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  I wasn't sure about anything, except that I had pieces of some of the Dark Council members inside of me. That probably included whatever had flown over us out in the open. I shuddered as we passed the city limits. I parked the bus back in the lot of the now long-closed, legit station that took tourists to the ruins with real buses. I'd leave this old one here. Maybe the local police could find fingerprints of those guys who worked for Gaozu.

  Xavier watched the tourists get off the bus and head for the parking lot where all their cars were still parked. Still others got out phones and placed calls.

  "I think they'll be safe here," Xavier said. "What's bothering you?"

  "Everything. Thoreau said I have pieces of some of the other Dark Council members inside of me. That must include whatever flew over us. Do you think I'm related to that, too?"

  We were alone on the bus. I turned off the engine and all the lights followed seconds later. "I don't know," Xavier said.

  "Thoreau said that I was. I have a bunch of scary genes inside of me. What does that make me?"

  "Well, you're not a dragon," Xavier said. "You have some of Gaozu's power, but you're not a fire-breathing reptile. It's probably like, one gene or something that you inherited. Gaozu's been around for thousands of years like the others. There wouldn't be much of him left inside of you."

  "Are you sure?" I asked. I'd been wondering about that with growing panic for the entire drive back. I wouldn't be able to put off asking that question for long.

  Xavier nodded. "You must have just a little bit of the other members in you. Those beings are all ancient. I know you haven't spent a lot of time studying the Abnormal world, but trust me when I say that Abnormals have been having children with Normals for all of history. Some Normals will deny it, but the truth is that a lot of them have some distant Abnormal ancestor and don't know it. Of course, when this happens, the children are usually born one way or the other."

  "Like with Mages?" I asked. The Elders at Leon's funeral had mentioned that Leon had married a Normal woman. Only two of Leon's children were born with magic and the other four were Normal.

  "Yes," Xavier said. "Mages are human, though. Some non-human Abnormals have also had children with Normals. Like Gaozu. Obviously. His children must have been Normal but with that dormant fire gene that you have."

  "It must have been on my father's side," I said. I thought of telling Xavier about my great-grandfather, who had come over from China a long time ago and always told stories about dragons to my father. The carrier of the Gaozu gene must have been him. The thought felt right. I wondered if he had known or suspected or if a part of him had just sensed it. My mother would have freaked double if she'd found out about that, even if it didn't make my father or I special at the time. "The turning gene came down my father's side, too."

  Xavier grinned. "Maybe the others came from your mother."

  "Whatever they are," I said, shuddering again. "I wished I knew where she lived. I'd love to tell her about this and watch her squirm."

  "Vengeful." Outside, a car started.

  "You haven't met my mother," I said, "or her side of the family. I'm sure I won't see them again."

  "That's why we need to get your father back," Xavier said. "If you're lucky, you won't have to find out anything else about your family that you don't want to."

  "Really," I said, thinking of that darkness what swept over us.

  "Come on," Xavier said, stepping off the bus. "We need to figure out a way home. Then, we rescue our parents."

  Chapter Three

  Xavier and I walked across the city that started with an S. The night remained deep. It must be close to midnight by now. The stars crept across the sky but the darkness didn't return. Whatever had sailed over us had stayed at the ruins, apparently. Maybe the new Dark Council member and Leon were having a tea party and he was telling the new creature all about his stay in the Infernal Dimension.

  There was an airport on the other side of the city. It wasn't very large and just offered connector flights to Istanbul, but it was better than nothing. Despite losing his jacket, Xavier still had his money and the people at the airport were happy to take it. The flight itself wasn't very long, just about an hour and a half in total. By time we landed at the capital's airport, it was only about two in the morning, local time.

  "We should have just taken a plane to the other city in the first place," Xavier said once we were off the plane. "It would have been easier. We weren't thinking."

  "We don't have an option but to fly now," I said. "Let's hope the security here isn't that bad. Once we get home, though, all bets are off."

  Xavier booked us another connector flight. We had to wait in some uncomfortable chairs a few more hours for it to board. By then, the first daylight was beginning to appear on the horizon, pink and pale. We'd be in the air when the sun came up.

  Xavier seemed to notice at the same time. "We should find you something to wear before our flight leaves," he said. "We don't need to get caught."

  Now he was just talking about us not getting caught. Xavier had been so warm before when lending me his coat but now that was gone. He was getting more distant. I wondered if there was something just wrong with him, something he hadn't revealed to me yet. He was different since leaving the ruins.

  We searched stores and didn't find anything besides T-shirts obviously meant for tourists and some food stalls. Xavier ordered a sandwich from one and we gave up, heading back to the waiting area for our flight. "I'll let you take an aisle seat," he said. "Hopefully the sun will be rising behind us."

  "It should be," I said, thinking of the stops we would have to make before crossing the ocean. This would not be a fun trip.

  And it wasn't. Once we got on the plane and waited on the runway, the horizon got brighter and brighter until the sun peeked over it, shining pale light right into the plane. Even though I was opposite the sun, there still wasn't much shelter from it. The plane would rise into the sky where there would be even less. We might even get above the cloud cover.

