Chapter Text
YEP, THAT WAS DEFINITELY HIM. ONLY TYPHOON MILK COOKIE would stoop so low as to cat GIF me after texting with perfect grammar and punctuation the entire conversation. I wheezed out loud.
“You okay, Vanilla?” Cayenne Pepper, who was perched rather precariously in a tree above me, asked. She had recently begun saying that she was ‘getting accustomed’ to my ‘interesting presence,’ which I’m pretty sure meant we were friends.
“I should be asking you that,” I called. “You have splinters aaaalll over. Not to mention the bugs. Lots of bugs.”
Cayenne Pepper gave me a venomous glare. “I do not!” she said, shaking herself violently anyway, to get the imaginary bugs off her, and nearly falling out of the tree. “Jackass.” That was the second ass-related insult in under a minute!
“Stop that, both of you,” White Lily scolded. She was sitting at a nearby picnic table, her laptop along with a much smaller stack of books than usual piled around her. “I’m curious too—what’s happening, ‘Nills?”
“He copied my cat GIFs,” I snickered, showing her my phone. “It’s totally him. Thanks for helping me out, by the way.”
She sighed, exhaustedly, but rather fondly. “No problem.” The whole White Lily to Silver Faerie to Steel Salt to Typhoon Milk communication wasn’t an exaggeration. It had been a serious pain to get all of them to cooperate, especially Silver Faerie, who was nice, but a little uptight. (Scratch that—very uptight.) They wouldn't even let me make a group chat to make it easier.
I returned to my phone. The cat GIFs had ended, and now, Typhoon Milk had asked, Are you there???
yeahhhhhh just watching your tantrum, I replied.
I hate you, he told me. Where are you?
middle of campus, that one fuckass park thingy, I relayed, without really thinking about it. whats it to ya
Give me five minutes.
the hell does that mean???
He didn’t reply. I showed it wordlessly to White Lily, complete confusion on my face, and she sighed and said, “He’s probably going to come find you.”
“Oh! Huh.” That made sense, actually. I grinned. “I mentioned we’re going to the festival together, right?”
“Yes, one million times,” Cayenne Pepper groaned. “I’m seriously starting to think you’re in love with him or something. It’s concerning.”
“I hate to agree, but she’s right,” White Lily added, shutting her laptop and opening a book on top of it. “Actually—no, I don’t mind agreeing.”
“Psh, you guys are crazy,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m not in love with that lose—oh my Witches, TYPH!!!”
“CHARVY!!!” cried Typhoon Milk, whom I had just noticed dashing towards us down the path. Electricity crackled around him, and he looked almost like he was flying as he ran; I hopped up and stepped out of the way just as he approached, but instead of hitting the tree behind me like I’d hoped, he leapt up onto it, bounced off, and tackled me to the ground. “HAH! Loser!”
“Uuf!!” The wind was knocked out of me. I struggled to breathe, slight panic filling me, but I grinned up at him anyways, overjoyed. He had stood up quickly, and dragged me to my feet, too, still laughing slightly. “Jeez, sparky!! What a greeting!!”
“That’s such a shit nickname,” Typhoon Milk chuckled, kicking me in the shin. He seemed to notice something out of the corner of his eye, and whirled around, crying, “Oh—Witches! White Lily Cookie!!”
Right. My best friend is a celebrity. White Lily snapped her head up, eyes flashing. “Hi,” she said shortly. “I hear a lot about you.”
“Yeah, uh—me, too,” replied Typhoon Milk, fidgeting with his tail. “Oh, Cayenne Pepper! What are you doing up there? You have so many bugs on you!”
“Oh—fuck you!!! He said the same thing!!!” Cayenne Pepper cried, pointing at me. She adopted an exaggeratedly whiny tone and wailed, “White Lily, they’re bullying me!”
“I can’t parent all three of you,” sighed White Lily. “I’m putting you all up for adoption.”
“Nooo!!” Cayenne Pepper exclaimed. Typhoon Milk and I snickered.
“So, what are you here for? You were sprinting awfully fast for just having woken up,” I commented. “Did you get a point off on your last test or something?”
