Chapter Six

Pulling the first group aside, I picked apart every flaw their team had down to the lack of communication—something they should’ve prioritized instead of one-liner jokes that weren’t funny despite the headache of laughter Milo’s mind gave me. After the moment alone, we returned.

“Almost two minutes. That’s gotta be a record for you and your cock, Gael,” Layla said, brushing her fingers through her low-hanging ponytails.

Seemed she hadn’t mellowed out much over the summer. Her mean-spirited jabs were as sharp as her claws.

“Well, his part lasted about thirty seconds,” Melanie added, fueling Layla’s comment. “Not at all surprising.”

The pair snickered. Such a headache. These two had bonded too much over their intolerance for anything not to Layla’s standards. From Kenzo’s brash attitude to Caleb’s obsessive rambling, plus the mountain of other students who offended her sensibilities, and all the way at the peak sat Gael’s horndog humor that somehow worked in his favor with too many girls at Gemini. She didn’t understand it. She didn’t like it. And she especially despised that he’d landed not one, not two, but three dates with her ex-girlfriend. It was bad enough Layla couldn’t remove her feelings for her ex, but it was made worse by the fact Gael kept things casual as he chased every girl who—

Dammit . I didn’t have the energy for teen drama. Especially not on the first day.

Despite wanting my students to develop rapport with each other, I sometimes loathed how close my homeroom covens got over the years, forming into tiny cliques. Their dependency on one another made them lax in their own pursuits, their goals, and Melanie had become a prime example of why it was important to emphasize one-on-one instruction. I no longer had the excuse of the void vision, the guilt of Finn’s loss, the concern of finding my footing in a relationship with Milo, or the difficulty of balancing my evolving telepathy.

It was time I made an effort to get to know all my homeroom coven students and ensure they reached their full potential.

She’d shown up with the same low-hanging pigtails, though her thick red curls added buoyancy, and she wore the same oversized blazer and dress shirt as Layla—despite the fact her branch didn’t augment her stature requiring the loose threads. Though Gemini seemed to have a lot of students adopting the style, along with the shorter skirts completely hidden by the oversized tops. Layla could trend set outside the academy uniform policy all she wanted; I didn’t care.

I did care how Melanie’s individuality slowly fizzled out the more time she spent with Layla. Ironic, considering how bright her flames burned last year, literally and figuratively. Now, her interests had all become identical to Layla’s, but not without added effort. They rose to the surface of her mind like balloons she had to constantly blow air into, forcing the idea while simultaneously popping actual passions that naturally inflated in her thoughts because her best friend found them absurd.

“Ba-ba-bawk!” King Clucks pecked at the air until Layla and Melanie settled.

While Layla did well to hide the initial terror the rooster’s crow had caused, she considered how quickly she could fly if the bird dashed toward her.

“I didn’t mean you,” Melanie said. “I meant, well, you know… He says it so suggestively. His cock this, his cock that. I-I was being funny.”

“We’ve had enough jokes for today,” I said. “Can we focus?”

“ Oh, when we make a joke, suddenly, Mr. Frost wants to focus. Asshole. ” Layla crossed her arms, snarling in my direction.

I contemplated sending Layla’s coven next, but in truth, the longer she and Kenzo waited, the more impatient they’d become, which would favor the acolyte I paired them against. Truthfully, those two possessed enough aggressive strategy between them they might win—not part of today’s lesson—if they actually collaborated together.

“Next up will be The Coven of Inevitable Potential,” I said, ignoring Milo’s pride for a name that clearly paid homage to his stage name.

Caleb’s strategic mind had the opposite effect of Kenzo and Layla. His patience allowed him to plan and account without getting worked up. Already, I’d glimpsed a dozen thoughts he’d abandoned on how his coven could face off against Acolyte Reed. Meanwhile, he plotted which of the two remaining acolytes his coven would be most suited against.

The monitor announced the next round.

The Coven of Inevitable Potential

VS

The Infinite Light

“ Gotta say I figured you would’ve paired their group against Mercury Rising, ” Milo thought. “ After all, isn’t her branch all but perfect to take them down? ”

Milo knew my intentions, but he didn’t know his acolytes as well as he thought. Or maybe he did and kept it to himself, so close I couldn’t hear the many thoughts he had when assessing them. Too much remained wrapped in the potential outcomes of their futures while working under him.

