"Are you guys having a good time?" The crowd of teenyboppers shriek back their approval. "I said, are you guys having a good time?!" A louder, more excited shriek.

  The truth is, I'm having a good time too, even though all these awful bubblegum pop songs are probably gonna be permanently engraved in my brain after a couple of weeks. There's twenty or thirty kids on the dance floor, mostly girls, plus a handful of boyfriends who were dragged away from the arcade games or the foam sword arena in the other corner. The "dancing" mostly just consists of wild uncoordinated flailing, but it's not like I'm in any position to criticize. Maybe it's not quite the energy of an actual rave, but it's at least a distant cousin, and I'm the one making it happen.

  It's Saturday night, nearly the end of my second ever shift. I've been DJing for more than six hours straight, with only a quick break for dinner. I can see why they've had trouble keeping people; I'd definitely be exhausted by now without my unfair advantages. I think I am gonna stick it out, though. Even if I do end up getting some, ah, "alternate" source of income, having a real job as well will hopefully do a lot to to deflect any suspicion. Besides, this place seems alright, and there are worse things than getting paid to practice my hobby.

  I took the bus here, but it's dark enough after I get off that I won't need to take it back. Instead, I walk around the back of the mall until I find a nice isolated loading dock. After checking carefully to make sure I'm alone and there aren't any cameras, I transform. Then I shoot up into the air, a good few hundred feet to make sure I'm not visible from the ground. I've gotten faster, fast enough that the air starts to feel less like air and more like molasses. I've noticed little clouds trailing behind me, too. I'm pretty sure that means I'm close to breaking the sound barrier. I haven't tried to push through it yet; I don't want to cause a sonic boom. Despite the extreme speed, the wind feels no more uncomfortable than sitting in a river with a fast current.

  Instead of heading home, I head further west. I heard through Cassie from a friend of a friend that some kid's parents are out of town, so he's throwing a huge house party. The address is actually pretty close to my old neighborhood. I'd be shocked if the cops don't end up getting called, but that won't be my problem.

  The place is somewhere in the southwest hills, but I'm not sure exactly where. I land in a little wooded park after checking to make sure it's empty and transform, then take off my work clothes and exchange them for the more fun outfit in my backpack. I've made a few kandi bracelets of my own since the rave, and I put those on too. Then I start walking in what I think is the right direction, checking street signs as I go.

  It only takes me about fifteen minutes to find the right block, and the house is obvious. It's a big house, as big as my old house, with an immaculate lawn and flower garden out front. Said lawn is currently occupied by a dozen kids standing around with drinks, and I can already hear the music. After the shit I've been listening to all day, The Chemical Brothers feel like balm on my ears.

  A couple of guys by the door say hi to me as I walk in; I say hi back, but they're no one I recognize, so I don't stop to chat. The music's coming from the living room, and I poke my head in there first. A bunch of kids are sprawled over the couches or leaning against the walls, while a couple of guys who are clearly already shitfaced dance badly in the middle of the room. I don't see Cassie anywhere, so I keep moving. After checking the back yard, which probably has forty kids hanging around, I find her in the kitchen.

  "Yo, Gabby! Perfect timing, we're doing shots of Fireball! Ty, pour another one," she says, grinning as I come in.

  "Sure thing," says Tyler. "Sup, Gabby? Glad you could make it."

  "Glad to be here," I say, taking the shot glass from him. I knew Tyler only vaguely before this summer, but we've been hanging out fairly regularly in the last month. I recognize his girlfriend Laurel, and also Jake and Katelyn from Cassie's friend group, plus another five kids I don't know.

  "Cheers!" says some girl once we've all got our drinks. We all repeat it, and then down our drinks together. I've had beer a couple of times recently, and I guess it's fine, but this is way different. The combination of the alcohol and cinnamon really does make it burn going down. I like it a lot. One kid breaks into a coughing fit, and we all take a minute to give him shit. Then we do another round, finishing off the bottle in record time.

