I had never been more glad to see Dustin at the bus stop than the next morning. The last few steps of my walk turned into a sprint as I ran up to him, spinning him around to lightly pull him into a hug.

"Oh thank the gods. I thought you were gonna be in the hospital so much longer. I'm glad you're all rig- Dustin!" I pulled out of the hold to see the side of his face covered in a large, black eyepatch. "You lost your eye?" My hands trembled, a horrified feeling settling into my stomach. I did this...

"Ah... yeah." A sheepish smile crossed his face as he tugged a blue lollipop out of his mouth, shrugging nonchalantly. "I guess it's my battle scar from the great war between Humans and Witches. That's what I get for being the Chosen One, I guess."

My mouth fell open in shock. Was this kid off his rocker? What happened to the sass he'd wanted to give me yesterday? Now it was just... fine? "What is wrong with you?" I yelled, throwing my hands into the air. "How can you be so calm about everything? Your face and sight is gonna be ruined forever, all because I sent you to get some goddamn flowers! Why aren't you mad, or, or-"

I hugged his thin body tighter, tears starting in my eyes. "I'm so sorry. So incredibly sorry. I never should have dragged you into this." I can barely handle having a scar on my face, and he won't even cry over losing an entire eye?

Wow, I really am pathetic.

"Woah, hold on. Stop." Dustin pushed me back for a second. "You didn't drag me into anything. Also–" He paused, giggling to himself before lifting the patch to show a shining black eye on his face... swollen, but still there. "I was only kidding. I still have all my eyes. I just wanted an excuse to wear this eyepatch I found in my old Halloween costumes, because when else would I have a good opportunity to wear it to school?" He flicked it back down, nodding and looking pleased with himself. "I think it looks great on me."

"Are you serious right now?" I asked, the volume of my voice echoing around the empty street. "You have no idea how worried I was about you, and you go and pull that?" I sighed, though whether it was a sigh of relief, or aggravation, I wasn't sure. Reliefgravation, maybe.

"Oh. Sorry. I thought that would go over smoother... maybe lighten up the mood a bit." He frowned in thought. "Or at least have one thing go right after how yesterday went."

I grimaced at the way his usually soft tone started to dip into something more serious. "Yeah I meant to ask... how did the hospital trip go? You're looking a lot better than you did, but still worse than anytime I've been out of there." I stopped as the bus ground to a halt in front of us, giving the yellow sardine can a quick glance before turning back to the boy with the fish-themed shirt. "Why'd they leave the bruise on your face?"

Most of the time when I got hurt, I opted for a roll of duct tape instead of a hospital trip, but even so, healing nurses nowadays could almost always have you walking out how you came in. The only thing a Witch with a knack for healing couldn't do was fix up scar tissue. My own face proved that much, and yet despite that, it looked like Dustin had only gotten a multitude of bandages to plaster to his face.

"I umm... I don't remember much of yesterday." His eyes darted to the ground, an uneasy look on his face before he perked up. "But I do remember the doctors at the hospital said there was a lot of magik in my system for some reason, so they couldn't determine at first if I was Human or a Witch. One of the nurses started healing my lip, which is why it isn't busted, and only has a little scar from where it hit my tooth." He showed me the thin slice. "But halfway through, the doctor interrupted him with paperwork saying I was Human, so he wasn't allowed to perform on me anymore."

He sighed for a second as we stepped onto the rumbling seats of the bus. "I don't get why they have it set up like that. The magik... actually felt nice, and the nurse started arguing that it was working, even if I was Human. But, apparently it wasn't supposed to, and it's against law, so he had to stop. After that it was a lot of complications of what medicines wouldn't react with the magik in my system, so finally they just gave me an ointment for my eye and sent me home. It was a mess."

Then he climbed into the backseat, and I tried to ignore the wide-eyed stare the driver gave us as we sat down next to an equally patched-up Blyke. A few of the students' heads turned to do a double take at us, whispers breaking out. My skin bristled under all the attention. Dustin, did you really need to get a whole eyepatch?

