MEGAN. TIME TO GO TO SCHOOL.

“Angie?” Chris said. “You mentioned yesterday something about birds saying we were five now, and how you had been three and one? I didn’t have context for that at the time, but…”

“Yeah,” Angie said. “I’m pretty sure that what, exactly, that bird said was, ‘You couldn’t be fucking four, you needed to be three and one, but your fifth has arrived, so your Silver One has returned to you as well.’”

Megan, surprised by the term ‘Silver One,’ let loose an involuntary little snort that turned into a nervous giggle. “Silver One? Was it talking about me?”

“Yes,” Angie said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Evan asked, frowning. “That we couldn’t be four? There were four of us for years.”

“Well,” said Ryan, “If nothing else, it’s a basic aspect of many mystical disciplines that prime numbers are typically of greater power, importance, and stability than non-prime numbers. This doesn’t hold one hundred percent true, and four is often an important number as well in that in physical reality things often break down by four, such as the four cardinal directions and the four seasons (in temperate climes, of course), which are also quite important in most mystical systems, and twelve is another one, with the months and the various zodiacs and the hours, but those also divide by both four and three which is interesting in its own right—”

“Ryan, point,” Angie said, with a gentleness that belied the terseness.

“Three and five are really important in most systems of working magic,” Ryan continued, as if he hadn’t been interrupted, “And since I don’t see a super clear correlation between the four of us and the directions or seasons, there’s a certain amount of sense in thinking that it could be important for there to be five of us—presuming, of course, a mystical scenario.

“There’s an easier correlation between us and either of the main systems of five mystical elements for us, too. I’d say for the Western Orthodox elements Angie’s gonna be fire, I’m air, Evan’s earth, Megan’s water, and Chris is aether, though I’m less certain about those last three assignations, I could have them mixed up. I don’t know Chris that well yet, he could be earthier than Evan, and I could see Evan being aether or water potentially too, and while Megan could be water or aether, she’s probably water—”

“Ryan,” Angie said.

Ryan continued. “Anyway, in the East Asiaic Traditional breakdown Angie’s still fire, I’m still air, Ev’s wood—that’s the equivalent stolid, dependable element there—and then Megs is still water—I’m pretty sure, that’s why I’m inclined toward water in Dub-Oh, too—and that leaves metal for Chris which I think is reasonable, considering, even though it’s pretty different from aether. East Asiaic Traditional makes more sense for us, honestly, even though we live in a country that mostly uses Western Orthodox.”

Chris, whose eyes had started to look a little glazed, tapped Evan on the bicep and said, “Boy, you weren’t joking earlier, huh?”

“Particularly magic,” Evan said. “He could probably teach any basic theory course Persephone offers.”

“I could teach any theory course a high school offers,” Ryan said, to all appearances really meaning it. “But our elemental associations are a little beside the point, and might not even be a relevant factor in our situation. The implications of a numerological connection between us is really interesting, as our separation has been a significant catalyst for change for both Evan and Angie.”

“Yeah! You guys are so different!” Megan said. “Like, you were so skittish when we were kids, Angie. At least around other people. When it was just us you were a whirlwind.”

“I was kinda bashful a lot of the time,” Angie said, smiling. “Yeah.” Her smile faded, and shame washed over Megan when she said, “We kind of hid in your shadow back then. We had to get used to not having that.”

“I’m sorry,” Megan whispered, looking down.

“Good,” Angie said. “You should be, but enough of that for now.” She inhaled as if about to continue, hesitated for a long moment, looking at Megan with a strange expression. Then she glanced away, saying, “I can’t say it wasn’t good for me. I had to start walking my own path, instead of just following you around.” She hesitated a moment longer. “Both literally and metaphorically speaking.”

For a long moment, none of them spoke. Evan was staring at the ground, Angie was staring off into space between Evan and Ryan, while Ryan was looking at Angie with a tenderness Megan had never seen on his face before. They were so different, but they still felt so familiar. Megan loved them so much, as if no time had passed at all. Megan castigated herself for being a monster and a fool, and nearly broke out in tears, but she controlled herself.

“You look dissatisfied, Evan,” Chris said, cutting into Megan’s thoughts. He was looking at Evan with such open and genuine fondness and concern, despite it being, what, eighteen hours? Less? Since they’d first met? Megan’s heart melted a little bit, and her stomach flip-flopped as she stared at this handsome Light Bearer, looking like he cared so much about one of her oldest friends, when she’d done such a terrible job herself.

“Fucking sucky way to prepare us,” Evan said, still looking at the ground. “We needed to be three? Why though? To do what?” He raised his head to frown at Ryan. “Like, you were just talking about it being a catalyst for change for us? Why did we need a catalyst to change?” Ryan opened his mouth as if to answer, but before he could, Evan, whose eyes had already unfocused, looking at something in his own mind like he so often had when they were younger, said, “Did my sister die to split us up?”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The thought squeezed Megan’s heart. Silence for a long, long moment.

“Impossible to say,” Ryan said quietly.

Evan sighed. “It makes sense, I guess. A little. Assuming some fucking… I don’t know, prophecy? Assuming there’s an important mystical fucking reason for all this, Megan would have been a distraction for the three of us. We would have kept spending time with her instead of practicing shooting and enchanting and, and—”

“Coding,” Ryan said, giving Evan a wide eyed look of alarm or maybe warning.