  "Hey Gabby, you started that gig, right? How is it?" asks Katelyn after a couple minutes.

  "Just my second day, but so far it's going great," I say. "Only problem is I've got Melt Your Heart by Elemental stuck in my head."

  She laughs. "Fuckin' a, that should be grounds for a lawsuit. Unsafe working conditions or whatever."

  "Where do you work?" asks a guy I don't know, leaning over.

  "That place X-citement over at the mall. One of those family fun places, you know. They've got a dance floor, I'm the DJ."

  "No shit, you're a DJ? They should've got you to play for this party," he says.

  "Eh, I've only been doing it for like three weeks, my collection's still pretty small. Besides, I just spent all day doing it, I wanna relax a little."

  "Sure, fair enough. Shane," he says, sticking out his hand.

  I shake it. "Gabby."

  "I love that raver girl look you've got going, it's super hot," says Shane.

  "Thanks, but you should know right now you're not my type."

  "...Oh, sure, sorry," he says, pulling back and looking a little put out.

  "Don't take it personally," says Katelyn, coming up beside him and putting an arm around his shoulders. "You've just got too much dick and not enough tits for her taste."

  "Oh! Shit, uh, my bad," he says, turning red. "I, uh, I didn't realize…"

  "It's all good," I say, waving a hand. "Never know 'til you ask, right? Speaking of which…" I turn to the cute girl with long blonde hair next to us who's been listening in on our conversation, offering her a grin and a wink. "Hey, cutie. What's your name?"

  She rolls her eyes. "Anja, and the answer's no."

  "That's a pretty name."

  "Thanks, my family's originally from Sweden. The answer's still no."

  I grin, turning back to Shane. "Man, karma really sucks."

  "Can't win 'em all," he says, laughing.

  Someone puts their arms around my shoulders from behind. "Leave the poor, innocent straight girls alone, Gabby," says Cassie. "We have got to find you a new girlfriend, you menace. Anyway, we're gonna head out back and smoke a couple bowls. You guys are welcome to come too," she says to the others.

  "Sweet," says Shane, following as I let myself be pulled away. The whole group slowly migrates into the backyard, settling in a circle in the corner. Cassie pulls out a pipe and starts packing a bowl, and one of the guys I don't know pulls out a couple of joints as well. I take a hit when Cassie passes it to me, then pass it on to Katelyn on my other side. Everything starts getting a little warm and fuzzy as the weed gets passed around the circle, and the shots start hitting me properly as well.

  After a few minutes, an argument between Tyler and the guy with the joints catches my attention. "Nah dude, Sparkle Princess could totally beat Tempest," Tyler is saying. "There's a reason why she's the one they send all over the country to handle shit no one else can."

  "Yeah, it's cause Tempest has gotta stay in LA, cause he's the only one who can beat Black Panther," says the other guy. "They're the OGs, man, the two oldest magicals in the country."

  "Magicals don't all get more powerful at the same rate, though," I break in. "Like, remember Talon? He was almost as old as Black Panther, like two years older than Sparkle Princess, and she still kicked the shit out of him. She's the strongest in the country cause she grows faster than anyone else."

  "Well, why hasn't she taken down Black Panther yet, then, if she's so great?"

  I shrug. "Same reason Tempest hasn't, teleporters are fucking hard to catch. Only way anyone's ever gonna take down Black Panther is if he fucks up and finally lets the feds figure out his civvie identity, so they can get him while he's sleeping."

  "That's what I'm saying," says Tyler. "You look at the black masks Tempest has taken down, it's all brand-new kids and small timers. Yeah, sure, he's gotten a shitload of 'em, but Black Panther is his only real claim to fame. Any time a real big name gets taken down, it's always Sparkle Princess."

  The other guy rolls his eyes. "Whatever dude, liking Sparkle Princess is still gay as hell."

  "Yeah, and Tempest is still a racist asshole, so I guess it makes sense that he's your favorite, douchebag." I'm already snapping the words before I even think about it, but I don't regret them.

