The plastic slipped out of my hand.
"What do you mean?"
Mia grabbed my hand before I could reach for it. Both of hers around mine, warm and certain. "I manifested healing magic." Her grip tightened. "I can be a demon hunter. I can finally help you."
"No."
She pulled back. Not far, just enough to look at me properly. "What do you mean, no? Our teacher said healers are rare."
I turned my hand over. Ran my thumb along my palm, then pressed it flat against my chest where the worst of last week's wound had been. Nothing. Smooth skin.
"It's been you." I looked up at her. "All this time."
"What are you..."
I crossed the space between us and grabbed her shoulders.
"Alec." Her voice went small. "You're hurting me."
I didn't loosen my grip. "Say you won't be a demon hunter."
"Why not?" She searched my face, something shifting in hers. "We finally have a way to make real money."
She pulled free.
My hands hung where she'd been. I looked at them for a moment, then dropped them to my sides. "It's not worth your life."
"It is." Her voice climbed. "And I will."
"Mia." My legs went numb. I hit the floor before I knew I was falling, one knee, then both, hands catching the ground. I looked up at her. "I can manage. I always have. So please. Don't be a demon hunter."
She went still.
For a moment she just looked at me, down at me, and her face shifted in a way I couldn't name.
"If I become one," she said quietly, "you won't come home hurt anymore." Her hands found the hem of her skirt and pulled at it. "I won't need school fees. You won't have to work so hard." Tears spilled down her cheeks and she didn't touch them. "If I become a hunter I can make real money. I can protect you."
"I don't need your protection."
The words left me before I could weigh them.
I looked up. Her eyes were shut, jaw set, teeth pressed together. Both hands twisting the fabric of her skirt. A tear dropped from her chin.
Then she let go of her skirt. Wiped her face once, hard.
"Fine." Flat. Decided. "I won't help anymore."
She walked to the bedroom. The door clicked shut behind her.
"Mia, I didn't..."
Nothing.
I pulled myself up and stood in the hallway. Through the wall, I could hear her crying. Quiet. Steady. A force pressed tight around my chest. My body felt distant, like it belonged to someone else. I was watching from somewhere far behind my own eyes.
I didn't go in.
I sat down against the wall and listened.
Her crying had drifted into steady breathing somewhere in the dark hours. Morning light filled the room.
I stood, knees stiff, and picked up the plastic from the floor. Put the chocolate on the table where she would see it. Then I sat down and waited.
When her door opened she didn't look at me. Just moved past, close enough that I could have touched her shoulder.
"Hey." I picked up the chocolate and held it out. "I got your favourite."
She walked past me and shut the bathroom door.
I stood there holding it. Staring at the closed door like something behind it might still change. It didn't. I set the chocolate back on the table and left for school.
The building was louder than usual when I arrived. I kept my head down and went straight to class, and class was no different from the hallway, just noise with walls around it. I went to Oliver's desk. He was the only person in class who talked to me.
Oliver looked up. "Hey. What happened?"
"You left early yesterday." Oliver leaned back in his chair. "There was an evaluation down in the junior school. Someone manifested healing magic."
I flinched. Caught myself. "That's the reason for all this noise?"
"Of course not." He grinned. "It's that she's apparently very pretty and every guy in the building has lost his mind."
"Do you know who she is?"
"Just a name. Mia." He watched me. "Why?"
"No reason."
Oliver was quiet for a moment. Then he leaned forward, elbows on the desk. "We've been friends a long time, Alec."
I said nothing.
"It's your sister, isn't it."
I stood up. "That's ridiculous. Mia can't use magic." I walked back to my desk and opened my books, turning pages without reading them.
The teacher arrived and the room settled.
"Continuing from yesterday." She arranged her tools on the desk without looking up. "I trust you all did your magic evaluations."
Dylan turned in his seat. "Not all of us, ma'am."
Laughter moved through the room.
"Dylan." The teacher didn't look up. "Don't remind me that imbecile is in my class."
I stared at my desk, hoping not to take up more space than I already did.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good. Under normal circumstances a student manifests by age twelve." She set down her things and faced the class. "Though it is possible to manifest later. Some have done so at eighteen." Her eyes moved across the room and landed on me for a moment. "It is rare, and the abilities that come late tend to be weak."
She turned to the board and wrote in clean strokes. "Today we move into demon corpse management." She turned back. "Who can tell me something about this sector?"
I raised my hand, sitting straighter.
Her eyes passed over me without stopping. "Anyone. Anything at all." She pressed two fingers to her temple. "Demon corpse management, D.C.M., is the sector responsible for dismantling and cataloguing the organs harvested from demon kills. Every part of a demon has use."
My hand came down. I set it flat on my desk.
"The blood is processed into healing and enhancement medicine." She traced along the board as she spoke. "Bones and horns go toward weapons and equipment."
A student near the front raised her hand. "The skin and fur from certain demons can be used for high-grade armour, clothing, and jewellery."
"Good. Anyone else."
"Flesh is used as an ingredient for special bullets and as a supplement for enhancing animal abilities." Takara spoke without lifting her head from her notes.
"Excellent, Miss Okazaki. Now for the last sector" The teacher scanned the room and pointed to a boy by the window. "Anton. Your father works for one of Heavelon's two Abyss Exploration guilds. Tell us what they do."
Anton straightened. "The A.E. explores the abyss while it's active. They map it, study it, and extract minerals. Mainly hell crystals."
"Correct. Hell crystals are the most significant resource to come out of the abyss and the primary energy source of the modern world." She collected her things. "Thank you, Anton. That's all for today. Free period."
She left. The room broke apart into noise around me.
Dylan grabbed me by the neck.
"Thought you were clever, huh." Not a question. "Let's go."
He dragged me behind the school and threw me to the ground.
A boy sat against the wall, a girl leaning into his side. He looked up slowly.
"Dylan." The boy's voice was flat. "Why did you bring this here?"
"Alexander." Dylan straightened. "He didn't pay yesterday."
The girl beside Alexander turned her gaze on me, then back to Dylan. "Is that why Thea's been in a bad mood?"
"Yes, Ophelia, I just..."
A flame caught Dylan across the cheek.
"That's Miss Ophelia to you," Alexander said.
Dylan touched his face. "Sorry, sir."
"Come on, Alex." James came around the corner, Takara's hand loose in his. "Learn to treat your friends better."
"Shut up." Alexander didn't look at him. "That meathead brings trouble every time."
They talked like I wasn't there. I stayed down and kept still, hoping it would stay that way.
A voice came from behind me.
"Hey. I just heard about the new girl from junior high. Cute. Who wants to have some fun?"
My hands flattened against the ground.