"Come on, baby, I just need a little extra juice for practice."
Wow, a romantic. Let me fuck you for a power boost. Asswipe, I rolled my eyes. And a cheater, since that was technically illegal for all sports. Norm and magical schools played against each other and magicals weren’t supposed to use power for sports.
"I have to go see my parents after this. They’re gonna want to know about that internship thing. I don't want to be flaring. They’ll notice if my magic’s out of control.” The girl’s voice whispered but I recognized Terra's nasal pitch.
I almost backed out of the bathroom right then, doubly disgusted because someone was making out with her—the vamp-hating snob. But the guy’s next words pissed me the fuck off.
"You want me to go find some of your friends instead? Fine." The guy’s hands slammed against the bathroom stall wall in anger.
For a second, I saw white. Then black. My own power flooded me and then tingled at my fingertips. That asshole did not just threaten to sleep with Terra’s friends. And to physically intimidate her? I might hate that bitch, but what the hell? That was pathetic. It was low. I waited to hear Terra rip him a new one. But she didn’t.
“Johnny don't—” Terra whined, and I realized who the guy was.
Our quarterback. Fan-fucking-tastic. Way to fit the athlete asshole stereotype, I thought. And Terra was so caught up in this petty bull she didn’t even stand up for herself. I shook my head.
“Strip, then.” Johnny ordered, in a jerkwad tone.
I heard Terra whimper.
And I’d had enough. Rage lit my neck on fire. Terra might be a bitch. But no one should be coerced like that. From both their tones, it sounded like this was a regular occurrence. I debated leaving, wondering if what I could do would make a difference anyway. Terra might just run back to him tomorrow. Girls often did when they were in shit relationships—my mother included. Somehow, they thought anything was better than loneliness.
They were wrong.
I heard Johnny start to groan and I snapped. It might do no fucking good. But I did it anyway. I lifted a hand and sent a narrow blast of power in the direction of their bathroom stall. Purple light streamed from me, bounced off the stall door, refracted toward the ceiling and then bounced down again. The stall they occupied started to glow like a giant light bulb. Brighter. Brighter. Blindingly bright as I fed my rage with more power.
"The fuck?" Johnny Castlebrook stumbled out of the stall and fell to the floor, clutching his eyes. I lifted my hand and let the light recede.
The stereotypical quarterback in a letterman jacket with the symbol of Medeis—a wand—on it, he had wavy hair and a decent, though boring, face. But his head was set like an ape on his shoulders. The boy had no neck. Blech. Terra had terrible taste—for so many reasons.
Terra followed after Johnny, still buttoning her uniform skirt back up. Her collared shirt looked rumpled, one of the buttons might even have been torn off. I wasn’t sure.
“Professor—” she started to come up with some lame excuse. Until she realized it was me standing there. Her dumb, doe eyes widened. She was shocked at first, but it didn’t take long for that shock to turn to fury. "What the hell?” she bellowed at me. “Get out of here, you stupid freak!”
And that was just one of the many reasons, I loathed her. "You’re gonna scream at me for stopping him from forcing you into sex for a power boost? Which, by regulations, he’s not allowed to have, anyway?”
Terra’s face grew pinched and I knew then that I shouldn’t have bothered. I was gonna come out the bad guy in this situation. Luckily, I was used to that role by now.
“It wasn’t forcing,” Johnny stood and lumbered over to me. “She’s lucky I’d touch her.”
I laughed. “We both know she’s got more power in her pinkie toe than you do in that dick of yours—though they’re roughly the same size.”
Johnny’s hand shot out and grabbed my shoulder. His other hand rose, as if he were about to use his power on me. But then his eyes looked past me.
A roar filled the room. A deep, inhuman, animalistic roar.
Fucking no! This is not happening! Instead of the sound filling me with fear, I was filled with irritation, like someone had put tape across my forearm and yanked.
Johnny let me go and I turned around, eyes narrowed, heart pumping hard.
A giant, brown grizzly bear stood in the doorway of the girls’ restroom. It reared up on its hind legs, kicking aside shredded bits of white and blue uniform (a casualty of shifting from human to animal form), before trudging over to stand next to me like a protective, overbearing furry dick.
Goosebumps rose on my spine, even though I tried to force them away. I dug my nails into my palms and ground my teeth. “I was handling it.”
The bear beside me growled in disagreement. Johnny thought it was growling at him and scrambled backward, knocking Terra to the floor. He wasn’t even gentleman enough to help her up. And he was definitely ungentlemanly enough to move behind her and use her as a human shield. Fucking coward.
At least Terra called him on it. “Hey, asshole!” she cursed him.
I rolled my eyes at all of them and turned and strode toward the door. I’d find another bathroom. Thank fuck I was done with idiots at Medeis Academy. Criminals would be better than this. At least criminals had the skills I needed. Terra and her boob jobs were as magically self-absorbed and useless as the rest of the losers here.
The bear tried to lumber along behind me, but I shook my head. “Don’t you dare, Evan.” Motherfucking interfering stalker. Follows me from school to school and tries to fight my battles? Who does he think he is?
I slammed the door shut on his big, hairy snout.
I checked my phone to make sure my driver was on the way, then unlocked my dorm room, struggling with the stupid door and banging my hip on it three times before it opened. Once I was in, I tossed the key on the table; I wouldn’t need that sorry fucking thing anymore, thank goodness. For all that this “prestigious institution” bragged about the finest amenities, this building was built in the early 1900s and I doubted that the locks had ever been changed.
My roommate, Zaira sat on her bed and gaped at me, playing with the ends of her braids. She hadn’t bothered to get up and let me in. She was that kind of lazy.
I ignored her and went straight for my bed, bent over, reaching underneath to pull the overstuffed wheeled suitcase out, eager to leave this upright, uptight place. My heart tap-danced with excitement, listing off my next steps. Home. Then hopefully MAD to recruit some badass motherfuckers. Then I’d head to the Pinnacle. Just not the way Mother wanted. I’d go in the dark of night. And I’d take from them what they’d kept from my family, from so many families. A cure for the madness that hit magicals who wanted to be like Evan, magicals who tried to write the spell that was powerful enough to give them the permanent power to shift; magicals who were good, great even, but had made one little mistake with their wands ...
Zaira interrupted my thoughts. “I can’t decide if I should be all ‘Yas Kween,’ that was an epic vid, or if you’re totally just thirsty. Mommy too busy fucking Wall Street dudes to pay attention to you?”
I wanted to punch her out, but assault charges would fuck up my plans. I wanted to get into MAD, not to have to go to the clink first. “Yup. You got me pegged. You’re so smart. Damn.” I flipped Zaira off as I wheeled my suitcase out the door.