I mirrored Callan in shrugging. “Okay, you can join us. But you better have your cover stories prepared.”
Callan gave me a dazzling grin and winked. “I’m the king of cover stories.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Iwas prepping my snowboard gear on Sunday when I got a call from Maci. “This is really last minute, but you invited some friends, and I also invited someone to come with us, and I wanted to make sure it was okay with you.”
“Sure. Who?” I asked because I knew that she and Jace had ended things shortly before Thanksgiving, and she hadn’t mentioned anybody new. Plus, she and Jace were constantly on and off. I figured it was only a matter of time before they wereonagain.
There was a hesitation on the other end of the phone, and I sharpened my focus. “Maci?”
“It’s… Alex. I invited Alex.”
Alex? The guy who had briefly been a person of attraction for me but who I no longer saw since psychology class had ended?ThatAlex? My thoughts began to spiral. Since when were Maci and Alex friends? But all I could manage to say was, “Alex who?”
“You know, Alex. The one whose Halloween party we went to. We have a class together this semester and ended up sitting together, since we already kind of knew each other. He’s just so fun to be around.”
I couldn’t deny that. Alexwasfun to be around, at least at school. A strange tension twisted in my stomach. There was no reason to say no. Alex and I had ended our minor flirtation on good terms. Any feelings I might have been developing for him had long ago fizzled out.
“Of course he can come.” I tried to put more enthusiasm in my voice than I felt. With Callan and Nevah joining us, this was going to be an interesting crew.
“Great! We’re going to have a whole group. I can’t believe I’m going to meet some of your friends from the Evergreen Academy. One of them is your hot tutor, right?”
I rolled my eyes, even though she couldn’t see me. “I better not hear those words come out of your mouth in front of him, Mace. I’m on my way to pick you up. See you in ten.”
An hour later, Alex met Maci and me at the ski park, and we all exchanged hellos in the parking lot. Alex greeted me warmly, and I was glad that there didn’t seem to be any strangeness between us. His familiar, friendly smile was back in place.
“Where are your friends?” Maci asked when Alex had finished buying his lift ticket.
“I’m not sure.” But as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I felt a touch of air breeze across the back of my neck, and I turned to see Callan and Nevah, decked out in ski gear, walking toward us.
We did a round of introductions, with Callan introducing Nevah to me, me introducing Callan and Nevah to my friends,and Maci jumping in and introducing herself and Alex. Callan’s face seemed to sharpen when he recognized Alex, but they nodded at each other casually.
“So, who’s riding with who?” Maci asked when we all pooled at the bottom of the chairlift.
“You invited Alex, so why don’t you two ride together?” I suggested, knowing that was what my friend would want. And I wanted to take this opportunity to get to know Nevah better, since she’d be helping me with my affinity studies soon. I paused, examining the ease with which I’d sorted us. When had I started to feel more comfortable with Evergreen Academy students than with my non-magical friends?
I got on the chairlift with Callan and Nevah, Nevah sitting in the middle. “Did you grow up skiing?” I asked, glancing at her skis. Callan was on a snowboard like I was.
“Yep, I’m from Michigan and went skiing there on holidays,” Nevah said.
“Nice. I’ve always wanted to try skiing, but I started snowboarding at age eight, and it stuck,” I said.
“Same here. I’ll get on a snowboard someday. But the idea of starting from scratch doesn’t sound fun. I see the way snowboarders fall on their butts all the time when they’re learning.”
“It’s true. And don’t forget the occasional face-plant.”
Nevah laughed softly, and I thought with a warm feeling that we were going to get along fine.
“Nevah’s agreed to help you with your affinity training starting next Friday,” Callan piped in.
“What are your affinities?” I asked.
“Aquatics is my lead,” she said, and I remembered Yasmintelling me that. “And I have trailing affinities for florals, grasses, and defensive plants.”
“She’ll train you in aquatics and defensives,” Callan said. “I’ll take trees and florals, harvesters, grasses, and herbs. I know you’ve got friends in mosses and ferns and have been doing some work in that area already, so they can keep taking the lead on that. Eli’s better at herbs than me, but he’s busy with all the work he does in his community on the weekends. He said he’s willing to assist if needed, though.”
“Well, thank you both.”