  "Hey, what's your fucking problem?"

  "She is gay, dumbass," says Tyler. "And she's right, too, the feds have been covering up Tempest's excessive force for years. You gotta, like, learn about things and think for yourself, man, don't just buy the shit they tell you on TV."

  The other guy holds up his hands. "Fine, whatever, sorry. Lighten up a little, jeez."

  This time, I manage to restrain myself so I don't cause a big scene. I'm here to have a good time, I'm not gonna let one douchebag ruin it. It does make me glad Cassie's friends are so chill, though. Katelyn fills the awkward silence. "Hey Gabby, what kinda magic would you wish for? If you were a magical girl, y'know."

  Well, shit. As much as I appreciate the effort, that's not a question I can answer honestly. Cassie snickering on my other side doesn't help much, either. "I mean, Sparkle Princess is definitely my favorite, so maybe some kind of hard light? I dunno if the rainbow theme would quite suit me, though, maybe something like star or constellation themed? That'd be pretty cool." That's probably a safe answer, right?

  "Aww, come on, a big magic geek like you has to have a better answer than that! I bet you've got your costume all sketched out in a notebook somewhere," she says, giggling.

  I discreetly elbow Cassie to make her stop snickering. "What about you? What kind of magic would you pick?"

  "I'd totally be a telepath."

  I roll my eyes. "Didn't figure you for the edgy type." Even white mask telepaths tend to make people nervous. They're generally kept out of the public eye, spending most of their time traveling around and making sure no politicians or CEOs or other important people have been mind controlled by the black mask telepaths.

  "Oh, whatever, it's just for fun anyway. It's not like any of us are ever gonna actually get magic," she says, waving a hand dismissively. I elbow Cassie again, harder. "Come on, wouldn't you wanna, like, know who has a crush on you? Or do ninety past a cop and then be all like, 'These aren't the droids you're looking for'? Some guy's an asshole to you, so you make him spend the rest of the day as your footrest?" She's giggling even harder now.

  "Jesus, are you seriously this wasted already? Fuckin' lightweight," I say, grinning and shaking my head.

  "I'm not wasted, you're wasted! Hey, who's got the pipe? Yo, Cassie, pack another bowl!"

  "Hell the fuck yeah!" says Cassie, pulling out her little bag of weed.

  Before she can finish, though, a guy I vaguely recognize walks up to us. He looks like he's probably seventeen or eighteen, wearing ripped jeans and an oversized red hoodie. "Hey Kate, was hoping you'd be here," he says.

  "Oh, hey Jason," says Katelyn unenthusiastically.

  "You guys want something a little more exciting than just weed to smoke?" He pulls a ziplock bag out from under his hoodie, filled with little semi-transparent crystals.

  "The fuck?" asks Cassie. "When the hell did you start selling meth?"

  "Made a few new friends over the summer," he says, obviously trying to sound casual. "Pretty sick, huh?"

  "No the fuck it's not, that shit'll fuck you up," says Cassie.

  "Hey, aren't we here to get fucked up?" says Jason. "Five bucks a hit, for anyone who's not a pussy."

  "I dunno what the fuck you've gotten into, man, but no one here is interested," says Tyler flatly.

  Jason looks around the circle but doesn't find any sympathy. He snorts. "Shit, I can't believe I used to think you guys were cool. Hey, Kate, why don't you ditch these losers? Seriously, you gotta try this shit, it'll change your whole outlook."

  "Jason, what the fuck?" says Kate. "Please tell me you didn't join a fucking gang cause you thought it would impress me."

  "You should be impressed. The Wildfire Boys are gonna be the next big thing, we're gonna kick Surf 'n Turf and the Syndicate right the fuck out of Franklin." He jabs his chest with his thumb. "I've met Firestorm, he's the real fucking deal. Any of you losers friends with a magical?" Cassie thankfully manages to bite her tongue. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Just a bunch of fuckin' nobodies, but I'm somebody now. C'mon Kate, let's go."

