Magian High (3 page)

“What if I feel it, but don’t show it?” I asked.

“No power lost,” she said, “but no love gained, either.”

“And if I don’t feel it, but I pretend to?”

“If you don’t feel love, you don’t lose magical power, period.”

“Why don’t the
Nomers get magic, too, when they receive love from Mages?”

“They do.  When Mages condescend…”  She put both hands on my shoulders
and took a deep breath.  “I was born a Nomer, Kincaid, but your father loved me so much that I became a Mage.  He lost some of his power at first, but we kept love alive in each other until the magic grew quite strong in both of us.”

“
Whoah!  I didn’t know…”

“
When he died, it left a void of love in our home that would normally have been directed at me,” she explained sadly, “which is why some of my powers have depleted a little.”

“But Kelsey and I love you.”

“Yes, you do.”

There was a beat of silence while that sunk in. 
“We need to show it more,” I said slowly, suddenly feeling guilty for all the times I totally took her for granted.

She gave me a half-smile.  “That would sure help.”

I got up and hugged her really hard, and I meant it, too.  It wasn’t a guilt thing.  She started to cry, which I hate, but when we pulled apart, she smiled again, happy this time.  I sat down and tried to absorb this whole Magic transference concept.  “It seems like the way it works, it doesn’t really encourage us to love others, does it?  I mean, in case you don’t get loved back.”

“That’s how a lot of Mages see it.  Actually,” she sighed, “it’s the only thing that will empower us all.
  You’ve always been great to your friends, and see how you do?  No power lost.  But
I
think you’ve got to be willing to give it all away—
all
your love—before you’re worthy to receive the power of love.”

“
Which is Magic.”

“
No.  Just the power of love.  It’s worth more than magic any day of the week, honey.  Any day of the week.”

The next morning, I caught up with Amity just before she reached the front steps of the main building.  “Hey, Amity, we have to talk.  I learned something last night,” I said.

“Yeah, so did I,” she said, kind of grouchy.  “You still think you’re superior just because you’re a Mage.”

“What?  No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do,” she said, heading up the stairs.

“Amity,” I said, lowering my voice.  “I learned how magic is passed on—”

A
Water Ball pelted me in the shoulder.  I looked past Amity to see Jack and about six other Punkers staring down at me.

“Fire and water don’t mix, Kincaid,” said Jack,
tapping two Water Balls together.  “You should learn something from that.”  He hurled one of the Water Balls at Amity’s face, and she squealed.

“Knock it off, Jack,” I said.

“I’m trying,” he sneered.

The Punkers moved towards us, and Amity and I were forced to back down the steps.  When we reached the bottom,
they formed a ring around us, all flying a few inches above the ground.  With their shoulders almost touching, they locked us in and began to rotate slowly around us, like a hovering wheel of stupid.  Except that they all either had Water Balls or flaming thumbs.  We’re not supposed to use any magic on campus except Flash Jumping to get to outbuildings for classes, but I knew no one would really see what they were doing.  Amity and I found ourselves back-to-back like the trapped heroes in the movies always do, except I knew we didn’t have any awesome moves to bust out with.

So I played the diplomat.  “C’mon, Jack.  Let us in.”

“You can go in.  Not her.”

Amity grabbed my wrist.

“Can we talk about this, Jack?” I asked.

“You talk too
much
, Kincaid.  That’s the trouble with you.  You need to learn when to shut up.”

Amity stiffened.  “You aren’t allowed to use magic on campus.  Leave us alone.”

“Tell your Nomer friend she needs to shut up, too.  She may be the best at Wiser, but she doesn’t know anything at Magian.  Tell her that.”  I hesitated.  “
Tell
her!” yelled Jack, moving in closer and stuffing the second Water Ball into my face.  It splashed down my chin.  He glanced at Amity and flicked a spark in her face.  She screamed, and the Punkers all laughed.  They started gliding in and out, bumping their shoulders into us and knocking us around.  Amity turned and cowered into my chest and I tried to shield her, but we both fell to our knees.

The bell rang
, and everybody froze.  “I have to get to class,” I said, standing up.

Jack backed up and signaled the others.  “Let Kincaid go to class, guys.  He needs to keep his grades up if
he wants to date a Wiser Nomer.”

He and a guy named Curry
opened up just enough room to let me pass, but I wasn’t about to leave Amity to the wolves.  I grabbed her hand and pulled her in close under my right arm.  Then I pushed through the gap with my left hand sparking from all fingers.  Not enough to hurt anything, but enough to get them to flinch back.  Amity and I ran up the stairs, still holding hands, and the Punkers followed us, flying as far as the door.