“Oh, no,” Typhoon Milk replied, shaking his head. “I just… figured I’d come and see you, I guess! Since you’re here and all. Sorry if I’m interrupting this.” He gestured around at White Lily and Cayenne Pepper, not looking very sorry at all.
“You’re not interrupting anything,” Cayenne Pepper told him. “White Lily’s practicing equations for the millionth time today, and all this shithead’s been doing is texting you. Did you know it took us three hours to get your number to him??”
“Who’s we? I was the one who did it all,” White Lily mumbled indignantly.
“So you weren’t lying about that,” muttered Typhoon Milk, giving me a look that was some cross between fond and wow, this guy is a fuckin’ idiot. “You needed my number that bad, huh?”
“Well, I can’t just leave you in peaceful silence whenever I’m not around! I gotta bug you somehow,” I explained, grinning. “And I might as well let you bug me too.”
“Good to know I’m worth three hours’ trouble,” he chuckled.
“You’re not,” White Lily and Cayenne Pepper chorused, as I said, “Of course you are!”
“At least someone here knows my worth,” he sniffled, dabbing exaggeratedly at the corner of his eye.
We hung out there for a while, the four of us. By some miracle, White Lily didn’t have to leave for a class or anything, and instead, kept reading through her equations, occasionally giving the rest of us a weird look. Typhoon Milk and I sparred some (while Cayenne Pepper scribbled things down in her notepad)—not a true fight, just me and him throwing random punches at each other, but fun all the same.
Near lunchtime, Cayenne Pepper got out of her tree, sitting across from White Lily at her table, while I and Typhoon Milk flopped onto the grass under a tree. The girls were muttering together, but they were far enough away that we couldn’t really hear them, and they probably couldn’t hear us. “I’m excited for the festival,” I said anyways, hoping Typhoon Milk would reply.
And he did! “Me too,” he said, turning to me and grinning. “We should see if they’ll let us on the Ferris wheel.”
“Wait, what?” I blinked a few times, raising an eyebrow. “I thought you hated the Ferris wheel.”
He looked away. His cheeks turned a few shades darker. “Well—I do. I probably wouldn’t go if it was just me.”
I could be a little slow, but I caught the implication. He wanted to go on the wheel because it would be with me.
“Well—uh—” I tripped over myself, realizing that I really was being slow; his siblings were going, too, for Witches’ sake! I composed myself. I could fix this. “Surely you don’t mean me, hah. It’ll bring back some bad memories, I bet!”
“Oh, I don’t mind,” Typhoon Milk replied without skipping a beat. “I trust you!”
He—WHAT????
It was probably a throwaway phrase, I reasoned, but—he—he had said it!!! He trusted me?!? That wasn’t something anybody said to me!! That definitely wasn’t something Typhoon Milk Cookie said to me!!! What was happening?!?
“What’s wrong with you??” said Cookie asked. “Did you swallow a fly or something?”
“Wha—no!!!” I cried shrilly, which probably wasn’t convincing. “Nothing’s wrong!!!”
“Alright, then.” He shrugged. “Anyways, I’ve been meaning to ask you something! How are you a healer when you already have fire magic? You’re so weak, I’d hardly expect you to have a dual typing!”
I blinked a few times. “Uh.” Come to think of it, I should probably come up with a consistent story for this one—I wasn’t planning to let many people know about my new affinity, but a story would be good for if they found out. “Well, I guess my magic took pity on me and my shitty fire!” Maybe if I pretended not to know myself, nobody would question it!
Typhoon Milk squinted at me. “Right,” he said.
Ah. Okay. I amend my statement. Nobody but Typhoon Milk would question it.
“What’s really up with you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “How are you even at this school?? You’re weaker than tons of normal Cookies! I don’t get it!”
I opened my mouth, digging through my brain for any excuse, slight panic filling me, when, all of a sudden, White Lily blurted, “He’s faking it!”
I snapped my head up and stared at her, wide-eyed, the panic immediately worsening. This was going downhill fast. “White Lily—”
I couldn’t finish. My throat closed up. I felt cold. Suddenly, I thought of that ridiculous test I’d had to go through last Saturday, the fake Typhoon Milk and what he’d said. It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real, I told myself, shaking my head, but the fear was there.
