I COULDN’T ACCEPT THAT there was nothing I could do to change what Tisha Thomas saw. Zeran would betray me, but he hadn’t yet. If every action we made impacted the future, couldn’t I convince him of another way to rescue his brother? I let out a frustrated sigh. This was an impossible situation.

“Well, this explains a lot about what’s going on at JMS, Abeola,” someone said from the far side of the lab. It wasn’t just someone. It was Gail Galanis, the new girl from upstate New York who started at Jackson Middle this year. The same Gail who sported a different temporary tattoo on her forearm every week even though it was out of dress code. She was also in after-school math tutoring with me, even though she clearly didn’t need the extra help. She just liked to show off. “I should’ve realized that you’d be at the center of the weirdness at school.”

“You have no clue what you’re talking about.” I rolled my eyes as she lifted her head from a desk. I couldn’t believe that she’d been here the whole time. “Also, news flash, eavesdropping on other people’s conversation doesn’t go over well here at JMS, not sure how things are in upstate New York.”

“I wasn’t eavesdropping.” Gail yawned. “I was sleeping before you two rudely barged in and woke me up, gossiping about Zeran and all. So he’s a darkbringer? I should have known he was too perfect to be true.”

“We were not gossiping.” Wait, hold up. Did she say he was too perfect to be true? “We were . . . um making stuff up for a play we’re writing.”

“You’re an awful liar, Abeola,” Gail said. “I know all about the Dark, the darkbringers, the Lord of Shadows.”

“Is that so?” I mouthed. There were technically only two ways Gail could know the truth: one, she was a godling, or two, she was one of the rare humans who could see magic. “Please enlighten me.”

“First of all, the godlings at school aren’t very good at keeping secrets.” Gail stretched her arms over her head in a calculated way that reminded me of a cat circling a mouse. “I hear them whispering about their new powers all the time. They also say things like, ‘What happens if this Lord of Shadows really comes to our world?’ ‘He must not be too tough if Maya fought him and survived.’ ‘I bet he’s a punk.’ Stuff like that.” Gail paused for dramatic effect. “You know?”

I laughed, and it was one sharp note. “You really shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”

“Cut the crap, Abeola,” Gail said as she stood up. “I know your father is a celestial, and Eli’s grandmother is one too. If I had to guess, probably a third of the kids at our school are godlings.”