For a moment, she simply sat there on the edge of her bed, completely frozen in shock. She didn’t want to pick a button. She had helped fellow classmates with a project that they had been unfairly targeted on and not given the resources to complete. Anger surfaced and she gritted her teeth and punched the mattress below her. She really didn’t have any choice in the matter. No matter which button she picked—or even none at all—it would send her back to the real world. She knew it was bullshit, though. Clarity seared through her consciousness and for a moment, she cursed her stupidity at having allowed them to suck her into their schemes. Her fandom had most likely died down by now, and they had gotten what they wanted out of her. She had been the drawcard they needed to attract even more paying students. That accomplished, there was no need to waste any more of their resources.

  She slammed her fist against the Leave Now button and flipped the bird at the ceiling, hoping someone or something was watching. It seemed only moments before her eyes opened wide inside the pod. Everything was disconnected and she rubbed her chest in an effort to wake from the long nap she had taken. Suddenly, the door to the pod opened and two Federation guards stood beside it, waiting for her to stand up.

  “You didn’t even let me say goodbye,” she grumped as one reached to help her out. She snatched her arm free and walked over to place her palm on the security scanner. In silence, she gathered her clothes and changed in the bathroom, where she left the body suit on the counter. When she was ready, she strode out and retrieved her suitcase.

  The guards led her downstairs and out onto the street where a cab waited to give her a ride back to the station, her still-unused suitcase in hand. She glanced back at the tower once, turned away abruptly, and climbed into the vehicle. Her body was too tired to deal with it. The cab eased away from the curb and Stephanie pulled her phone out and sent her mom a text to let her know the simple truth. It was the end of the semester and the end of her school time. She sent the message and dropped her phone in her bag. Around the cold numbness that seemed intent to claim her, she couldn’t help but feel heartbroken.

  When the TRAM arrived in Chicago, she lugged her bag down the steps and through the crowds toward the exit. Even the long trip hadn’t made her feel any better at all. When she reached the parking area, she saw her dad leaning against the car, his arms out. She ran up to him, laid her head on his chest, and hugged him tightly.

  The smile faded from his face and he looked down. “Are you all right?”

  Stephanie breathed deeply. “Yeah. Just glad to be home.”

  He helped her into the car and they drove back to the house in silence. When they arrived, her dad carried her suitcase and she shuffled up the walkway and in through the front door. She stepped through the entry and a couple of balloons and a handful of confetti hit her in the face. A small group shouted, “Happy Birthday!”

  Stephanie smiled and looked around. There was the banner—the same one that had been hung since she was three—over the arch into the kitchen. Her mother hurried forward and gave her a big hug. “Welcome home, sweetie. And happy eighteenth birthday. You are an adult now!”

  She had honestly completely forgotten that it was her birthday. “Man, you guys are on it. Thank you so much. It’s good to be home for it.”

  Her mom went to grab her a glass of punch and she meandered over to Todd, who stood by the window and smiled broadly. She hugged him tightly and he hugged her back, and both lingered for a second longer than normal. He raised his cup of punch. “Welcome back, slacker. I have counted down the days. They told me you left early, but I wasn’t upset for you, to be honest.”

  Stephanie choked on her punch. “What?”

  Todd shrugged. “I was selfish and basically pumped my fist like Arsenio and knee-shuffled like Vanilla Ice…ice baby. It didn’t feel quite right without you here.”

  In all honesty, she was surprised and touched. “Thanks, dude. I’m surprised you even noticed how much time had passed. I figured you would have run laps with Amy, worked, and taken her on dates.”

  He glanced around as he sipped his drink. “It was a little overrated, I think. I broke up with her about two days after you left.”

  Stephanie tilted her head back to stare at him, not quite sure what she felt about that. “What? Why?”

  Todd laughed but had the grace to look a little sheepish. “It seems she had this fixation with me eating healthy, working out, and getting up early in the morning during summer vacation.”

  Stephanie gasped, touched his arm, and tried not to laugh. “That monster! Damn right you broke up with her for…trying to make you….healthy and shit. Stick it to the man!”

  He nodded enthusiastically. “I know, right? That’s what I felt. Like she was my drill instructor and I had already rolled into the military. No thank you. I want to live on my terms.”

  She gave him a half-cocked smile. “She lost you at waking up, didn’t she?”

  “She lost me at eating healthy.”

  His eyes shifted to the table by the window where a plate of chocolate-frosted cupcakes gleamed in the afternoon light. He looked like a puppy that stared at a snack of meat but couldn’t have it. She was fairly sure that at any moment, he would actually break into an all-out drool, scratch behind his ear, probably fart, and scurry off guiltily to steal cupcakes. That’s right, she’d compared her best friend to a puppy.

  She was about to say something else when he simply stepped away and made a bee-line for the cupcakes. He glanced around and selected two of them, then consumed half a cupcake in one bite.

  “It’s so good to see you back,” her neighbor Mr. Kanter said and shook Stephanie’s hand.

  Stephanie shifted her glance from Todd covered in cupcake to him. “Oh, thank you so much. And thank you for coming to the party. This is so sweet.”