"I did find out something interesting there though." Dustin continued as if he hadn't even noticed everyone staring. "You know how we were all confused on why I could use magik out of nowhere?"

We nodded.

"Well, I'm obviously not some chosen one, I'm not adopted, and, even if I was, my sister's never had magik before. But it was weird... about halfway through all the testing, they noticed that I had some type of greenish liquid in my bloodstream that they had to flush out with IVs overnight. Sound familiar?"

"Dude! That's the potion that was thrown at you," Blyke shouted before I could fling a hand over his mouth to shush him. Maybe it was too late to try and keep things a secret, but it was way too early for yelling, and we'd gotten enough looks, I'd decided. With a nod from Blyke, I lowered it to let him talk again, quieter this time. "So that's what it did."

"No, it's not," I argued. "All that one did was stain everything green. I tested it over and over again. It was a fluke." I started twirling the spider charm on my earring in thought. Green liquid, huh? "Unless... it's not the potion in your system, but my magik? That's what it looked like when Dekoran pulled it out anyways. Radioactive, green sludge."

"Yes! That's a good way to describe it. I know the potion didn't glow, but whatever was in the IVs did." Dustin bobbed his head up and down in confirmation.

Are Humans able to absorb magik if it's in that form? At least then it made sense why magik had never seemed to work for Humans before, given that I was the last, and first, Apothecary in a good number of centuries. Still, something wasn't adding up. "I don't see what that has to do with water though. If it's my magik, then that means potions, levitation, and basic elemental stuff. That's it."

"I guess that makes sense then." Dustin didn't elaborate, putting the lollipop back in his mouth before staring blankly at the seat in front of him. It was like he'd physically left the chat, grey eyes completely unfocused, and making no move to finish his sentence.

"Uh, why?" I prompted as the bus finally jostled to a stop, shaking him out of... whatever had just happened.

"Hmm?" He blinked at me, like he was trying to remember where he was. "Oh... Well, your elemental magik is all based on whatever sign you're born as, right? I'm a Pieses, so that would be water."

"Shoot! He's right!" Blyke jumped in, slapping his hands on the leather of the seat as he pushed himself up. "So wait, Humans can absorb magik? Why has nobody done it before now?"

"Because it's never worked before," I explained. History had always been my passion, especially when it came to seeing how Humans and Witches interacted in the past to form society as we knew it today. So I knew for a fact that there'd never been a single instance of a Human using magik since the dawn of mankind. Every time, it ended up like Dekoran had warned with Eileen and the salve: Humans with magik clogging up their veins, causing hemorrhages or other side effects. But... that's not what happened to Dustin. Somehow, it had worked its way into him without causing an issue.

My eyes widened in realization. "Maybe... maybe they've been combining them wrong."

'It's like medicine. Sometimes you need a pill, sometimes you need a vaccine, but you can't go flipping the two.'

I ran a hand down my face as it finally hit me. "Oh my gods, Humans can use magik, but you can't just give them a wand. Potions are the only way that they can get it in their system." My voice came out slow and stunned as we walked up closer to the school, its sleek, rounded sides coming into view. It was an entire building dedicated to learning, and yet I felt like I'd just put together more in two seconds than anyone else was ever going to know. With that kinda knowledge... who knows how we could advance as a society. The things we could invent...

"So you're telling me Humans and Witches have basically been eating toothpaste this whole time?" Blyke tilted his head at me, interrupting my thoughts.

"I— what?"

"Like toothpaste. It's good for you, but that doesn't mean you can just eat it. You have to brush it in for it to work. So it's not that some people can have magik and some can't. They just gotta apply it correctly."

I blinked at him. "Yeah... I guess."

"Well if that's the case, you know what this means then, right?" Blyke grinned, walking backwards towards the school as he talked. I tried to resist the urge to answer no, I absolutely never knew what he meant, ever, but he luckily picked back up before I had the chance to. "We gotta make a better way for you to launch those things. No offense, but the way you throw doesn't cut it."

"No offense taken." I knew darn well my lack of athleticism. "But is that really something I need to work on? I mean..."

