Free Magian High by Lia London Page A

heavy sigh, I stood up, looking down into the hole.
    “I wouldn’t dive until you install the actu al pool,” said Amity behind me in a weak attempt at humor. 
    I gave her the courtesy laugh.  “You’re up early for a Saturday.”
    She shrugged and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her hoodie.  “Did you watch yourself on The Morning Edition today?  You were in the section with all the ‘features’ on local celebrities and stuff.”
    “I’m a celebrity?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.
    She didn’t look at me.  “Well, you’re…infamous, sort of.”
    I sank back down to the ground.  “Are you kidding me?!  What are they saying?”
    “Jack’s mom must be behind it , covering up.”
    “What are they saying?” I repeated through gritted teeth.
    “They’re making Jack and the Punkers out to be victims of the kind of chaos that happens when Nomers and Mages mix.”
    “Victims!  They’ve been pulling stunts like this for—”
    “I know, Kincaid, but Mrs. Bagler is hardly going to let her son look like a delinquent, is she?  The Morning Edition was really impressed with the fire blowing thing,” she said, off-handedly.  “However, they were sure to condemn the destruction.  Somehow they thought you started the porch fire.  Callers were mostly making the case for banning all magic use in minors.”
    The barking, sarcastic laugh that came out of my throat scared birds into flight.  The next thing I knew, I was in the Dirt Hole, kicking and tearing at the sides.  “How can they think I did any of that?  I’m an average Mage at best, and I can’t even…”  I clawed at the edges of the hole, throwing clods of grass and dirt at the tree where the Punkers had hid.
    Then Amity jumped in with me and wrapped her arms around my waist.  She mumbled soothing things I didn’t understand, but it calmed me down.  She tugged me to sit down, and we lay back on our backs at the bottom of the Dirt Hole staring up at the cloudless sky.  Her fingers laced around mine, and she gave me a gentle squeeze.  “It’ll be okay,” she said.  “You’re building something beautiful and useful, and in ten years, everyone will love what you’ve done.  We’re all rocks in a river, remember?”
    “I’m not my father,” I said. “I’m sorry I dragged you into all of this, Amity.”
    “You didn’t drag me into anything.”
    “I did.  Don’t you remember how pathetically I hit on you that first day?”
    “You were cute in your pat hetic-ness,” she said.  There was a long pause while we stared up at the sky.  “You know, this would be a great place for a hot tub.”
    “If I manage to stay out of jail for all of this, I’l l earn some money and get one.”
    “ I bet my dad would hire you to run errands at his office,” she said, suddenly perky.  “You should come meet him!”
    “Before or after I’m arrested?”
    “After you’re showered .  You stink.”
     
    ***
     
    Mom had other plans.  By the time I got out of the shower, she had sent Amity home and made my favorite breakfast, strawberry crepes with drizzles of chocolate on top.
    “ Things are that bad, huh?” I asked, seeing her bent over a stack of papers.
    “Worse.”
    I served up a few crepes and sat down next to her before she went on.
    “Homeowner’s insurance doesn’t cover magically induced trauma to a building by minors.”
    “That’s crazy.”
    “Honey, Mages can get great medical insurance because enough of us are healers that we don’t need the big claims, but property damage…The laws are against us in that…We’re going to have to hire someone.”
    I suddenly didn’t have much of an appetite after all, so I swirled the strawberries around in the chocolate sauce.  “Is Kelsey going to get in trouble?” I whispered.
    Mom closed her eyes and kind of groaned.  “I don’t know what to do here, Kincaid.  She’s to blame, of course, but…”
    “I’ll take the blame,” I said.  “I already did