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Laurel High School. And now, as of this morning, she was totally terrified.
It won't be so bad,she tried to tell herself. They're just kids like me. That thought stopped her. No, not
like me. Not anymore. I don't think any of them can call magic with their hands or heal somebody
or hear someone else's thoughts. I'm different now, totally different.
As if hearing her thoughts, Elizabet said, Don't worry so much, child. It'll be fine. You'll see.
Yeah, but what . . . what if I run into one of Carlos' guys or something? You don't seem to be worried
about that, but there are a couple of street gangs out there who don't like me very much, remember?
Elizabet walked to her closet, reaching inside for a blouse and skirt. They did come by, Elizabet said.
Twice. But they haven't been back in several days.
What? Kayla asked, surprised.
They came by when you were gone. From what you told me, my guess it that it was when you were in
the elven lands. I think time moves a little differently there; you were there for only a few hours, but a
week went by for the rest of us. Several boys pulled up in their cars at the foot of the driveway and sat
there for a while. They came back, looked around, and always left without causing any trouble.
I wish you'd told me that, Kayla muttered.
I didn't think it mattered too much, Elizabet answered. After all, they haven't been back in several
days. And we have the LAPD keeping an eye on the house, while they get their warrants amd subpoenas
together.
But what if they come back? Kayla asked. What will we do then?
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We'll deal with it then, Elizabet said, taking some pantyhose from her dresser drawer. Go get some
breakfast, child, she continued. We'll have to get out of here in the next few minutes if we're to get you
to the school on time.
Kayla was lost in her own thoughts as Elizabet drove. I wonder what kind of people I'm going to
meet at the school? I wonder if there's going to be any good teachers? Like that teacher Ramon
was telling me about. I wonder if . . .
Stop that, child, Elizabet said from the driver's seat, not taking her eyes off the road.
Stop what? Kayla asked, surprised.
I can sense the magic around you, Elizabet said. When you worry, when you're not paying -attention,
you let your magic show. That's the real danger, child. You can't lose control of that, not for a minute. At
home, you don't have to worry about it because I've taken steps to prevent any magic traces from
leaking out. But if anybody is going to find you, it'll be because of your magic, not because of a street
address.
Yeah, right, Kayla said. She pushed all her worried thoughts away from her, concentrating on
calmness, trying to find the burning fire -inside her and quiet it down. Chill out in there, she thought,
talking to the flickering blue flames as if the magic was a misbehaving child. Just chill out for a while.
We'll probably do magic lessons again tonight. You'll get to do stuff then.
In the magic lessons, where Kayla was now learning to hear better, that was something that Elizabet
had taught her, to think of the magic as a little child, somebody who wouldn't always do what she wanted
but could be convinced if you talked fast enough. Her ability to hear people's thoughts and talk directly to
Elizabet with her mind was getting better, as well. Maybe I'm -finally starting to get the hang of this
magic thing, she thought, and smiled.
Well, here we are, Elizabet said, pulling into the high school parking lot. Try not to raise too much hell
on your first morning, will you, child? She smiled at Kayla, who grinned back her. I'll be waiting here at
the end of your last class, Elizabet continued, but now I'm going home and definitely going back to
sleep.
See you later, Kayla said, climbing out of the VW.
This is a great-looking school,she decided. Twenty million kids all running into their classes. And
a few of them even have hair that's more punked out than mine. Not too many with this kind of
cool leather jacket, though.
Ramon's jacket. I wonder how he's doing?
She felt smugly proud at having achieved black leather superiority over the other students.
Kayla walked to the school secretary's office. The gray-haired woman assigned a student worker to
-escort her to her first class, who also introduced her to the instructor of the English Literature course.
The dark-haired man with the handlebar mustache gestured for Kayla to take one of the empty chairs,
then continued his -detailed explanation of the relationships- in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet .
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Kayla listened in spite of herself, fascinated by the teacher's command of language and the way he
stopped every few minutes to recite a few lines from the play, becoming that character for several
seconds, bringing the play to life. And tomorrow we'll watch a film version of Romeo and Juliet , and
then compare that to West Side Story, he concluded, just as the bell rang. Kayla blinked, realizing that
the hour had gone by without her even noticing it.
Now all I have to do is figure out how to get to Building 12, Room 3,Kayla thought, gathering up her
notebooks. She waited until the rush of students leaving the room had died down a bit before walking out
into the hallway.
You looked like you were really into that Shakespeare stuff, someone said from directly behind her.
Kayla glanced back and saw a young man with an unruly mop of wild red hair. He was grinning at her.
Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool, she said. Listen, maybe you can help me out. I need to figure out
how to get to my next class.
Hey, no problem, the redhead said. My name's Mike, what's yours?
Kayla, she said. Kayla Smith.
Oh, you've got Tokugawa next for biology, too, Mike said, leaning over to look at her class schedule
on top of her notebook. She's a killer, probably the toughest teacher in the whole school. And you've
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