"They don't beat you. They can't. That's the whole point."

  Brian was raging at Omega, his voice carrying through the underbrush. Alden was frozen in place. Hailey had landed closer to the light than he'd thought—and it had belonged to his worst nightmare. It was a miracle they hadn't been heard themselves, but it seemed their foes were a bit preoccupied to be listening out for faint voices in the distance.

  "Calm down, man," Omega replied. Even though he wasn't shouting, his own voice still carried far. The deep timbre struck shivers in Alden's spine, just as it had in town. "They just surprised me."

  "You've got a massive bite in your shoulder," Brian growled. "What the hell did those savages do to you? And how?"

  Omega hesitated before answering. "It won't happen again. I'll be ready next time."

  "No, that's not enough. We have to send them a message."

  "What kind of message?"

  Hailey shot a fearful look at Alden. Neither of them dared move, but they seemed to be in complete agreement: we need to get out of here.

  "That the end is nigh. They've chosen destruction."

  "You would destroy the entire town?" Omega asked casually.

  "You said it yourself. Magic is out and the town did nothing. They just accepted it and moved on. How could this town—my own neighbors and friends—let such filth into our lives?"

  Brian might have sounded hysterical, but his voice was controlled and steady. He continued in that same confident voice, speaking of murder and bloodshed like it were a chore—unpleasant, but ultimately necessary.

  "Rallsburg is doomed. We have to wipe it from the face of the earth. Natalie and I will find a new home after it's gone. Then we'll be safe."

  Natalie? Alden mouthed at Hailey in confusion. She shrugged, equally bewildered. Brian was apparently totally unaware of his daughter's status.

  "What's your plan?" Omega asked.

  "They'll probably call a meeting, since they think you're on the retreat," Brian continued. "Use the time they have to plan some kind of defense. I can strike there."

  "No."

  "No? It's the perfect opportunity."

  "You alone, against the combined force of the town? They'd hunt you down like a dog."

  "I can beat them."

  Omega sighed. His voice got quieter, too quiet for them to hear. Alden looked at Hailey with dismay. She frowned, then made a few brief motions with her fingers. The air suddenly felt thicker around Alden's ears, as though there were some kind of pressure building up in the area. Brian and Omega were suddenly quite audible again, though they'd dropped to normal speaking volumes.

  "...stronger than I thought you'd be, even using my magic secondhand like that. But you're going up against forces you've never seen. Spells I've never seen."

  "The entire world is at stake. The clock's ticking. We can't just sit around and wait for their next move. We can use terror, turn fear back on those monsters like they deserve. They can't mount a defense if they're running scared."

  "They aren't going anywhere. We've made sure of that. We can be patient and thorough."

  "I don't have time for that."

  "Why is it so urgent?"

  "Because my little girl is still in there!" Brian roared, causing Hailey and Alden to jump. The volume amplification made it sound like he was shouting right in their faces. "She's not alone, thank God, but she's still in danger. I'm the only one who can protect her. You know that we can't trust anyone else with magic. Those stupid bastards would probably try to hoard it for themselves and we'd get more dead kids in the crossfire. The only way we can be certain is to kill every last one of them. I'm never letting anyone hurt my Natalie again."

  "...Again?" Omega prompted.

  "It was when she was little," Brian answered. The hot fury in his tone slowly subsided into a much colder, but no less intense contempt. "She doesn't remember it at all, but her mother… well, her mom wasn't exactly the brightest bulb on the tree. She neglected our daughter so many times… Then Lori took Natalie out to a playground, and she lost track of her. Natalie wandered out into the street and got hit by a guy on a bike. She was bleeding and crying, and Lori didn't even realize it had happened until the ambulance showed up."

  Brian's voice had shifted to a growl. "If it had been a car, Natalie might not be alive. Lori was careless, the biker was careless, every single fucking person there was careless. Careless people who don't do anything to prevent disasters like this are dangerous. Now they've got magic at their disposal and you're wondering why I think it's urgent?"

  "You've made your point, man," Omega answered, trying to placate him. There was a pause.

  "What?" Brian asked.

  "Thought I felt something…" Omega murmured.

  Alden shot a panicked look at Hailey. "What if he can feel magic like Will can?" he hissed.

  Fear filled Hailey's face. Twigs and leaves scattered as she lifted into the air. She held steady while Alden grabbed hold. Moments later, they were skybound, moving away from the firelight as fast as they could.

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

  They didn't see Viper's helicopter anywhere nearby, but Hailey stayed low above the treeline nonetheless. Neither of them wanted to risk anything at that point. She was taking a slow roundabout route outside its flight path back to Rallsburg.

