Clutching onto Kelly’s hand, I look down at her pale, unconscious face, my eyebrows drawing together in concern. I glance around the crappy excuse for a first aid room, mad that Kelly is currently lying across a few chairs, rather than on a bed. They’re remodelling the actual first aid centre. Fucking typical.

Kelly stirs, and I instantly lean forward and stroke the hair from her face. “Kells? Sweetie, are you okay?” I whisper softly.

“Kennie?” she mumbles. Oh Gods. She hadn’t called me Kennie since we were eight years old.

“It’s Kenzie,” I mutter.

“Kennie-kenz,” she mumbles back, a smile taking over her face as her blue eyes flutter open. Seeing the expression take back over her face fills me with relief. She’s okay. Despite the healer’s reassurances, I wasn’t accepting the fact my best friend was okay until I saw it for myself. I sit back in my seat, allowing myself to get a little more comfortable as Kelly slowly moves into a sitting position.

“Do you remember what happened?” I ask softly, still holding onto her hand and rubbing it soothingly.

“Um, the last thing I remember was you lying about your vision and saying it was about eating a bacon sandwich, which kind of made me feel hungry . . .,” she trails off as a mortified look takes over her face. “Oh Gods, I did it wrong, didn’t I? I didn’t have a vison and instead knocked myself out like an idiot in front of the whole class,” she whispers in a horrified tone.

“No, Kells, complete opposite. You had a killer vision, and you glowed. You freaking glowed! The teacher was going on about how powerful your divination skill must be the whole way down to the first aid room!”

“I glowed?” she asks, awe in her voice.

“You did,” I answer, smiling brightly at her. Happy that although she only has two gifts, one of them is already proving to be so strong.

“Not many seers glow, Kenzie,” she says, bobbing up and down in excitement. She is right about that. I only know of one other Marked that can glow, and she has a seat on one of the councils. Kelly’s parents are going to be so proud of her.

“I know, it’s so damn cool!”

“How long have I been in here?” she questions, suddenly looking a little more concerned as she takes in the sorry excuse for a first aid room.

“Um,” I glance at the clock on the wall, as tradition it’s symbolized with the twelve marks, rather than numbers. “About forty minutes,” I answer.

“Why didn’t they use a healer to wake me?” she asks sceptically.

“Mr. Lindeman tried to, but you woke for a second and then went back out. The healers decided to allow you to wake naturally after that. They suspected the vision exhausted you, so they were letting you rest,” I answer softly.

“That’s kind of scary,” she whispers. “We were holding hands during the vision, what did I see?” I go to answer her, and explain the whole story, when a feeling in my gut strikes me.

“Nothing much really. It was me, and some other people. I think maybe in a class or something. I think that it was the fact the vision was so clear and intense feeling that it wiped you out,” I lie smoothly, shooting her a smile. She frowns for a moment, before shrugging and leaning back in her seat.

“I guess that could be it,” she says.

“Must be,” I reply. There’s no need to stress her out about what she saw in that vision. She’s already stressing enough. I can figure out whatever it means on my own.

“You did wake up for a second and said “the portal will open”, do you remember what portal?” I ask her, knowing she might hear from the other students about what she said as they all heard.

“Portal?”

“Yep,” I nod.

“I remember seeing fire and something blue,” she says, going a little pale again.

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just leave it for now, okay?” I ask, and she nods.

“Am I allowed to leave?” she asks.

“Yup, healer said as soon as you felt okay to, we could go. She did take a look over you while you were unconscious, and she couldn’t find anything wrong. Just told me to make sure you take it easy,” I answer.

“Okay, can we go back to our room? Or do we have to go back to class?” she asks, her voice a little wobbly.

“Room, definitely.” Standing up, I reach across and offer a hand to help her up, which she takes. Once on our feet, we make our way out of the makeshift, first aid room. I sign Kelly out on the clipboard by the door, so they don’t worry where we’ve gone. We weave through the quiet halls; the majority of students are currently still in lessons.

As we step out into the courtyard, I hear someone shouting. I look around, but I can’t spot the source of the noise.

