The look he gives me is a weird one. “No,” he says.

“No, you don’t have friends you want to ask or…?” I’m letting my curiosity get the better of me.

“No, I don’t have friends, period.”

I find that impossible to believe and I guess my skepticism must be showing.

“You wouldn’t get it.” He sighs.

“Because I’m Mx. Popular.”

He smirks at that. “Think about it? I’m new and got bumped up two classes. Think the eleventh graders like getting shown up by a punk kid who doesn’t even want to do magic? Think the ninth graders are going to be my friends when they all think I think I’m better than them?”

“You are better than them.” Wait, did he say he doesn’t want to do magic? Those are words my brain cannot compute.

“Doesn’t win you friends.” He sounds a whole lot more dejected than I would’ve imagined for someone with his power.

It’s oddly comforting to know we’re both rejects, even if it’s for entirely different reasons. My thoughts snag again on that bit about him not wanting to do magic, but considering the spell I’ve just asked him to complete, I’m not going to bring up the not-doing-magic thing right now. Definitely time to change the subject.

“Okay. If you do this alone, will you pass out?” I ask, half joking, although it has been known to happen during spellweaving.

“Probably.” Morgan shrugs. “Or worse.” He doesn’t elaborate and I’m not sure I want to know.

“Even for the test?”

“Guess we’ll find out.” The look he gives me skewers me like an insect pin through a dead bug. Am I asking too much of him?

“Just need something to contain now.” He quirks up a brow and I point to the branch above us.

“Which one?”

“The big one. He’s not the sharpest.” Making Kamu the easiest of the crows to coax into the circle.

“All right, let’s do this.” Morgan cracks his knuckles and clicks his neck left then right.

I pretend to fish treats out of my jacket, tossing pocket lint instead of crumbs into the circle. “Tule tänne.” I sing-song up at the crows, pretending to scatter more food. Musti gives me a rather disapproving look and Rekku isn’t paying any attention at all, but, as I predicted, Kamu flutters down. He lands in the circle and starts pecking at the pocket lint.

Morgan is already chanting, a look of intense concentration on his face, eyes glazed as he kneels and digs his fingers into the soil.