We all turned to gape at her.

She shrugged. “It’s pretty rare, but there are historical accounts in magickind history.”

Eli’s eyebrows shot up on his forehead. “Wow. That’s incredible.” He paused, then shook his head. “But I don’t think it applies to the dream.”

“Yes, you’re probably right. But I thought it worth mentioning,” said Selene. “Only … aren’t crows more or less ravens, but smaller?”

“Hmmm, I think so.” Eli turned his gaze to me. “Can you check for us?”

“Sure.” I picked up my eTab, which I’d brought with me in case either of my parents decided to e-mail me back. I did a quick search on the ordinary Internet. The e-net was too likely to come back with mixed, confusing results. “Yep, according to this, the most obvious difference is their size. They’re different species, technically, but they share the same genus. It’s—” I froze, the eerie prick of coincidence striking my spine as I read the word on the screen.

“Corvus, right?” Selene said.

Once again we all turned to face her.

Her expression turned magnanimous. “The first day of class Mr. Corvus said his name means raven. I told you that, Dusty.”

“Right.” That conversation seemed to have occurred ages ago, but was really only a few days. His name had been just an afterthought and a joke. But now …

“You think those crows represent Mr. Corvus?” Lance said, a skeptical note to his voice.

Selene shot him a scathing look. “If you’re going to be negative, you can butt out.”

A devilish grin spread across Lance’s face, and he winked at her. “Aw, come on, you know you’d miss me.”

“Sure she would,” I said before Selene could respond. “But only because you make such an easy target.”

Lance flipped me the finger.

I grinned. If he was already stooping to physical gestures instead of verbal ones, then victory accomplished. Only, I had a sinking feeling he’d stooped because his curse-addled brain was incapable of generating a smart-ass remark at the moment. The knowledge deflated my sense of accomplishment and compounded my worry.

“And for your information,” Selene said, “it’s very possible the crows represent Mr. Corvus in the same way that the black phoenix represented Marrow.”

I started to nod my agreement, but Eli’s reply gave me pause.

“I thought that too at first, but when you think about it, the black phoenix represented itself. It was always real. As far as I can tell, Mr. Corvus doesn’t have a pet crow hanging around.”

I bit my lip, mulling it over. Eli was right about the black phoenix and Marrow, but there were things about Mr. Corvus that unsettled me, and not just his eye patch. He was so strict and hard, for one thing. For another, he’d taken Marrow’s place as history teacher and had moved into Marrow’s office with some of his things still on the shelf.

Selene traced a finger down the scar on the side of her face. “That doesn’t mean he’s not one of Marrow’s followers. Anybody could be one.”

Eli’s nostrils flared as he inhaled a deep breath. “That’s true. Okay, so we’ll check him out. See what he was up to before he came here to teach.”

“Right, good idea,” I said, although a part of me wondered why, if he was one of Marrow’s supporters, he would’ve put himself in a position so likely to make us associate him with Marrow. Or maybe that was the point. Maybe it was a ruse to try and throw us off.

Selene motioned to the boys. “Why don’t you two work on digging up the dirt on Corvus while Dusty and I talk to Britney?”

“All right,” said Eli.

“Assuming we actually get to visit Britney,” I said, returning my attention to the eTab. I clicked on my e-mail, but when it refreshed a second later, there were no new messages.

Across the table, I watched as Eli took a bite of egg casserole, made a face, and then set his fork down. “I think I’m done. Anybody want some of this?” He motioned to the surprising amount of food still on his tray.

I stared at him. Eli normally ate enough for two people. “Are you not feeling okay?”

“I’m just really worn out.” He shrugged, running a finger over his wand ring. “This magic business is a lot harder than I thought it would be.”

Lance clapped him on the back. “Don’t worry, man. It’ll get easier the more you practice. I mean, look at Dusty. She hasn’t blown up anything in at least twenty-four hours. Might be some kind of record.”

I smirked at him. “That’s only because I was waiting for you to be around. Wouldn’t want to waste a good explosion.”

Eli grinned. “I’m glad to see you guys are getting along so much better these days.”

An offended look crossed Lance’s face. “We could always resume our competition. We left off with a tie, I’m pretty sure.”

“Oh, give me a break,” Selene said with a dramatic eye roll. “Dusty totally beat you.”

“I have never been beaten.” Lance thumped his chest.

Selene started to reply, but I elbowed her. “Don’t encourage him. We know who won for real, and that’s good enough.”

Eli shook his head at the lot of us. Then he stood, picking up his tray. I looked up at him. The dark spots beneath his eyes were more noticeable from this angle. I wondered if his exhaustion today had less to do with magical exertion and more to do with worry over his dad.




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