"So you really beat him in your first game?" Mitch asked.

  "Of course she did, she's the smartest in the group," said Kelsey.

  "She is?" asked Tyler.

  "I don't think so," said Natalie dubiously.

  "Nah," said Kelsey. "I saw the report on Mrs. Brackett's computer. She and Steven had the top grades in our whole year."

  "Where is Steven, anyway?" asked Mitch, glancing around the cafeteria.

  "Detention," Natalie muttered, embarrassed.

  "Oh, damn. Is that what he ended up with?"

  "Coulda been worse," Kelsey pointed out. "Coulda been a lot worse. This is just for show, right?"

  "Pretty much," said Natalie. "She promised that his parents wouldn't even find out if she could help it."

  "Nice."

  "How'd you guys get the evil queen on your side?" asked Tyler.

  Natalie frowned. "She's actually really cool. You shouldn't call her that."

  "Oh."

  "Forget her, we gotta figure out what to call us," added Kelsey excitedly. "The Glasses Gang is way too tame for the badass we got hidin' out."

  "Plus neither of you wear glasses," Tyler pointed out.

  "Like that was really the problem," grumbled Mitch.

  "Gotta be somethin' to do with magic, right?" Kelsey continued. "Something that says who we are and what we do."

  "Kelsey, she's in hiding. This is all supposed to be secret."

  "Well yeah, but not forever. I'm talkin' when she starts the real stuff."

  "The what?" asked Natalie, confused.

  "Well, when you start being a superhero, obviously," said Tyler.

  Natalie shook her head. "I'm not a superhero."

  "Well duh, not yet," said Kelsey.

  "This is where you get your start, and we're your team," added Tyler.

  "Guys, lay off," Mitch cut in angrily, to Natalie's relief.

  Tyler looked confused, but Kelsey seemed to get it right away. "Sorry."

  "I'm not," Natalie repeated, with all three of them watching her. "I'm just me, okay? I can do some cool stuff, but I'm not a hero or anything. I just want to go to school and be normal."

  "And we're gonna make sure that happens," said Mitch. "We got this."

  "Yeah," Kelsey agreed. Tyler nodded too, after the briefest hesitation.

  Natalie smiled. She had real friends, finally, just like Cinza had said. She had people to watch her back. She could actually start living her life again, bit by bit. She'd be safe for the time being, while she continued to wait.

  Because she hadn't forgotten. There was still something she had to do, and it was the real reason she'd never be called a superhero.

  She decided to show off a bit. It was fun and mostly harmless, so why not? She picked up her purse and opened it, though she hadn't opened the spell that kept the contents inside. She showed it around, seemingly totally empty, then zipped it shut again.

  When Lily had given it to her, she'd explained how to control the spells that made it work. Since the bag was actually enchanted, a secret ritual set still only known to very few awakened, Natalie could maintain the spell and even trigger certain things without actually knowing how it worked or how to cast it. In that sense, she could 'open' and 'close' the bag, which made it appear empty until she opened it properly.

  She did so, and unzipped it again. The whole group gasped, and Kelsey leaned in for a better look. Natalie played it totally cool, and just plucked her lunch out (which was obviously bigger than the purse itself) before zipping it shut.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "Mostly normal, anyway," she joked, before picking up the sandwich Lily had made that morning and starting to eat. They only had a few minutes left in lunch, and she was starving.

----------------------------------------

  As Quinn packed up the cards after their third game, Natalie dug through her purse for a chocolate bar she knew was hiding in there somewhere. To her relief, it hadn't melted or gotten crushed. She wasn't sure how temperature worked with the bags exactly, but the bar seemed just fine.

  She offered a second one to Quinn, but he declined, looking embarrassed.

  "Hey, just 'cause I beat you twice—"

  "Please don't tell them you won twice," Quinn muttered. "The first one, fine, but if they hear you're already stomping me on your first day, my reputation is finished. I'll never be able to face Tyler again."

  "You didn't go easy on me, did you?"

  He frowned. "No, 'course not."

  "Really?"

  "Really. You're good at this."

  She shrugged. "I got lucky."

  "Nah. You drafted really well. You tricked me completely the first game."

  "But you won the second game and that went way faster. The Kobblebomma stuff with the fake metal mines."

  "Only 'cause I used a cheap strategy I read online. It's kind of all-or-nothing, but no one expects it if they've never seen it played."

  Natalie nodded. "Still counts as a win."

  "And so do your two. You won fair and square in the last one for sure."

  "Oh man, that took forever. You and your stupid multiplying goblins. Was that two hours?"

  "...Yeah." He glanced at his watch. "I should probably get home. We packed this morning but I'm sure Dad's panicking about something already."