  We took off. What I feared happened. The plane rose higher and higher and eventually we rose over a few wispy clouds and then there was nothing between the sun and I but this metal tube. I could see why people hated flying. The irony was that I hated it for other reasons than Normals.

  "I feel like crap," I said, leaning against Xavier. The headache had returned and my exposed skin felt like it was sunburned. It wouldn't get better until I found some shelter. I thought of ducking into the bathroom, but there was already a line of people waiting for it. It seemed like every Normal in the place was constantly getting up to visit the toilet. Even with the awful smells in there, it would be better than this, but I would only be able to afford taking short breaks in there without attracting suspicion to myself.

  "You're not going to seizure, are you?" Xavier asked, wrapping his arm around me and holding me close. Now he was coming out of his funk, but these times were getting rarer and rarer now.

  "I don't think so," I said. It would take direct sun to do that. For now, I would just feel like I had the flu, if this was what Normal flu felt like. "I've never tested it this long, though."

  "Let's hope," Xavier said, pulling me closer.

  I didn't complain. No matter how he felt about me, I needed the shield as much as possible. I felt a little better with him hugging me and I closed my eyes, my sword-turned-fake-cane leaning against my leg. I was sure that underneath, the mixture of Normal and demon blood was still on there, dried and ready for use on the portal that would take Xavier and I to our parents.

  This was almost over. I had to remind myself of that. But why didn't it feel that way?

  * * * * *

  It took two more connector flights to get home. By then, almost an entire day had passed and both Xavier and I were exhausted, despite having slept on the flights. We had stopped somewhere in Germany to board yet another flight across the Atlantic, and then in Chicago to board a flight over to Cumberland.

&n
bsp; But the good news was, it was night by time we got home.

  It was the only good news. Xavier and I got off the plane, stretching while I pretended to lean on my fake cane. I double-checked to make sure Xavier had glamoured it correctly and it hadn't turned into a fake Superman baseball bat this time. My Hello Kitty tape was still there in all its glory.

  "At least we don't have any luggage," Xavier said as we stopped near the baggage carousel, where everyone was waiting for their stuff to come out on the conveyor belt. Bulging souvenir bags, suitcases and plastic zip-up totes all came out, one after the other, while people watched and waited.

  I pulled Xavier towards the wall.

  I looked out at the fresh night. We had been on planes for hours and hours. My headache was gone. I couldn't wait to get outside and breathe some fresh air.

  "We have a problem," Xavier said. "We have to pass through security."

  "That might be an issue," I said, looking at the gates up ahead. Dad had once told me that flying was easier before I was born. Then the government got all worried about Abnormals and people started voting the anti-Abnormal crowd into office. I remembered that Russell Fox's going around and biting as many people as possible had a lot to do with it. There had been a big scare about Abnormals because of him. There had also been an incident where a Dark Mage had attacked a bunch of innocent people at a movie theater and even killed a couple for some rite she was doing. That had been news when I was in junior high, a few years after I had bitten Hannah and ripped apart my family.

  I almost let myself think about how disgusting those two Abnormals were when I remembered that I had killed now, too.

  I had returned home a killer of Normals. I was so much worse than a home wrecker.

  My knees trembled and Xavier looked at me, then offered a hand to steady me. I stepped away from him. Maybe his increasing rotten moods were because of me. The more of me he saw, the worse it got.

  "What's wrong?" he asked.

  "Everything," I said, leaning on the cane.

  We stepped away from the rest of the crowd. "I know we went through a lot back at the ruins," Xavier said. "Don't let Thoreau bother you. You might be related to some of the Dark Council people, but you're not like them. Those people are horrible. They were going to sacrifice a ten year old girl. You saved those people."

  I lowered my voice and leaned close to him. "I killed someone and I enjoyed it."

  "That guy was willing to murder people for whatever Gaozu promised," Xavier said. "You stopped him from hurting more people in the future. If anything, you should have killed that bus driver, too."

  "What if he had a family?"

  Xavier hugged me. "Stop torturing yourself," he said.

  "You don't understand," I said into his shoulder. His hug felt...strained.

  Xavier snorted. "I don't know anything about the guilt that comes after killing people."

  "Sorry," I said as we separated. "I just don't like the thought of being...of being...something that everyone's scared of." One of the other passengers walked past. Even at ten feet away, the young man smelled like pizza and it made my stomach growl. I was starting to get hungry again.

  "I hear you," Xavier said, voice very low. "No one likes War Mages, either. There are times I wish I was a Nature Mage or something."

  "But then you wouldn't have cool powers," I said. "And then other Abnormals would accuse you of working with the government." Nature Mages were probably the most tolerated of all Abnormals. Their magic was harmless and Normals never said anything bad about it.

  "You can't win," Xavier said. "Let's see if we can get through security. I might have to Transpose us out of here. Airports don't have magical wards that prevent it, as far as I know, but we'll have to do it fast if things go south."

  "Agreed," I said, holding my cane close.

