There were more whispers than usual on the bus the next morning. Natalie and Quinn were in their usual seats at the very back, but there were more rows between them and the rest of the kids than normal. Everyone kept shooting them surreptitious looks—Natalie in particular. She tried to ignore it, but she knew Quinn had noticed too.

  By the time they got to school, it was really starting to bother her. Natalie marched right up to a girl, someone she vaguely remembered from the beginning of the year as a nice person. To her surprise, the girl squeaked and bolted away before Natalie could get a word in.

  "What's going on…?" Natalie murmured to Quinn as they headed to first period English out in the portables.

  "I have no idea…" Quinn whispered back. He pulled out his phone, logging into the social media network most kids at Willford Jenkins used. "I don't see anything, so we didn't miss it. Blake?"

  "Blake, for sure," said Natalie with a sinking expression. What had her self-appointed nemesis done now?

  It wasn't just the students, she realized. Their English teacher—somebody she'd liked since nearly the first day—kept giving her the same half-curious, half-nervous glance whenever she walked nearby. Natalie was getting fed up, but she didn't want to interrupt the class or cause a scene. As first period finally ended, Natalie had Quinn close and guard the door.

  "What's going on?" she asked bluntly, walking up to her teacher.

  "I… uhh," he stuttered, completely off balance.

  "Everybody keeps looking at me. I mean, I'm kinda used to that by now, but this is different. What are you all doing?"

  "Nothing, Nata—" The teacher's mouth clamped shut, but it was already out.

  Oh my god.

  Natalie whirled around to Quinn. He'd heard it too. His eyes were as wide as her own. There was no mistaking what the teacher had been about to say.

  They bolted out of the room.

  "How did she find out?" Quinn asked as they sprinted across the field to the school.

  "I don't know!"

  Natalie intended to find out, though, and she was headed to her suspect's office right away. Quinn once again stood guard outside, all thoughts of attending class long-gone from their heads. Natalie marched in, ignoring the assistant's protests, and walked straight into the principal's office in the middle of a phone call.

  "Yes, ma'am," said the principal, glancing up. She didn't even look surprised by Natalie's sudden appearance, gesturing at her to close the door behind her. Natalie did—she was going to anyway—but she didn't sit down. She was way too angry to stay still. "Yes. Yes, I understand. I'm aware what's going on. Yes, I saw the news last night. I know what happened. No, I don't think she's a danger to the other students."

  Talking about me…

  "She's a perfectly normal eighth grader, ma'am, and I'd really appreciate if you stopped—yes, ma'am." The principal set the phone down with the most exhausted sigh Natalie had ever heard. "I'm on hold. They're calling their lawyer."

  "...Who?" Natalie asked nervously.

  "The twelfth concerned parent this morning." She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, head tilted up toward the ceiling. "I haven't started hearing from my superiors yet. They're probably getting calls too."

  "I'm sorry," said Natalie, as all suspicion evaporated from her mind.

  "...Thank you, by the way," said the principal unexpectedly.

  "Huh?"

  "For not thinking it was me." She smiled sadly. "I'll help you find out who if I can, but I don't think it really matters anymore."

  "We both know who it was," said Natalie quietly.

  "...Probably."

  "What happens now?"

  "Well, I've been worrying about this day ever since I put the pieces together myself." She opened a drawer and pulled out a thick file folder. "I've got a bunch of case precedent for ensuring you can continue to attend school here, even under the protection of the national guard if necessary. You are guaranteed an education at a school within your reasonable power to attend, and you certainly live in right district, so the law's on our side."

  "So—"

  "We're going to fight, Natalie," she said. "...Sorry, is it all right that I use your real name?"

  Natalie smiled slightly. "Yes, please."

  The principal smiled too. "I'll be getting the ACLU for sure, and… oh, I'm sorry, I don't want to bore you with legal details."

  "It's okay." Natalie hesitated. "I think I'm going to need to know a lot of this soon."

