To Natalie's surprise—and relief—nothing else happened the rest of the day. Natalie wasn't even called into the principal's office, after waiting all day for a P.A. announcement or a phone call. On the bus home, Natalie asked Quinn to sit next to her again. It didn't feel any better than the last time, and she still kept their bags between them, but Natalie didn't want him any further away either. She was afraid of what might happen if she were alone around other people… as if Quinn could somehow keep her from hurting someone.

  "What happened?" he finally asked, as soon as they'd stepped off the bus into the slush coating the sidewalk. The bus rumbled away, and Natalie started trudging through the icy-cold winter air toward the house. For a brief moment, she was annoyed he'd even asked, but it was quickly surpassed by an overwhelming desire to spill every secret to Quinn. She wanted to unleash a flood of emotion, let go of everything and finally reveal the monster he'd called his girlfriend.

  "I hurt Blake," she said quietly.

  To her relief, Quinn didn't react like the rest of the gang would—well, except maybe for Steven. He nodded, but he didn't look happy about it. "That thing in gym? Kelsey mentioned something, but she didn't get specific."

  "We were playing dodgeball. She was saying things, and I threw it too hard. I think I broke her nose."

  Quinn shook his head. "You didn't. It was bleeding, but she's okay."

  Natalie's eyes welled up. "She's not."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I ran into her at lunch. I… she was saying something and I…" Natalie stopped walking. She dabbed at her eyes with a cloth from her bag.

  "Natalie," said Quinn. He took a step closer, but she couldn't—as much as she desperately wanted to be hugged, she still couldn't let him that close. "She looked fine at the end of the day," he continued quietly. "You didn't do anything permanent."

  "I scared her. I showed her what I can do." Natalie looked up at Quinn, tears gone. She needed to be serious now, to tell Quinn everything so they could figure out what to do next. "She knows."

  Quinn glanced up at the sky thoughtfully. "...Okay. Well, there's no scary helicopters coming yet, so…"

  Natalie laughed, a painful sound that barely made it out of her throat. "I don't think they'd use helicopters."

  "Well, it doesn't matter," he said. "Nobody knows you live here, remember? Not the school, not the government, and definitely not Blake." Quinn held out his hand. "Come on. Let's go home."

  I can do this. I need to do this.

  You can.

  Natalie reached forward, pressing through the dark clouds, pressing through pain that swarmed over her like a host of angry insects, and took Quinn's hand. She wrapped his palm in hers, and for a moment, she didn't feel any pain. She savored the cold chill of his fingers, the way their fingers interlocked, the way he gripped her just the right amount.

  "...Your hand's really warm," he murmured, and it didn't break the moment. It helped.

  She giggled. "Magic," she reminded him with a small smile.

  A siren started blaring somewhere, a few streets away. It was faint, but it was enough. The moment was broken, and the clouds surged back into her mind. Natalie fell away, her hand sliding out of his. Quinn tried to hold on for just a second longer, but Natalie couldn't do it.

  You will. Eventually.

  I hate this. I hate everything about this. I just want to… What if she was right?

  They started walking back, Quinn staying a few steps away from her as usual. He didn't make any move toward her, even though she expected him to try again. Natalie wasn't sure if she wanted him to try, but she knew she couldn't if he did.

  What if I can't ever actually hold his hand? Or you know… anything, with him? What if I'm broken?

  You are broken.

  I—

  What is broken can still be fixed.

  Natalie nodded. "Okay," she murmured. Quinn glanced at her, but she didn't say anything else, so he turned back to unlocking the door. Before he could open it, Natalie reached down and waved a hand over their shoes. Again, the burst of steam, and their shoes were perfectly warm once again.

  "...Wow." He grinned.

  "Magic," she said again, smiling.

  Quinn opened the door. "We're home!" he called out.

  "Jenny?" called Damian. Natalie's brief good mood petered out, like a light bulb flickering to black. He sounded concerned, and a concerned parent was always a bad sign in her book.

  "...Yes?" she called back.

  "I… well, just come here, please?"

  Natalie shot a look at Quinn, who seemed as confused as she was. They hurried inside toward Damian's voice. Her heart sank even more as soon as she saw him—standing in front of her door.

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  "I heard a scratching sound," he said slowly. There was a bandage on his face, which boded even worse for Natalie. "I wanted to make sure nothing was in there, and, well…" Damian nodded at the door.

  Natalie winced. "I can explain," she started.

  "Yeah," said Damian firmly. "I think that would be good."

  Quinn glanced at her. "Do you want me to stick around?" he whispered.

  Natalie didn't bother to answer Quinn. Of course she wanted him to stick around. She just launched into it. "That's Percy. He's… well, he's my pet hawk."

  Quinn gaped at her. "You have a pet hawk?"

  Damian laughed. "That makes two of us."

  "I'm sorry he hurt you, Mr. Kincaid. He probably got scared when it wasn't me."

  He frowned. "This hawk—"

  "Percy."

  "Percy." Damian nodded. "He hasn't been living here the whole time, right? I'm not that blind, am I?"

  Natalie giggled. "No. I brought him home yesterday. He found me at the funeral."

  "He… found you?" Damian whistled. "Pretty good pet."

  "Yeah." Natalie pushed open the door. Percy was fluttering around the room, hopping mad—but as soon as he saw Natalie, he fluttered right to her shoulder. Percy rubbed his head into her cheek, and his beak tickled a bit. She giggled again, stroking his head. "He won't hurt you again."

  "Right…" Damian glanced at the open front door, and Quinn hurried to close it. "Well, our block isn't allowed to have pets… I mean, I don't think they listed hawks in it, but even so."