  He starts towards her and immediately finds myself, Tyler, and Cassie in his face. "You need to leave, right fucking now," says Tyler.

  "Fuck you, man, nobody gets to tell me shit anymore," says Jason. He shoves Tyler, who stumbles backwards a few steps.

  Then I shove him, and he goes down on his ass. "She's not interested, dickhead. Fuck off."

  "Who the fuck-" says Jason as he scrambles back to his feet, but he cuts off as Katelyn comes up beside us.

  "I'm not gonna fucking date you, Jason. I told you no when you asked me last year, I told you no when you asked me before summer, and I'm telling you no now. Leave me alone, you creep."

  For a moment I think he's gonna do something stupid, but then he looks around and notices that the whole backyard is watching. "Fine," he snarls. "Fucking ungrateful bitch, never appreciated all the shit I did for you. But you'll wish you had, later." With that, he stalks away, going back inside.

  "...What the fuck?" asks Kate after a moment. "That was… What the hell happened to him?"

  "Meth," says Cassie. "I remember when my half-brother started using. He became a whole different person in just a couple of months. A way shittier person."

  "Jesus," says Tyler, running a hand through his hair. "Never would've thought that dweeb could be dangerous, but… Who the fuck is Firestorm supposed to be, anyway?"

  "New magical. Just showed up in town a couple of months ago. That's what I heard, at least. Never actually met anyone who said they were in his gang before," says Cassie.

  "I have," I say, finally remembering where I heard the name before. "At the rave last month. A couple of guys called themselves the Wildfire Boys. They were assholes, too."

  "You didn't tell me about that," says Cassie.

  I shrug. "Honestly forgot about it, it was before Jess and David told us about Firestorm."

  Anja, the girl I'd tried to flirt with earlier, comes up to join us. She sighs, running a hand over her hair. "I can tell you about them, if you want."

  We all immediately turn our attention to her. "Yeah? You know someone who joined?" I ask.

  "...Yeah. My brother." She nods to Cassie. "He got into meth too, sometime last year. Managed to keep it together for a while, but I could tell something was wrong. Eventually I found out, he promised to quit as long as I didn't tell mom. I… think he really was trying, at least for a while. But then, a couple months ago, he suddenly got way worse. Not just using more, but saying really shitty, sexist stuff I'd never heard out of him before. Turns out he got recruited through his dealer, it all came out in this big blow-up argument. Their name, the Wildfire Boys, the second part matters too. They only let guys join. He kept talking about how Firestorm showed him how the world really works, that guys are supposed to be in charge and girls are supposed to stay in the kitchen and all that kind of bullshit." She sighs. "Anyway, mom kicked him out after that since he was already eighteen. He hasn't been home since, so that's pretty much all I know."

  "...Well, fuckin' a," says Cassie eventually. "Kate, you should be careful, make sure you stick with everyone else for the rest of the night."

  "Yeah," she says, wrapping her arms around herself. "Fuck. Jason was always kind of creepy and annoying, but never scary like that."

  "Don't worry about it," I say, putting an arm around her shoulders. A moment later, Cassie does the same from the other side. "He'll stay the fuck away if he knows what's good for him."

  "Goddamn right," agrees Cassie.

  "Thanks," says Kate, and then, "Seriously though, pack another bowl, I'm still too sober for this shit."

  "Sure," says Cassie, laughing.

  She lets Kate take the first hit, then takes a hit herself, then passes it to me. I offer it to Anja, but she waves me off. "No thanks, I don't smoke."

  I nod, passing it to Tyler instead. "That sucks, about your brother," I say after a moment. "I'm sorry."

  "...Thanks," she says. "We used to be really close. I hoped if I could track him down, maybe I could talk some sense into him, but I've been looking for a month now, so…" She shrugs, looking away.

  "Just be careful. Family…" I trail off for a moment. "It doesn't always go as far as people think it does."

