Page 33 of Ashes

I raise my eyebrows at him. “Good. You? I heard you were assigned an undercover mission?”

Nico’s eyes narrow, just a tiny bit, as I speak. Next to me, Mack clears his throat loudly.

“Yeah,” Nico chuckles. “Bit hairy out there.” He breathes out through pursed lips. “Town’s swarming with reporters. Took the long way round and avoided them though.” He goes to Nova and sits opposite her. “No one saw me,” he says, reaching for her hands.

As the four of us watch, Nova forces a smile to her face. She’s a good actress; she looks genuinely pleased. “That’s good,” she says. “Really good.” After a pause, she adds, “Did you get them? The results? Mack said you couldn’t email them.”

Nico reaches triumphantly into his pocket. He produces a piece of paper and unfolds it, flattening it onto the table with his palm. “You bet I did.” He squeezes her hand.

I can almost feel the anger coming from Kole.

He stalks to the other side of the room while he watches.

Taking the seat next to Nico, Tanner rotates the piece of paper and stares at it.

“What does it say?” Nova looks from Tanner to Nico.

Nico shakes his head. “Couldn’t make it out. Bunch of numbers and letters in a table.”

“Shit.” Tanner swipes his fingers through his hair and thumps back in his seat.

“What?” Nova ducks her head to meet his eyes. “What is it, Tanner?”

“It says you’re a witch.” He runs his index finger down the table. “According to this, you’re sixty percent witch. Fire affinity. Witch.” He seems stunned. He pushes the paper toward Mack, and Mack examines it.

“That’s not possible,” Kole growls.

Tanner simply shakes his head.

For a moment, there’s silence, then Mack says, “Page one of three.” He turns to Nico, his amber eyes flashing. “Where’s two and three?”

“Ah…” Nico swallows hard. He reaches for his pocket. All four of us tense. “I couldn’t print the rest. Paper jam.” He raises his index finger. “ButI did take screenshots.”

He turns his phone over to Tanner. Tan snatches it and pinches the screen to zoom in. “There’s a video too. I didn’t know what to do with that one, so I recorded it.” he leans over and swipes the screen. “There.” He looks around at the rest of us. “Doesn’t mean anything to me but I thought it might be important…”

“By the moon,” Tanner breathes out hard. He stands up then sits down again. “Holy hell, Mack.”

Mack slams the paper down and tilts his head to watch the video. I want to do the same, but I refuse to take my eyes off Nico, and Kole clearly feels the same.

“It’s changing.” Tanner turns the phone and shows it to Nova. “Your DNA is changing.” He waggles his finger at the phone. “Those two screenshots, and the printed page, they’re tests taken over three days. Her DNA begins twenty percent witch, then forty, then sixty.” He looks up at Mack. “The video shows her blood under a microscope. You can literally see it changing.”

“Does that happen?” Nova asks. “I mean, is this something that usually happens?”

Mack shakes his head. “No. It’s not.”

Nova looks stunned. Her face has drained of its color. She presses her palms to the table and breathes out steadily. Nico reaches for her, notices the mark on her neck, and says, “Nova? What happened?” But when he brushes her skin, she flinches.

Nico frowns. “Hey, it’s okay. This is good news, right?” He looks at the rest of us. “This is the proof you needed.”

Slowly, Kole walks over and places a hand on Nova’s shoulder. Tanner has pocketed Nico’s phone. Nova pulls the piece of paper toward her then slides out of her seat as Kole takes her place.

Nico laughs nervously, then swallows hard. “What’s going on, guys?” He laughs again. “This is good. Right? Good news?”

“Did you give these tests to anyone else?” Mack asks. I position myself next to him, so that Nico is hemmed in. Surrounded.

“No.” He frowns. “Of course, not. Why would I?”

Fire flickers in my gut. “Because you’re a fucking spy,” I spit, unable to contain my fury any longer.

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