Once inside, I looked back to see them grinning with menace at us.  Jack pointed to us with flames coming out of his fingers and laughed.

Amity squeezed my hand before letting go.  “Thanks.”

“See you in chemistry,” I said.  “And…we still need to talk.”

“Yes, we do,” she said, but this time, she didn’t look mad.

***

Ten minutes later, Amity and I met up again in the office, both busted for being tardy.  Mr. Blakely was in talking to some parents, so we had to wait.  We sat down and decided to read a chemistry chapter together.  There were too many secretaries and teachers milling around for us to discuss anything private.

After a few minutes, Miss Flinckey shuffled by
on her way to the copy machine.  “Oh, hello, Amity,” said Miss Flinckey warmly.  She’s one of those little old ladies who you know was probably really pretty in her prime.  I watched her chat with Amity for a minute, not really hearing what they were saying.  I was thinking about what Petercriss and Whittle had said about her losing her Jump.  It occurred to me that I’d never really seen her use any kind of magic, except maybe some Healing Magic if a kid had a bloody nose or something.  I wondered if she’d lost part of her powers because she’d loved a Nomer who didn’t love her back.

Apparently, I was staring because she winked at Amity and popped me on the head with her papers.  “He’s not as useless as he looks, dear.  That’s a good boy, that Kincaid.  He gets things done.”

I closed my mouth and sat up straight.  “Oh.  Thanks, Miss Flinckey.”

When she left to punch buttons on the copier, Amity whispered, “
Besides you, she’s the only one here who’s nice to me.”

“Yeah, she’s nice to everyone.” 
For a minute, I saw Magian High through Amity’s eyes, and I didn’t like it much.  We might have magic here, but most teachers and students weren’t very open or nice.  Hadley had always called me different that way, but it’s how Mom raised us.

But looking at Flinckey shuffle back out of the office, I wondered if it was worth getting close to others.  I
mean enough to
really
care because what
if
I ended up like Flinckey?

Amity nudged me.  “
Are you reading or not?  It’s your turn.”

“Huh? 
Oh yeah.”  I started reading the next section out loud while, in my mind, I tried to figure out whether or not I liked Amity.  And what would happen if I did.

After a long time,
Mr. Blakely came out of his office with somebody’s parents looking weary, and led them to the hall with several soothing words.  I knew he had his hands full with people concerned about the changes, but he smiled at me and nodded at Amity.  “What are you two doing here?”

“Tardy,” I said.

“Thanks to the Punkers,” added Amity.

Mr. Blakely ro
lled his eyes.  “Oh, good grief, I’m sorry.  I’ll take care of it.  You missed
all
of first period?”

“
Pretty much.”

He looked sympathetically at Amity.  “
I hope that doesn’t affect your grade, Miss Griffin.”

Amity looked surprised.  “Oh.  Nah, I’ll be able to pull it up.”

“Well then,” he said, ushering us out.  “Get to class.  You’ll be early for second period at least.”

“Thanks, Mr. Blakely,” I said.

We grabbed our books and headed out into the hall.  “He’s all right,” said Amity.  She stopped and looked me straight in the eye.  She’s a little shorter than I am, and I was distracted by the warm color of her skin when she suddenly reached up and kissed me on the cheek.  “Thanks, Kincaid, for saving me earlier.”  I think my eyes bulged because she laughed at my reaction.  She started walking down the hall as the bell rang to release first period.  “C’mon, lab partner, don’t be late to class!”

I did not hear
anything Mr. Petercriss or Amity said all period.  I almost couldn’t see straight.  Twice, Amity poked me to get my attention.  She kept working and looking at me sideways.  After class, I went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face and cool down.  Miraculously, there was no one in there, so I could take a minute to regroup. 
She kissed me!
  I’m assuming that’s Girl for “I like you.”  Unless she was just grateful for the pathetic way I defended her from the Punkers.

With the water still running,
I looked at myself in the mirror.  I guess I’m good-looking enough: tallish with thick, dark hair.  Girls say I have a nice smile.  It’s not totally impossible that she’d find me attractive. I rubbed my chin.  Making sure no one had walked in, I checked out my physique in the mirror.  I know not to use magic for everything, so I have actual muscles.
But what will happen to me if I like someone with no magic at all? How did it work for Mom and Dad?  They got married, but in high school, girlfriends come and go.  There’s no guarantee…I turned the water off and stared down the drain for probably a whole minute.  When I looked back up at myself, I said, “You may look like a man, Kincaid, but first, figure out what it means to
be
a man—with or without magic.”