  She gives me a sharp look, considering for a second. "Does your family know you're gay?" she asks after a moment.

  "...Yeah. My parents found out a couple of months ago. I don't live with them anymore."

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "Shit. That sucks." She's quiet for a moment. "I can't believe Eric would actually hurt me, no matter how far gone he is. All his shithead new friends, though… I'll be careful."

  I nod, letting the conversation end there. Kate finishes off the bowl, and Tyler pulls a pack of American Spirits out of his pocket. "You guys want one?" he asks.

  I shrug. "Yeah, sure." It's not like I can get cancer, after all. He passes one to me, and Cassie as well, and I borrow her lighter after she's done with it. I light up, take an experimental puff, let it out, and consider for a moment. Then I say, "This tastes like fucking ass."

  Cassie breaks into convulsive laughter just as she was about to take a drag and ends up dropping her cigarette. "God dammit, Gabby!" she says, still laughing.

  "It's an acquired taste," says Tyler, also chuckling.

  "Why would you want to acquire it, though? Like, weed smells way better and it actually gets you high."

  "Well, give it to me then, it's your fucking fault I dropped mine anyway!"

  "Be my guest," I say, laughing as I pass the cigarette over. Honestly, there's no way people actually enjoy that, right? "I'm gonna go get something to drink, wash that shit out of my mouth. Anyone one else want one?"

  "Yeah, sure, see if there's like a six-pack or something you can grab," says Tyler.

  We hang out for another half hour or hour, just standing around shooting the shit, watching the occasional drunk antics of the other party-goers. A few guys bring a keg out into the backyard and start doing keg stands, and we all join the chant of "Chug! Chug! Chug!" A few minutes later, one of them attempts a backflip and faceplants in the grass instead. Some girl a couple of years older than me gets up on the table and flashes everyone, to loud cheers. It's a good time.

  Then a big flood of people comes pouring out of the house, yelling about the cops. Lots of them start scrambling over the back fence, into the adjacent yard. We're already in the back corner, and Cassie jumps the fence right away. Katelyn's having more trouble climbing it, so I give her a boost, and Tyler helps a couple of the others over as well. Then I climb over myself, joining the exodus. The neighbors' dogs are going insane inside their house as dozens of drunk teenagers trample through their yard, and we make ourselves scarce as fast as possible before the cops come around this side.

  "Shit, I dunno where Jake went, he's my ride," says Katelyn as we spill out into the street.

  Everyone glances at everyone else; obviously leaving Katelyn by herself is out of the question. "I can maybe give you a ride," says Tyler after a moment. "It's gonna be pretty cramped, though, I'm already giving rides to Laurel, Cassie, Shane, and Lisa. Someone might have to, like, lay on everyone's laps in the back seat."

  "I got a ride coming," I say. "You wanna just come with me, Cassie?"

  She shrugs. "Sure, I guess that works fine."

  "You sure you'll be able to meet up with your ride okay?" asks Tyler.

  "Yeah, it'll be fine."

  "Alright, cool. Guess you're with us then, Kate."

  "Sweet, thanks."

  We walk with them to Tyler's car a couple blocks away and see them off after saying goodbye. "So, uh, are you meeting up with Jess and David somewhere or something?" asks Cassie once it's just the two of us.

  "Oh, no, I lied. I was gonna fly home. That work for you?"

  "Hell fucking yes," she says, breaking out into a huge grin. "You're okay carrying someone else now, then?"

  "I mean, I haven't tried it yet, but I've carried stuff bigger than a person, so it should be fine. Worst comes to worst, you'll just have to hold on real tight."

  "Oh, I see your angle now."

  "Please, we both know you're half a bottle of cheap whiskey away from sitting on my face anyway."

  "Hey, I resent that! I'm not putting out unless it's expensive whiskey."

