“Paige,” I say without hesitation. Images of her being struck by lightning fill my head, but I force them away.
I have to start trusting myself and trusting my magic.
I have to stop living in fear that I’ll hurt the people I care about.
“You’re sure?” Ms. Suntile asks.
“Yes. And I’d like Sang there, too, if possible.”
“Of course. Go get a jacket and whatever else you’ll need, and meet Mr. Burrows at the control field in fifteen minutes. I’ll engage the emergency system and make sure everyone is indoors before meeting you there.”
I rush back to my cabin and find Nox pulling at the hem of my sheets. I breathe out in relief and pet his head before locking his cat door. I put on my winter coat and a hat, and just as I leave the cabin, five loud bells ring in the distance.
Here we go again.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Trusting people is hard. Trusting no one is harder.”
—A Season for Everything
Mr. Burrows is waiting for me on the control field when I get there. I feel the temperature as it drops with each passing second. I watch the nimbostratus clouds as they move over campus and cover the entire sky, a thick gray blanket that blocks out the sun. I shiver when the first snowflake touches my skin.
The wind is picking up. The spring flowers and green fields that brought our campus back to life are disappearing under the snow, their stems shaking with cold. Soon, I won’t be able to see much in front of me, the visibility decreasing as the snow gets heavier and the winds blow faster.
I hope Ms. Suntile is able to get everyone inside.
Mr. Burrows doesn’t look worried. He watches the sky and paces the field as if in anticipation.
Paige and Sang jog onto the field, and seeing them together does something weird to my heart. A huge scarf is wrapped around Paige’s neck, blowing out behind her in the wind. “Ms. Suntile sent us here. What’s going on?” She looks up at the falling snow, her jaw tense.
Sang goes to stand with Mr. Burrows and squeezes my hand as he passes. I don’t understand how even in the worst conditions, he can make everything pause—my worries, my fears, the whole world.
I look at Paige. “We’re going to try and stop the blizzard.”
“And how do you propose we do that? You can deal with frost, but nothing like this,” she says, motioning around us. “And I’m too weak and would prefer not to die of depletion.”
The wind is getting faster, and snow is blowing every which way. I can no longer see the end of the control field, and my face is getting colder by the second. I tug my hood over my ears to keep warm.
“I’m going to pull magic from you and use it myself.”
Paige laughs. “Oh, yeah? Are you going to ripen all our crops and bring on a heat wave while you’re at it?”
I’m about to answer when Ms. Suntile rushes onto the field. She’s out of breath and saying something, but I can’t make out the words.
“What’s going on?” I ask her when she’s finally within earshot. Mr. Burrows and Sang come over and stand by my side.
“Our first graders,” Ms. Suntile says. “The whole class is studying trees in the hills. They can’t make it down in time. I was able to reach Stephanie by phone; they’re all together, but visibility is low. If they try to get down, she won’t be able to keep track of everyone. They aren’t dressed appropriately and have no provisions with them.”
Terror claws at my stomach as images of Angela and her children flood my mind. I close my eyes and try to calm down. There weren’t supposed to be any stakes attached to this—it was just supposed to be a way for me to practice on a storm we didn’t create. The pressure sits heavy on my chest.
“Mr. Mendez and Mr. Donovan are working on getting to them, but they’re pretty far out.” Ms. Suntile takes a shaky breath, and it unnerves me to see the cracks in her composed exterior. “Even with all the progress you’ve made, we don’t expect you to be able to dissipate this storm. That class is not your responsibility; it is mine, and I failed to get them down soon enough. But if you’re going to try, Ms. Densmore, now is the time.”
“I don’t know if I can do it,” I say, my voice breaking at the end. I’m terrified of making things worse for them, the way I did for Mr. Hart.
“You can try. That’s all you need to do,” Sang says, stepping in front of me. “Just try.”
“But trying is what killed Mr. Hart,” I say, quiet enough that only he can hear me.
“A tornado killed Mr. Hart,” Sang says, “and the blizzard is already here. It’s already on top of them.” He looks at me so intently, so gentle and sure, that everyone else fades away. I focus on his eyes, on the sun inside them, and nod.
Then the wind slams into me, throwing snow every which way until he’s just a blur.
I find Paige beside me, her eyes wide. Scared. “It won’t hurt,” I say. “It’ll be unsettling, though, and your initial reaction will be to fight me. But don’t.”
She looks at Ms. Suntile, who nods. “Okay,” Paige says, her voice uncertain. I barely hear it above the sound of the wind.
The blizzard is fully formed now, dropping so much snow that the world around me is pure white, the greens and pinks and blues of spring hidden once more beneath winter. The wind is howling, gusts blowing fast enough that I have to plant my feet farther apart so I don’t stumble back.
I worry for the kids stuck in the woods with their teacher, huddling together, freezing. The branches will provide some shelter, but with winds reaching fifty miles per hour, the trees aren’t the safest place
