20.

I arrived at school the next morning to another full parking lot. Magic under control, Aunt Syl had given me my freedom back. Thank God. I couldn’t say that I blamed her; waiting for me to figure out I was superhuman had its disadvantages. But no more blowing things up on accident, now I could do it on purpose.

I parked my car in the last remaining spot and paused a moment to take a deep breath and check myself. My mind was protected and my magic flowing through me naturally; well at least what I had been told was natural. It seemed as if I’d known this secret my whole life, but in actuality it had only been about twenty four hours; I guess I wasn’t really an expert.

I made it to class on time, excited to see Lilly and have someone my age to talk to about this crazy new life. Instant disappointment met me however when I opened the door and realized she wasn’t there. Although Principal Saint or Amory or whoever told me she wouldn’t be, I still had held out hope. The hardest part about learning your true identity is coming to terms with the very real legal system you never knew existed.

I found it ironic how easy it was for me to believe the whole super-human, magic skills thing; but how hard it was to take the monarchy, governing council, rules and regulations part seriously. Maybe because I’d never personally experienced a ruling class in action it seemed more fiction than reality. I wondered if I had some interaction with the monarchy if it would feel real or not.

And then I remembered that I had. I walked into class and quickly made it to my seat before the bell rang. Kiran sat to my left in all of his pomp and circumstance. I understood now why the girls fawned over him; it was the idea of a crown…. and maybe his amazing good looks. But I wasn’t falling for it. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.

“Well, well, well…. look who it is,” he whispered snidely as I sifted through my book bag looking for my copy of Romeo and Juliet. A fleeting memory of Principal Saint telling me to leave Kiran alone crossed my mind before I just as quickly dismissed it.

“Hello, your highness,” I responded sarcastically. He may have been the crowned prince, but he was still a jackass.

“Finally, you’ve caught up with the rest of us. Congratulations,” he clapped his hands quietly in mock applause. I gave him a sharp look and found the constant smirk he wore already in place.

“Well, we can’t all have parents who are um, alive,” I sighed, still trying sarcasm, but regretting the words as quickly as I had spoken them.

“I guess not,” his tone softened and I thought for a second I had made him feel bad. “It’s a pity though; I had so much fun watching you struggle,” Cue the smirk. “Thanks for the other night,” he whispered even softer and I heard real emotion in his voice, I turned to say something to him but found that I was speechless looking into his eyes.

The door to the classroom opened and then slammed. In walked Mr. Lambert and another teenager whom I had never seen before. The sight of Mr. Lambert usually made me feel uneasy and nervous, always like I was about to be yelled at; but today when he walked in, an overwhelming feeling of serenity passed over me. Not only that, but I felt more focused than usual; my senses became heightened and the magic became more alive in my blood. The feeling reminded me of the other night in the woods, sending a shiver down my back.

“Excuse me,” Mr. Lambert cleared his throat in an attempt to draw the attention of the class forward. He tried again a little louder. “Class, please give me your attention; this is Avalon St. Andrews. He is a transfer student from Brazil, please welcome him to Kingsley.”

Mr. Lambert directed him to Lilly’s seat and my heart dropped into my stomach; As the new student sat down, I realized the very real possibility that she might never be coming back. I watched Talbott for a moment and though his expression was frozen in place I imagined I could see the sadness in his eyes.

I turned my attention back over to Avalon St. Andrews, thankful that I was no longer the newest kid in school. By the looks of things however, he was going to have a lot easier time fitting in than I did. He was almost too big to be a high school student; although he was wearing the same white collared shirt and navy blue tie every other boy was wearing, the muscles in his arms were clearly defined through the light cotton. His dark curly hair was long, maybe to his shoulders, but he had tied in a messy pony tail, giving him the appearance of a biker or something. His nose was pronounced and vaguely familiar, although I couldn’t place it. And his eyes were clear green and penetrating.

