“It’s… almost like using my Air magic to determine where things are, but on a smaller scale. It’s some sort of town scene, isn’t it?”
“That’s right,” I said in astonishment. I couldn’t believe he could interpret the painting so clearly, despite not being able to physically see it.
“I’m glad I did it right.” Marcus’ shoulders slumped in relief. “Apparently, if you mess it up, it can be hard to get the translation across.”
I could see on my husband’s face how much this meant. He wasn’t able to enjoy drawings or artwork the way the rest of us could, but Marcus had found a way to make it accessible for him.
Charlie stepped away from the painting and cleared his throat. “You did a great job. I can picture it so clearly.”
“That’s not all. Check out what Marcus and I can do!” Kallie said.
She pressed a hand to the painting, and I watched with amazement as the scene began moving. The cats in the painting started meowing and moving around, and the snow fell from the sky as the lights on the storefronts flickered. A bit of snow blew out of the painting, and a chilly wind drifted over our skin.
“Is it moving?” Charlie questioned.
“Yeah. We can make the paintings come to life by fusing our powers together and using simultension,” Kallie said eagerly. “Pretty neat, huh?”
I thought that was awesome. What were we doing messing around with prophecies and getting ourselves mixed up in political bullshit, when we could create cool stuff likethis? Our art, our music… they were all much better pursuits than trying to convince shitty people to stop doing shitty things.
“What did your dad want to talk about, Ava?” Marcus asked.
“Just… personal family stuff,” I said.
I didn’t tell them about the phone conversation I’d had with my father. I wasn’t ready to consider my options. It was really hard for me to talk about this, even to Charlie. I’d rather sweep it under the rug and refuse to face it, rather than get help, because getting help made me feel too vulnerable. I knew that was one of my downfalls, but even so, the thought of bringing this up was overwhelming. I needed a few days to conjure up the courage to speak to Charlie about it privately, and to see what he thought. For now, I just wanted to keep it to myself.
We all had our own family issues, so nobody pressed me for answers. I hurried to change the topic. “Guys, guess what? Lupe’sgraduating. Isn’t that magical?”
“Really? Good for her,” Charlie said. “I’m glad she made it.”
I dropped my voice, just in case Professor Celosia was listening in. “That’s just the thing, though. Why are we talking about breaking out? We could just… wait until we graduate. Lay low, don’t cause any trouble. Then, once we’re done, the Warden has to let us go!”
“That’s never going to happen. Graduation is two years away,” Kallie objected.
“We’ve already survived two years here,” I insisted.
“Yeah, and it’s nearly killed all of us several times over,” Marcus said.
“Because we keep poking our noses into things we shouldn’t!” I replied. “If we just sat back, went to class and let things play out as they will, we could make it!”
“Do you know how many people in Lupe’s class are graduating, compared to the amount of people that came in?” Kallie asked.
“No. Does it matter?” I sneered.
“One-fourth. The rest of the kids in her class either died here, or they’re getting transferred to the adult penitentiary,” Kallie said firmly. “That means if we try to stay low and play by the rules, statistically,oneof us is graduating.”
“And the Warden isn’t going to let us leave. He knows what we are— he’s never going to let us go,” Charlie added. “Especially not you, Ava.”
“If we meet the United Supernatural Union’s requirements for graduation, he can’t hold us back!” I protested. Oberi got up from the floor and laid his head on my lap. I brushed my fingers through his ears. This was a way out! Why could no one see that?
“The Union didn’t stop him from kidnapping and murdering Alice, Wesley, and Despona when their team won the Darke Games, or all the other inmates who died in the Underground,” Charlie argued.
My temper snapped when he spoke that awful name. I never wanted anyone—anyone— to mention that horrible place again. “The Underground is gone. I fucking died and came back to make sure I destroyed that place. And as much as I want to fulfill the prophecy and save everybody, I’m getting pretty tired of involving myself in things that end up making my life worse. What aboutmydreams?”
Lupe’s advice had been ringing in my ears ever since I’d spoken to her. Since I’d come to the Institute, my mission was to fulfill the prophecy in order to stop terrible things from happening, but so far, all I’d done was manage to cause terrible things to happen to myself. I hadn’t helped anybody— the Elves in Forevermore, Eddie, countless others were dead or missing because of me and my actions. If we weren’t going to get a win here, what was the point of continuing to try and save other people, when I could just focus on all the life I had left to live? It was a miracle I was still alive, and I wanted to treasure that.
“You can’t just… bury yourself in academia and pretend things aren’t happening,” Marcus said meekly. “You’re not an average college girl, no matter how much you want to be. We’re all demigods. We have responsibilities that go beyond ourselves and what we want.”
I was so tired of having that conversation, so I decided to cut it short. I threw my bag on the table, and it landed with athud.“Fine. Whatever.”