***

I made it through the next two classes focusing as hard as I could, and then went outside with Hadley and Elizabeth for lunch.  We were all joking about the new P.E. uniforms when suddenly a crowd of about ten Mages swooshed by us.  I recognized them all, and was surprised to see them breaking the rules like that.  They were flying a few inches off the ground and sort of going back and forth in front of the bleachers.  I did a double take and saw that they all had sparking fingers.

“What’s up with them?” I asked.
  “Are they auditioning to be Punkers?”

“Didn’t you hear about the Protest?”
asked Elizabeth.

“Yeah, man
,” said Hadley.  “The Mage snobs are doing this Protest thing.”

“What, by sparking?” I scoffed.

Elizabeth shrugged.  “It sure freaks the Nomers out.”  She indicated the bleachers and we moved to sit down.  “So, is it true you skipped first period to be with a Wiser girl?”

“What?  No!”

Hadley grinned.  “Rumors, man.  You were seen.  You know how this place is.  Is she hot?”  Elizabeth elbowed him.  “I mean, nice?” he amended.

“She’s really nice, once you get to know her,” said a voice from below.  We all looked down to see Amity.

“Hi, Amity,” I said, feeling my face flush red.

Elizabeth’s eyes widened. 
“Oh, hey.  Hi.  Come join us.”

Amity looked genuinely happy.  “Thanks.  I’m Amity.”  She came and sat above me, so we all formed a diamond on the benches with Hadley at the bottom.  “You guys are in my study hall, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I’m Elizabeth, and this is Hadley.”

Hadley
stared at me with a big smile on his face.  He leaned up and whispered, “So is it true?”

“
What’s this about a Protest?” I asked, trying to change the subject, and trying not to look at Amity too directly in case I started sweating.

“I think Jack got it going,” said Elizabeth.  “Count on him to be an idiot.”

“How is it that he’s even here?” I asked.  “He’s supposed to be at Wiser, isn’t he?  He lives on the east side.”

“I’d pay money to see him survive a day at Wiser,” said Amity.

“Really?” said Hadley.  “You got smart bullies over there?”

Amity laughed.  “No, but if you’re not focused on your studies, you get booted out fast.  That’s why our enrollment was so much lower.  We don’t put up with an ounce of crap.”

“Impressive,” said Hadley, supposedly in response to her, but Elizabeth and I both saw him checking out her legs.  We both slapped the side of his head at the same time.

The
bleachers creaked, and we turned around to see the Protest group gliding along the lowest tier of benches.  The noise came from all the Nomers backing up higher, but I knew we would hold our ground.  Three of us were Mages, after all.  Pretty soon, the Protest group reached us.  For a second, I could see their confusion.  Then one of them sort of jerked his head, and the group divided.  Half went above, and half went below us, so that we were surrounded.  I felt Amity’s ankle touch mine, and she cast me a worried look.  The last one to pass behind her threw sparks at her and flew off fast.

Elizabeth screamed.  “Your hair’s
on fire!”

Amity started smacking her head with her hands to put the flame out, and a second later, Hadley had doused her with a big Water Ball—well, a juice ball, actually,
made from the apple juice in his lunch.

“Sorry about the stickiness
, but it worked.”

Amity sagged in defeat and wiped the juice from her face.  I could tell there were some tears mixed in there, too.

“Are you hurt?” I asked.

She held up her hand, and I could see some burns.  Her hair was a mess, too, with a chunk missing in the back.

“Here,” I said, taking her hand.  I touched my palm to the burns.  We locked eyes for the first time since the kiss.  Even after I knew I’d healed her, I didn’t let go until Elizabeth cleared her throat.  I pulled away.  “Is that better?”

Amity looked at her hand.  “It’s perfect.”  She had tears stre
aming down her face.  “Thanks.”

“Rough day, huh?”

She laughed sadly.  “I’ve definitely had better.”

Elizabeth reached over and gave her a hug.  “Here, take my
clip,” she said, releasing her own hair.  “You can put your hair up until you get home.  No one will know the difference.”  She rummaged in her backpack for a brush, and they got to work cleaning Amity up.  She looked beautiful even with sticky hair.