Before I could get myself together and explain it all away, the real Typhoon Milk’s eyes widened, and he smacked himself in the face, scoffing in shock. “Of course! Oh my Witches, why didn’t I figure it out sooner?!?” He leapt to his feet, electricity crackling around him as his hair bubbled up. “Shit!!! I mean, it was so obvious!!!”
My jaw dropped. “Wha—what?!” I cried, my wings flaring. “The—the hell you mean?!?” White Lily and Cayenne Pepper looked equally shocked. “N—nobody found out! Not even the Witches!!”
“No—no, the Witches don’t know it’s a possibility, but I do! If you have strong enough magic, you could totally fake an element you don’t have. It’s just really hard, since you’re not meant to—” He cut himself off. His eyes went even wider somehow. He froze.
I looked over at my friends. White Lily was giving him a half-shocked, half-miserable stare. Cayenne Pepper just looked pissed. I felt sick.
“You—” Typhoon Milk’s mouth opened, then closed again. “You’re—” He formed several words, and I could practically see all the thoughts whirling behind his eyes. I felt more fear than I had in a while. I couldn’t lose him (except, I absolutely could)!! What would I do?! I used to hate being within a mile of him, but now I couldn’t imagine a life without him!!
“You must be as powerful as me!!!” Typhoon Milk shouted suddenly, and I jumped. “Holy shit!!!”
“What?!?” I cried, more scared than shocked. “What do you mean?! I—I’m not near your level!!! I’m a fuckin’ healer!!! That’s nothin’!!!”
“Yes, but you have so much magic!!! You must be able to do practically anything!!! I bet—I bet you could even use illusions!!!”
“H—hold on!!! What—what are you on about?! I have magic, but I can’t use it!! My healing’s weaker than anything!! I—”
“—You only found out about your light magic a week ago!!! Are you really this dense?!” Typhoon Milk scolded, grabbing me and dragging me to my feet. I felt light-headed. “You could be able to do other things! You have to try!! You have to—oh Witches, we have to get you a different mentor!!!”
My jaw dropped. Cayenne Pepper met my gaze. She looked absolutely stricken.
“Sunlight specializes in fire magic—she’s got light, but she sure as hell won’t train you in it,” Typhoon Milk said, talking fast, almost stumbling over his words, if not for the fact that he was perfect and had probably never missed a syllable in his life. “But there’s other Cookies! Plenty of dual typed mentors, there’s even another light-fire one! He only recently became a mentor, I think he’s only got a few other students!”
“Wait—” I stammered, shoving him off of me. “Typh, stop for a sec! You—you can’t be serious!!”
“About what? The transfer?” he asked, dusting himself off. “I can lay off it if you want me to! I just don’t want you to have to train under a mentor that won’t teach you the right stuff!”
I shook my head, dropping my face into my hands. “No—no, not that, I don’t even know about that—I mean—I mean, why don’t you hate me?!”
He blinked a few times, drawing his arms close to his chest. “I—”
“You’re supposed to tell the Witches or somethin’,” I muttered. “I’m not meant to be here, we all know it.” I glanced behind me at Cayenne Pepper and White Lily. Cayenne Pepper was stiff, glaring right back, while White Lily stared at the table in front of her, looking like she’d rather be anywhere else. “Why not?”
Typhoon Milk opened his mouth. He spluttered a little. He looked hurt. “Because I don’t want to,” he said. “I’m not evil, Charvy! I want to—I want to help you!”
It was my turn to be speechless. I stared at him, and he looked back. He was upset, and a little panicked, but he wasn’t lying.
I stumbled away from the three of them. Cayenne Pepper leapt up, probably to follow me, but White Lily grabbed her by the arm, and she nearly fell, swearing quietly and grabbing the table. I couldn’t see my best friend’s face, but her shoulders were hunched, and she didn’t look at me.
Typhoon Milk’s tail dragged along the ground. He looked so troubled that I could hardly parse out what emotion was what. He was usually so easy to read. Why couldn’t I figure it out now?
I tripped over something behind me as I was backing away, and barely caught myself before I fell over. I turned around, towards my dorm, and I sprinted away.