  Natalie hesitated. Despite having actively avoided him for weeks, then stressing out about every word he spoke, she didn't want to see him go. She knew there wasn't any way he could stick around, obviously, but Quinn represented something in her mind. He wasn't from her old life at all. He was like an escape, a path out of her darkness.

  Except… she couldn't leave that darkness. Not yet. Maybe not ever, at this rate.

  Quinn, ever observant, noticed her crestfallen face. "Hey, I'm just gonna be gone two weeks. It's not forever."

  "Yeah."

  He grinned. "You know what they're probably saying about us right now, right?"

  Natalie rolled her eyes. "That we're on a date."

  "Yup."

  "...Aren't we, kinda?"

  Quinn paused. "I guess? I dunno."

  "I don't really know either."

  He glanced up from his bag, where he'd been rearranging a few things so they didn't get damaged. "Do you want us to be?"

  Natalie didn't know how to answer that, but she could feel a part of her that really wanted to say yes. After everything she'd been through, she decided to go for it. She was done being reluctant and scared all the time in her new life, when she knew she could do way more. It was time for Natalie to start taking over in Jenny's life. This was where it started.

  "Yes."

  But as Quinn moved toward her, about to give her a hug — a totally innocent hug, no different than thousands she'd had in the past, from Jenny, from her father, from Hailey or anyone else — she recoiled away. The darkness from the night in Seattle loomed up around her again, memories of a park in the middle of the city, and she couldn't do it.

  As soon as she saw Quinn's confused expression, her heart sank. "I'm sorry. I just… I can't do that."

  "...Okay." He stood back awkwardly. Unsure what to do next, he leaned over and grabbed his bag, strapping it on. "I guess I should probably go home."

  "I wish you weren't going," Natalie murmured, in spite of herself.

  "You'll be okay. You're way braver than I am. You got this."

  "I don't feel brave."

  Quinn frowned. He pulled off his bag again and dug through it quickly. In a moment, he'd pulled out a card. It was easy to find since she'd just been using it in the last game. He held it out, face down.

  Natalie took it, unsurprised to see Linnethea's bold, strong face staring back at her from atop her wolf. Still, Quinn never took the cards out of the box alone like that. "What?"

  "She can be brave for you."

  "...Huh?"

  "Well, you two both can do magic, and you both talk to animals. You even kinda look like her."

  "...I really don't."

  He shrugged. "Okay, maybe not that part. But still, she's always brave. Whenever you're worried, just hold that card and think about her."

  "But—"

  "I'm not gonna be playing any games down in California anyway. She's better off with you."

  Natalie stared at the card. At Linnethea, the wolven huntress, the proud leader of the Free Elves. She wasn't gentle or kind, she was fierce and brave. She'd never back down from a fight, or be afraid to jump headlong into one. She was a warrior and a general.

  Linnethea would never be afraid of the darkness.

  Natalie nodded. She wasn't going to be either. Thanks to Quinn and the rest of her friends, she had a life to come back to once she was done. She'd turn herself into Linnethea the Huntress. She'd banish the darkness in the only way she knew how, when it was time. Her friends would help her lay low, as long as she had to. Until she'd set out on her true hunt.

  Until she finally found and stopped her father.

  Natalie wondered what Quinn and the rest of her friends would think of her then, after she'd fought her mass-murdering father. What would he think now, if he knew that she'd killed before? If they knew that their supposed superhero was a murderer so many times over now that it terrified her?

  Only two people knew: Cinza and Rachel. Only two, in the whole wide world, knew what she really was. Natalie never had to tell her friends. When it was done, she could come back to her life. They never needed to know.

  "You know, I actually do know a wolf," she added, still looking at the card.

  "Huh?"

  "A big grey wolf named Gwen. We used to run through the forest together. She's my best friend. But I haven't seen her in a while. Not since I moved." She held the card close to her chest as if she were hugging it, then placed it carefully into her purse where she knew it'd be perfectly safe. "I miss her a lot. But I'm gonna find her again someday."

  "Can I meet her?"

  She laughed. "Yeah, sure. I'll make sure she doesn't eat you."

  "...Does she eat people?" he asked nervously.

  "Nah. Not unless I tell her to." Natalie grinned. "Thanks, Quinn."

  "You're welcome, Natalie." And again, Natalie felt a little thrill go through her when he said her name.

  She made a vow to herself while Quinn walked away. If she still hadn't heard from Rachel by the end of the trimester in December — the start of winter vacation — then she'd stop waiting. She'd go back to Rallsburg for Gwen. She'd set out to find her father on her own, whatever it took.

  In December, you hunt.