Caleb huddled with his group, muttering directions to a plan that weaved throughout his mind. I couldn’t glean how much he shared versus the overly detailed contingencies he might’ve kept to himself. Plans for Ellie and Lena dimmed from his surface as he prioritized everything he knew about Hayden’s magic—which was far less since this acolyte had only hit the streets of Chicago since late July. Still, Caleb’s mind was a labyrinth of twists and turns, accounting for every possible dead end he sought to avoid.

“Are they beginning or not?” Lena asked, hands on her hips and disinterest on her face. All the same, it didn’t fool me. She wanted to see firsthand what the branchless kid who defeated Jamie Novak singlehandedly at the Spring Showcase could do. A spike of resentment sparked, but she buried the thought as quickly as it occurred.

Caleb had unleashed a perfected strike of banishment against Lena’s younger brother. He’d all but defeated the devil wearing Jamie’s face in front of nearly a hundred enchanters, yet he hadn’t put enough force to free him then and there. No. Jamie lay dormant, possessed, for weeks longer until Enchanter Evergreen’s plan came together, and the witches of Chicago rid the world of that disgusting devil.

I couldn’t discern how much of Lena’s rage was self-inflicted toward her own shortcomings and how much might’ve been buried spite for the branchless wonder who failed her brother. All the same, I had no intention of pitting them against one another to figure out where that rage landed.

“ Guess that means I’ll be facing off against the Novak witch, ” Kenzo thought, his fury reminding me of when I’d tested Caleb’s luck against the angry tyrant when searching for clues to the mystery behind his near death.

Yep. Best I avoid pitting Caleb against those with so much budding rage.

“All righty, your crew ready?” Hayden had a glittery smile plastered on his face and spoke with a slight Southern lilt—something not quite covered by the deep accent of his inner thoughts that were lost on the shape of clouds overhead.

“Huh?” Caleb asked. “Wait. Did we start?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Nonsense.” Hayden strolled to the center of the makeshift arena, a swagger in his steps. “Take your time. Looks like you’ve got a big plan. Hash it out. I can wait.”

“ Is he screwing with us? ” Katherine thought.

“ He usually seems upbeat in the interviews with Enchanter Evergreen, ” Caleb thought, trying to recall what he knew about Hayden and his magic. “ But I’ve never seen him prior to a case. Just post interviews—most guild witches are all smiles, then. He could be faking to throw us off. ”

“It’s just an act,” Carter said.

“ It could be an act, but his emotional state is completely carefree. Serene. Not the slightest hint of winding up for combat. ” Jennifer swallowed hard, burying her nervousness. “ Even Acolyte Reed’s emotions shifted with pangs of anticipation. This guy, though… It’s like he doesn’t even register a remote threat from us. ”

“We don’t have all day.” I checked my phone. Well, we easily had another hour before Headmaster Dower wrapped up her long-winded orientation. “Begin.”

“Aw shucks.” Hayden stretched, raising his arms high above his head. “Hope y’all put together a solid strategy. Can’t wait to see what you’ve got in store.”

“Everyone, get ready,” Carter said, snapping his teammates back to attention.

They each entered the edge of the territory, careful to maintain distance from Hayden, who’d conveniently stood dead center while he let them plan.

“ He might have two branches. ” Katherine unfastened her grimoire. “ But only one of them is a threat, so once I neutralize it, we’ll have the advantage. ”

Katherine flipped through the pages of her grimoire, searching for a spell to prevent teleportation. Immediately, twinkling lights shimmered between the letters of her spells, so jarring it knocked her back a step. Brushing a hand over the glitter didn’t make it easier, and the shock of Hayden’s glitter blocking the words frazzled her. Suddenly, Katherine couldn’t recall a single spell she’d written down. They were all there. Hundreds of spells she’d rehearsed a thousand times over. She knew them by heart, yet in this anxious moment, all memories of them vanished. All she could think about was how she should’ve read over her grimoire before school, how she should’ve had more warding spells at the ready, how the match had just started, and how she’d failed to complete her job.