  Natalie nodded. "I'll make sure he isn't noticed."

  "Well, since you're both here now…" Damian lead them back into the living room. Quinn and Natalie sat down on the couch, and Damian took the patched lounge chair nearby. He pressed his hands to his face and cleared his throat a few times before he started speaking. His half-jovial tone was long-gone. "I wanted to talk to you two about a few things."

  "Like what?" asked Quinn.

  "Well, this whole magic thing," Damian went on. He still said it like it was unbelievable, but every time the topic came up, Natalie felt stiff and uneasy. She hated lying to them, but after what Damian had said that morning, how could she possibly tell him the truth? "Apparently, there's a lot more of them around than we thought. All over Washington. It's getting worse, too."

  "Okay?" Quinn shrugged, playing it off as cool as always. Natalie let him do the talking, since she was too worried she might let something slip. Especially today, of all days, she didn't trust herself to keep control. "Doesn't really affect us though, right?"

  "It might." Damian sighed. "Quinn, I want you to promise me you won't go anywhere after school anymore. You come straight home on the bus, got it? Same goes for you, Jenny."

  "But… what about game night? The Glasses Gang?" Quinn protested. "We can still hang out, right?"

  "Not for now," said Damian. "Tyler's parents and Steven's parents are telling them the same thing. You guys can still hang out at school," he added, as if that made it any better. "Just… just until this blows over."

  "When's that going to be?" asked Quinn angrily, while Natalie sunk even deeper into the couch. This is my fault too… Somehow, I know it is.

  Damian shook his head. "We don't know."

  "But—"

  "Look, that flying girl, Hailey Winscombe?" said Damian, cutting him off. "She just blew up a building in London."

  Natalie sat up straight, shocked. Hailey did what? "What do you mean, Mr. Kincaid?" she asked desperately. "What happened?"

  "I don't know. She flew out there, and some building blew up." Damian shook his head. "The news is saying she's committing a ton of crimes, and this is the fourth building to blow up with her in the area. She's just one of these awakened people."

  "But—" said Quinn again.

  "I don't want you getting hurt again, Q!" Damian snapped, glaring at his son. "That was the scariest moment of our lives, do you know that? My phone lights up, says it's the hospital, and the first words they say after they get my name are 'your son.'" Damian shook his head. "I had no idea where you were or what happened to you. What if it was something worse? What if you hadn't been found by a good Samaritan? You were out there all alone, doing God-knew-what, and you got hurt."

  Quinn didn't say anything. He was staring at the floor, unable to look his father in the eye. Natalie looked between them, feeling torn apart—between the truth and her own safety, between Quinn and keeping her new home intact.

  One look at Quinn's pained face, one look at the friend Natalie knew would never betray her in a million years, even while his father berated him for something he didn't do, and Natalie knew she couldn't sit by.

  "Mr. Kincaid," she spoke up. "Quinn wasn't there alone."

  "What?"

  "It's my fault," said Natalie. She took a deep breath, looking Damian in the eyes as she spoke, her voice surprisingly calm. It was nice living here, at least for a little while… "I was there with him. I'm the reason Quinn got hurt and had to go to the hospital."

  "You…" Damian faltered, opening and closing his mouth a few times. "Jenny, what do you mean?"

  "I mean that I shoved him, and I knocked him out, and the back of his head started bleeding. It's my fault." Natalie stood up. Percy fluttered back to her shoulder from where he'd perched on the back of one of the dining room chairs. "I didn't mean to. I'm sorry. I'll go pack my things."

  "Now hang on—" said Damian, but Quinn leapt to his feet first.

  "No, Jenny, you can't go."

  "...What?" she said. She wasn't exactly surprised Quinn leapt to her defense—of course he would, that's why she liked him—but 'can't' wasn't the word she expected.

  "Dad, she doesn't have anywhere else to live," said Quinn, turning back to Damian. "If you kick her out, she's gonna be on the street all alone. You can't."

  Damian hesitated. "I wasn't going to kick her out."

  Natalie didn't dare to hope, but she stopped moving. Waiting, just waiting.

  Finally, Damian spoke up again. "Jenny, we'll talk about this more tonight when Annette gets home, all right?"

  She nodded, very slowly. "...I'll be in my room," she said quietly.

  Damian nodded. "Okay."

  Quinn walked Natalie to her bedroom door, looking desperate. "It'll be okay," he muttered. "They're just scared. They'll let you stay. Don't worry."

  Natalie smiled at him, but she already knew she probably wasn't going to be living there much longer. No matter what Quinn might say, Natalie knew exactly how far a dad would go to protect his kid. If Damian saw her as a threat—and he should, if today was anything to go by—she wasn't going to be welcome in his house. Not for one more second.

  "See you at dinner, Quinn," Natalie murmured. She held out her hand, and he took it. She squeezed his fingers, forcing herself through the pain in case she never got the opportunity again.

  The door swung shut, and Percy fluttered over to the bed. Natalie laid down and pulled out her phone, scrolling through the news to see what was going on—to see what Hailey had done in Jessica's memory, and to see how the rest of the world saw her. She needed to see how they felt about all the awakened, a number that included Natalie among them.

  Yes. I'm one of them. Whether I want to be or not. I can't get away from it, even when I try.

  Do you want to?

  Natalie shook her head. She held up her hand into the air, finger extended, and Percy fluttered over to perch. The old Natalie wasn't strong enough to hold him up on just a single finger, but her new body didn't have a problem with it. She stroked his little head, wishing both that she could be far away from it all, and that she could stay with Quinn and his parents.

  I'm one of them. I'm awakened. I can't change that, and I don't want to.

  Good.