His most interesting feature was almost invisible, but my eyes drifted there immediately. Under his hairline, covering the entirety of the back of his neck and clearly marked was a very intricate and elaborate tattoo. What looked like angel wings were spread wide covering all of the skin between the base of his shirt collar and hairline. Complex, but beautiful feathers fanned out into wings I imagined belonging to the angel of death. A symbol sat in the middle of the two adjoining wings, but the way his hair was positioned made it impossible to identify. I glanced down at the rest of his body, expecting leather pants or spurs or something and noticed that underneath his white cotton button down were more lines of the green tattoo ink. Although I couldn’t make out what they were in the shape of, they clearly covered his torso and forearms. He reminded me of someone and I continued to stare at him, wondering who it could be.

“Ms. Matthews…. Ms. Matthews,” Mr. Lambert called loudly from the front of the room. I looked up to see that while I was staring at the new kid, the entire class had turned to stare at me. My face blushed red and I cleared my throat instinctively.

“Ms. Matthews, now that I have your attention, please read the part of Juliet,” I silently came to the conclusion I would never cease to disappoint Mr. Lambert.

----

The lunch room seemed a much more daunting place without Lilly. I grabbed a tray of food and headed to the back of the cafeteria. I was a little bit earlier than everyone else today since I did not stay after class to crowd around Kiran with the other girls and make sure he was ok after his near death experience on the camping trip. I also refused to throw myself at…. I mean introduce myself to the new kid.

I sat down to an empty table and relished the few moments of silence I had. Now that I was not threatened with the possibility of losing all control, I had been able to observe my surroundings today. All throughout the day I noticed students and teachers using magic.

In small ways and in big ways they used it for everything they did. Students used magic to pick up a pencil off of the floor, and teachers used it to close a door that was left open. Mrs. Woodsen used magic to close the windows in her classroom and then again to open them when I was pretty sure she had a hot flash. Kiran used magic constantly; to write, to open books, to get a drink. At first I thought everyone was just lazy, but after a while I began to realize that the magic was so much a part of them that there was no other way they were able to function. It truly was the essence of their very existence, and I supposed mine too.

A small portion of me was jealous. I had to remind myself that the magic was at my disposal too and then I had to remind myself that I needed to use it. When I didn’t use the magic that was when I began to have problems. And although I knew I was just like everybody else, they apparently hadn’t gotten the memo because I was still a social pariah. Not that I really minded; I couldn’t really imagine that a girl like Seraphina Van Curen and me would ever be friends.

Speak of the devil, Seraphina entered the cafeteria on Kiran’s arm and suddenly the granola bar I’d just taken a bite of was threatening to resurface. I saw that now too, not just the magic but the respect and reverence Kiran demanded. His very presence elicited sycophantic behavior from everyone, both student and teacher. I also noticed how protective Talbott was, but in a more natural, body guard way; he never left Kiran’s side. I saw him always on the defensive, and after last Saturday night I could hardly blame him. Kiran looked my way and I quickly bit into my granola bar again, staring down at the table. I rechecked my mental force-field and found all intact. I breathed an audible sigh of relief, but it appeared too premature. A uniformed boy plopped down across from me. I refused to look up from my lunch.

“Go away. Your minions are waiting for you,” I said through bites of an apple.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Was this seat taken?” a polite and surprised deep voice sans cocky English accent asked. I looked up quickly, horrified.

“Oh, no! I am so sorry!” my face quickly turned a shade of crimson red. “I thought you were somebody else,” my hand flew to cover my mouth after I spit apple all over the table and all over Avalon St. Andrews.

“It’s alright. No worries,” he laughed, while wiping a bit of apple off of his cheek. How terrible.

He gave me a genuine smile that I returned immediately. The same peaceful feeling from earlier filled my entire body and my senses were once again sharpened. I could hear every conversation, every fork touch the plate, and every small chewing sound in the cafeteria. I did my best to drown it out; it was actually kind of gross.

“You don’t have an accent,” I said bluntly.