  Laughing, I lead her back towards the park where I landed earlier. A handful of party goers are still milling around the street, looking for their friends or their cars, but none of them pay any particular attention to us. The entrance to the park is a dead end that turns into a little gravel path lined by trees. It's dark, but I don't have any trouble seeing, and Cassie just follows me. After a minute, the path opens up into a little clearing with a couple of picnic tables, much brighter without the trees blocking the moon. I don't transform right away, though, cause I can hear someone coming down the path after us, probably someone else from the party. Me and Cassie take a seat on one of the tables while we wait for them to pass through, quietly joking and laughing together.

  Then the guy following us comes into the clearing, and I recognize the red hoodie and ripped jeans. "Jesus christ, are you fucking serious?" I snap. "What is wrong with you people?"

  "What, you thought you could start shit with me and I wasn't gonna finish it, bitch?" says Jason, stopping about a dozen feet away from us.

  "Jason? What the fuck kind of stalker bullshit is this?" says Cassie. "You seriously followed us? Or, no- you followed Kate, didn't you, and then switched to us when she left? You need fucking help, dude, seriously, like rehab or some shit."

  "Oh, you think I need help? That's cute," says Jason. And then he pulls a gun out of his hoodie.

  Instantly, I put myself between him and Cassie. "Are you fucking- There's cops like four blocks away, you dipshit! You think they won't hear a fucking gunshot?" It's the only reason I haven't already transformed.

  He laughs. "Yeah, so what? You don't fucking get it, do you? We're with a magical. We can do whatever we want, the fuck are the cops gonna do about it? Firestorm could walk into the police station and burn the whole fucking thing down, and they couldn't do shit to stop him."

  He keeps gesturing with the gun, but he's still got it pointed in our general direction. He can pull the trigger before I can do anything about it. I need a distraction. I play for time while I think. "Yeah, and then a week later, the white masks will show up and turn him into paste. He's fucking playing you, he's not gonna do shit to save you when you get thrown in the slammer."

  "The white masks are a bunch of pussies, Firestorm told us how it really is. They don't fuck with real, powerful magicals like him, they just clean up the weaklings. They're not gonna come save you. Nah, you fucked with me, so now you gotta pay up."

  "Wait! Just wait a second!" says Cassie before I can respond. "We're sorry, okay? I'll- I'll make it up to you! Whatever you want, just leave Gabby out of it!"

  "That so?" says Jason, grinning. "Yeah, okay, maybe I'll accept your apology if it's real, real good."

  "Cassie-"

  "It's okay," she says, looking at me. "Let me do this for you." I hesitate for an instant, then nod.

  "Well? You gonna get over here? And you, you stay right the fuck where you are until I'm satisfied," says Jason, pointing at me.

  "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," says Cassie, starting towards him.

  "Yeah, I fucking bet you do," says Jason as she approaches. She walks just to his side, circling around him, and he immediately turns, grabbing her arm. "Hey, no funny business. You stay where I can see-"

  A flash of light briefly illuminates the clearing. Jason looks back towards me, and his eyes widen. "Oh, sh-" he starts as he tries to bring the gun back around. He's cut off, literally, as the blade of my spear goes straight through his throat and out the back of his neck, cleanly severing his spine. There's no resistance at all, and the orb at the base of the blade rams into his neck as the momentum from my lunge keeps carrying me forwards. He goes flying several feet backwards, landing on his back. He doesn't move after that, and the gun doesn't go off.

  For a couple seconds, there's silence. Then Cassie lets out a deep breath. "Fuck. That was… Fuck."

  "You okay?" I ask as I let the spear blade fade away.

  "Yeah, of course. You had my back. How bout you? Are you okay?"

  I look over at Jason's body for a moment before answering. A minute ago, he was a living, breathing person. Now he's a piece of meat. I did that. And not by accident this time; I meant to do it, knew I was going to do it the instant I saw the gun. Am I okay?

  "Yeah," I answer eventually. "Yeah, I'm just fucking fine."

  She looks at me for a couple of seconds, then nods. "Good. Fucking piece of shit, wish we could tell Kate she won't have to worry about him anymore." She spits in the general direction of his corpse. "What now? We shouldn't just leave him here, right?"