  "I'm so sorry this is happening to you, Natalie," she sighed. "You don't deserve it. You've been a perfectly wonderful presence and an excellent student in this school, even with… well, everything," she ended abruptly, and Natalie saw her eyes do the tell-tale flick over to her scar.

  She nodded. "What do I do now?"

  "Well…" The principal hesitated, clearly uncertain. She glanced down at her phone again, but it was still playing tinny-sounding bad pop music. "You could go back to class, if you wanted, but I suppose that's not going to be the easiest thing."

  Natalie shrugged. "It's been like that since the first day, though. They always all talk about me. This is just a little more."

  "It's more than that though," the principal said. "They're… well, there's no easy way to say this," she said uncomfortably. "Your identity also means that people are connecting who you are with who your father is."

  "...Oh," said Natalie, as it dawned on her. No wonder her teacher had looked so afraid.

  "It's still all rumor, of course. He's never been seen. We only have the word of one person, and well… Cinza isn't exactly the most stable voice in the world."

  Natalie frowned. Cinza was her friend, she didn't like hearing her insulted like that.

  "But it's enough to scare the parents," she went on. "Some of them are calling because they believe you might be the daughter of a mass-murderer, and others are calling because they assume you're awakened and they agree with him. Either way…" The principal hesitated, looking more grim than before. "Things are going to get ugly. Really ugly. I can't protect you from that."

  "I can protect myself," said Natalie firmly.

  "It's not that kind of protection." The principal glanced at the office door, where Quinn's silhouette waited patiently. "I know your friends are all here, and I know you don't have any other home to go to, so I want to say it again, to be perfectly clear: if you want to stay at this school, I will do everything in my power to make sure that happens. But…"

  "But you think I should leave," said Natalie, fighting hard to keep emotion from her voice.

  "...I located the phone number for your mother," said the principal carefully.

  The floor seemed to fall out from underneath Natalie. "...What?"

  "Lori Hendricks. She still lives in Chicago. It's far enough away that you can disappear, if you so choose. You'd have to change how you look again…" She looked deeply uncomfortable. "I haven't contacted her, and I won't unless you tell me to. But I can."

  Mom… We left her behind. She was so weird toward the end… saying weird things, doing weird things. She seemed to be actually crazy. Except… how much of that was dad? Dad's the one doing… everything now. So what if… what if Mom's actually okay?

  Your mother is not an option.

  You can't just decide that. She's my mom. She still loves me, doesn't she?

  Love is not the issue. She is an unknown. She is not one of yours. You have responsibilities here. You belong here. Everyone and everything that matters is here.

  "Please don't," Natalie said quietly, giving in and agreeing with the voice. "Don't call her."

  The principal nodded. "Then everything else is up to you, Natalie. What do you want to do?"

  "I just want to go to school," she whispered.

  "So be it." The principal glanced at her phone again, checking the time. "In that case, Miss Hendricks, I believe you are severely late for second period. I'll have to write you up if you stay any longer."

  Natalie managed to crack a smile. The principal did the same. "Thanks."

  "Go be a kid, Natalie. I'll take care of the adult half."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Natalie nodded, and quickly left, feeling both better and far worse than she ever had in that room.

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

  When they walked into their second period study hall, every single person in the room froze. The teacher, who'd been grading assignments, openly stared at Natalie as she moved through the room, heading for her desk. The rest of the class was whispering, heads low, sneaking glances as her every few seconds. The instant Natalie looked at anyone, they ducked as if for cover. As if she were going to attack them.

  "Well," said Natalie quietly, "she was right."

  Quinn winced. "It'll blow over."

  "Not when my dad's in the news all the time. Not while he's doing all this stuff." Natalie pulled out the make-up work they'd gotten from first period, after another uncomfortable encounter. She couldn't focus on it though. Every few seconds, she could feel a prickling on her neck. People were watching her constantly. Not just the curious looks she'd always get before they got bored again and went back to their own lives.