“Yeah, surprisingly useful that coding turned out to be,” Chris said, this thoughtful look in his eyes. “Saving Evan. I’m curious to see what use that turns out to be going forward. Though I guess you just do smart stuff in general. You certainly seem to know a lot of stuff.”

“I am a smorgasbord of utility, my friend,” Ryan said brightly, which made Megan giggle once. Ryan had seldom done anything brightly back in the day. Ryan continued, “But for now we should get moving. We’ve been chatting for a while.”

Chris laughed. “Yup, chatting,” he said with a chuckle that made Megan’s insides flip flop again. “That’s all we’ve been doing. This way, right?” He started walking up the lane in the direction they needed to get to school.

“Yeh yeh,” Evan said, which forced a smile out of Megan. He too started moving, and she, Angie, and Ryan all did likewise. “So why though?” Evan reiterated. “Is it related to the sword?”

What? Megan blinked at Evan. “The sword?” she asked.

“Oh, uh,” Evan said, glancing at Chris with palpable anxiety. “Um I—”

“Oh, we all should get on the same page,” Chris said with total ease, which seemed to soothe Evan. Then Chris paused in his stride for a moment so that he fell into step next to Megan, looking at her, smiling a smile that was so multilayered. It was proud and embarrassed and apologetic and sweet and excited and his eyes were so beautiful, and Megan was a terrible person who didn’t deserve to be smiled at like that.

“So, um,” Chris said. “Please don’t freak out. This isn’t, like, that big a deal.” Megan stared at Chris, and he looked back at Megan with those impossible eyes of his, the clear bright green with the jutting spikes of pale gray extending out like strange stars around the black cores of his pupils, and he smiled that wonderful smile at her, and said, “So ah, so…” He glanced away from her, releasing her from his gaze, seeming almost bashful. “I’m not really, actually a Light Bearer?” he said. “I… boy, I haven’t just said this so baldly before,” Chris said. “I’m not a Light Bearer, but I am the chosen wielder of Dyrnwyn…. The uh... the sword. The legendary one. The blade... Dyrnwyn. Megan?”

Megan realized she’d stopped and was staring at him agape. “Dyrnwyn? For real? Like from Whitehilt?” Megan exclaimed, her voice coming out small and squeaky in her excitement, but she was so excited she didn’t even care—it had washed away her self-recrimination and regret for the moment. “I love that movie!”

“Uh, I mean, yeah, that’s a movie about Dyrnwyn’s first wielder,” Chris said, giving her a dubious look. “It’s not super accurate about anything, though. The sword in particular isn’t really accurate, but they don’t even say Rhydderch’s name right, let alone most of the other Celtic Ilseic words.”

Megan hadn’t known that’s how you pronounced Rhydderch. “Oh, gosh, I mean, I know it’s not a good movie, but it’s really fun and actiony and kinda funny and Liam Maddox is real hot as, uh, as Rh-Rhydderch—is that how you say it?—in it.”

Chris laughed again. “Fair enough! And yeah, that was right.”

“I’d forgotten you liked that movie so much,” Angie’s voice said from behind her. Megan glanced over her shoulder and smiled at the redheaded girl, who gave her an easy grin in return. “Have you watched it recently, though? Does it hold up?”

“I took a copy to Mumbai,” Megan said. She giggled. “I got tired of it eventually, but it kept me going for a while. Um.” She looked at Chris, and he smiled at her, and she smiled back. “Really though? Serious really for real? Dyrnwyn? You’re not just fucking with me?”

“Why would I do that?” Chris said, with an expression just as puzzled as his voice.

“I dunno. To help them get back at me for middle school? To embarrass me by getting me to spread something crazy?” Megan said, realizing it was a pretty silly thing to say as she said it. “I don’t know,” she continued quickly, “That’s ridiculous, I guess, you wouldn’t do that, it’s just that it’s really, just, wild! Surreal? Hard to believe?”

“Not fucking with you, Megs,” Ryan said, “Saw it last night,” more or less as Chris said, “I wouldn’t ever do that, and this is defo just between the five of us!” Megan had to slow her pace so she could look at them both long enough to process both their statements.

“Whoa, okay,” Megan said. “Um. Okay.”

“Yeah, Evan saw it when I caught up with him and finished off that Beast,” Chris said, “So it seemed best to just share with all y’all, but I don’t want it spread around. To everyone else, including your families and stuff, I’m just a Light Bearer.”

Megan giggled. “Just a Light Bearer,” she said with another giggle. “You’re a ridiculous boy, Chris Gramyre. Why though?”

Chris laughed. “I mean, to keep the paparazzi off me and my family’s backs, mostly, y’know? And to keep peoples’ reactions to me manageable. Your reaction being a case in point.”

Megan giggled more, feeling almost delirious. “Okay, yes, but at least some of that was the bait and switch, right?”

Behind her, Ryan said, “You really would have reacted less extremely if he’d told you that right off the bat?”

Megan thought about that. “Hard to say, honestly,” she replied.

“Yeah,” Chris said.

Megan shook her head. “Sacred fucks, though! Salt and silver!” She looked at Chris, looked him in his gorgeous eyes, and said, “Dyrnwyn!”

He laughed, as did Angie and Ryan behind them. “Yeah, really Dyrnwyn!” he said, smiling still. Then his eyes fixed upon Evan, still taking point. “Speaking of people’s reactions, Evan, we should get our story straight for the day.”