  Mrs. Kanter walked up and slid her arm through her husband’s. “Your mother is so cute. She intended to have one either way, but when she found out you would be back for it, she changed everything. She wanted to see you smile.”

  She looked across the room at her mom, who laughed with her dad and another set of neighbors who had come. “She did a good job because this was really a great surprise. And I honestly needed one.”

  They all stood there chatting for some time, while Todd wiped icing off his chin, the front of his shirt, and his elbow, although he had no idea how it had got there. When the Kanters walked away, Stephanie grabbed a cupcake and sat. Todd strolled over, sat beside her, and released a deep breath. She looked at him, then did a doubletake. With a grin, she pulled a chunk of cupcake from his hair.

  She set it in her napkin. “I’m seriously trying to figure out how in the hell you got that so many places. You seriously would have had to eat it like the cookie monster eats cookies—throw them at your face and hope they hit right around where your mouth is.”

  Todd nodded in agreement. “That seems like the only legit way to eat them, don’t you think?”

  He picked the cupcake out of her hand and smooshed it into her nose. Immediately, they began to wrestle for it, laughing and goofing off. It was a totally wonderful way to end one hell of a shitty day.

  When the party was over and her mom had sent Todd home with three more cupcakes, Stephanie thanked her parents for the hundredth time and headed up to her room. She pulled out her computer, a smaller version than the one downstairs, and flipped it on. She didn’t even think about the fact that she had been gone all summer and hadn’t checked emails or anything. When the screen came up, the icon flashed in the corner with a number twenty-five above it. She was reasonably sure that the only time she’d had that many emails was when Todd accidentally signed her up for a spam site, thinking he had won some contest.

  She scrolled through them one by one. Most of them were from people who still wanted to talk to her about her “witch day.” Dear Stephanie, the coven of Chicago would like to reach out to you and extend an official invite to join our circle. There is always a place for magic in the circle. Please reply when you find you have time. Love and Light, Broom Hilda Naysayer (AKA Joan Carrows)

  There was a pentagram at the bottom and when it had opened, purple rose petals literally fell to the floor. She shut that email and deleted it, then tried to stomp the magical rosebuds beneath her feet. The next one was interesting too. Greetings Ms. Morgana. My name is Herold and I saw your heroic deed on the news. I wanted to reach out to you and let you know that you aren’t alone. I’ve told the feds for years that I can go to town with some magic. Just the other day, I left my car parked and running outside the grocery store and when I came back, it was gone! Poof, magic. (Or carjacking, but I choose the brighter side.) Please let me know if you would like to get in touch and have some tea or sacrifice a chicken. Sincerely, Herold the Moon God.

  Stephanie put her hand over her mouth and tried not to laugh. That feeling only sat there for a moment before she realized that everything that day had brought had been ripped away, and all for money. She clicked on the next one, a video message. A pretty little girl displayed on the screen with long brown ringlets. She situated herself with someone filming. “Stephanie, my name is Holly and I am six years old. I wanted to write and thank you for saving my mommy’s and my sister’s life.”

  Stephanie sat forward as the video panned to the woman and her baby, and her other daughter and her husband cheered for her. “Thank you! We love you!”

  The video ended and she smiled, thankful that she had read one more. So, without taking that positive away, she scrolled down to the end of the list, dating back to the day before she’d left. She frowned when she reached the end of the list and found that she had missed one from ONE R&D.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “Hey, guys,” Stephanie said as she came down the stairs. “I got this email from the company that I did the battery thing with. It was from before I left. I guess it was sent the same time as the admission letter from Pinnacle but I overlooked it in all the excitement.”

  Her parents were on the couch, watching a movie. They paused it and took the email from her to read. Her dad nodded. “That sounds interesting. I would say do your research on them and then go from there.”

  She took the letter and shrugged. “So you think it might be worth pursuing since I probably won’t go to a prep school?”

  Her mom smiled and took her hand. “I think it all depends on what you want. But you are eighteen now, so you have to decide for yourself. We’re always here as a sounding board, though.”

  Stephanie nodded and gave them a crooked smile. “Thanks. I think I’m exhausted, at this point. I don’t want to think about the future for even five more seconds.”

  Her mother laughed, turned away, and pressed the play button on the receiver. “We all go through it. I— Well, look what we have here. Those assholes.”

  She moved closer to see the advertisement that had popped up on the cable station. It was the PR video taken when they’d first arrived at Pinnacle. Anastasia looked as odd as ever—but normal, apparently, for the rich people. Then her, looking meek and full of excitement. Stephanie scoffed to herself. That sure didn’t stay. Finally, it focused on her mother hurrying along behind them.

  “They really do have the nerve.” Her mother slammed the remote down. “They kick you out under bogus terms all because they didn’t want to pay. They got free PR from it and—wait, is my ass really that big?”

  She jumped up from the couch and looked over her shoulder with an absolutely mortified expression. Her mouth agape, she looked from her ass to her husband a few times. “Is it?”