  "I'll take him out past the city limits, bury him in the forest somewhere."

  "Can you carry both of us at once?"

  "You don't have to come if you don't want, I can take you home first."

  "Nah, fuck that. We're in this together."

  "...Then yeah, I think I can probably carry both of you. You really will have to hold on tight, though. And… thanks."

  "No sweat." She walks over to Jason's body, bending down to pick up the gun, and examines it for a second. She snorts. "Fucking safety wasn't even off. Jesus. What a dipshit."

  He really was, wasn't he? Just a dumbass kid on a power trip. If we'd just walked away, could he have even made himself actually pull the trigger? It doesn't matter. As much as I admired, still admire Emily for always caring, I'm not her. I care about Cassie; I don't care about him. That's really all there is to it. "Yeah," I agree. "What a dipshit."

  "You want it?" she asks, holding out the gun.

  I consider, then shake my head. "You hold on to it for now, I don't wanna transform again just to get my backpack out." She nods, sticking the gun through the waistband of her jeans. I walk closer, looking down at the body for a moment. There's barely any blood; the blade on my spear is razor thin. The wound in his throat just looks like a bad cut. Convenient. "Alright, come here. It's gonna feel like you're falling, so try not to freak out."

  "Sure," she says. She wraps both arms around me; I've got my staff in my right hand, so I hold her with just the left.

  "Alright, here we go," I say, and then I create a gravity field. She shrieks anyway as we rise into the air, quickly muffling it against my shoulder, and her grip becomes way tighter. I don't let it distract me as I carefully keep the body inside my field, doing my best not to let it actually touch either of us.

  After a few seconds, Cassie manages to look around, finding us already fifty plus feet in the air. "Shit. Oh shit. Holy shit. Holy shit," she breaths, her grip getting even tighter.

  "You okay?"

  "Yeah, yeah, I just… Holy shit. Go ahead and do your thing."

  I start moving, slower than usual. Me and Cassie have to stay at the top of my gravity field instead of right in the middle so there's room for the body as well, and I don't want to accidentally fall out. But after less than a minute, Cassie shouts something in my ear, and I slow down even further so I can hear her over the wind.

  "Fuck," she says, gasping a few times. "Not so fast, I can't breath."

  "Oh, shit, sorry. Cause of the wind? I guess I don't really notice it."

  "Yeah, well, lucky you," she grumbles. "How fast were we even going?"

  "Dunno, probably pretty fast, but I've gone faster."

  "Fuck me. Well, can you keep it down to like freeway instead of airplane?"

  "Yeah, of course, sorry."

  I get moving again, this time feeling like I'm practically strolling even though I'm probably going sixty or seventy miles an hour. It's weird, how much my perspective's already changed without me even noticing it. When Jason was waving the gun around, I was scared for Cassie and worried that he might out me, but never actually scared for myself. Can a gun even kill me anymore? There've only been a few cases of transformed magicals being killed by guns, and it always takes a bunch of guys with assault rifles or even heavy machine guns. A lot more magicals have been killed by guns while not transformed, but even that's tricky. I'm not sure if I've actually experienced it yet, but all magicals supposedly have a kind of danger sense that lets us react to threats superhumanly fast, and reflexively transform anytime our lives are in danger. The only reliable way to kill a magical with conventional weapons is while we're sleeping.

  The party was already near the southwest edge of town, so heading south, it only takes a few minutes to reach the countryside even at my leisurely pace. Cassie's gotten over her nerves, and I can hear snatches of her laughter over the wind, although she's still holding on real tight. I keep flying for a while longer, until I can't see the city lights behind me anymore. It's all forested hills out here, except for the patches that've been logged recently. Eventually I spot a little natural clearing, descending towards it and landing lightly.

  Cassie stumbles a few times when I let her go, still laughing. "Goddamn, you do this every night? I'm so fucking jealous."