It left her coven mates vulnerable. Most of all, it left her vulnerable.

Hayden wiggled his fingers, and the glitter leapt from the pages of Katherine’s grimoire. Shiny lights sprinkled and scattered all around her like a frenzy of bees. Katherine shrieked, dropped her grimoire, and backstepped—stopping short of falling out of bounds.

“A lot of folks look at my glitter and think it’s just for arts and crafts, but they don’t realize the beautiful versatility that comes with bringing a little light into the world.” Hayden wiggled his fingers, controlling the shift of the glitter into a rope-like formation. “Especially if you’ve got razzle-dazzle and spirit fingers.”

He clapped his hands together. The glitter coiled around Katherine’s legs; Hayden pantomimed a gesture like yanking a rope. Suddenly, Katherine fell back.

“Out of bounds,” I said, eyeing her elbows propping her up past the designated arena. “You’re down to three.”

“I’m so sorry, guys.” Katherine retrieved her grimoire, noticing the glitter had trickled away, revealing the perfect spell to counter cosmic magic like Hayden’s branches.

“When did you… How did you…” Carter focused on his telekinesis, knocking away glitter directed at Jennifer and Caleb.

“ He wasn’t casting at the start of the round, ” Caleb thought, simultaneously recalibrating his scenarios to account for Katherine’s loss. He hated thinking it, but he would’ve preferred it if Hayden had knocked Jennifer or himself out of bounds first. Katherine had the most to contribute when handling Hayden’s magics, and Carter had become a perfect support witch with his branch and root magics.

“ Too bright. ” Jennifer gritted her teeth to stifle a shout. Barely any glitter surrounded her, yet the twinkling lights made it impossible to bear with her eyes open or closed.

Quite remarkable. I figured there was more to Hayden’s simple glitter magic but never suspected he could shift the frequency of its casting. Of course, he could. That magic was part of the cosmic branch, which made slipping between planes of reality easier, and as a psychic, Jennifer saw the emotions of others by analyzing their radiating auras on a separate plane. Hayden struck a chord by infesting that emotional wavelength, basically neutralizing her.

“You set this up before the round started,” Caleb said, drawn back to Hayden’s arrival, trickling glitter throughout the auxiliary gym as he rushed in late beside Enchanter Evergreen.

“You’re pretty darn clever.” Hayden smiled. “I should keep an eye on you, huh?”

“That’s cheating,” Carter snapped; his telekinesis raged, lashing out at Hayden, who jumped back to evade.

Interesting. It would’ve been the perfect opportunity to teleport behind Carter, yet Hayden dragged out the round.

“Mr. Frost,” Carter yelled. “He cheated. Do something!”

“It’s not cheating,” Hayden said. “Your instructor never set any stipulations on when or how we prepared for a potential match-up. I had to ensure my magic was ready for whichever coven I was fortunate enough to face off against.”

Layla snatched Melanie’s lighter, flicking the zippo open and pouring the grains of glitter out. “ Son of a bitch targeted the support tools. ”

“He’s not wrong,” I said. “Continue or surrender. Those are your options.”

“You gotta remember”—Hayden pivoted around Carter’s continued thrashing strikes—“an enemy won’t play fair. They don’t care about guild guidelines. They don’t care that you’re holding back because of the law. They don’t care about you.”

“ Fuck. ” Jennifer leapt forward, channeling telekinesis and levitation along with a lot of rage. “ The only thing that’ll smother my empathy is my roots. ”

She flew furiously toward Hayden, reeling back a fist. Her flight waned. Ah, it made sense. She wasn’t simply channeling two roots, but all four—even though sensory and banishment offered her zero assistance in this match, they helped quell her psychic branch that Hayden had hacked into.

“I got you.” Carter redirected his telekinesis, assisting Jennifer’s trajectory and speed.

In almost an instant, she reached Hayden, fist balled and magic ready to punch that glittering smile off his smug fucking face. I swallowed hard, burying the anger surging from Jennifer and Carter.

I blinked, and Hayden vanished, reappearing a few inches to the left. Jennifer bolted past him through the air and out of bounds before Carter could snap his telekinesis back and pull her to safety.

