Natalie knocked her knees together impatiently, playing with a strand of her hair while the Council droned on about procedure and something else she didn't understand. Rachel put a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her, but Natalie shrugged it off. She just wanted them to start talking about magic, not all this boring stuff about staying secret and being organized.

  She glanced around the sitting room in Mabel Walsh's huge house. Natalie was curious who else could do magic—was awakened, she reminded herself. Apparently, that's what they were supposed to call it. Rachel said it like it was a bad word, but everybody else seemed okay with it.

  Hector sat in the corner, fiddling with his phone and barely paying attention. Natalie had considered sitting next to him, but she'd ended up following Rachel to sit by the empty fireplace near her friend Rika, the loud angry girl with the blue hair who nobody else seemed to like. Josh Miller sat on the other side of Rika, occasionally leaning on her. Natalie knew they were dating, but most of the town didn't yet. She'd heard it during one of the college capture the flag games.

  Apparently it wasn't a secret here in the little group of awakened. Natalie felt a little excited by that. This was a secret club. She loved the idea of secret clubs. She and Jenny had one too.

  Maybe I can invite Jenny to this one day too. That would be so cool.

  On the other side of the room sat one of the professors from the college, the one with the bright red hair. Natalie couldn't remember her name, but she had a funny accent and always let Natalie hang out near her mansion, even though her groundskeeper Collins tried to shoo her away. Next was Ryan Walker, one of the college guys who always wanted her on his team, and he was super handsome. She had a huge secret crush on him. Finally, there were two whose names Natalie didn't know—the delivery guy who brought her stuff she ordered online, and a quiet, pale girl with brown hair and a strange accent.

  The really interesting people were up front though: Mabel Walsh and Alex Nelson, two of the three Councilors—Hector was the third, apparently, though he didn't seem like one to Natalie—along with the three "gods", by far the most powerful of them all. Alpha, who always looked like an outline of light instead of a person and spoke with a deep commanding voice, sat on the left, while Omega say on the right.

  Beverly huddled up in the middle, wrapped up in a scarf and a hooded sweatshirt. She rarely spoke, but everyone shut up whenever she opened her mouth. Natalie wasn't really sure why, but it was her first meeting, so maybe there was something special about Beverly she just didn't know yet. She'd have to ask Rachel later.

  Natalie stayed quiet and patiently listened, just like her dad always asked whenever they had to go to the doctor or something else important in the city.

  "It's time to start expanding," said Alpha, his deep voice rolling over the small group. "There's only ten awakened part of the Council, but we know there must be more. The Scraps are spreading."

  Omega made a derisive noise. Beverly looked at him, and he seemed to back down. After a moment's hesitation, Alex spoke up from the council seats.

  "What does expanding mean?"

  "Two things. We use what we have to find anyone who's awakened and invite them to join us—"

  "Gonna need a bigger room," joked the deliveryman, glancing around. Mabel glared at him, but the professor spoke up before any argument could begin.

  "I believe I can supply one of the college classrooms after hours. It should be sufficient for up to sixty if necessary, and more if we squeeze in. Once we reach those numbers, we will undoubtedly be at a point where we might approach the mayor and transition into the town hall."

  Alpha nodded. "Thanks, Kendra."

  "And the second part?" asked Alex.

  "We begin a sponsorship program—"

  "No," interrupted Omega.

  Beverly sighed and seemed to withdraw into her chair, closing her grey eyes. Alpha's head swiveled around—a curious motion, since Natalie couldn't really make out his neck or his eyes, but the outline of his nose in profile showed where he now faced, eyeing Omega from across their table.

  "It's safer than letting people awaken at random."

  "I'm trying to stop that, you know."

  "And we appreciate your efforts tracking down the lost pieces of the book—which you destroyed, in case you forgo—"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Beverely made a noise, somewhere halfway between a click of her tongue and an exasperated sigh. Alpha faltered mid-sentence.

  "We haven't seen any of these lost pieces," said Mabel carefully from the front.

  "Because he's burning them," said Rika. "He doesn't want anyone to awaken, remember? Thinks this shit is too dangerous."

  "That wasn't the deal," said Alex. "We wanted to collect them so we could learn how to use it properly. If you're destroying them—"

  "There is no 'properly'," said Omega. "It should have been destroyed completely. Instead, we now have children getting involved in our council. Are you saying we should awaken her?"

  Natalie got to her feet, annoyed. "What's wrong with that?" she asked indignantly. "I'm good at magic!"

  Beverly's eyes snapped open and found Natalie's. She had a strange, confused look on her face, but it was quickly forgotten as the rest of the group reacted in shock.

  "You're awakened?" asked Mabel in a concerned voice.

  Natalie shrunk a little, feeling like she'd done something wrong. She looked over to Rachel, but the tall girl seemed nervous herself, and the sudden glare from Alex up at the Council table didn't help much either.

