Page 54 of Mistaken Magic

ThenToriansimply snapped his fingers.Sucha simple gesture, a snap, but not when he did it.Myeyes caught a flash of green, the color a match to his eyes, and the world seemed to get stuck in molasses.Everyoneelse slowed, butIstill felt fine.Normaleven.Iwas so busy watching the people moving at a tenth their normal speed thatImight as well have been stuck too, untilAspengrabbed my hand and started hauling me behind her, away from that mess.

Thewhole thing lasted a heartbeat, no different than how things slowed when it was time to panic, but this was seared on my mind.Whenthe teachers finally reached the two guys,Iwas halfway down the hall, and the rest of the court had vanished like nothing had ever happened.Behindme,Iheard someone threatening suspension for fighting, soIkept walking, keeping pace withAspen.Ihadn't done anything wrong, butIcertainly wasn't about to get those assholes out of trouble.

Whenwe finally made it to the main hall,Aspenstopped and turned to face me. "Sorry.IknowIsaidI'dlet you handle it, butyou don't want to get into trouble, andIdidn't sayIwouldn't help, so - "

Myanswer was to step forward and hug her hard. "Ihave no idea how you andToriangot there.Idon't know half of what happened, butIam not at all upset.Crossmy heart.Ilike your help,Aspen.Ijust don't want to rely on you becauseI'msome useless normal, ok?Iwill never be upset about you helping me.Maybeembarrassed.Sometimesfrustrated becauseIcan't do something on my own, but never upset at you."

"Ok," she mumbled, smiling down at the floor. "Um, get to class.Don'twant to be late, right?"

Thenshe almost skipped backwards a step before turning.Thegirl wasn't short, but she somehow managed to vanish into the sea of people heading up towards the west side of the building.Iturned for my biology class, wondering ifHawkeandWilderwere going to get in trouble for that.Ireally hoped not.Andif they did, how wouldImake it up to them?

Hawkebarely tolerated me as it was.Wilderseemed nicer, but he also hung out withAspenmore, whileHawkewas basicallyTorian'sshadow.Maybethat said more aboutTorianthan it didHawke?Ihonestly didn't know, and with those four,Iwasn't really willing to guess.

Butin biology,Toriandidn't look at me once.NotwhenIwalked into the class, not whenIpassed by him to get to the deskIwas now sharing with his old lab partner, and not even whenIsat down.Itwas such a change that evenJeffnoticed.Thepair of us kept looking up, provingIwasn't the only one starting to feel a little worried.Halfwaythrough the class, when we were supposed to be dissecting some plant,Jeffleaned closer.

"He'sa cool guy, you know."

Myeyebrows shot straight up. "Torian?Youlook terrified of him half the time."

Hisjaw clenched, andIrealizedIprobably shouldn't have said it quite like that.Jeffwas a pretty geeky guy, andIgot the impression his magic wasn't on the strong side, but no one wanted to have it thrown in his face - especially not a guy.Unfortunately,Ididn't know how to take it back.

"Hesaved my life last winter."Asigh slipped fromJeff'slips. "Wewere playing broom hockey on the creek when it froze, but the ice cracked.Ifell in, and no one could get to me, except him.Toriannever hesitated.Hejumped into the freezing water,Rain."

I'dfiguredTorianto be the kind of guy to wonder what was in it for him, so this was a whole different side to him.MaybeIhad the guy all wrong?Granted,Aspen'sglamour made me realize freezing cold water didn't necessarily have to feel that way, but it also didn't negate the fact thatTorianhad been willing to help.Therewas just one issue with all of this.

"Thatdoesn't mean it's ok for him to snap his fingers and order you around, though."Iducked my head toward him, trying to catch his eyes but failing. "Anydecent person would help someone who fell through the ice.Itdoesn't negate him pushing you around on my first day."

Jeffpushed his glasses higher on his nose. "Funny, because there were eight of us at the creek, but no one else tried to get to me."Hecleared his throat. "Ijust figure the leastIcan do to make up for it is be nice to him.IfTorianwants to have some girl sit beside him, thenI'mgoing to make sure it's easy."

"Ithink the whole damned school is willing to make things easy for him,"Igrumbled under my breath.

Jeffchuckled at that. "Yeah, um, you're new here, andIheard you're acaradil, not a trueLegacy, so it probably doesn't make sense, but - "

Ibroke in. "Whatdo you meanI'mnot a trueLegacy?"

"Theterm typically means someone with no magic who has a fae relative.You'recompletely human, but you're part of the community.Acaradil.Youdidn't get the chance to have magic, so no legacy to inherit.Butmy point isTorian'smore powerful than you can imagine.Magic, influence, and so much more.Peopleare scared of him because even as a teenager, he has more control, more training in his abilities, and more power than anyone elseI'veever heard of.He'sa true fae.Somepeople whisper about how his parents must've been nobility.Thatkind of power,Rain."

MaybeIhadTorianall wrong.I'dassumed he was an asshole because he was beautiful - and he definitely was that.Ithad been easy not to crush on him because he was withAspen.Nochecking out my only friend's guy and all that.Besidesthe fact she ignored me whenever he was around,Istill wouldn't poach guys from other girls.Then,Torianhad done nothing but glare at me, acting likeIwas either supposed to worship him, fuck him, or fear him.Notreally the kind of attitudeIfound attractive.Whilea lot of girls didn't agree,I'dalways been the type who thought sweet trumped hot any day.

Butmaybe he deserved another chance?I'dprobably shut him down too soon, and his flirting that first day had likely been some test.HopefullyI'dpassed.SinceAspenwas still talking to me,Iwas assumingIhad.Still, he'd been there when things got out of hand after history, soIat least owed him something for that.Ithought about how to make it up to him until the bell rang.

"Torian?"Hewas sliding off his stool when my voice stopped him.

Slowly, he turned, a tired look on his face. "Yeah?"

Imade my way over soIwasn't yelling halfway across the room. "Lastperiod, with the snapping?Iknow you were probably there forWilderandHawke, not me, butIstill wantedto say thank you.Toyou, toWilderfor standing up for me - even if it was mostly for him andAspen, and toAspenfor making sureIdidn't get in trouble.EvenHawkefor helping,Iguess.Iknow you'll see them at lunch, so maybe you can pass on the message to the guys for me?"

Hechuckled once. "No.Iwon't tell them that."

"Huh?"I'dhonestly been trying to grovel, and he'd just dismissed it?MaybeI'dheard him wrong. "Idon't understand.Iwas trying to thank all of you."

Heleaned back against the desk and crossed his arms. "Tryit again without using the word 'thank'.Idare you."

Easyenough. "Ok.Wouldyou tell herIappreciate it?"

"Ora synonym."

Atthis point,Iwas willing to do just about anything to make the day end. "Canyou tell all of themI'msorryI'mso much trouble, andIknow none of you asked for my baggage, but if you ever need something,Iwill bend over backwards to do whatIcan?"

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