“Out,” I announced.

Carter panicked. He’d failed two of his teammates. Every part of the plan relied on his support skills, and now he believed he didn’t have anything to offer. Nothing he did stopped the waves of anxiety that rocked inside his mind.

“Relax.” Caleb placed a hand on Carter’s shoulder; it wasn’t the same as Jennifer’s empathy feeding on Carter’s fear, but something about the calm, collective energy Caleb radiated helped temper the furious storm of turmoil in Carter’s head. “I got a plan.”

Caleb’s thoughts zipped through so many scenarios I lacked the ability to navigate the labyrinth of his planning. While the pair whispered, I found myself at a dead end to one of his contingencies that was no longer relevant. Whatever he wanted to do, it didn’t seem to concern Hayden.

The acolyte allowed them to plot, taking a chance to bask in the shift of clouds above. He soaked in the sunrays, blissful and excited. Glitter seeped from his pores, making his entire body glimmer.

“Got it.” Carter ran ahead, headstrong and fully intent on punching Hayden. None of his blows landed, not even a rippling side effect.

“ He’s not channeling telekinesis in his blows. ” Hayden evaded Carter’s punches.

Carter was built for offensive combat, between his intense workout regime to ensure his body reflected who he saw himself as on the inside and his branch magic, which revitalized his wavering muscles. But since switching to a more supportive role, his coordination and heart were no longer in sync with this type of tactic. Still, he fought on because he needed Hayden to prioritize him.

There it was. Each missed blow revealed a hidden layer of the plan at the surface of Carter’s mind. He acted as an angry decoy so Caleb could move in behind.

Caleb swung his fist, missing Hayden, who teleported a few inches to the left.

Without a second of hesitation, Carter threw every ounce of vitality he could Caleb’s way, which allowed his teammate to spin midair, swinging a leg with all the telekinesis he could muster.

Damn. Caleb and Carter might actually win this round.

The kick nearly collided with Hayden’s chest until he vanished in a blink, appearing a few inches away.

“ As expected. ” Caleb spun around again, relying heavily on Carter’s added vitality and telekinetic assistance, but he continued chasing Hayden.

The blows missed, yet enough of his telekinesis rippled through the air to knock away stray glitter from forming. Hayden continued zipping out of range, a few inches left, a few inches right every single time.

“ Why’s he doing this? ” Caleb struggled to keep his composure; frustration festered, almost at a distracting level, but he kept swinging. “ Shouldn’t he attempt long-range teleportation? Aim for Carter. He’s wide frickin open! ”

Caleb continued, waiting for Hayden to surprise them and go for Carter—which the boys planned for. Instead, Hayden dragged Caleb further away, pressing himself closer and closer to the edge of the arena.

“ Screw it. ” Caleb descended, funneling his telekinesis into his core and allowing Carter’s vitality to strengthen his tired muscles. “ I’ll hit him with such a wide strike it won’t matter whether he weaves left or right—I’ll hit every direction at once. ”

Hayden stopped moving, studying Caleb’s breathing and taking slow breaths of his own. “ Calm the nerves. Remember, your body is your own support tool. Easy breaths, calm chest, slow the heartrate a tick or two. ”

Caleb unleashed everything he had, casting a wave of telekinesis so strong it nearly struck those on the sidelines until a subtle shift in Milo’s wrist altered the direction and sent it toward the forest terrain, cracking branches and snapping bark off the trunks of several trees.

“ Nice save. ” I eyed him.

“ It was nothing. ” Milo winced, rotating his aching wrist. “ Okay. It was something. ”

“ That’s what you get for showing off. ”

“ Right? ” He grinned. “ Gotta keep these wrists up to par for handies. ”

“Shut up,” I muttered.

“ Where’d he go? ” Caleb’s fear snapped me back to attention. “ Did I… Did I get him? ”

Hayden had disappeared from Caleb’s line of sight.

“Look out!” Carter shouted.

But it was too late. Hayden stood behind Caleb, casting a telekinetic wave nearly equal to Caleb’s a moment ago, which knocked him completely out of bounds.

“And then there was one,” I said, biting back the twinge of guilt when fear consumed Carter.

