“Thanks, walking sex thesaurus.”
I set aside the food and lie down next to her. “Serious question: How does one declare his candidacy for something like that, anyway? Is there a nomination process? An early vote? Can I get on the ballot?”
“Ani!” She smacks me on the arm, her laughter swirling around me like a warm bath. I swear, being around her makes me want to write poems about birds or run barefoot through a field of flowers.
Completely mental.
“My Tarot cards keep telling me to run far, far away. Like, every time I ask, I draw the standard He’s Just Not Into You starter pack. Ten of Swords, Three of Swords, Eight of Cups, The Tower. If Professor Nakata ever reads my journal…” She does a mock shudder. “I don’t think I’ve written so much emo word vomit since high school.Earlyhigh school. And I’m still completely torn.”
“Over Kirin and Baz?”
“Told you I’m crazy. What should I do, Ani?” She turns over on her hip, facing me, looking at me like I’m the wise older brother with all the answers.
It’s a kick in the balls, to be honest. That look says it all. I’m in the big-brother zone, which is even worse than the friend zone, because at least friends have a chance at evolving into something else. Big brother? Nowhere to go from there.
“Stevie, first of all, you’re not crazy. Maybe you should just… I don’t know. Date both of them? Why does it have to be a big drama?”
“What? That’s so shady! You guys are all basically best friends. And even if they were total strangers… no. I can’t sneak around like that.”
“I’m not saying sneak around. I’m saying—brace yourself, super cutting-edge concept here—talk to them about your feelings and see what happens from there. Maybe you can come up with a casual arrangement. They might surprise you.”
Why am I encouraging this? I should tell her to listen to her cards, run far away from both of them. And me. And Dr. Devane.
But the truth is, she’s always going to come back. The five of us are bonded, whether she knows it or not.
“Ani, if you think any guy would be okay with sharing—even casually—you’re even more optimistic than I thought. Which is something I totally love about you, so don’t go changin’ or anything. But seriously.”
Which I totally love about you…
Okay, I’m an idiot. I know it. I can feel the idiotness rising up inside, consuming me whole, yet I’m powerless to stop it.
I’m crushing hard on this woman, and she’s so caught up in Kirin and Baz, she can’t even see it.
And I’m too much of a chicken shit to admit it. Talk about your feelings? Yeah. Great advice, Ani.
She’s probably right about the sharing thing, but I can’t help but think it’d be different for Kirin and Baz. For me, too, if the opportunity ever presented itself. We’re brothers, after all. Maybe not by birth, but in all the ways that count.
I close my eyes, cutting off my daydream before that bus veers any closer to crazytown than it already is. Brothers or not, none of us have any business getting mixed up with Stevie like that. Yeah, she’s part of this thing too, but romantic entanglements—casual or not—have a way of complicating everything.
I kind of see her point about not getting involved with people you like.
“Stevie, listen. If you really—”
Both of our phones ding at the same time—a chime that’s reserved for emergency Academy correspondence.
We exchange a worried look, then pull out the phones. It’s an email from Anna Trello.
Esteemed Witches and Mages of the Academy,
It is with a heavy heart that I’m reporting this grim news. Danika Lewis, the witch arrested in Taos two weeks ago for allegedly murdering her own children in a blood sacrifice, has been sentenced without trial to die for those crimes—crimes she most certainly did not commit.
Moreover, for the first time since magick became known in the wider world and our community fell under close public scrutiny, the authorities have decided to broadcast the execution on live television.
It is scheduled for this evening at 6:00 PM.
She will be hanged, as the officials wish to make a bold statement about the dangers of witchcraft by stoking long-buried but not forgotten embers into the raging fires of corruption and control.
To say this is a horrible, damnable offense is a gross understatement. But at this time, we are nearly powerless against such reckless, sanctioned hatred.
