She sighed. “I don’t know if our destiny will ever be over. But I still want to do anthropology. I don’t know how, seeing as it’s going to be difficult investigating ruins and caves when I’ve got this wheelchair, but I’ll make it work somehow. What about you?”
“I know I want to be a supernatural bounty hunter, but I’ve never really thought of how that would fit into our lives,” I admitted. “I’d be traveling a lot. I couldn’t do that if we started a family.”
“You want kids?” she asked curiously.
I shrugged. “Maybe. I haven’t really thought about it. But yeah, if we could make it happen, I don’t see why not.”
If anything seemed like a far-off dream, it was children. I never thought I’d be a father, because I never had the resources to provide for anyone else. But once we got out of here, we could get real jobs and make real money. I could put food on the table and actually provide for my family. I knew Ava wanted to go wild and travel around the world and all that, but eventually, I figured we’d both want to settle down.
“I don’t think I could be a mother,” Ava said. “It’d be too hard. I’m in a wheelchair and have bipolar, and you’re blind. How are we supposed to be good parents?”
“Our disabilities have never stopped us before,” I told her. “We’ll find a way to parentourway. Society doesn’t get to tell us what we can and can’t do. But we’ll only do that if it’s what you want.”
Ava thought about it for a moment, before she whispered, “Perhaps someday.”
I didn’treallyknow if I wanted kids or not. Ava made a point about our disabilities, but I didn’t see them as something that held us back— just something we had to adapt to. Ultimately, it was her decision, because it was her body. And if her body was too damaged to have kids, there were other ways to do it.
But I wanted that to be her choice. Yeah, I thought it would be cool to be a dad, but I wouldn’t push it if it wasn’t what Ava wanted. She was enough for me.
A loud scream came from down the hall, and I stopped in my tracks.
“That sounds like it came from the Witch Tower,” I panicked.
I whirled Ava’s chair around, and we rushed to the tower. We could hear Kallie and Marcus shouting at someone, but they spoke so loudly I couldn’t make out what they were saying. We’d been in the Aviary so long, they must’ve been done with dinner already. I heard another voice— Ivy, by the sound of it. They must’ve been the one who’d screamed.
“Oopsies,” a girl said innocently. “If you didn’t want anyone to touch your potion, you shouldn’t have left it lying out.”
“What the hell is going on here!?” I shouted when we reached the top of the stairs. I heard the sound of hissing. At first, I thought it was Rishi, until I realized it was the fire we’d been brewing over. The bubbling sounds of the cauldron were gone. I felt all the blood drain from my face when I realized what must’ve happened.
Ava reacted quicker than me, and she wheeled across the room so fast I lost my grip on her chair. “Esther, youbitch!”
“I didn’t mean to!” Esther insisted. She was really good at playing the innocent party, but we all knew she wasfarfrom innocent.
“She knocked the potion over on purpose!” Ivy insisted. “I saw her.”
“How wasIsupposed to know it was yours?” Esther pouted.
“What are you even doing in the Witch Tower?” Ava demanded. “You’re not a witch.”
“Neither are you,” Esther shot back. “All students are permitted to use all recreation rooms, regardless of their magical abilities, without discrimination against age, gender, and race.”
It sounded like she was reciting a line from the handbook. She had to be the only person in this place to have ever read it.
My hands curled into fists. Esther had poured out our potion— our ticket out of the Institute! That was our only shot out of here!
Esther continued to justify herself. “All students have access to these cauldrons and ingredients—”
“GET OUT!” I roared.
Esther’s demeanor faltered. “I beg your pardon. I’m allowed to be here as much as you—”
“Get the fuck out, Esther!” I pointed to the door, and Oberi growled. “Leave! Before I make you!”
“That’s a threat!” Esther cried. “I’m reporting you to my uncle!”
“Go right ahead.” I fully expected her to report us, anyway.
Esther fled the room, like she was hell bent on finding the Warden. Truth be told, I think I scared her, but that was a poor consolation.
