He held me more confidently then. “Why would anyone evenwantto be the Chosen One?”
I huffed a laugh into his neck. “Power, obviously.”
He shook his head against mine. “There’s no power,” he said, his voice low.
I didn’t know what to say to that. Simon could haveruledthe World of Mages with his magic. He could have ruled theworld.
“I’ll text Penelope,” he said, pulling away from me to find his phone. “She must not know about all this. She would have mentioned it—to you, if not to me.”
“Simon . . . Are you certain you want to get involved in this? It ismagic.”
He looked back at me, like I was being silly. “It’s yourstepmum.”
I smiled. I watched him send his texts. “I can make a few calls tomorrow morning,” I said. “Ask around. See if anyone knows anything.”
“Shouldn’t we get started now?” He was sitting on the edge of the bed, ready to go.
I held my hand out to him. “No. Nothing will change overnight. Let’s just sleep.”
He looked surprised. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure, Snow.”
He bit his lip for a moment, then took my hand and folded his wings. “All right. We’ll rescue Daphne tomorrow.”
I pulled him down beside me, and laid my head on his chest again. “Tomorrow.”
The next morning—this morning—while Simon made toast, I sat at the kitchen table and called someone I could trust to be honest with me.
“Hello, Dev.”
“Well, if it isn’t Basilton Pitch. Did you take a break from getting your cock sucked and remember that you have friends and family?”
“Took a break from sucking cock, actually.”
Simon’s head spun around. I shrugged, apologetically, and turned away from him in my chair.
Dev sighed. “You don’t call, you don’t write.”
“I’ve been busy studying. Haven’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Uni is a ball-ache. As it turns out, pledging allegiance to the Mage twice a week and working on mydictiondid nothing to prepare me for higher education.”
I snorted. “I’ve heard the new headmistress is making people do maths.”
“Unacceptable! Cares she not for tradition?”
“What’s next,” I said, “geography?”
Dev’s voice dropped, confidentially. “Niall’s brother says it’s worlds better down at Wats these days. They can have mobile phones. And they brought back the admissions test. Old Bunce hassomestandards.”
I decided to push on while Dev was being sincere; it only happens biannually. “Say, have you been hearing this twaddle about a new Greatest Mage?”
“Aw. Poor Baz. Threw it all away for the Chosen One, and now you have to start over.”
“So you have heard about it.”
“Crowley,” Dev swore, “it’s all my grandmother talks about. She follows one of them on Facebook.”