“Up here, Kenzie!” the voice yells. Up?

I turn my head up and catch sight of Easton hanging out of a window. A third-floor window. And, he’s about to fucking jump.

“EAST!” I scream as he jumps. At first, he falls quickly, then suddenly his descent slows, so he’s floating down softly. Air. East has an air mark. Breathe, Kenzie, breathe.

He lands on the floor gracefully, and smirks, the amusement reaching his eyes. “Worried, were you?” he teases, as he walks over to us.

“You may have given me a slight heart attack,” I admit begrudgingly.

“You totally freaked, were you worried about his pretty face being ruined?” Kelly points out, laughing at the mortified expression on my face. Drop me in it, why don’t you Kells.

“No!” I snap.

“You don’t think I have a pretty face?” East asks, stepping closer to me. “I’m hurt, offended, and not at all amused, Mackenzie,” he says softly, danger lacing his teasing tone.

“I-I never said that,” I stammer out. Great. Now, that was so smooth.

“So, you do think I’m good looking?” he asks, smiling even wider. Smug ass.

“No, I just meant that your face is probably considered pretty, hell maybe even a touch feminine, actually. You’re not really my type,” I say, keeping my face as blank as possible.

“What? You can’t be serious? Feminine?” he sputters, running a hand through his stupidly perfect hair.

“What? Shocked the whole world doesn’t want to bang you?” I ask, smiling.

“Well, not the whole world, but I’m pretty sure the female population of the school does. And, ‘feminine’ is not the word to describe me, definitely not,” he says confidently.

“Well, not me,” I answer. “Why don’t you go find one of those other members of the female population to fall at your feet, East. You may do better with them,” I retort.

“Well, I could do that. But, I prefer a challenge.” He winks at me and steps back. “I’ll catch you later then, Kenzie!” he says, turning to leave.

“Wait, what did you want?”

“Oh, shit, I meant to ask about what happened in your fire lesson,” he says, turning back to us. “It’s already been going around the whole school. Someone said you tried to fling a fireball at the teacher, is that true?”

“Of course, it’s not true,” Kelly interrupts with a laugh.

“Yeah, why would I throw a fireball at bitchface?” I ask, not really expecting an answer. “Then again, maybe I should have,” I add, muttering under my breath.

“Then why is half of her hair missing?” Easton asks.

“Um, I kind of lost control and made fire tornadoes, oops?”

“’Oops’?” he mimics. “‘Fire tornadoes’? Why am I not surprised?” Easton chuckles. “Pro-tip, don’t mix fire and air unless you want to cause disaster,” he says teasingly.

“Yeah, so I’ve since been told,” I mumble. Why did everyone else think of that but me?

“Anyway, I need to get moving, just wanted to make sure you were okay, and that you weren’t attacking teachers with fireballs.”

“Well, I’m fine. Catch you later, East,” I call after him as he walks off.

The second he’s out of earshot, Kelly turns to me. “That man is sex on legs, and you know it,” she says.

“Oh, I so do. You know who else is sex on legs,” I say, wriggling my eyebrows.

“Oh Gods, Kenzie, you cannot go after Mr. Sexy, no matter how sexy he is,” she replies, and starts moving towards our dorm building.

“Why not,” I whine.

“Because Mr. Sexy is a teacher, and although not illegal for our kind because we don’t even start school till we’re seventeen, you know it’s frowned upon. Your dads would freak for one, and he would be fired,” she answers.

“I know, I know. But, he’s so hot. Like, ‘fuck me on your desk’ hot,” I reply.

“That hot, huh?” she asks, pulling a face.

“Yup. I’m not seriously going after the guy or anything, but I will say this, if you want to be with someone, you should be with them,” I say, my tone losing its playfulness.

“You really think so?” she asks, looking thoughtful.

“Definitely,” I answer without hesitation. “You can’t help who you fall for.”

“I think so, too,” Kelly replies, linking her arm in mine.

“Come on, I have snacks under the bed, and I know you missed lunch.”

“You’re a Goddess,” I reply, linking my arm back in hers as we make our way to our dorm room.