t need to hear anything. I was sure one look at my pale skin and they’d know it all.
“You said she had months.” I sat on the couch, resting my arms on my legs and letting my head drop forward.
“She should’ve, but she must’ve been using too much magic somehow. It has to happen tomorrow.” The anger had been stripped from his voice.
When I glanced up, I saw the same feeling I was having reflected in his