  Now she couldn't escape it at all.

  "—Rallsburg—" someone was whispering a few tables away. Natalie could hear most of them thanks to her ears, but couldn't focus on any one conversation long enough to really make out anything substantial.

  I can't do this anymore.

  This is whispers. This is nothing. Ignore them.

  I don't… I don't know what to do.

  You must endure. You have a goal. Remember your goal. They do not matter.

  I don't anymore though. I'm not doing that. I'm staying with Quinn. That's my only goal.

  That may no longer be an option.

  "—Brian—"

  Natalie's head snapped toward the whisperer, all the way across the room. The boy's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. He scooted his chair back as if to run, but it caught on an uneven floor tile and tilted over.

  The boy crashed to the floor, silencing the room again.

  Everyone looked at Natalie. Not at the boy who'd just fallen to the ground. Nobody made fun of him. The teacher didn't act exasperated and tell him to stay in his seat. No one helped him back to his chair.

  They stared at Natalie. They all stared at Natalie.

  "Let's just go," said Natalie quietly. Quinn nodded.

  She took his hand and stood. Instantly, the room looked away again. As Natalie passed each table, the whispering fell silent—as if she hadn't just demonstrated she could hear all of them from any distance anyway. They left, and as soon as the door closed behind them, Natalie heard conversation erupt in earnest.

  The halls were totally empty. Natalie just wandered for a while, Quinn's hand in hers, no aim in mind. She called Percy in from above, letting him perch on her shoulder. What did she care anymore? The simple censorship in the book meant nothing. There were only so many kids from Rallsburg, and only one survived. Everyone knew who she was. It wasn't hard to put together. Somebody was bound to, sooner or later.

  "Hey!" shouted Kelsey.

  They turned around. Kelsey was jogging down the hall toward them. Someone stuck their head out of a classroom at the noise, saw the trio, and quickly withdrew again.

  "Well… how's your day going?" Kelsey asked, forcing a crooked grin.

  Natalie felt her head getting heavy and warm again, as tears started to form in her eyes. "Hi, Kelsey."

  "Hi, Natalie." She grinned. "I like your real name better anyway," she added. "Jenny… Jenny was your best friend, right?"

  "...Yeah." Natalie gripped Quinn's hand tighter. She wished, more than anything, that she could just collapse on him for a while, cry into his shoulder, let everything out.

  But she couldn't. Even besides her own problems, Quinn wasn't doing so well himself. She could feel it, though he tried to hide it. Her senses gave away so much more than he knew. She felt his heart racing through his grip, saw the sweat beading on his skin, saw the tiny quivers through his whole body, his eyes darting more than usual behind his glasses.

  He was scared.

  "So I'm gonna kill Blake," growled Kelsey. "Wanna come?"

  "Don't…" said Natalie weakly.

  Kelsey stopped mid-turn. "What?"

  "It wouldn't matter if you did. Everybody knows already." She took a breath. "The principal told me parents are calling in. Saying I can't be here or they'll get mad. Protest and try to shut down the school."

  "That's bullshit. Don't they want us in school?"

  "What should we do?" asked Quinn hesitantly.

  They both looked at him, surprised. Quinn usually deferred to Natalie on anything related to her secrets, but they still rarely heard him sound so confused. Quinn uncertain of what to do was… unsettling.

  "Well, screw going back to class," said Kelsey slowly. "Not like it's really happening right now anyway. I'm guessing yours was just as screwed up?"

  "We had study hall," said Natalie. "But… yeah."

  "Everybody's so stupid," Kelsey growled. "Just get over it already. Where the hell is Mitch?" On cue, Mitch appeared around the corner at the end of the hall. "It's about time!"

  "I couldn't find you guys," he shot back.

  "We're standing in the middle of the hallway!"

  "Yeah, well, I was on the other side of the building." He glanced around. "Tyler?"

  Natalie winced. "Should we go find him?"