  Xavier and I waited until other passengers were ready to go through the gates and out into the rest of the airport, into forbidden Normal territory. We got in line and every muscle in my body tensed. My stomach growled, begging me to bite someone, begging me to bite Xavier. It was getting worse right along with his changing moods. I had bitten people twice within a few days and my fears that it had woken up something inside of me were coming true. I couldn't stop thinking about it whenever I was even a little bit hungry. I was losing control. I had worked my whole life to be Normal and this was threatening to take it all away. I had to be strong. I had to keep it suppressed so I could get back to school and friends when all of this was done. I would start a new identity and a new life. Maybe Xavier could come with me...

  It didn't take long for us to go through the turnstiles. The line was moving fast. The security officer was a very overweight man with a no-nonsense look on his face who smelled like black coffee. He asked Xavier and I to show identification.

  I pulled out my school ID card, knowing full well that this wasn't going to go well. Xavier pulled out a fake ID which was pretty impressive. So he was Franklin Coffey when he was out in the Normal world. It was such a wrong name for him, so wrong that I wondered if his sister Liliana had something to do with it.

  The man looked over Xavier's ID and waved him through.

  It was my turn. My urge to laugh was over.

  I handed the guy my school ID and he looked it over, pausing only for a split second before he handed it back and waved me through. We'd been the last though the line. The airport wasn't crowded right now. Xavier and I walked on and I looked back to see the guy looking at his cell phone.

  "That was too easy," I said.

  "I know," Xavier said. "At least we didn't have any metal detectors. I think they only make you go through those when you board a flight. We should still leave as soon as it's clear."

  "I didn't know your official name was Franklin," I said. "It reminds me of that cute turtle on a show I used to watch when I was little."

  We walked faster, cutting around the rest of the small group. "You watched a show about a cute turtle? I've watched you fight werewolves and slay evildoers, but you watched that show?"

  "You collect superhero figures," I said.

  "I did," Xavier reminded me.

  "I never said it was a bad thing. Oh, crap."

  Xavier and I stopped in the middle of the hallway, right next to a fake potted plant and a drinking fountain.

  Apparently, the ATC had an office right in the airport to deal with people like us, one right between us and the food court, because there was an open glass door with those red letters on the front and several even more serious-looking men and women in black stepping out to block the way forward. Behind us, some of the Normal passengers freaked, muttered amongst themselves and backed away. The scent of nervous adrenaline filled the air. I wasn't sure if the people behind us were backing away from us or the ATC themselves. Not all Normals liked them.

  Or it might have been the fact that they were all holding guns with large barrels that I had never spotted before. I watched as a dozen of them raised to face us.

  The security guy. He had known who I was. I must be all over the news and on some Most Wanted list by now. The coward had let the ATC know with his cell phone so he wouldn't have to deal with us.

  I was wanted and feared, just like Russell Fox had been.

  "Alyssa Choy," one of the men said, showing me his wallet ATC badge. The leather fell open to reveal their coat of arms. A glimpse of the schoolhouse and the sun were enough to tell me that they were the real deal. "You are wanted by the City of Cumberland and the ATC for immediate treatment of your condition. Place your hands up and step away from this young man."

  Those guns looked terrifying. I could hug Xavier and we could Transpose, but they would fire before I did and hurt us both. They might not know that Xavier was another Abnormal yet. He was without the leather coat he'd been wearing when we fought with the police in the sewer.

  So I put my hands up and stepped away from him. "Happy?" I asked. The fake cane swung over my head so I tightened my grip on it. Any second,
I could shake it out to reveal its real identity.

  We were hosed.

  "Step away from the young man," the head guy repeated, putting his badge away. "Place your hands behind your head and walk towards us." He turned his gaze to Xavier. "Young man, do you realize what you are in the company of?"

  No. They didn't know, but they would figure it out soon enough.

  "Franklin," I said to Xavier. "Don't listen to them. They're lying."

  "You're not a Normal girl?" Xavier asked me, his jaw falling open. It was a good act. If we were both captured, there would be no help for either of us. If Xavier was left free...

  "They're acting," an ATC woman said. "This may be the young man who was seen in the library with Alyssa."

  The man seemed to think. "Both of you," he said, moving the gun up and down. His name was Jamal, I could see. It was on his golden name tag. "Hands behind your heads. Step towards us and inside the office, please."

  Xavier and I exchanged a look. We were getting into deeper and deeper trouble at the moment.

  But if we went into that office...

  They would remind me that I was a monster...

  I would think about it all over again...

  Dad would never see me again...

  I shook out my fake cane just as Xavier shouted, "No!"

  My sword shined in all its glory and still included a little bit of dried blood. Jamal backed away into his comrades and there was a pop as something fired.

  I caught a glimpse of a spring extending as something black shot for me, but I had no time to move before the pad contacted my arm.

  Someone in the crowd behind us screamed as what felt like a million jolts ran through my body, paralyzing me. I dropped my sword. Xavier yelled my name and rushed to catch me as I fell, helpless, dimly aware that I was screaming. I was being burned alive. This must be how it felt to be at the end of my fire magic. I thrashed as the current seized my muscles and turned me into nothing more than a rag doll.