  "Pretty awesome, right?" I say, grinning. "You can come along sometime if you want, I'll show you what I can do."

  "Hell yeah," she says. Then she turns towards the body. "You think you can dig a hole with magic, then?"

  "Don't see why not," I say, shrugging.

  "Alright, well, lemme search him first," she says. "If he was dealing at the party, he's probably got some cash on him. Any way you can make some light?"

  I bring the spear blade back out of the top of my staff. The white glow around the blade isn't real bright, but it does cast a little bit of light. I hold it near the body, being careful to keep it well away from Cassie. She kneels down, hesitates for a few seconds, then starts patting down his hoodie and pants. She pulls the hoodie up, revealing a little messenger bag on a strap along with a holster for the gun. "Let's see what we got," she says, unzipping the bag.

  Inside is about what I expect: a wad of bills, mostly ones and fives, plus the bag of meth he showed us earlier. It looks like it's still pretty full; apparently he hadn't had much success. "Not even two hundred bucks," says Cassie, shaking her head.

  "I thought hard drugs were s'pose to be super expensive," I say.

  "Nah, not meth. Coke's expensive cause you can't grow it here, ecstasy's expensive cause you need to make it in an actual lab or some shit, but you can make meth in an RV using shit from Walmart. Makes it real popular with idiots who wanna get high for cheap and don't care how bad they fuck themselves up. You saw what it did to this shithead, he was a stuttering dweeb like two months ago."

  "Can I see it?"

  "Sure," she says, tossing the bag to me. "I guess you could sell it yourself if you really need the money, but I'd rather just bury it with him." She finds his wallet in his pants pockets, pulling out another fifty bucks or so.

  I hold the bag up, examining the little crystals inside. "Do you have to smoke it? Would it work if you, like, ate it instead?"

  "Shit, I dunno, probably. Why?"

  "I've got an idea." I drop my transformation, take off my backpack, and put the bag inside.

  She looks at me for a moment, then shrugs. "As long as you're not gonna use it yourself."

  I shake my head firmly. "Definitely not."

  "Do whatever, then. You want the cash and the gun now too?"

  I think for a moment. "Let's split the cash. You take whatever you can fit in your pocket, I'll put the rest in my backpack. You can keep the gun as well, if you want it. Not like I really need it."

  She pulls it out of her waistband and looks at it for a moment, then nods and puts it back. "Guess it might come in handy sometime soon. Anyway, think that's everything he had on him."

  "Right." I put my share of the cash away as well, put my backpack back on, and transform again. Then I make another gravity field, shaping this one into more a cylinder instead of a sphere, three or four feet across and eight or so down. I sink it into the ground, making some leaves and bits of loose dirt rise into the air, but nothing more than that. Slowly, I increase the strength. Nothing more happens until the gravity is probably three or four times stronger than normal. Then, all of a sudden, the entire mass of dirt rockets up into the air with a ripping sound as the roots holding it together tear. "Shit!" I curse, quickly shifting my field to keep the whole thing from falling back down on us. A few loose pebbles and clods rain down anyway.

  "Nice one, dumbass," says Cassie, laughing.

  "Yeah, whatever. Go head and throw him in, and I'll fill it back in."

  She grunts as she drags the body over to the new hole and pushes it in. I check to make sure it's all the way at the bottom, then carefully lower the the mass of earth back down, doing my best to squeeze it together so it'll fit. I don't quite get it perfect, there's still a little pile of dirt on top afterwards, but I pack it down some with another gravity field pointing down. Then I shift gravity sideways a few times in random directions, scattering the loose bits and evening everything out. There's still a gap in the grass, but it's hard to see unless you're right on top of it, and it'll fill in within a couple of months anyway.

  "Well, I guess that's that," she says after a minute.

  "Yeah."

  "Hey. Gabby." I look over at her. "You're gonna kill Firestorm too, right?"

  "Yeah." I don't know exactly how I'll do it yet, but there's no uncertainty in my voice.

  "Good."