  "Are you getting tired? We can set down again," Alden asked.

  Without the makeshift harness, he was feeling a bit vulnerable just hanging off Hailey. She was bearing most of the weight, despite only using one arm to hold up him, but it was still harrowing to be flying through the air with no visible support. Exciting, even in their current state, but definitely nerve-wracking.

  She shook her head. Hailey's eyes had started to adopt the dead look of the deeply exhausted, but she seemed fiercely determined.

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  "I'll get us home," she replied. "Unless… you don't want to go back? I guess you were thinking about running."

  "I—" Alden started.

  "I don't blame you," she continued quickly. "Honestly, I thought about it too. Even with Jess like she is, we might have a better chance getting out of here. But I'm on the fence. Jess and I can probably help out. Like, a lot. I feel like I'd regret it the rest of my life if I ditch now, you know?"

  "I can't do anything though. I'm just a kid, and every spell I try is just weak," Alden muttered. He assumed Hailey couldn't hear him over the wind, but she caught it anyway.

  "Sure you can. Don't listen to Rika. You're better than that. You're smart, Alden." Hailey glanced down at him for a second with a quick smile, but quickly looked back up before they plowed headlong into a tree. She had to roll to avoid it, making them both wince from the pressure. "Sorry. Seriously, though. Don't sell yourself short. You can't do much magic yet, yeah, but you've only had it for what, a week?"

  "Less than," he replied sheepishly.

  "There you go! How are you supposed to be on par with all these people who've been doing it for a year? Or more? Don't try to measure yourself against all these people, they've got a huge head start."

  "Easy for you to say." He hadn't meant that to sound so bitter, but it came out that way.

  Hailey shrugged. "I cheated. Didn't know it, but apparently I did. I don't count." She glanced at him again, seeing his dejected expression. "Look, your life sucks right now, and it's all because of magic. I've been there for sure. Think about it though. If you leave, it's not like magic's not still gonna be there, right? You're awakened now, just like the rest of us. Do you think you'll ever have a normal life again?"

  "No."

  "Exactly. More importantly, think about all the cool things we can do now. I mean, check it out." Hailey abruptly launched into a dive, rolling around several trees at breakneck speed. They burst through a clump and Hailey suddenly angled them up into the air. They rose high into the sky.

  Alden felt his stomach fall out from under him. They were rolling over backwards. Hailey had taken them into a reverse loop. He was suddenly laid out above her, with only the clear starry expanse above. It was a rare cloudless night and the moon and stars were bright and gorgeous. For that brief instant, he forgot everything. It was a moment of weightless, breathless excitement.

  They began to fall back down, and instead of a rush of wind like Alden expected, Hailey returned them to a slow glide again.

  He burst out laughing. "Thought I said to warn me next time."

  "Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" Hailey laughed. "Seriously, you want to give up stuff like this?"

  "No, of course not."

  "Me neither." Hailey sobered up again, her laughter dying away. "The thing is, that's what he wants to take away, right? He wants magic to end. Maybe he's got a decent reason, I don't know. But I can't believe it. So I'm not going to let them. Are you?"

  Alden shook his head. "No, but I'm no one. I'm not powerful like you, or connected like Rachel and Rika. I'm not important at all."

  "I don't think that matters," Hailey replied. "I mean, look at Rachel. From what Rika told me, she can barely do any magic herself. She's almost worthless at it. As for being connected and important, Rachel pretty much just copied me."

  "What?"

  "Yeah. Believe it or not, before I decided I was going to be a hermit for the rest of my life, I was basically the center of town. I knew everyone and everyone knew me. Life of the party. The girl in the know. Queen bee. Pick your title." Hailey laughed. "Rachel was just one of my friends. She was always trying to be the center too, and she was nice enough, but she was a bit too clueless to handle it. Too forgetful. And when you start forgetting people and snubbing them at all the big events, you can't be the center anymore, you know? Plus, everyone just thought she was a little weird."

  Hailey grimaced. "I don't feel great about it, but we probably treated her pretty bad. She was crazy tall and super awkward. It was like high school all over again. Then magic shows up. I drop off the face of the earth—for very important reasons—and Rachel turns on genius-mode somehow. She already knew most of the town just because she hung out around me so much, and she basically just took over. No magic, no tricks, just being there for everyone.

  "The point I'm trying to make, Alden," she continued, her voice straining a little as she started lifting them above the rising treetops. They were headed uphill. Alden noticed her hand was clutching the tourmaline around her neck much tighter than he'd previously noticed. "I think you make yourself important. Yeah, some people start off important because they're born into it, but they're not gonna stay there unless they want to. There's so many people out there now, and everyone's so connected, you can only rise up to the top if you push your way there."

