“We’ll see,” I say, even though there is absolutely no chance of that happening. It doesn’t matter. Saying that was the right move. Mr. B grins at me, and I know, deep in my bones, that doing this show was a good idea.

Chapter 11

As the practice of magic spread across America in the early 1800s, it became common practice for slave owners to Awaken the magic power of their slaves in order to feed off their slaves’ magic and increase their own power. The slaves themselves were forbidden from using magic and received no instruction on how to use it.

—United States history textbook, Advanced Placement edition

The next day, the results of our most recent magic-level test are released. I can’t check them when they go up. Neither can Ana. The results are posted during the first lunch block, and neither of us have a lunch period. We got approval to take eight classes this year instead of the regular load of seven, so we just eat our packed lunches during the second lunch block while we’re in precalc.

I’m starting the process of brewing a Magnetizing potion when there’s a sudden outbreak of whispering from my classmates. Several people turn to stare at Ana and me. Dr. Davidson, our potions teacher, remains focused on whatever he’s doing on his laptop. As usual. He’s always about five minutes late to noticing what’s happening in our class once he’s sent us off on our brewing labs.

After a few minutes of this, Ana holds out her hand expectantly to the guy at the lab table behind us, and he silently passes her his phone. The moment she looks at the screen, her face goes completely blank. Then she nods and hands me the phone. “Congrats,” she says as she turns back to her cauldron.

When I look at the screen, I find a picture of the updated school ranking board that’s zoomed in on the top two names.

1. Ana Álvarez—GPA: 4.78, Magic Level: 37

2. Shayna Johnson—GPA: 4.67, Magic Level: 41

Holy shit. Holy freaking shit. I broke forty. Lots of seniors don’t even get to forty by the time they graduate. And I’m at forty-one as a junior. A disbelieving laugh escapes my lips, and I hand the phone back to its owner in a daze.

I widened the gap between me and Ana too. It’s not the full six-point difference I had hoped for, which would have shut up everybody who says my magic level is only this high because I’m getting help from my family. But still, this is incredible.

When I turn to Ana, she’s pulling on the magic in a lump of nickel and kneading it on the surface of the table. I’m so giddy that it feels like my whole body is buzzing. I take a step closer to her.