“You hurt me.” My hand involuntarily grips my wrist where she burned me.

“That was an accident,” Ekaterina bites out. “I told you, I can’t always control my powers, and I was angry with you about the article you wrote. Actually, I kind of hated you.”

No kidding.

“You don’t know what it’s like, living like this.” Sparks crackle off her fingers. “I hated you because I was jealous of you not having magic. I still am,” Ekaterina says.

How is it possible for these powerful mages to envy my lack of magic? I don’t get it. I’d give anything, anything, to have a single drop of their power.

“Anyway, I’m sorry too,” Ekaterina says, but she refuses to look at me.

“And I’m sorry about all the articles.” I hope she accepts the white flag I’m waving. “I was jealous of you. I am jealous. I’d give anything to have what you do.”

“Careful what you wish for, Taika.” Ekaterina looks up, her gaze glassy, which is somehow way more disconcerting than if she’d been wearing her usual scowl.

“Think we could all just agree to be kinder to each other from now on?” Aysha asks. “For Natalie’s sake? Because if we’re serious about saving her we need to work together and put all this stuff behind us.”

“Agreed,” I say, although it’s hard to get the word out around the brand-new lump in my throat. Do they know what happened between me and Natalie? Do they know why she stopped speaking to me? Would they still want to be nicer to me if they knew?

“As long as you stop calling me Ekaterina.” Ekaterina gives me a comforting glare. “I prefer Katya.”

“Katya, got it.” I attempt a grin and Katya’s own purple-smeared lips return it.

“So,” Aysha says, “we just killed our only way of finding the mage’s portal.”

“Give me a minute.” Maybe there’s something else we could use, something else with a sensitivity to magic, that reacts to spells or energy. I’ve got it!

“Mr. Fotsios!” I pick up the pace, angling toward the school along a shortcut carved through the forest.

Unlike the rest of the faculty, Mr. Fotsios doesn’t concern himself with spells and fancy conjurations. Instead, he pours all of his Apollonian power into music. There isn’t an instrument he can’t play, and he’s even built his own.

“What about him?” Aysha asks.

“He has theremins that react to people’s auras. I’ve seen them in the music room. We can use those.” I don’t tell them how it was Natalie who told me all about them or how we spent four weekends trying to build our own, but never quite got it to work.

“How?” Katya asks.