  "And how do you do that?"

  "Luck—and being really damn stubborn." Hailey grinned. "That's my secret. I don't give up on things ever. Maybe I put them on pause for a while, but it's never over til I croak."

  "I don't want to be important."

  "I don't either. It wasn't worth it at all. I'd rather have a few close friends than a ton of kinda-friends."

  "I want to help though," Alden said suddenly. His mind was shifting away from flight. It wasn't quite to the 'fight' end of the spectrum, but he didn't feel so terror-stricken anymore. There was a new sense of conviction building up inside him. Despite what had been done to him, magic was still full of so much potential—and the few friends he'd made on this adventure seemed like friends worth keeping. "If I can help somehow, I want to. I want to help you guys save it. I don't want magic to go away."

  "Me neither," Hailey agreed. She started turning them more directly toward the town. Alden noticed they were on a direct path back to Hailey's (and Rika's) apartment block. "If it's cool with you, I think our next move is to get some sleep, because I am gonna fall asleep in mid-air here pretty soon."

  "What?"

  "Just kidding. But seriously, I gotta lay down before this gets worse."

  "Okay." His sudden burst of panic dwindled away. "We need to call Rachel though. We should warn them about the meeting."

  "Right. You have her number, don't you?"

  "Yeah. Guess I could call now."

  Alden pulled out his phone and dialed, while Hailey gently descended toward the balcony of the apartments. The door slid open of its own accord as they approached. He could see Jessica waiting just inside with her hand outstretched. Hailey landed and let Alden go. She stumbled inside on her weak legs and collapsed onto the sofa. Jessica immediately began fussing over her. Alden stayed outside on the balcony, listening to the phone ring unheeded.

  Rachel finally answered on the eighth ring. "Hello?" She sounded completely exhausted.

  "Hi, this is—"

  "Zack. What can I do for you?"

  "I… well." He hesitated. He didn't want to reveal Hailey's abilities if he didn't have to. She'd already mentioned how she was a more private person than she used to be, and Rachel was certainly the opposite. It wasn't his place to tell. "I overheard Omega and Brian talking in the woods."

  "About what?" She sounded doubtful, but too tired to argue.

  "They're going to escalate to the entire town, not just awakened."

  "We knew that already. They killed the reverend," Rachel answered impatiently.

  "They also said something about attacking you while you're meeting tomorrow."

  "I didn't call any meeting for tomorrow."

  "You didn't?"

  "No. We talked about what to do next after the riot cleared out, but we hadn't set anything in stone."

  "Oh."

  "Was there anything else?" she asked.

  "Just… be careful. I'm here to help, and so is everyone else."

  "Thank you." She sounded like someone riding the line between sincerity and annoyance. "Good night, Zack."

  "Night."

  The phone clicked off. Alden stared out into the thick woods beyond the balcony. That hadn't felt like enough. He wasn't giving up with just a single phone call. Come tomorrow morning, he was going to be out there helping. Whatever he could do, anything he could contribute to keep the town alive. To keep his friends alive.

  Jessica emerged and joined him at the railing. She looked at him and tapped his shoulder, where she'd bandaged his cut. He'd completely forgotten about it, and it hadn't been hurting for a while. He pulled up his shirt sleeve, and she glanced it over. A moment later, she gave a thumbs up, letting his sleeve drop again.

  Alden pointed inside, then put both hands up to the side of his face and tilted his head to try and indicate sleeping. Jessica nodded. Hailey was asleep. Alden turned back to the forest, trying to think of how to ask Jessica his next question. He already knew how Hailey felt, but Jessica was still a bit of an enigma to him. He liked hanging out with her, and she seemed like the best kind of caring and compassionate, but did that translate into wanting to throw herself into an all-out battle? Alden didn't want to feel like they were dragging her into a fight she had no interest in.

  He pointed out into the woods, then made the shape of a man in midair with fire. Jessica watched intently. He made a crude drawing of the town, then the man punching the town and it shattering. Next, he pointed at himself and then inside, and made a fist before punching out at the man. Finally, he pointed at Jessica, then at the man, and cocked his head to the side with a questioning look.

  Jessica didn't hesitate. She turned to the outline of the man in small licks of fire, floating above the empty space beyond the balcony. With barely any visible effort, her fingers twirled and a swirl of fireballs appeared. They punched through the man's chest like tiny glowing bullets, one after the other. Jessica turned back to him and punched her fist into her palm, her eyes narrow.

  Alden nodded. Jessica was on board.

  Tomorrow, for better or worse, Alden and his friends would be joining the fight.