Page 24 of Mistaken Magic

Makingsure to not get in their way,Imade it into the kitchen, got the bread, and then almost made it back upstairs beforeMrs.Sparkshad to speak up.

"Whereare you going,Lorraine?" she asked.

"Toread,"Isaid. "Ijust wanted a little snack, andMr.SparkssaidIcould have this."

Thewoman flipped her hand, dismissing me, andIdidn't waste any time getting out of sight.Thehardest part was not thundering up the stairs, becauseIhad a feeling that would make her call me back down.Thankfully, onceImade it to my room,Isaw the crow was still there.Sowas another little present.Thisone was an old, rusted bolt someone had clearly lost.

Openingthe window just a few inches - so the bird wouldn't accidentally come in -Itook a rock and traded it for a piece of bread the size of my pinky nail.Hopefully, this crow would realizeIpreferred rocks, so maybe it wouldn't steal any diamond earrings!

Thecrow ate the bread quickly, then cawed again.Igave him another, butIwas pretty sure they shouldn't eat too much at a time.Still, he was gorgeous, with his nearly iridescent black feathers.Andsmart.Definitelysmart enough to have started up a hoard of gifts.

"Don'tbe greedy,"Itold him. "Andplease stick to pebbles?Yeah, those will be nice and safe."Iwatched as he nudged oneof the rocks towards me.Orshe.Ididn't really know. "You'rea pretty bird, aren't you?"

"Jack," he croaked.

Iwasn't sure if he actually said a word or if his caw just sounded like it. "Isthat your name, bud?"BecauseJackwas a boy's name, soI'duse those pronouns.

"Jack," he croaked again.

Well, screw it.Thatwas cute enough he got one more piece of bread. "Nowgo fly or something.Idon't want to make you sick,Jack.You'retoo cool of a bird."

Caw!

Andwith that, he was gone.Soonenough, another took his place.Thisone was smaller, but otherwise just as black.LikeIhad with the first one,Ioffered the new bird a little piece of bread.Ittook it and flew off.Anotherquickly landed for its turn.Ihad no idea how many crowsImanaged to feed, but none of the others croaked a sound likeJackhad.

Itmade me wonder if he'd been trained to talk, or maybe he'd just picked it up?No, it clearly had to be a normal sound.Still, it kinda made my day.WhenIfinally ran out of bread,Iclosed the window again, then the blinds, and went right back to reading my book.

Somewherein my isolation, the silence finally began to get to me.Mymind started going, andIimmediately thought of the strange girl in the atrium.Aspenwas beautiful in a way that made her impossible to forget.She'dalso seemed nice.Therewas something about how she'd casually offered me some of her candy that had completely lowered all of my defenses.

Yetnone of that erased how quickly she'd lost her temper - and atLiam!Maybebeing a counselor wasn't as impressive in college?Thenagain, she looked to be about my age, so maybe she was anAdvancedPlacementstudent too?Andmaybe her daddy owned everything, so she was just that much of a brat?Ididn't have a clue, butIhad a feeling living in the same suite would be a little challenging.

Liamhad told me to think about this, andItried.Isat there with my book open in my lap, doing my best to find a reason whyI'drather stay here than go there, andIcame up with exactly nothing.Theother students might pick on me for being a foster kid.Here, my foster parents were already doing that.I'dbe the laughingstock.Wouldthat be any different ifIwent to school in the outfitsMrs.Sparksmade the girls in this house wear?

Plus,I'dnever been one of the cool girls, so why would college be any different?Itwasn't as ifI'dbe losing something or dropped down a notch.I'dbeen the invisible girl at my last school.I'dhad a few friendsI'dhung out with.There'dbeen a few boysI'dhad crushes on.Ialso never stayed in the same place long enough to do more than decide a guy was kinda cute before my life was upended again.

Ijust wanted a little stability.Ididn't even need comfortable stability!Isimply wanted to have the same enemies for more than a handful of months.Maybethe same parental figures.Possiblythe same teachers.Hell,Icouldn't even remember the name of the man who'd taught my tenth-gradeEnglishclass.Orthe woman.

Andwhat was the worst-case scenario?IfIdidn't do good enough, they'd kick me out, and theSparkswould lose it and send me to the state-run group home.Thatwas pretty much whereIwas already at, so at least this wayIhad a chance.I'dput up with some pretty wacky stuff if it meantIhad the smallest sliver of control over my life.

Inreality, the only thingI'dactually lose ifItried this was a friendship with a bunch of wild birds who'd only just realizedIwas here.Thefunny thing wasI'dread they were supposed to be bad omens.Itdidn't really work that way for me.Everytime thecrows came around, things were pretty good for a while.Well, until they weren't.

ButIcouldn't blame the bad stuff on them.Notreally.Intruth, it all came back down to humans.Thebirds did what birds always do.Theypicked up shiny things, ate other things, and flew around crapping where they wanted.Itwas the people who tried to read something into it.

Ms.Ellishad lost it because of her earring being outside my window.Didn'ttake a genius to realize that ifI'dstolen it, the thing would've been inside.Probablyhidden in a much better place than a window sill on the second floor.

Now, theSparkswere going nuts with metal door knobs and figurines in my room because one had flown into the house.Ifthose birds were trying to tell me anything, it was thatIwas better off away from the nutjobs.So, there -I'dthought about it.I'dpromisedLiamIwould, andIjust had.

Iwas going toSilverOaksInstitute.Iwould learn how to stay out of trouble, get a degree, and figure out how to make this opportunity work for me.Ithad to.Thelaw of averages saidIdeserved to get a lucky break at least once in my life, right?

Hopefully, this would be it.

Chapter Twelve

Thenext day,Iwent to church with the family.Igot dressed up in one of those plaid shirts and a khaki skirt that fell to the middle of my shins.Thefact that it was paired with some white canvas shoes made the whole thing look even more stupid, but the other girls in the house matched me.Ourshirts were different versions of pastel, but that was about it.

Iwasn't surprised when we all sat together.Thethree boys got to share the same pew asMr. andMrs.Sparks.Wegirls ended up in the row behind them.Forthe most part, it was pretty painless.Solong as we mumbled something in the general tune of the songs and bowed our heads at the right times, theSparksonly gave us a few warning looks.

Ittook two trips to move us all from home to church, then from church back home.Evidently, theSparksdid this every weekend.Itwas insane, andIcouldn't be happier to leave it all behind.So, the momentIwas home,Ihurried to change into something normal, then waited.

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