Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,23

We’ve got more opportunities, so we don’t have tae make any snap decisions immediately.”

Tala nodded. “I guess. Thanks, Dad. I’ll see you guys later.”

“We should have told her about the firebird,” Lumina sighed, watching their daughter run down the driveway.

“Urduja said no. No use getting her too worked up.” Kay paused. “If she doesn’t get tae see Alex after this…then maybe it’s for the better, her not knowing.”

Lumina poured herself another cup of coffee. “I just have a bad feeling about all this.”

“Lumina?”

“Hmm?”

“Is there somebody courting Tala?”

Above their heads, unseen by all, the firebird flew on.

6

In Which Somebody Gets Slapped Because of Dante’s Divine Comedy

Several unusual things occurred at Elsmore High that day.

The janitor came running down the hallway that morning claiming there was a strange bright bird in the broom closet. Being deaf and getting on in years, he was instead ushered into the nurse’s office and offered a mild sedative.

Something had startled the girls in the locker rooms but disappeared before anyone could take a closer look. Because the extent of the description provided was “a dark shadowy thing,” and “totally freaky,” no one was ever caught.

Many of those incidents were lost in the excitement for the championship game later that afternoon, which pitted the Elsmore Tigers against their rivals, the Springbay Wolves. Tala had very little interest in basketball as a sport, but had quietly been to most of the games that year, mainly because Alex wanted someone to go with, which was also her excuse to watch Ryker Cadfael play. Afternoon classes had been suspended in anticipation of the finals, with bonfires for either celebrating the win or commiserating the loss to commence right after. The Wolves had bagged the championship the year before, and the desire for both revenge and vindication was high.

Except Alex wasn’t in his classes. Tala had been hoping against hope that he’d show up to the game at least, given his excitement over it, but his absence suggested otherwise. Was he still even in Invierno? Had he finally been smuggled out of town and into some other backwater hellhole without giving her the chance to say goodbye? She didn’t want to think about that. Surely Lola Urduja couldn’t be that cruel.

The windows at Elsmore were badly scratched, showcasing generations of student graffiti piled on top of each other, marking age like the concentration rings of a giant glass sequoia. The firebird flew from pane to pane, not stopping until it found its target.

It watched Tala during calculus.

It watched Tala during physics.

It watched Tala during history.

Tala had just settled into her seat for English when something pecked at the smudged windows, right next to her ear.

She turned, just as something burst into flames on the other side of the pane.

With a startled shout, Tala lurched as far away as she could, chair overturning in her haste. A hush settled over the class as people turned to stare.

“Miss Warnock. Is there anything you would like to share?” Miss Lowry was a well-built woman with traces of a mustache struggling to escape her upper lip. Many things not tolerated on her watch included shenanigans, happiness, and screaming for no apparent reason. Tala could practically taste a month’s worth of detention.

From the other side of the glass the firebird cooed, still waggling its tail feathers, still showing off.

Tala stared at it, and then back at the class. Nobody else looked out the window. Some students looked confused, others whispered among themselves.

“No, ma’am,” she mumbled, righting her seat. She kept her gaze on her desk until the laughing tapered off. Miss Lowry had turned back to the whiteboard, her quota for administering public humiliation filled for the day, and thankfully without any mention of detention. Tala risked another look, but the bird had already disappeared.

“We have a new student today,” Miss Lowry announced, and heads swiveled in surprise as the girl stepped through the doorway.

She was a pretty, petite brunette, smiling and stylishly dressed in a ruffled skirt and a blue blouse, looking like she’d stepped out from a magazine cover. Despite Tala’s own muddied understanding of fashion, the new girl’s outfit was something she recognized as far too expensive for the likes of here.

“This is Zoe Carlisle from New York City. I trust that you will all make her feel at home.”

That was unlikely, considering this was obviously a one-eighty degree turn in life choices for her, and the class reacted with the curious glee they usually reserved for say, monster truck rallies. At the