  "Yeah, definitely," said Kelsey uneasily. "If his class is anything like mine… They would not shut up. And they all know we're friends, so…"

  They all paused for a second, looking at each other. Natalie broke into a sprint toward Tyler's classroom, and the other three followed. When Natalie burst through the door, the whole room looked up in shock. She scanned it quickly, but Tyler was nowhere to be found. The teacher opened his mouth to say something, but Natalie just shut the door again before anyone got a word out.

  "No Tyler?" Kelsey asked, just catching up to Natalie. Mitch and Quinn were well behind, both panting already. "Jeez, guys, get in shape."

  "I'm good," puffed Mitch. "Just can't run as fast as you two freaks."

  Natalie winced.

  "...Sorry," Mitch said, seeing her face. "I didn't mean it like that."

  Kelsey slapped him on the back of the head. "Asshole. Today of all days."

  "Bathroom," said Quinn. "He'll be in the bathroom or he'll be outside."

  It ended up being the former. They piled into the boy's bathroom—Mitch standing watch this time, filling in for Kelsey from their last all-group bathroom meeting. Tyler was in the last stall, head in his hands, sobbing to himself.

  "Tyler?" Natalie asked, pushing the door open slightly—just enough to let him know they were there, but letting him open it when he was ready.

  "I'm s-sorry, Jenny," he said, a little muffled through his fingers. "I think it's all m-my f-fault. They all f-f-found the b-book 'cause I did."

  Natalie shook her head, though of course he couldn't see her yet. "They would've found it anyway, Tyler. You just found it first."

  "I got that link from somebody else like half an hour later," added Kelsey. "And no way they got it from you."

  "B-but now e-everybody knows who Jenny is."

  "It's okay, Tyler," said Natalie quietly. "I can handle it."

  "I screwed up though."

  "You didn't."

  He kept crying, unconsolable. Natalie looked at Quinn with a pleading look. It was Tyler, after all. Quinn was his hero. Quinn stepped forward, and his voice was admirably steady for how scared and uncomfortable he looked.

  "Tyler, it was always going to happen sooner or later. I mean, Blake knew she could do magic, and there's only one kid from Rallsburg who survived." Natalie winced again, but she knew that Quinn was doing his best. "Everybody was gonna figure it out sooner or later. Blake just sped it up a bit."

  "She's a bitch," added Kelsey. "Don't let her screw with you like this. You didn't do anything wrong."

  "We've got your back, man!" Mitch called from the doorway.

  "Tyler, can I open the door?" asked Natalie quietly.

  "...Y-yeah," he said, and they heard the distinctive puff of his inhaler. Natalie pushed it open. Tyler looked even more of a mess than they'd expected. His eyes were puffy and bright, and tear streaks covered his face, while the top of his shirt was practically soaked.

  "Dude, there's tissues right there," said Kelsey uncomfortably.

  "I-I knew that," said Tyler.

  Quinn shot Kelsey a sharp look, and she recoiled. Too much, Kelsey, Natalie agreed. It was why they'd picked Mitch to stand guard. Tyler wasn't the kind of guy who could bounce back from something like this through teasing.

  "Where's Steven?" he asked finally through a thick voice.

  "Not here again," said Quinn. "He said he had to stay home for something. Didn't say what."

  "Oh." Tyler looked up at Natalie finally, wiping his eyes with his shirt. Kelsey visibly restrained herself as she handed him a few tissues. "Hi, Jenny—err, Natalie."

  "Hi, Tyler," said Natalie, trying her best to smile. "Nice to meet you."

  That got through to him. Tyler choked out a little laugh. "Y-you girls are in the boys' room."

  "You got to see ours," said Kelsey with a smirk. "Only fair we get to see yours." She glanced around. "I'm super disappointed too. What a surprise."

  Tyler smiled wider. He was feeling better already.

  "So now what?" asked Kelsey, turning to Natalie. "Gang's all here. Class is screwed for the rest of the day anyway. Principal's on our side, but nobody else in the whole building is. What's next, captain?"