  His eyes widened and he pushed back on the couch as if he tried to disappear into it. He glanced down and stared at her butt like a deer caught in the headlights. She fixed him with a hard look and he opened his mouth and shut it again as he wrung his hands. “Ohhhh, this is a trick. It’s a trick.”

  She stomped her foot. “It’s not a trick. Tell me the truth.”

  He sent a look of appeal to Stephanie, who simply stood there with no expression, determined to stay out of it. He’d been married to her for how many years? Surely, by now, he had learned how to stay out of awkward situations.

  Finally, he answered. “Uh no…”

  Cindy whirled back to the screen as the commercial ended and narrowed her eyes. She shook her finger at the television. “I will nail their skinny asses to the wall.”

  Stephanie had already crept back to the stairs, and as soon as her mother’s attention was on the television again, she hurried away. There was no way she intended to be caught up in that mess. She sat at her computer and put the paper down in front of her, thinking about the company, the logo on the boxes, and the money they had already invested for her to use the pods. She finally decided that with what they had done so far, she at least owed it to them to look into it.

  Her mind made up, at least on that, she started her research. She found their website quickly, opened it, and read carefully through each page. It was all very vaguely written, almost like a hospital webpage with generic information. However, there were a couple of things BURT had put in that he knew would catch her attention. ONE R&D, working to make the world a better place through the magical cooperation of our neighbors of Meligorn.

  There was also a very brief section on future research into the possible implementation of magical elements to increase the infrastructure and housing for all those living on or below the poverty level. Not only did it talk about the buildings themselves but helping to enrich the lives of the youth by focusing on educational opportunities on an even level with the rest.

  Stephanie sat back and rubbed her hands over her face. She blinked several times and cracked her fingers, absolutely exhausted from everything that happened that summer. She wasn’t even sure she had fully wrapped her head around it. What she did know was that she couldn’t let those events get in the way of what she still had on her plate. She only had a semester left of school, and since she was back a week early from prep, she would be able to start on time.

  Sure, she could probably get away with not going in the morning, but it wouldn’t do her any good. She had to attempt to pull herself together and get back into the old mindset of things—like the reality that it wouldn’t be as simple as a free ride through some prestigious college. And as nice as it had been, there were so many ways she could think of to better allocate her time and her resources.

  She turned the computer and her desk lamp off. It took real effort to drag herself into pajamas and finally collapse into bed. Only when the covers were pulled up to her chin did she finally allow her body to relax. She had forgotten, after being in the pod for so long, that her bed was one of the most comfortable places in the world. It was the quiet after a long storm. A place to rest her wild brain, not continue to dwell on the things that couldn’t be fixed right there in that exact moment.

  It was time to pull herself together.

  The alarm went off the next morning and she rolled over and opened her eyes wide. She didn’t think it would actually happen, but she felt a whole lot better than she had the night before. For one thing, she had slept really well—no dreams and no nightmares—and woke up in the comfort of her own home. She flipped the covers off and smelled the familiar aroma of coffee left in the pot for her down in the kitchen. The idea of coffee worked like her own personal magic and she hurriedly pulled her closet door open, grabbed her school uniform, and changed into it. She looked in the mirror as she pulled her hair high into a ponytail and wrapped the elastic band around it. She was determined to have a damn good day.

  After she had downed a cup of coffee and poured the rest into a travel mug, she ate two cupcakes to fill her stomach and opened the fridge door. Like clockwork, as if nothing had changed, there was a sack lunch made for her with a smiley face drawn on the front. She chuckled as she pulled it out and shoved it in her bag before she headed for the door. When she opened it, she found Todd standing at the end of the yard, waiting for her.

  With a big smile, she bounced out of the house, stopped, and wrinkled her nose in front of him. She raised her thumb to wipe a smear of chocolate icing from his cheek. “Don’t worry, I’m not judging. I had the same for breakfast. But I eat like a person, not a one-year-old on their first birthday.”

  Todd shrugged and rubbed his cheek with the back of his sweater sleeve. “Yeah, I had to shove them down so my mom wouldn’t get mad that I ate cupcakes for breakfast.”

  They started their walk and it seemed that the sun shone brighter through the smog than normal. It warmed Stephanie’s face and she soaked it in. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “So, I know that in the end, they screwed you over and all, but I wondered if you could tell me what it was like?”

  Stephanie actually didn’t mind, and she was glad to not hold onto the anger and resentment. “Well, you stay in the pods twenty-four-seven. And at night in the Virtual World, you plug in these cubes that teach you all kinds of different things while you sleep. Then, during the day, there were a lot of boring classes. But I also got to go with a team onto a Dreth ship and kill the pirate lord. That was the highlight of the whole thing. Oh! And I made magic tornados.”

  Todd stared at her, his eyes huge. “Are you kidding? I want to go shoot up a damn pirate ship! Kill some Dreth pirates. You always see the cool shit while I’m over here barely able to hold a conversation with people.”

  She grinned. “It was great, I have to admit. Although there were several times it hurt like all getout. But yeah, it was great!”