Free The Lingering Grace by Jessica Arnold

before she opened the door. “Don’t worry about the ice. I’ll take care of it.”
    Unable to restrain herself, Alice turned around. “What do you—?”
    But Eva had already closed the stall door behind her and the bell was beginning to ring. With one stunned glance behind her, Alice sprinted out of the bathroom and down the hall, sliding into class just as Ms. Jordan was closing the door.

 
     
    By the time she got to third period, Alice had decided one thing for certain: regardless of how she had acted yesterday and the assumptions Alice had made, magic was not new to Eva. Whether Eva was able to do magic herself or not, Alice couldn’t be sure. But she knew that no normal high school kid—no normal human, for that matter—would have accepted a frozen faucet in August in California with no questions asked. Water just didn’t freeze mid-drip like that. Eva should have at least been confused.
    With Eva’s promise to “take care of it” ringing in her ears, Alice hurried back to the bathroom after first period to find no trace of ice anywhere. The faucets worked like they normally did. And, based on the flushes she heard from the stalls, the toilets were up and running again as well. This discovery sent Alice spinning into all sorts of crazy fantasies, which she spent most of second period dwelling on.
    Eva could do magic, she thought. Finally—someone who could understand. Someone who could explain to her why she could do what she could do. Someone who could teach her how to harness it, how to use it. That was why Eva had known how to help her the day before. Maybe it was even why Eva seemed different. Maybe it was the power she had that made her seem strong—purposeful. Like she could see the world as it was without envy and fear because she had mastered a higher power. Because she was better than everything around her.
    But another, more reasonable voice in her head argued back. Eva couldn’t possibly know how to do magic. Otherwise, her sister would not be dead—she wouldn’t have let that happen if she had power to stop it.
    As for the ice, she had probably told a teacher. A very confused janitor must have found a way to thaw it. Or maybe it had just melted on its own. The building was fairly warm. It was just a little bit of ice. It couldn’t have lasted long.
    Alice waited at her desk, tapping her foot against her backpack and staring at the door. Hailey sat down next to her and waved a hand in front of her face.
    “You there, girl?” she asked, laughing when Alice jumped. “Wow. You stressed over something?”
    “No—yes,” Alice shook her head. She couldn’t think straight and it was maddening. Her brain was bouncing from Eva to magic to the book to the ice in the bathroom, and normal functions like speaking were slipping through the cracks.
    Hailey gave her a sympathetic grimace. “You need to worry less about things. That’s what I do. It’s just school. They’re just grades.”
    “I know,” Alice assured her. Honestly, being a little more worried about grades would probably be a good thing. Her mom wouldn’t care much if her grades slipped, but her dad would go on a tirade about college and the importance of getting a good education.
    “Chill out,” said Hailey, who didn’t look convinced that Alice had let go of her academic stress. “You’ve been through a lot, you know? Everyone understands if you’re not at the top of your game.”
    Alice bristled as Hailey dumped her backpack on her desk and dug around inside. She’d suspected that this was how people thought of her—as some emotionally damaged creature—but no one had ever implied it was affecting her mentally . Sure, she hadn’t exactly been at the top of the class since the accident, but she’d never been a top student before either. The last thing she needed was word getting around school that she was dumb as well as unstable.
    “I’m doing just fine,” Alice said sharply. “Thanks.”
    Eva walked in right