“You got this,” Jennifer shouted.

“Yeah,” Katherine cheered. “You have enough endurance to outlast him.”

“Carter, remember what I said,” Caleb added, the plans of his contingency surfacing in his mind.

“I… I can’t.” Carter’s eyes welled up. “I give up.”

It wasn’t what his team wanted to hear, yet they didn’t show it in their expressions. Instead, they clapped, congratulating him for being the last one standing against an acolyte.

“I’m sorry.” Carter lifted his arm, burying his face into his sleeve.

Jennifer grimaced; she didn’t latch onto his emotional state or take away the sorrow inside Carter, but for a fraction of a second, I glimpsed the colors of auras she saw nonstop. A soothing white apparition cradled a sea of somber blue. And then it faded as the terrain took full effect again.

“You made the right call, Carter,” I said. “Knowing when you can’t win a battle is as important as knowing when to fight on.”

“ Fuck that, ” Layla growled. “ Coddling him isn’t gonna change his shitty performance. ”

“ Is that Frost’s lesson today? ” Kenzo folded his arms. “ Some bullshit on perseverance? ”

“It takes a lot of courage to know when to fall back.” Hayden patted Carter’s back as the rest of his coven approached. “The first time I took on a case too big, I learned that lesson a little too late. Got myself injured. Got a coven mate injured. You did amazing today. Even had me on the ropes a few times. Literally, I was tiptoeing on the edge of that rope marker your teacher set.”

“Question.” Caleb approached Hayden, notebook in hand and ready to decipher the methods of the acolyte’s process. “Why’d you use your teleportation that way?”

“What way?”

“Um, well, you had plenty of opportunities to dart across the field.” Caleb’s face scrunched, visibly confused. “I even, you know, planned on that. Did you guess my strategy? I’m sure a lot of people see your branch in action and account for the distance, then extrapolate the best course of action, which in turn means you have to plan for what they’d theorize, so I was just wondering—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Hayden gestured for Caleb to slow his ramblings, which helped quiet him but didn’t silence the onslaught of theories and tangents bouncing around the boy’s head. “You’re giving me way more credit than I deserve. I’m not nearly bright enough for all that.”

“Then why?”

“It comes down to a birth defect.” Hayden pointed to his chest. “Had some heart issues as a baby. Even though the docs did good work, it sort of caused a hiccup in the way my branch developed later.”

Tara turned her attention to Hayden’s conversation, intently eavesdropping on every word. She’d already watched him closely, considering how rare it was to meet someone else with more than one branch, and he also struggled to control them, yet all she noticed during the match was effortless skill.

“See, my range is based on the beat of my heart. The faster my heartrate, the shorter my range. The slower, the longer.” Hayden looked up to the clouds, his eyes momentarily glossy before the shape of a dog brightened his mood. “Honestly, my average distance is about six to eight inches. On a good day, I can probably teleport a solid two feet.”

“What a shitty branch,” Layla said, ignoring my scowl.

“Guess it’s not the best, that’s for sure.” Hayden brushed his hand through his shaggy brown hair. “Glitter and short-range teleportation. Not the most sparkly branches to put on an application—still, got me a gig at a great guild.”

Which had far less to do with his branches and more to do with how he utilized them, how advanced his root magics were, and how he handled himself in the field. Hayden was the perfect example that this industry required well-rounded training, something I wanted ingrained in my homeroom coven’s heads. Lena and Ellie also possessed styles I wanted them to learn from. Ellie’s support tool was something more than a few needed to study. Lena’s versatility in her branch didn’t come naturally. I wanted my students to start getting creative in how they operated and accessed their magic like her.

Speaking of…

“Guess we’re down to our last coven,” I said. “Hopefully, The Roaring Rainbows of Flame and Lightning can put up a better showing than the rest of the class.”

The Roaring Rainbows of Flame and Lightning

VS

Mercury Rising

Gael’s sharklike teeth beamed with pride over the displayed name, but that was immediately tempered when he realized I’d used it in conjunction to undercut his classmates. He very much disapproved.

“ Hell yeah. ”

“All right, Kenzo.” Layla stretched, her body shifting into her therianthrope form in the process. “Let’s show them how this is done.”

