Free A Murder of Magpies by Sarah Bromley Page A

me too
     wild. The fluorescent lights blinked.
    “Vayda, look out!”
    Chloe’s voice cut through as she yanked me away from my brother and Ward, tucking
     me inside the crowd where the madness of countless thoughts and instincts thrashed
     against my barriers.
    Marty charged with his head down and rammed Jonah, lifting him up off the floor and
     slamming him into the lockers. Fists and black hair, neckties swinging and shoes squeaking
     on the floor, they locked with each other, and behind them, Danny pounded on my brother’s
     back. Ward weaved into the middle and shouted for them to stop. Jonah pivoted away,
     shaking out his hands, dissipating the energy collecting in his palms. His power searched
     for a vent through which to escape. It nudged me, but I was already too full. Marty
     leapt onto his back.
    Don’t, Jonah! I shouted in his head. Don’t touch him!
    Too late. He reached back, enough that his fingers grazed Marty. Yet as effortlessly
     as passing a basketball, Marty hurtled over his head and soared until he thudded against
     the floor, skidding down the wood until he came to rest against the arched doors.
     A couple of girls screamed, but most of the hall fell into glassy silence.
    My brother’s hair hung loose as he panted, unbridled. Chloe whimpered, “Oh my God,”
     over and over while I found my way inside my brother’s mind. What have you done?
    He said nothing. His temper wandered an invisible trail. So hot, I needed cold. I
     needed to shut out everything. The lights blinked off and on. Danny stumbled back
     from Ward and scurried to Marty, who groaned as he made his first movements to get
     up.
    The bell signaling the start of school resounded. As the crowd dispersed, Jonah leaned
     against a locker and clutched his head. Blood ringed his nostril. Chloe separated
     from me and dug through her purse for some tissues. Instead of checking on my brother,
     I paced along the lockers, my fingers bouncing off each of the combination locks.
    We couldn’t run again.
    I stood across from Jonah, cracking my knuckles to diffuse the energy cascading through
     me, any sparks smothered under my fingers. Ward came over, pressed his back to the
     locker, and lowered until he was my height.
    “Remind me never to really piss you off. I’m delicate and you’d leave a mark.”
    I snorted and kept my hands where he couldn’t see them. “You sure you want to hang
     around?”
    “I’ve met my fair share of Marty Pifkins, and they’re all the same,” he answered.
     “I haven’t met any Vayda Silvers before though.”
    He wasn’t ready to know that Vayda Silver wasn’t all who I said she was. Still, I
     gave him a tempered smile from behind my hair.
    Jonah’s nose had stopped bleeding, and he shuffled toward the trashcan, muttering,
     “I’m so finished.”
    I expected him to rejoin Chloe, Ward, and me, but he shuffled down the hall. If he
     thought he could grumble about how much trouble he was in and walk away, he had another
     thing coming. I stalked after him, a plume of steam scalding my palm as I grabbed
     his shoulder, and I yelped. Jonah winced as he pivoted.
    I’m sorry, Sis. I’d never hurt you.
    That was a lie.
    I rubbed an unseen blister on my hand left by his heat. He could have hurt Marty when
     he threw him. Maybe that was his intention. My feelers scrounged his mind, searching
     for remorse, but they returned empty.
    “You don’t care,” I said.
    “He had it coming. That gadjo insulted you and threatened you,” he growled. “What do you expect me to do?”
    So you threw him down a crowded hallway with your Mind Games? That’s your answer?
    Seeing his destruction was like watching Mom again.
    Ward nonchalantly approached us. “I’m ditching class. Join me?”
    I’d skipped school a few times, mostly to sit with my brother until he calmed enough
     to get his act together, yet Ward was so blasé about it. Jonah couldn’t afford to
     be caught cutting class. He was on fragile