  "Me?" asked Natalie, surprised.

  Nobody looked surprised. "Yeah, of course you," said Mitch, who'd left his post at the door. "You're the smartest one here and you know the most about what's going on. That makes you captain."

  "Apparently not in certain games, though," said Kelsey, with a sideways glare at Mitch.

  "You said you'd never played before!"

  "Yeah, and I still knew more than you. What does that say about you?"

  "I think we should just leave," said Natalie, interrupting them.

  They all hesitated. "You sure?" asked Kelsey finally. "I mean, the rest of us got parents that'll probably get mad if we just ditch."

  "They're going to get mad over this anyway, right?"

  "Not my parents," Quinn pointed out with a small smile. "It's not a surprise to them."

  Mitch shrugged. "My mom probably wouldn't even think about you. She'd get way more mad about me ditching class. But there's no class anymore today, so who cares?"

  "My parents wouldn't," said Tyler with another sniffle. "They'd just be happy I'm hanging out with you guys."

  Everyone looked at Kelsey.

  "...I dunno about my moms," she said slowly. Natalie's heart fell. Of all her friends, Kelsey was the one she hadn't expected this from. "I mean, they're usually pretty cool. But… I dunno on this one."

  "Is it me?" asked Natalie.

  "...Kinda," said Kelsey, her face pinched with embarrassment. "They really don't like magic in general, and also all the stuff with your dad. They… they went to a meeting," she trailed off, looking away.

  "A meeting of what?" asked Mitch, not following.

  "People who want to kill everyone like me," said Natalie, feeling weight crushing back down on her again.

  "I don't think they were very happy about it!" Kelsey added quickly. "But… well, they didn't say they weren't going back. And they love activism and getting involved and all that. So… I don't know." She looked really upset, which made Natalie feel a little better, but it was so much worse than what she'd expected.

  "It's okay, Kelsey," said Natalie. She hated seeing her friend so upset.

  "It's not!" Kelsey snapped. "It's not your fault! You didn't do anything. You don't deserve to get locked up or kicked out or hunted or whatever. This is so stupid. Everything's so stupid. Why are people so stupid?"

  "Why are people so stupid?" echoed Mitch.

  For once, Kelsey didn't take the easy bait. She just leaned back against the nearest sink, still visibly uncomfortable.

  "Quinn's place," said Natalie finally. "Let's all go there. Damian's home, and everybody knows now, so it's fine. Nothing's going to happen at school all day with us here anyway. Even without me, you guys were still distracting the whole class, right?"

  "Yup," said Mitch, with a pointed glance at Kelsey, "but that's pretty normal for me."

  Kelsey cracked a grin, but still didn't say anything.

  "You're not going to go away, right?" asked Tyler behind her. Natalie turned around. "I don't want you to go away," he added quietly.

  Natalie shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm your captain now, right?"

  "You don't have glasses," said Tyler, trying to crack a smile, "...but that's okay."

  She grinned. "Come on, let's get out of here."

  As they walked out of the school into the bright day, heading for Quinn's home, Natalie felt the creeping guilt return. She'd promised Tyler, but could she really keep that promise? Kelsey's words were echoing in her head, over and over, like a bell that wouldn't stop chiming.

  "She didn't do anything! She doesn't deserve to get locked up!"

  Rika didn't do anything either. I did those things. She doesn't deserve to get locked up.

  You can't protect her without failing to protect your own here.

  So I should just let her go through the trial?

  No. We must find the best course of action. We must find a way to set Rika free without also giving up our own freedom.

  How do we do that?

  Quinn's mother is an attorney. Your principal was contacting legal organizations. Cinza may have resources, and you must contact her anyway about what she knows, and if she plans to reveal it.

  But what if that doesn't work? What if I have to turn myself in? What if I get locked up forever? I don't know if I can do that, even to save Rika.

  Only you can make that decision, Natalie.