“I don’t care what you do,” she snapped. “Just stay away from me!”
“Uh . . .”
“And don’t you dare let anyone know I told you what was on the history test.”
Jax gaped at her. Students in the hall were turning to watch.
“Freak,” Giana hissed, walking away as fast as her legs could take her.
Girls. Did they take lessons on how to humiliate a guy? Or did it come to them naturally?
Jax replayed the conversation in his head all the way home, but he couldn’t figure out what had happened. One minute, Giana had been talking to him and admiring his tattoo—well, sort of—and a couple of periods later, she’d practically spit in his face.
“Pendare?” A.J. lifted his head off the recliner when Jax opened the front door. The host of Extraterrestrial Evidence was blathering on about aliens abducting the ancient Khmer Empire.
“No, it’s me.” Jax stomped into the kitchen and got a soda from the refrigerator, which now hummed smoothly and kept everything cold. He sat at his computer in the alcove off the kitchen and checked his email glumly, still stinging from Giana’s last word. Freak!
Huh, imagine if she knew how much of a freak he really was.
An automated response from the Between Wednesday and Thursday website suggested Jax “check online assistance between the hours of 3–5 pm.” He signed in and found the link for tech support. A chat window opened within seconds.
terrance: yo jaxattax. what u need?
jaxattax: cant access discussions
terrance: reload page
jaxattax: already did
terrance: must b glitch. sign on w/family account till i check
Jax felt the usual punch in the gut he got whenever somebody mentioned family. But he was learning to use it to his advantage.
jaxattax: no family. thats the problem
terrance: no family on forum? new members welcome.
jaxattax: no family period. thats why i need forum
terrance: sorry. u newly turned & no family 2 help?
jaxattax: yup
terrance: where you live?
Now Jax paused.
terrance: just the state, not yr address. im not a creep. there r groups 4 newly turned kids. maybe one in yr area.
jaxattax: PA
terrance: ill check PA & work on fixing yr account.
jaxattax: thx
He closed the chat window and looked at the list of discussions he couldn’t get into. He was attracted and repulsed by the idea of a group for kids like himself. Part of him wanted to talk to somebody besides Riley; another part screamed, Don’t make yourself more of a freak! After a few seconds, his attention was drawn to some of the discussions topics.
• Niviane’s Enchanted Forest: Was It a Real Place?
• Locus of the Spelclass="underline" Stonehenge or Pentre Ifan?
He knew what Stonehenge was but opened up a new window to check out Pentre Ifan, which turned out to be some other standing stones in Wales. Then he Googled Niviane, but the name was connected to Merlin the wizard and didn’t seem related to the eighth day. He leaned back. Hadn’t he overheard A.J. and Deidre mention a name to Riley? Everett? Emory? Emris? Jax sat up and started typing.
According to a baby name site, Emris meant “immortal, undying.” But when Jax tried the alternate spelling Emrys, Google took him right back to the site he’d already seen for Niviane: Merlin. One of the ancient names for the wizard was Merlin Emrys. And Niviane, depending on which version of the legend he read, had been either Merlin’s girlfriend, apprentice, or betrayer. Possibly all three.
Jax stood up and walked into the living room. A.J.’s huge carcass lay sprawled on the recliner, a soda can resting on his belly. This felt like asking Jeopardy! questions of a dog, but what the heck? “A.J., what do you know about Niviane?”
“She was the Lady of the Lake,” A.J. replied.
“And she trapped Merlin in an eternal forest?”
“She didn’t trap him.” A.J. belched. “He volunteered to go, for the good of everybody. There wasn’t any other way to stop the Kin. That’s why they created the eighth day in the first place.”
“You’re telling me they were real people?”
A.J. sat up and turned to face Jax. “Has Riley told you any of this?”
Jax ignored the question. “Are the legends real or not?”
“Yes. No.” A.J. looked confused. “The people were real. The legends are crap.”
“Who’s this Emrys that you were talking to Riley about?” Jax tried to think back to what he’d heard after they’d tattooed him. “Does this have something to do with the girl next door?”
A.J. frowned. His mouth opened and closed a few times while he crushed the can in his hand. Soda squirted from the top. “Yeah, she’s the—”
“Don’t answer that, Crandall. Jax, what are you doing?”
Riley stood at the front door. A.J. pointed at Jax, but Riley interrupted him when he tried to explain. “Jax, ask Crandall for the PIN number on his debit card.”
A.J. protested, “Hey!”
“Go on,” Riley insisted. “Ask him.”
Jax’s stomach clenched. “What’s the PIN number on your debit card, A.J.?”
For three seconds, A.J.’s face grew bright red while he pressed his lips together. Then he burst out “Nine one six oh four,” and clapped his hand over his mouth.
Riley laughed. “Well, that was fast.”
11
JAX GAPED AT the two of them, afraid to say anything else.
A.J. counted on his fingers. “It’s only been five days since we marked him,” he said to Riley. “It usually takes at least ten and a couple more visits to Grunsday.”
Riley pulled the door closed. “He’s older than most newbies. Or maybe it’s the nature of his talent.”
“He’s pretty strong,” A.J. said. “Even when I realized, I couldn’t stop talking.”
“What did I do?” Jax asked, repulsed and fascinated all at once.
“Apparently,” said Riley, “you figured out how to use your bloodline magic all on your own.”
Jax shook his head. First Grunsday, then a tattoo, and now this? “What’s bloodline magic?”
Riley drew his dagger out and balanced it on his left palm. Jax recognized the gesture from the night of the tattoo and started to back away, but Riley ordered, “Sit down and shut up.”
Jax’s knees folded, and his butt hit the chair before he knew what was happening. His lips clamped shut.
Then he started struggling.
Gripping the chair with both hands, he tried to push himself to his feet. His sneakers scrabbled on the carpet. He clenched his jaw but couldn’t force his mouth open.
Riley watched for several seconds. Then he slid the dagger into its sheath. “Okay,” he said. “You can talk.”
“You jerk!” gasped Jax.
Riley shrugged. “It was the quickest way to demonstrate.”
“There’s no such thing as magic!” It came out as a wail, a last-ditch effort to hang on to reality as he knew it.
“Of course there is. What did you think Grunsday was?” Riley threw out his arms. “It was magic that made Grunsday and trapped an entire race of people inside it. And it was magic you were using on Crandall when I came in, forcing him to answer your questions.”
“You should’ve told him before now,” A.J. said.
“I was telling him a little at a time, so he wouldn’t freak out.”
“Good job.” A.J. hooked a thumb toward Jax, who was still wriggling in his chair.