Page 105 of Magic Forsaken

“How much did you hear?”

“Sounds like we’re officially outlaws now. Might be cool.”

Trust a thirteen-year-old boy to spin it that way.

“And we’re on Faris’s territory,” he pointed out. “Hasn’t he been an outlaw pretty much forever?”

I swiveled to look at Logan with my mouth open. I hadn’t quite thought of Faris in those terms, but in a sense, it was true. However…

“He’s been an active part of the Symposium,” I reminded him. “Which means he plans to support whatever laws they enact.”

“Maybe.” Logan sat up in bed and shrugged—his way of expressing the enduring and inevitable teenagewhatever. “But their laws don’t work on us anyway. They can’t say we possess something when it’s actually a part of us now. No one would say you ‘possess’ your own arms, would they?”

I could have laughed if the situation wasn’t so serious. “No, they probably wouldn’t. But they can get us on the ‘use’ clause.”

I’d even thought about arguing that we were technically human, so their laws didn’t apply to us at all, but I doubted they would discriminate. By human legal standards, we fit within the existing definition of Idrian citizens. That meant we enjoyed protected status as refugees, but also that we were subject to the Idrian legal system.

Logan wrapped his arms around his knees, and Ari rolled over to prop her chin on the edge of the bunk. I could see her bright eyes peering at me from under the dark mop of her hair, and felt a pang at the tenor of our conversation.

How could I be talking to a six-year-old about whether she was about to be a wanted criminal?

“I want to stay,” she pouted, tilting her head to the side and kicking her feet. “I like ramen every day. And ‘Jelica is nice to me.”

“And I need a teacher,” Logan chimed in. “I’ll go to jail if I have to, but I want to keep learning from Faris. It’s alreadyeasier to control my magic. Doesn’t feel like I’m standing in the middle of an earthquake all the time.”

I couldn’t miss the optimism shining from his eyes. He’d been fighting for so long, and this was the first time he’d felt like there was hope that this magic wouldn’t eventually tear him apart.

How could I take that from him?

“So you all want to stand and fight. To try to get these laws changed.”

Kes nodded. “We aren’t helpless, Raine. And where else but the Shadow Court would we even have a chance?”

I had to tell them. “There is another option.” I took a deep breath. “Do any of you remember Blake?”

I explained his offer. Told them how hard he’d been trying to keep this Symposium from happening. That we could have a home with others like us if we were willing to join their cause.

We discussed our options.

We voted.

In the end, we made a unanimous decision, and I knew what I was going to have to do.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” I warned them. “People may come for you here. They may try to hurt you. But no matter who it is, whether you decide to surrender or to fight, whether you win or lose, know that I will do everything in my power to come back to you. To find you.”

I looked each of them in the eye for a moment, as if I could somehow engrave my words on their memories. “No matter what happens,” I promised, “none of you will ever need to feel lost or alone again as long as I’m alive.”

My word was the only thing I could give them. I could only pray that it would somehow prove to be enough.

I didn’t stopto change. I knew if I gave myself time to think about it, I might lose my nerve, but my feet were too scraped up for the sandals, so I pulled on my boots with my dress and began the long walk back to The Assemblage.

It was a little after nine, and the banquet was scheduled to last until ten. I was counting on them all still being there—eating and drinking and congratulating themselves on their achievement.

Of course, it would be Kevin standing outside the door, which was when I remembered that I didn’t have my badge. It was sitting on my bed back at the hostel.

He took one look at me with my wild hair and glittering dress and boots and pulled out his phone. Hit a number and put it to his ear. His mustache somehow looking less fierce than usual as he waited for whoever he was calling to pick up.

“This is Security Officer Smith.” A pause, then, “She’s here.”

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