“Were you expecting one?” his skin was tan, tanner than most of the students here. His sleeves were rolled up and I could see a deep shade of olive glistened beneath the green lines from his tattoos; it had to be from living in Brazil.

“Oh, I just thought, since you transferred. I’m sorry, I just expected an accent,” I blushed, not really sure why I felt embarrassed.

“I’m American, just like you,” he smiled as if he had made a joke, but if he had I didn’t get it. “My parents were working in Brazil until last week. We only lived down there for the last year.”

“That’s nice. Accents can be so irritating anyways,” he looked up at me confused, but I didn’t dare explain.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” he asked.

“Oh no, not at all. As long as you don’t mind the outcast table,” I gave him a sardonic grin.

“I don’t mind; I’m pretty sure I prefer it,” he glanced over his should at Kiran and all of his fans; he shook his head and took a big bite of his turkey sandwich. I was pretty sure Avalon St. Andrews and I were going to get along just fine.

“Me too,” I rolled my eyes in the general direction of the monarchy.

“I’m Avalon by the way. And you’re Eden?” when I nodded my head, he continued, “So I heard a rumor that you like saved his life this weekend?” he jerked his head in Kiran’s direction.

“Where did you hear that?” I asked mortified.

“All of the girls were talking about it this morning. You’d think they’d be grateful, I mean they still have their precious prince to worship,” he grunted in disgust.

“You’d think,” I agreed with another mouthful of apple. I realized how disgusting my eating habits were around Avalon and I quickly swallowed. The bite was a little too big and I began to choke a little. The apple stayed lodged in my throat as I continued to cough and gulp my bottle of water.

“Use your magic,” Avalon suggested, but confused.

Oh right. I held up my finger to him and focused on my magic. The electricity was flowing through my blood at a steady pace. It only took a minimal effort to determine that the apple would no longer be stuck. And just like that I was able to swallow the detrimental piece of food and cough no more.

“Thank you,” I cleared my throat, feeling like an idiot.

“Do you enjoy choking?” I heard the laughter in his voice.

“Ha. Ha. No. It’s just that, well this whole magic thing is new to me,” I gave a sheepish grin and took another swig of my water, just in case.

“What? New to you? How can that be?” Avalon stared at me intently, his green eyes sparkling.

“I was raised by humans,” I explained dramatically. I wiggled my fingers a little, to add a theatrical flair.

“I’ve never heard of that before,” Avalon sounded skeptical.

“Well, I had never heard of this before.” I gestured to the room filled with my peers, my Immortal peers.

“So you didn’t know about magic? You didn’t know what you were capable of?” He still sounded skeptical.

“Well, I knew I was capable of something. But I just thought I was crazy. I guess I figured it out Saturday night, when people started turning into animals and I could move trees with my mind,” I said it all very casually, but the truth was I still could barely get past what I was able to do.

“Huh,” he grunted. “You mean to tell me, that you were able to save the prince’s life and do what you did to those shape-shifters and you had never even used your magic before?” he squinted his eyes at me, unbelieving.

“I guess,” I looked across the room to where Kiran sat, surrounded. He met my eyes, and I realized that he was watching me. I quickly turned my attention back to Avalon.

“That seems impossible,” Avalon was still skeptical.

“Yea, to me too,” I looked down at the table, ashamed of what I did and worried for Lilly.

“What are you doing later?” Avalon asked suddenly.

“French homework.” Ugh.

“That seals it. We are going to practice your magic later tonight and that’s final,” he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest as if his decision was the final authority.

“I told you, I have French homework. It’s going to take me all night,” I protested; although the thought of sitting down to learn a language that completely escaped me made my head spin.

“Eden, there is no more homework. Don’t you get it? You are Immortal! You’re magic can do the homework for you,” his voice was stern as if I should have known this forever.

“I can’t cheat!” I protested louder.

“You’re unbelievable. And you have so much to learn. You’re lucky I’m here, you really are. I have so much to teach you!” he gave me a playful smile and I guessed he won, because I couldn’t think of any other reason not to let him help me with my magic.