It was around noon, and nobody seemed to have a clue about what happened to me earlier at school. Honestly, that was probably a good thing. If they knew, I'd probably get roasted for not handling the guy myself. Or worse, they'd start giving September all the credit for saving me. That'd be awkward and just plain humiliating.

  I grabbed my food and noticed September sitting with her friends. She was eating quietly while the rest of them were chatting away, not really paying attention to her. They were having their own little conversation across the table, laughing and gesturing, while she just looked like she was enjoying her food, kind of in her own zone. My chest tightened up a bit. I felt weird—like, was I just nervous, or was this me realizing I really needed to thank her? Maybe both. Probably both. I kept staring at her, debating in my head if I should go over there. What if I messed up and embarrassed myself even more? What if she thought I was annoying? The thoughts swirled around my head, but eventually, I decided I had to do it.

  I wanted to go over and say something, but my legs felt glued to the floor. I stood there like an idiot for a second, then finally pushed myself forward. Every step felt awkward, like everyone in the room suddenly turned to watch me even though they didn’t. I imagined their eyes burning into me, whispering, judging, but I tried to block it out. As I got closer, she noticed me and looked up. She didn’t look mad or anything, but her face was kind of neutral. Still, it made me panic a little. Why was this so hard? It shouldn’t be. It’s just talking, right?

  “Need something?” she asked, casual but serious at the same time. My mouth dried up. My heart pounded like a drum in my ears. I tried to speak, but nothing came out right away. Great, now I just looked weird. I tried to remember how normal people talk but blanked.

  “Uh... I just wanted to say thanks,” I finally blurted out. My voice cracked like I was twelve again, and I could feel sweat sliding down my side. Embarrassing. Very embarrassing. I wanted to disappear. I knew I looked awkward, and I hated it.

  She gave a little smile, which kind of calmed me down. “No problem. Anything else?”

  I froze again, my brain scrambling for words, but before I could make it any worse, she leaned in slightly. “Actually, I wanted to ask you something. Have you gotten any powers with your wand yet?”

  I shook my head quickly. “Nope. Nothing. Not even close.”

  “What about controlling water or earth or, like, gas?”

  “Nah. Nothing like that. I haven’t really figured anything out yet.”

  She sighed, like she expected that answer but was still hoping for something different. “Probably smart to lay low for now. When the red alarm went off, I was called to come help you. They told me you were being chased by a TSA agent. I got there as fast as I could.”

  “I’m really glad you did,” I said, and I meant it. More than she probably realized.

  She nodded, looking serious now. “But you gotta work on your abilities. You can’t just rely on your wand to get you out of every fight. That guy had wolves. Wolves. And a basic wand isn’t going to cut it against stuff like that. You need something strong. Fast. Got it?”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  I nodded again, this time more firmly. “Got it. I get it.”

  She seemed satisfied with that. I walked away feeling a little better, like maybe I wasn’t a total failure. But I knew she was holding back. There was something in the way she said it, like she thought I should’ve done better. Maybe she thought I had some hidden skill and was disappointed when she found out I didn’t. Or maybe she thought I was just weak. That thought hurt more than I wanted to admit. I kept running the conversation over and over in my head, trying to figure out if I should’ve said more or acted differently. Maybe I was overthinking it. I always overthought stuff.

  I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I needed to get better. Fast. There was no more time to sit around feeling sorry for myself. If I was going to survive this place, survive whatever was coming next, I had to figure out how to get stronger. I thought about finding Tisiah later and asking him for advice. He always seemed like he knew what he was doing. Or maybe Malachi. He was tough. They might laugh at me, but that was better than dying, right? Anything was better than dying.

  I decided I’d work on it after classes, or maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow is a big day. Everything was going to change. I had to be ready.

  As the day went on, the PA system activated. I got called in along with September, Malachi, Tisiah, and Nikki. Five of us getting called together was weird. We went to Mr. Drails’ office.

  When we got there, Mr. Drails greeted us with a smile. “Welcome back, students, or welcome to the workplace. Something like that. Over here.”

  He led us over to his table, looked at each of us, and then down at his desk. Suddenly, a holographic set of images and blueprints hovered over it. “A government researcher was taken by the TSA. We need you to go get him back.”

  We all looked at each other, confused. None of us expected anything like this.

  “We don’t know exactly where he is,” Mr. Drails said. “But we think he might be at this facility. Your job is to check it out. If he’s there, get him out and bring him back safely. Now understand this..."

  He walked towards us with his index finger extended like a nail of judgement.

  "If anything goes wrong well beyond your control, contact me immediately. You guys are junior agents, so don't expect yourselves to be able to fix it. We don't need the whole world seeing some random explosion in the middle of a town," he ordered.

  "What happens when we don't?" I asked, my voice deciding to tremble.

  "Well, suspension, and trust me, I don't care if you're the best of the best, or the worst of the worst. You will be suspended and trust me, no one likes getting blacklisted on their spy mage resume," he answered.

  "Aren't suspension and blacklisted two different—" Nikki muttered, though rudely disturbed.

  "Got it?" Mr. Drails asked.

  The room felt tense as we took it all in. This was serious:

  1. A government researcher got captured by the TSA.

  2. We, a bunch of students, were supposed to rescue him.

  3. Tisiah had told me before that the TSA tortures people until they give up info or die.

  4. This was my first time doing anything this dangerous.

  5. We were heading into who knows what.

  6. This wasn’t some fun adventure; this was real life.

  7. This was serious.

  8. This was not a movie or a book.

  I looked at September. She glanced at me and shook her head a little. I looked at Malachi. He was already looking at me, but I looked away quickly. He knew I didn’t know much, and even if I did, I wouldn’t have answers.

  I was scared. Malachi was good, but the thought of him getting hurt freaked me out. We were risking our lives for someone we didn’t even know.

  Mr. Drails wrapped it up. “Take the rest of the day off. Meet back here tomorrow at 5 PM. We leave at 6.”

  We thanked him and left. Everyone seemed tense. I grabbed lunch but couldn’t eat. September looked worried. Tisiah stared off like he was somewhere else. Malachi had his fists clenched. Nikki was quiet.

  The TSA was bad news. They didn’t just lock people up; they broke them. I couldn’t shake the feeling we were getting into something way worse than we knew. It felt like a trap.

  One thing was clear: tomorrow was going to change everything.