Chapter Text
SIMON
I wake up and the room is boiling. Baz must have closed the window sometime in the night, and now he’s in the shower, making the air sticky and wet. I’m in a bad mood already, and then I remember why. Agatha.
We had a fight late last night. Remembering it makes me even more irritated, so I pull on some clothes and head down to breakfast. Maybe I’ll get there early enough I won’t even have to see her. That’s what she wants, isn’t it? To get away from me.
My hair is in knots, so I run my hands through it again and again, trying to make it look a little less embarrassing in case anyone else is already at breakfast. I get to the dining hall and see it’s mercifully empty. Except, of course, for the girl with the long blonde hair facing away from me pouring orange juice. Agatha. Dammit. She must have had the same thought as I did, and was trying to avoid meeting me, too.
I turn right back around and head back to Mummer’s House. There’s nothing for it but to wait until she’s probably done eating and try again. It’s so frustrating, because the person I usually talk things out with is Agatha, and I can’t do that. That’s exactly the sort of thing that would upset her.
“Hey, Agatha, I know you don’t want to talk about us, or the future, or to me in general right now, but can we talk about the fact that you won’t talk about it?”
I really don’t want to talk about our fight with Penny, either, because I know that just makes Agatha jealous, and I’m not really trying to make her more upset right now. I suppose the fact that I don’t have any other friends to talk to is probably part of the problem in the first place.
Last year, I was consumed with following Baz, sure I’d catch him in the act of… something. Then I did catch him, drinking in the Children’s Tomb. (Alcohol, I think. Not blood. Alone.) I didn’t feel sorry for him, but I wanted to want to feel sorry for him, and that wigged me out enough to stop following him. Not stalking him has certainly freed up my time.
Penny’s dad is teaching a class at Watford this semester, so she’s usually dragged off to lunch with him on weekdays. In the afternoons, she’s always studying to stay first in class ahead of Baz. On top of that, she’s got the occasional trip to look at dead spots, and keeping in touch with Micah to worry about.
Then there is the Mage. Every time I try to speak with him, he tells me he’s busy. Working on something. Just about to pop off. It’s frustrating; I offer to help him but he just shrugs me off. I’m itching for something to do, anything that will make me feel useful.
I can see why Agatha might be feeling a little cramped. (She is my girlfriend, though. Shouldn’t she want to spend all her time with me?)
I get back up to our turret, and Baz is still in the shower. I push open the windows to spite him. I hope it’s nice and cold when he gets out. I lie down crossways on my bed. Baz and I worked this out years ago without discussion: I shower at night, he gets the mornings. It’s fine with me, my hair takes forever to dry, and I don’t trust myself to cast spells at my own head. Besides, it’s a waste of magic. I just shower at night. It doesn’t bother me. (Except now, it sort of is bothering me.)
What makes him so special? Heaven forbid he doesn’t get to slick all that hair in place every morning. How will anyone know he’s a vampire without the hair? And today especially, he’s taking forever. And I have to pee. And who does he think he is?
I bang on the wooden bathroom door. “Hey! Pitch! I need in there.”
He doesn’t even respond, and the water just keeps running. I should have known saying anything would probably make him double how long he intends on keeping me out. I think of bursting in. His wand is probably out here. Probably.
I toss myself back on the bed. I put my hands behind my head, and then cross my arms, then hop back up again. I look around the room as if looking for some idea of what to do. I turn back to the bathroom door, raising my fist to knock again when I hear the water go off. I sit down at my desk and try to look like I have a reason to be there. After a moment, Baz comes out of the bathroom with his hair slicked back and his uniform looking crisp on him in a way it never looks on me. (I bet he’s used magic.)
“Am I holding you up, Snow?” Baz says with a sneer.
I ignore this. I really do have to pee, but if I rush in there it will feel like he’s won. Like I was waiting for his permission. I’ll go when I’m good and ready.
He takes forever to gather his school books up and head down to breakfast. As soon as the door shuts I run to the bathroom. I check my hair in the mirror (not good) and try to make my collar lay straight. I give up and grab my things for class.
When I get back to the dining hall, Agatha is nowhere to be found. Penny has set aside some food for me, since I’m now actually running late, and I scarper it down as quick as I can. She’s busy studying from our Greek textbook.
“Reading that for fun now?” I ask.
She finishes the line she’s reading and looks up. “What? No. It’s the test today. Friday”
“No it isn’t. Next Friday. The fourteenth.”
“No, Simon,” she shakes her head, not looking up this time. “Today is the fourteenth.”
This bloody stupid day.
BAZ
I can feel Simon’s magic in Greek. He’s so worked up, he’s jiggling his knee, and the whole table by extension. I want to put my hand on his knee, or take his hand, or slap him and tell him to stop being hysterical. I wondered why he wasn’t studying like I was last night. Greek is Simon’s worst subject, as far as I know, but I wasn’t about to help him out. The worse he does in school, the easier it will be for me when I have to kill him. Or whatever Fiona is cooking up. (She keeps promising something big, bigger than the pocket recorder.)