"Duh! What better method to study how Humans can use magik than having a way to repeatedly hit Dustin? Besides, I'm willing to bet this isn't the last time we'll be seeing those guys. You think this is the only riot we-" He was cut off as he backed into a large, square man standing at the door.

"Oh my bad. 'Scuse me..." He held up a hand as he went to squeeze through the glass door and past the glowing bars of the metal detectors.

Then a small beep went off. We turned to look at a small, white device in the man's hand. The blue screen lit up with a single message: 'Magik Detected.'

"No Witches enter without a screening," the man announced gruffly, reaching with a thick, dark hand to grab the back of Blyke's bomber jacket, forcing him to stumble back.

"...You're kidding me, right?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, but as I glanced around, I could see Blyke wasn't the only Witch being stopped. The parking lot had cops everywhere, almost more than students with how empty it was. That was unsettling enough, given the fact that it was a regional school. On top of it all, professional-looking guards stood at every exit in black vests, holding scanners exactly like the one the man had in front of us.

"No, I am not 'kidding', and if you resist you will be detained, so I suggest you stop squirming." The guard lifted up his arm, placing a small, blinking blue sticker on Blyke's forehead. A digital, feminine voice then played out: 'Commencing scan... No dangerous paraphernalia or dark magik traces found. Deleting personal data... Scan complete.' It emitted a flash of purple light for a moment. 'Sanitized and ready to be reused.'

The man peeled it off his head and opened the door to let him inside. Holding up the white scanner again, he looked confused as he wavered it near Dustin, before finally giving up and settling it on me. "Next."

I hated scans, even when there was a vacation or a fun day at the amusement park promised afterwards. The cold, shivery feeling of the magnetic ray running through my system, feeling for any metal or weapons– and in this case– a second sensation I'd never felt before tugging at the energy in my chest, then releasing. 'No dangerous paraphernalia or dark magik traces found. Deleting personal data... Scan complete, sanitized and ready to be reused.'

Then he peeled off the sticker, leaving behind a sticky residue that I tried to scrub away. Gross. Must be a newer model that scans for magik. Not that I was going to be the next Dekoran, but this was definitely one technological advancement I wasn't fond of. What was it? Eighty years ago where you could just walk right into the building? Not even metal detectors then.

I knew that there'd also been a huge gun problem back in the day, and they were there for good reason. Still, it was crazy to think how tight security had become, and how it was about to get even tighter now as I squeezed through the doors with Dustin following behind. A sigh escaped my chest. At least it's keeping us safe.

The thought stunned me for a second though. Had we reached a point where we needed that much safety? This was only the day after the riot. What would be the effects a week from now? An uneasy feeling crawled up my arms as I waved bye to the other two, splitting off to head to Science. Mrs. Fushiana stood outside the door almost like she'd been waiting, a worried look on her face.

"Crow! I didn't even think you'd be in today. How are you? Are you sure you're all right for class?" She ran a hand through her grey hair, pink eyes scanning me up and down, concerned.

"What? Yeah. Why wouldn't I?" I replied, trying to keep a straight face. She can't possibly know what I did. The cops said all the questions would be kept confidential.

She sighed, shaking her head. "I saw the news, and if you weren't feeling well or needed to sit this one out, I'd understand." Her voice started to grow a hinting tone, but I was honestly too worn out to comprehend it right now. Feeling a light tap on my shoulder, I turned to find Liesel behind me, giving me a small wave.

"Really I'm fine; I swear." I brushed past her, taking one step into the classroom when I saw it: The broken windows, my teacher's desk completely ravaged... the obvious attempt of scrubbing off graffiti on the walls. 'Science isn't for Witches.' 'Traitor.'

More whispers broke out around me, but unlike the bus, I could make out every word.

"Did we really have another Witch in this class?"

"Wouldn't it have been more respectful to stay home? My friend's aunt died in the riot."

"Didn't he use potions on TV? I didn't even know that was a thing."

"She was with them too. What if she's part of the coven?"

