Firespell (The Dark Elite 1)

“From now on,” Daniel said, walking to the end of the room, then turning around again so that he faced all of us, “we work together, as a team, with one goal, and one set of leaders. Is that understood, Varsity?” he asked Katie and Smith. When they nodded, Daniel looked back at us. “Is that understood, Junior Varsity?”

We all nodded. I wasn’t entirely sure if I was supposed to nod, but I wasn’t going to risk this guy’s wrath again.

“Now that we’ve settled that, we have some business to attend to.”

Despite my attempt to blend in, he looked over at me. “Ms. Parker, you have demonstrated abilities that indicate that you’re an Adept. Are you on our side or theirs?”

There was no need to ask which “theirs” he meant. “Yours,” I answered.

“Then welcome to the squad.” With that, he turned on his heel and walked back to the table, where he, Katie, and Smith began to chat.

I looked over at Scout. “That’s it? I’m in?”

“What’d you think—you’d take an oath or something?”

“Something,” I said with a nod. “You know, something more symbolic for the fact that I’ll be sleeping less and battling bad guys more.”

“Two words,” she said. “Strawberry sodas.”

“Congratulations,” whispered a voice behind me. When I glanced back, Jason stood there, a knowing smile on his face.

“I need to go . . . somewhere else,” Scout said, bumping me with an elbow. “You two kids have fun.”

I made a mental note to talk to Scout later about “subtlety,” but smiled at Jason. “Thanks, I think.”

“So you’re now an official member of Enclave Three. You weirdo.”

I snorted. “I’m a weirdo? You’re a werewolf.”

“I suggest you say that with respect, Parker.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll have to bite you.” His lips widened into a grin of heart-stopping proportions. I guessed it would have been pretty effective on him in werewolf form, too.

“I don’t think you’ll bite me,” I offered back, although I wasn’t entirely sure about that.

“I guess we’ll just have to see what happens, won’t we?”

Jason gazed down at me, those ocean blue eyes swimming with promise, at least until a cell phone rang. After a moment of chatting, cell pressed to his ear, Daniel clapped his hands.

“Saddle up, kids,” he said. “We’ve got an assignment.”

“We’ll finish this later,” Jason whispered. “I promise.”

I believed him, so I offered him a wink, and we rejoined the others. I took my place at their sides, Scout squeezing my hand when I stood beside her, ready to take on evil in the Second City.