“ I can’t believe they actually came up with a plan…together. ” Melanie took her place next to Layla in the arena.

“ No estoy seguro de qué da más miedo, Layla y Kenzo discutiendo o trabajando juntos. ”

Lena walked into the ring, hands on her hips and mind prioritizing paperwork she needed to finish before the day ended. Between her aloof arrogance and The Roaring Rainbows actually collaborating, I started thinking my lesson would yield a sixty-six percent success rate.

“ You’ll wanna take this group seriously. ” I linked my telepathy to Lena, attempting to forewarn her how Kenzo had—

“As if a couple sixteen-year-olds are worth my time,” she said aloud, snapping the link of our minds with a small flurry of exploding bubbles around her face. “Are we doing this or not?”

“Make your move.” Kenzo smirked.

“I already have.” Lena flicked a wrist.

Kenzo’s smirk grew, and gray static pulsed from his body, lashing out at his teammates and connecting with disruption magic he’d already coated over Gael, Melanie, and Layla. Bubbles dripped from their pores like sweat; a few popped when colliding with Kenzo’s hex, while the rest fell to the ground like marbles.

“You really think we wouldn’t see that coming after the last match?” Layla growled.

“ Like you could’ve done much about it. ” Kenzo kept the thought to himself, surprisingly, and nodded for Layla to make the opening move.

They had an entire long-range, short-range barrage planned to keep Lena on the ropes until they’d pushed her over them and won the round.

Layla took a single step and coughed.

“Hayden didn’t sprinkle his shitty glitter to teach you kids a lesson,” Lena said, raising her arms. “He did it because he’s a professional.”

Gael and Melanie coughed, too.

“The first thing I do when I walk into a room is assess every single witch’s casting frequency,” Lena continued her explanation. “Ally or enemy, I like to know what I’m working with—or against. Your hex is good, kid. But my bubbles do more than disrupt magic; they absorb it, channel it, funnel it, and mold it into the moisture of the atmosphere to do my bidding.”

Kenzo grabbed his chest, fighting back the same cough that consumed each of his coven mates.

“This match was set the second you walked into the auxiliary gym.” Lena snapped her fingers.

Bubbles that Kenzo had knocked to the ground rose up and exploded. Each tiny pop disoriented him, tipped his footing, and knocked him into Layla. By the time he’d composed himself to telekinetically wave away the assault, a new cluster of microscopic bubbles erupted from his mouth.

He gasped as Lena’s magic pushed him back out of bounds along with each of his teammates.

“You were breathing in my magic this entire time.”

Kenzo stood frozen as the bubbles dissipated. His mind went blank. No furious thoughts, no cursing, no flashing back to where he went wrong. Just silence.

This was the first time Kenzo had completely failed at something. He’d never in his life failed to account for an opponent, an objective, an opportunity so profoundly. Of all my students, he needed this lesson more than anyone. It’d sting, but together, we’d work through this, and he’d learn failure was just another part of life. In the long run, he’d benefit.

“Holy shit.” Gael strutted toward Kenzo and the others. “You guys got your asses handed to you. I mean, like thirty seconds or less delivery. Wow. And you’re the top-ranked second-year witch at Gemini? Maybe they should reevaluate those scores considering—”

And just like that, Kenzo’s unbridled rage exploded, having found an outlet. His fist collided with Gael’s nose. Blood gushed everywhere, and Gael thudded backward.

“What the fuck!” Tara said so loudly even the rooster’s crow could barely be heard.

“Don’t worry.” Gael chuckled with a wince. “I just gotta hold out another twenty-five seconds with his track record.”

Gray lightning coursed across Kenzo’s entire body.

“Shit,” I muttered. “Kenzo!”

He quelled his magic, his rage, and his scowl and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “ Yeah, yeah. I’ll be in the headmaster’s office or whatever. ”

Tara and Yaritza rushed to Gael’s side, tipping his head back and blotting his nose. Layla vocalized her disgust for Kenzo’s childish reaction while silently gloating that Gael had it coming. Milo attempted to redirect the students, but they were lost in the drama of the moment.

And like that, the lesson had ended. I started to think maybe, like my students, I’d also failed today.