Deimos's picture is an upper-body shot of him in the shower. Christina's is of her sleeping.
In Aiko's, she's sitting on a bench, writing in her notebook. In Theo's, he's sitting in the boy's dorm window seat at night. In Diana's, she's in a dungeon cell, sitting on the floor, crushing... flowers?
In mine, I'm standing over the pool at night, a terrified look on my face. That was the night Deimos died.
I look up and hand the photos to Theo. I watch as he examines them.
"What the heck are these?" he asks, looking up at Diana and Aiko.
Diana is standing by the desk, biting her lip. "We found them in the shed," she says.
She's already told us everything about the shed. And the monster within it.
Theo's mouth drops open. He looks through the pictures one more time.
"Wait, Diana, what are you doing in this one?" he says, walking over to her.
"Um... nothing," she says. "I was just, like, making... something..."
I walk over to Diana and Theo and see the picture they're talking about.
It's the one of Diana in the dungeon.
I look closely at the photo, trying to figure out what Diana was really doing.
It doesn't look like she was just "making something". It looks like she was doing magic.
"Diana, it's okay," I say. "You can tell us."
She takes a deep breath. "You promise you won't tell anyone else?" she asks.
"Promise," I say.
"Okay," she says. "I'm a flower witch."
I stare at her.
"A what?" says Theo.
"A flower witch," says Diana. "We can control human emotions with flowers. I know it sounds stupid, but..."
"I don't think it's stupid," Theo says. "I just... didn't know those existed."
Honestly? Me neither.
I've only ever known a couple of people who had magic, and it wasn't even that powerful.
"There's only ever been one other flower witch in history: Adeline Ardently, one of the founders of this school," says Diana. "Not a lot of people know about her magic."
Everything is quiet for a while as we all process what we just heard.
"Wait, Theo, what is this in your picture?" Diana asks.
We all gather around Theo's photo. At first glance, it's just a picture of him sitting in a window seat. But a closer look at his hands, and I can see small specks of light flickering on the end of his fingers.
"Umm... It's..." Theo trails off.
"Hey, I told you my secret," Diana says. Then she whispers, "It's your turn."
He looks down, ashamed.
I can understand why.
Magic isn't exactly illegal, it's just not accepted. People with magic usually hide it. From their friends. From their family. Even their own spouses.
If word got out that Theo had magic, he'd be screwed. No one would say anything to him, except for nasty questions about his condition.
If it weren't for what happened last night, I'd be pretty freaked out right now about him and Diana.
Theo starts to breathe heavily, his face reddening. He turns his palms upward. His hands start to shake.
I see something small grow out of the ends of his fingers: candlewicks.
I step back as the wicks ignite into dancing flames.
Theo does a strange motion with his arms, and the flames grow larger, spilling from his open hands.
When he does another motion, the flames surge toward the ceiling, like tall towers that twirl and burn above us.
Then the flames disperse into the air, disappearing as quickly as they came.
The wicks withdraw back into Theo's fingers, leaving him heaving for breath.
Aiko, Diana, and I are now huddled behind the bed, utterly terrified.
"Well... that was... horrific," Diana says, standing to her feet, using the wall to steady herself. She walks over to Theo. "Are you okay?" she asks.
"Yeah," Theo says. "It's just... draining."
Diana doesn't say anything at first. They just stand there, looking into each other's eyes.
Aiko and I glance at each other, wondering what's going on. It's like a spell has been cast over them or something.
Aiko starts to stand up. "Umm... are y'all oka-?"
"Let me get you an energy potion," Diana says quickly, cutting Aiko off. She practically sprints over to her backpack and pulls out a small flask.
"Here, drink this," Diana says, handing the flask to Theo. "It'll help."
Theo looks down at the drink. "I- I think I'm okay. Thanks, though."
Diana takes the flask back and returns it to her bag. She looks strangely... hurt.
"Okay, well," Diana says, her voice weak, "do you two have any supernatural abilities you want to tell us about?"
Aiko shakes her head.
I hesitate.
Saying no would be the best option. I don't even know if what happened last night was real.
It could have just been a dream. Or a nightmare.
I nod instead. "Yes," I say.
"Well?" Diana asks.
"I, um..." I trail off.
"Tell us, Brooks," Theo says.
"I, um... I'll be right back," I say, then dash out of the room and down the hall.
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