  "Rachel, did you—" he asked.

  She shook her head. "I ran into her in the woods. She was already awakened."

  "Yeah, I read from the book and all that," said Natalie. "And I can do cool things. I know it's dangerous, but I can control it, so it's okay."

  "How are we supposed to keep this a secret?" asked Mabel. "A child—"

  "I'm eleven," Natalie interrupted, "and I know how to keep a secret. I've been awakened for months and months and my dad doesn't know. Nobody did until Rachel yesterday."

  Nobody answered her. Mabel seemed taken aback, as did Alpha and Omega. Everyone was acting uncomfortable. Beverly still watched Natalie with a cautious expression she didn't understand. Natalie fidgeted in place, not sure what else to say.

  Suddenly, Rika burst out laughing.

  "Well, shit, Natalie's better at keeping secrets than we are. The fuck are we complaining about?"

  "No need to be rude," murmured Kendra.

  "Rachel awakened me and we're still fine. Josh awakened Ryan—"

  "Biggest mistake of my life," said Josh with a laugh. Ryan grinned at him.

  "—and I'm sure Julian's awakened one of his guys by now."

  Julian looked offended. "Hey, I don't break the rules of this place. Don't go puttin' that on me."

  "Okay, whatever, so maybe he didn't." Rika shrugged. "Point is, it's gone okay. Hell, you're gonna get way better new members than me and Ryan if you start expanding. Only thing I hate is this sponsorship shit. Who put us in charge?"

  "They did," said Josh, nodding at the three gods.

  Rika snorted. "Mr. Light and Mr. Dark, plus Beverly who wants nothing to do with us, eh?"

  "That's not true…" said Beverly quietly—and as always, everyone stopped when she spoke, even Rika. She leaned forward a little. "I'll awaken anyone who ever reads part of the Grimoire. Whether or not you give them out is up to you guys. That doesn't mean I don't want to help, I just don't think I should be in charge."

  "Thanks, Beverly," said Alex, giving her a smile. "I think that's enough for one meeting. We've been here for two hours already, and we got a lot done earlier. Who can host next week?"

  "My house will suffice, I suppose," said Kendra. "I'll send Collins on an errand in Olympia."

  "Great." Alex glanced at the two gods, who were still bristling at each other across the table. "Are we good?"

  "Yeah," said Omega. "We're good."

  Alpha nodded in response, and the room seemed to relax a little. The council broke, and one by one, they exited out various doors from Mabel's home. Rachel and Natalie went out one of the sides, back into the forest for a while until they eventually looped back into the street. Natalie turned to head back into the woods, but Rachel stopped her.

  "You should probably go home, Natalie."

  "Huh?"

  "It's late, and your dad's gonna be worried."

  Natalie shook her head. "It's okay. I'm just going back to my castle."

  "Everyone knows how worried he gets. If he starts looking for you when you're in a council meeting with us, it could turn out really badly."

  "Oh…"

  Natalie hesitated. She'd wanted to go back out into the woods and find Scrappy, maybe try to find some other friends while she was out there. Every time she used her magic, she could feel the whole forest around her, and all the animals within it. If she could find such a perfect companion as her mountain lion, who knew what else might be out there for her?

  But… Rachel was right. Her dad would always get worried, no matter how many times she showed him she was totally fine. He always got worried, ever since Chicago, ever since the time she got hurt. She should go home, for his sake.

  "Okay," she said finally.

  "Want me to walk you there?"

  Do you even know the way…? "Nah, I got it." Natalie glanced up at her. "It's the same time next week at Kendra's house, right?"

  "Yes. I'll see you then, Natalie."

  Rachel started away, back to the college. She had to pull out her phone to check which way to go after only one block. Natalie considered going after her, but didn't after a moment's hesitation. Her dad would be worried.

  Natalie hurried down the street to her home, with the moon lighting her every step and skip home. Despite how boring most of it was, Natalie felt giddy—she was part of the secret club now, the special group of people who could do magic. This was better than anything she'd imagined, and best of all, she'd been able to speak up and hold her own. Rika didn't treat her like a little kid, and she was sure the others wouldn't either for long.

  "I'm home!" she called as she walked in, kicking her shoes off. She leapt onto the sofa, where her dad was reading the paper, and snuggled in close under the blanket she'd left there that morning.

  "Hey, turtle," he said, surprisingly calm for how late she'd been out. "Had a good day?"

  "Yeah."

  "Me too," he said, brushing her hair while he went back to reading.

  Natalie pulled out her phone and relaxed, diving back into her book. Everything seemed great to her now. Maybe she wouldn't be able to tell her dad or Jenny for a while, because of the council rules, but she could wait. In the meantime, she had a whole bunch of new friends to make, she had Scrappy and her other friends in the woods, and she had magic.

  Her dad was happy, she was happy, and the world looked a little bit brighter than the day before.