I seized up at the words, looking back at my teacher in horror. Her gaze flicked to the floor in disappointment, but it wasn't aimed at me as she walked back to her desk, littered in shattered knick knacks and torn papers. I gripped the straps of my backpack with trembling hands, not even sure to sit down. Which one of them had demolished the classroom? Would I be next? I'd been so worried about the cult coming after me, I hadn't even thought about my own classmates. They hated me enough as it was. To add this on top of it...

Is it... even safe to be here?

I stood frozen in the doorway, sweat dripping down my neck, when I saw my teacher pick something up. Her hand curled around it, a flavor like strawberry ice cream filling my mouth as a flicker of magik lit up between her fingers. A small weight settled in my pocket a moment after.

Reaching in, a crisp piece of metal hit my fingertips. I pulled it out, finding a screen reading: 'Teacher's Hall Pass. Reasoning: These two students need to use the library. Time allotted: No limit.'

You don't need to tell me twice. I whirled around, grabbing Liesel lighty by the arm. "Come on, we're leaving."

Her brown eyes narrowed at me in confusion. "But we're gonna miss clas-"

"Leaving!"

The halls were completely empty now, making me feel guilty for blatantly skipping class, even if it would have been uncomfortable. Liesel's incessant humming, followed by the tapping of her mary janes on the tiles wasn't exactly helping my mood either. Still, I owed her one, so I tried my best to put up with her as I swung open the door to the giant, book-filled room. After all, we were stuck together for pretty much the entire, hour-long period, and wasn't not like we had an actual project to work on. The less annoyed I could manage to be, the better.

With a quick show of the hall pass to the tired-looking librarian, we walked past aisle after aisle of shelves until we finally sat down in the plush circle of chairs in the back. Unlike her though, I had no book to pull out of my backpack to kill time. Pulling my phone out, I clicked it on, but the data was completely used up from work. Great.

I eventually focused my attention on the fishtank across the room. It wasn't like my attention span was any better though; I could only watch them swim around for so long before I was already over it.

"Hey, what are you reading there?" I decided to ask, turning back to Liesel. Not like there was anything better to do.

"Huh?" Her gaze flicked up to my face through her round glasses. "Oh, this is a book on ways to treat injured birds. I want to be a vet someday, you know," she answered sweetly.

"Yeah, you told me already." I slumped back into the red, itchy fabric of the chair. "It sounds like a really nice career path."

"It is! Since my specialty is healing, I want to help others, but why limit it to just nursing? That's what everyone does nowadays. Animals can be healed too, so I want to be one of the first Witches to open up a magik-based pet clinic. Still, I figured that it doesn't hurt to learn the basics for regular treatments in the meantime."

She paused for a moment, seemingly thinking to herself before her face brightened. "Oh! That reminds me. That potion you made for my dog, Sheep, worked like a charm! I'll need plenty of staff once I graduate college, so would you ever be interested in working with me? You have a real talent for it, and we could co-run it if you'd like." She twisted a frizzy brown braid between her fingers while she talked, looking away bashfully. "Unless you already have your own career plan, of course. I just thought I'd offer."

"Sorry, but yeah, I already have my own plan. I hope it all works out for you though. That sounds like an innovative idea." Just another example of a Witch going out and having a successful, magik-based career. People did it all the time, so why was it so hard for me to do the same thing?

"Thanks!" She beamed, swinging her feet beneath the chair. "So what's your plan after highschool then? Are you going to sell your potions?"

I scrambled through my mind for an answer, taken aback at the fact that she seemed genuinely interested, more so than my parents had ever been.

"W-well, I'm not really sure specifically. I mean, I've always really liked history..." I trailed off, scratching the back of my head. "Actually, there's kind of a demand for history-based careers right now, since a lot of studies are showing that there's already been a bunch of ancient civilizations where Humans and Witches worked together in the past. Just a week ago a paleontologist found out that magik might have even been stored back in ancient fossils or amber!"

"Dude, quiet down."

I jumped as I heard someone talking behind me, my face feeling hot as I realized how loud I'd been. "Sorry." I shook my head, facing Liesel again. "But yeah. Something like that always seemed kinda interesting," I muttered, finally shutting up with a shrug.

