Page 101 of Two Who Live On

“Anything beats another film.”

Seriously? I could’ve shown up with a pizza if I realized this was a damn competition. I tuned out my students, linking to Milo’s mind.

“Figured you might need some last day backup, call it a hunch,” he thought.

“You can’t just waltz in here.”

“I’m Enchanter Evergreen. I can pretty much waltz wherever I want, but…” He tapped the visitor pass taped to his chest and smirked. Great. Not one person in the office bothered checking with me that he’d come to visit. “I can totally leave if you’d prefer.”

Between the eager expressions on my students’ faces and the slightly somewhat kind of a little bit bearable ideas for entertainment Milo had floating in his head, I caved. Begrudgingly, I waved him into the room and watched Enchanter Evergreen’s three biggest fanboys fawn over him as they assisted in bringing in more goodies Milo had brought. Both Gaels helped carry in the cooler of drinks and snacks. Caleb carried in boxes of casting games Milo just happened to have on hand. Nope. He’d gone and bought these, believing they’d be enjoyed. Damn clairvoyants.

I took the backseat in my own classroom as Milo floated through the classroom, literally levitating, and arranging game stations while the kids ate and laughed and talked his ears off with countless questions about the industry, warlocks, the demon attack, and a million other randomly blurted thoughts or ideas.

Gael stole an entire box of veggie vegan pizza.

“Share,” Layla snapped.

“I am shurring,” Gael said with a mouthful of half-chewed pizza.

“You’re fucking gross,” Melanie hissed.

“Cl-cluck.”

Layla and Melanie cringed at the puffed rooster, which made Gael snort, spitting sauce and goopy crumbs on the floor. Disgusting. I had no energy for it.

Tara strolled behind Gael and King Clucks, telekinetically waving away the box of pizza from the desk.

Gael gasped. “The betrayal.”

“Ba-bawk!”

“Tara, you’re breaking King Clucks’ heart,” Gael said. “You can’t just take our pizza.”

I perched against the wall by the window to enjoy the show unfolding before me but noticed a much subtler performance outside. Icicles lined the top of the window. Sure, Chicago had unbearably cold winters that seemed to stretch on forever, but there was no way we would get a cold snap this strong during our hellishly humid summers.

The weighted blocks Tara used sat idle at her desk, seemingly unused. The symbols etched on each of the sides glowed and dimmed, dependent on the branch magic Tara cast. The magic she trained even discreetly.

I shared a silent joy in how she continued growing and improving. Developing a fourth branch wouldn’t derail the strides she’d made so far with her other three. In fact, I could feel excitement leaping out, high above her ocean of sorrow, invigorating her with a new game plan on everything she planned on accomplishing over the summer. Though part of the happiness radiating off her might’ve come from her obnoxious bestie on his knees beside a woeful rooster, each begging her not to give Layla or Melanie a slice of the pizza.

“Enchanter Evergreen brought this pizza especially for me and King Clucks.”

“Did he now?” Tara cocked her head, half-grinning and fighting back an all-consuming smile. “That’s weird. I don’t see either of your names on it.”

“He brought this for everyone.” Layla transformed into her therianthropy form, used her giant stature to snatch the box, and then chomped down onto two slices of pizza before tossing the box to Melanie.

“Thank you.” Melanie took the last slice.

“I’m going to die.” Gael collapsed onto the floor. “Tara, how could you?”

“Cl-cl-cluck!” King fucking Clucks mimicked Gael, each sprawled on the floor feigning death.

“Enchanter Evergreen,” I thought to Milo, pulling him from a card game he’d set up. “You need to control your classroom.”

“Oh.” He beamed. “On it. No worries. None at all. Easy fix.”

While Milo attempted to cheer up Gael and King Clucks, I went over to the card game he’d abandoned between Jamius, Carter, Yaritza, and Jennifer.

Yaritza had a winning hand but didn’t realize it because Milo hadn’t properly explained the rules to her before racing off to wrangle the chaos of kids.

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