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“You're letting him get away with this?” Harry sounded horrified, and Emely turned back around, still smiling. That was our girl. “Nash?” He also looked ahead, suppressing a smile, and continued walking beside his sister and me. “Oh, come on, guys.”

“Well, I think...” Cody began, but Noah interrupted him.

“Nobody asked you.”

Cody's expression was tense, but Noah didn't even look at him, just grinned and quickened his pace enthusiastically, both hands in his pine-green Vanderwood baseball jacket.

“Guys, we can't just...” Harry began, but I was quicker.

“Relax, Jones,” I sighed. We were almost there. “No one will notice.” I pulled a card out of my pocket. The electric key to the huge modern building of the Athletic District. “Let's have some fun.”

Nash took the card from my hand and turned to the guys.

“He's right. This is our campus. We've given up our rights for far too long.”

Supermassive Black Hole

Muse

In the dark, the sports hall had something special about it, something I couldn't quite explain. It felt more epic to run through the endless emptiness. The sound of the ball on the floor, the stars visible through the glass roof.

Noah had grabbed one of the balls and was dribbling it across the court. We played one round, two rounds. And in the end, no one was counting anymore because we were completely absorbed in the thrill of the game.

“Pass it over, Hunter!” demanded Nash, who was playing with his team against Emely, Cody, and me.

Hunter, who had just been driven into the corner by Emely, barely managed to pass the ball to Nash, but it flew too low, so Cody jumped in between and grabbed it.

“Kaheel!” I shouted.

Cody grinned, not hesitating for long, because Nash was already behind him, ready to get the ball back. Noah came from the other side.

He threw the ball much too high, but I took a run-up and jumped higher, pulling the ball down with me and dodging Noah, taking another run-up and jumping one last time, high enough to grab the corner of the basketball hoop, before pushing the ball into the basket in front of me.

Emely threw her arms in the air and cheered before giving Cody a high five, and I grinned down at them before letting go of the bent support bracket behind the hoop and landing in a squat on the gym floor.

“Damn, Wheeler,” Hunter laughed. “You couldn't get away with that on a real field.”

Noah picked up the ball again and tossed it back and forth in his hands.

“Speaking of which,” he began. “Are you going to join the football team or not?” His expression darkened, but he grinned. “We have to kick a fucking Ruisangor off the team who has no business being there.”

Emely sighed and put her hand to her forehead. It looked like she wanted to say something, but she just pressed her lips together and turned silently to Cody, who was trying to spin the ball on his finger but failed.

My smile disappeared.

“You have a goddamn Ruisangor on your team?”

I stared at them all one by one and ended up at Nash, who answered my question.

“Miles DeLoughrey.”

Anger welled up inside me. Of course one of those Legacy bastards had to worm his way onto the team. Like an annoying plague that wanted to finish us off.

Wasn't it enough that the fucking witches had already stolen our property?

“Why didn't you mention that earlier?” I muttered, my mood sinking further into the basement. “That obviously changes things.”

Noah's grim smirk widened, and I knew he now assumed I would join the team.