She laughed for a second, soft, but genuine. "Only kinda interesting? I don't think I've ever seen you so excited over anything before."

"Sorry" I repeated, scratching at the back of my neck. "I didn't mean to rant or anything."

"No no! Never apologize for being passionate about something. That's what life is all about." She closed up the book, placing it in her lap and folding her dark hands over it before smiling up at me. "And that does sound cool. So what college are you going to for that?"

"Oh, what? College for that?" I chuckled awkwardly, glancing to the floor. "That's... not really what I'm going for. College is expensive, and honestly my mom had a pretty good idea with me working harder on my magik and potions to appeal to them." Which is why it doesn't help that the news is probably out there, painting everything I do as a radical weapon. The idea of it made my insides twist like a wet rag, and I tried not to get nauseous on an empty stomach.

"I mean, it is good to appeal to colleges and look well-rounded, but it's important to make sure you're getting scholarships for the right thing. There's no point in getting thousands of dollars for a magik course if it isn't going to get you a job that you enjoy holding."

She inched closer to the edge of her seat, tapping her chin as she inspected me. "Honestly, I think a better idea might be just to make sure your history grades are stellar, and that you get into AP History for Junior and Senior year. That way, you'll be able to get some credit, skip a few classes which will save you money, and get you scholarships for something you actually want. You can work on your potions if you'd like, but use them to get base scholarships, not magik-based ones. Those aren't going to help you at all."

It wasn't a bad thought process, per say, but even with all that, how much would it really save me? Archeology was something that usually needed eight years of college, even up to ten. There was no way I could cover all that, just like there was no way I could explain what I wanted to do to my mom, or sneak something that large. It sounded good on paper, but in reality... it's just not how life works. "Yeah, but-"

"Ah! You know what? Here." She cut me off with a snap of her fingers, looking pleased with herself as she reached into her own backpack. With a clink of the star-shaped charms dangling off it, she pulled out her tablet for school.

"What are you doing? You know most sites are blocked on those, right?" I let her know, a bit begrudgingly as I remembered how hard it had been to play all of my games from last year on it.

"Yeah, but the internet isn't, Silly. Now come look."

I walked over to her, hunching down to look at the screen over her shoulder. The page was filled with hundreds of links, a search bar listed at the top under the word 'Applications'.

"This right here is going to be your best pal in the next couple years. What you do is you type everything about yourself in the top here..." She clicked on a few key tags: Black, Witch, Healing... The links at the bottom filed down, but a good fifty still remained. "And there you go. Each one of these is an opportunity and you can get scholarships off it until most of the larger expenses are covered. And if it's something you ever need help with, like an essay or making a project, you can always ask me for help. Now-"She cleared out the bar, handing it to me. "Your turn!"

"...Really?"

"Yeah come on!"

Huh. I reached over to tap at the tablet, filling in a few words. Let's see... I tried to think of anything a college would find interesting. Male, Portuguese, Witch... can I type potions in here? I put in a few words, but nothing came up. I settled for the rare specialties category instead. Then I hit enter.

I didn't know what I expected, but it wasn't a slew of links lining up, prices at the side offering hundreds... even thousands of dollars, all for essays, or a few simple tasks. "What? People would pay that much?"

She nodded eagerly. "Of course! Do you want to try to see if there's an easy one to work on? We have an entire hour to ourselves after all."

She... wants to do this for me? I blinked at her, a light feeling filling my chest like a chip had been taken off my shoulder... or at least returned to the bag for now. "Yeah. I'd- I'd really appreciate that." I was about to drag my seat closer to hers when I felt a buzz in my pocket.

"One second." Holding up a finger to pause her, I pulled out my phone, glancing at it to find a text from Elliot.

Huh. Haven't gotten one of those from him in a while. I wonder if his school likes the potions I gave him.... and how's he holding up after the riot.

That thought completely fled my mind though as I clicked open the notification. His contact photo I'd set of the two of us hanging out, arms over each other's shoulders, smiled up at me, but it couldn't have contrasted further with the message.

Crow, I hate this. I hate our society so much. I lost my job and it's not even my fault.

Can we talk?