That would just be perfect, wouldn’t it? The one time I would actually say, “Hey, you dolt, you should be studying.” Snow would, and he’d learn the very thing he’d use later to take me down. No, best that I stay far, far cleverer than him. He’s got his incomparable magic power, let me have the brains at least. Though I suppose I am stronger than him, too.
I realize I’m wasting precious exam time thinking about Snow and snap my attention back to the pages in front of me. The table is still jiggling, and I can almost taste Snow’s magic leaking all over the desk, but I block it out. I’ve gotten very good at ignoring Snow since last year. I hardly think about him now.
SIMON
I would say this test is all Greek to me, but unfortunately it’s Greek to everyone. It’s something else to me, like Klingon or Vogon or something. Baz is flipping through questions like it’s English. Of course he is, he spent all night studying. He sat there, as smug as can be, while I goofed around, knowing full well I’d flunk this exam today like an idiot. I knew he was evil, but come on. This is low.
I spent all lunch and Professor Bunce’s class with my Greek text in my lap, but none of it sunk in. This is hopeless. Baz is almost done, and Penny seems to be writing a novel. I think of looking around the room to see if anyone else is as lost as me, but that might look like cheating. Who am I kidding, the Minotaur would have to be daft to think whatever I turn in was from cheating. Who else would write complete gibberish but me?
I've been staring vacantly at my hands and I realize they're going blurry. My magic is ready to spill over. I feel the heat rise in my face. This is embarrassing. I drop my exam papers so I don't catch them on fire without meaning to. I might as well go now, I think. So I do. I stand up, nearly knocking my chair over, and grab all seven pages of the exam and drop it on the Minotaur's desk. I grab my bag on the way out of the classroom, making sure to knock into our table so Baz will mess up whatever he's writing. I see his jaw tighten and then relax. Nothing I do phases him.
BAZ
I finish my exam not long after Snow walked out. I consider whether I should risk going back to Mummer's House yet or not. I have football practice and need to change, but I should probably steer clear while he's having a meltdown. I'd like to see how I did on that test before he blows me up. (Or I bite him.)
Except I leave the classroom and Snow is still there, steaming. At least, it looks like he's steaming. Magic is rolling off of him in waves. I clear my throat and he turns around. When he sees me, he tosses his head and rolls his eyes.
"Are you kidding me? Look, just get out of here, ok?"
I drop my bag and lean against the wall. I'm not going to run scared. I'll wait until it looks like I have my own reason to leave. Maybe I'll get lucky and Wellbelove will happen by and I can walk off with her. (Snow would love that.)
He growls and closes his eyes. "Fine." he says. He's trying to still his magic. I can tell because for a moment he'll start to blaze violently with light, then he'll go still. His edges will come back to him.
SIMON
I'm trying to control it, but every time I try to push it down, I start to think about what will happen if I can't push it down. The more I want to control it, the harder it gets. I start to panic. This would be easier without an audience. I realize I'm panicking and start to panic about panicking. Any minute, more students are going to finish the test and come pouring out. Classes will be done for the day and this hall will fill with students. Why can't Baz just jog on?
BAZ
Snow has gone quiet. He's breathing deep now. It looks like he's getting a handle on things, which is good because if he went off here, a few tonnes of stone would likely rain down on our heads. Maybe he realizes this, because he starts walking down the hall, and out the nearest door onto the lawn. I walk after him, in part to see if he is really ok, and in part because I do have to go back to Mummer's House to change.
Snow turns on me abruptly. "Are you seriously following me right now?" he asks.
I smile. "I live where you live, Snow. Or did you forget that as well?"
(I don't know why I said that.) (Force of habit, I guess.)
He comes back in through the doorway and comes up close to me. His cross is making my mouth tingle with electric shocks. It's too close. I resist the urge to back up. He never gets this close to me. It’s like leaning into a campfire. I’m going to burn.
SIMON
I want to throttle him. I want to push him down. I want to go off. I'm looking up into his perfectly calm face and that just makes me angrier. Isn't he afraid of me? I’m shimmering with power. Maybe vampires can't feel fear.
I’m so close, if I leaned forward my cross would touch him. Then we’d know for sure, wouldn’t we? Baz isn’t even blinking.
“Couldn’t you, maybe, even just once not be a gigantic arse?
Baz raises his eyebrows. Then, he leans into me. Does he have a death wish? I’m so surprised I take a step back. This only makes him laugh. A cruel, hollow laugh.
BAZ
I’ve called his bluff.
That’s right Snow, you’ll always be the one to back down.
“Why are you like this?” he shouts. “You know what I’m like, you’ve seen me go off, and you push anyway!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Snow. I thought we were having a moment.”
He practically foams at the mouth. His magic is spilling out like golden vapour. It’s gone too far. I can smell smoke. “Sn—” I start.
“Baz, gimme a break!” he says. And he goes off.