Kilo never got to practice magic like everyone else growing up, but he has his chance now. With his internship at Magix solidified, Kilo can practice fighting in the Arenal Department to his heart’s desire. But with upper-rank officials dying left and right and the Anti-Magix Rebellion rising, Kilo will have to use whatever skills he has just to survive the summer. Before time runs out. 

Chapter 1

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Kilo’s Charm glowed blue on his desk.

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It sat open, the face of the old pocket watch blurred behind the light. Kilo’s Charm shone the brightest in the class, nearly eclipsing the faint lights of the students next to him.

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But Kilo was the best, so.

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And he was not bragging when he said stuff like that. It was obvious. Kilo was the best. 

In his school, at least.

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But Kilo went to one of the best schools in the country—therefore, Kilo was the best made perfect sense. People agreed.

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“Okay, Kilo,” Professor Havenaugh said. “You can close your Charm now. I still need to see everyone else’s.”

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The class snickered. Kilo glared. His Charm was the best because he had power, unlike these idiots. He just started traditionally learning this year, but already Kilo surpassed his classmates. All of them had a lifetime of practice ahead of him, too—but they wasted it. 

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Kilo would not waste his time. 

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He snapped his Charm closed and waited for Professor Havenaugh to get to the good stuff. His favorite class, and today of all days they had to do the most boring work. It was almost the end of the year! Kilo had things planned and stuff to do. 

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Nervous energy sizzled up Kilo’s spine, and his neck tingled with a tic. But Kilo would not tic. It was only one neck spasm anyway, and he should be able to control it.

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Kilo’s head jerked to the left. No one noticed.

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Whatever.

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Kilo bounced his knee under his desk. Today was the day. Today was the day, and Professor Havenaugh had to choose it to go over strength measurement. Kilo’s had gone up marginally, but at this point in life most people had their numbers set. 

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Most people were taking these courses to fine tune their abilities. Kilo had a lifetime of knowledge to learn. 

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Professor Havenaugh clipped her way around the room. A small classroom, twenty kids only, from a small college, a thousand kids only.

Kilo got in on a magic scholarship. 

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Despite his lack of formal education in magic, Kilo had raw talent and the determination to practice until his head went woozy. Most of the other kids went to boarding or private schools—or even one of the rare public magic schools. Kilo didn’t have that opportunity, and he knew he fell behind his peers in terms of control. 

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But today was the day.

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Today, Kilo would finally learn if he got his internship. It started the week after spring semester ended, and the results had until today to come back. The email said so. 

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Kilo jittered in his seat. The girl next to him rolled her eyes, but she obviously exuded jealousy. She rolled her eyes again—just got good measure—as she plopped her head in her hand. Her afro bounced from the force.

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The Magic Sect on the nearby military base ranked highest in the nation for best internship. Even getting a late rejection showed a greatness for the future.

Magix.

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Kilo needed this internship.

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It would jumpstart his career in magic so he wouldn’t end up a nurse like his mom wanted. Or an engineer like his dad. Or anything else he couldn’t stand.

Magic needed to be a part of his career, and Kilo had his sights set on working at the best magic company in the country. Maybe even the world. 

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Magix.

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The old clock on the front wall ticked annoyingly loud. Class ended in forty-three minutes. “Okay, everyone.” Professor Havenaugh clapped her hands twice. “Head to room seventy-two.”

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The battle room.

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Not really, not technically. The class rarely did battles in that room anyway. But if there were to be a battle today…

Room 72 would be the place.

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Twenty students filed into the room across the hall with shuffling feet. Kilo lingered in the back despite his excitement. A prayer chanted in his mind, one of battlebattlebattle and fightfightfight. Kilo stepped into the room lined with padding and Professor Havenaugh said her usual, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but today is a fight day. Line up if you want to. Sit to the left if you don’t.”

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About half the class left the line to sit on the sidelines. Fighting wasn’t important in their fields, and they didn’t do it for fun either. The girl that sat next to Kilo pulled out her Charm and began knitting with them off in the corner. Kilo knew she wanted to find better magical ways of making clothes, but he still couldn’t remember her name. 

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Oh well.

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Professor Havenaugh walked down the leftover line. “This it today?” She raised a brow. “Well, whatever you guys want. Free for all or one versus one or two versus two or whatever it is you can come up with.”

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“Free for all,” he said.

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The rest of the students shrugged, but a few stared at him warily. So they remembered. Good for them.

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Kilo was about to kick some butt.

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A couple students talked to each other conspiritiously. They ducked heads together and whispered plans of victory. Kilo didn’t need to team up with anyone. He had his Charm, and that was all he needed.

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Kilo stood in the middle of the room. He raised his Charm and transformed it from its old pocket watch form to a glowing blue war hammer. He swung it around to loosen his wrists—and maybe show off a little. It reminded him of Thor’s hammer, but instead of lightning, the blue glow it exuded made a little sphere of light around it. 

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Kilo tucked his hand into the wrist strap and tightened his hand around the handle with five squeezes. 

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One. 

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Professor Havenaugh ushered the rest of the students onto the padding.

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Two.

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She pulled out her Charm—a yellow whistle.

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Three. 

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She placed the Charm against her lips.

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Four.

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She sucked in a large breath of air.

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Five.

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She blew, and she transformed into a hummingbird.

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The rest of the students transformed as well.

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Kilo attacked.

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They all had their Wonder Charms—could transform into hulking rock people or half-formed werewolves. One student’s hair turned into whip-like strands.

Kilo just had his Charm, but that was all he needed. 

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A student with bull horns barreled down the center straight at Kilo. He circled his hammer around once, twice—and then he came down on the bull-horned kid with a magically powered hit. Not full strength—because Kilo didn’t want to accidentally kill anyone—but enough for Professor Havenaugh to whistle for them to be out.

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One down. Eight more to go. 

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The others didn’t move, so Kilo moved for them.

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He ran into the thick of it, knocked one to the side with practiced ease. 

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Seven more.

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The girl with whip-like hair lashed out at him, but Kilo dodged like they were in slow-motion. He thrusted his hammer in a gap between the hair and landed a hit in her stomach. 

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Six more. 

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Next to the whip-haired student, a cheetah boy lurked behind Kilo. Partners, then, but not very good ones. Kilo flipped his hammer backwards and bonked him on the head. Easy enough. 

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Five more. 

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The towering rock girl sprinted for Kilo, each of her steps shaking the ground. Next to her, a snake slithered on the ground. Kilo shuddered. But then the rock girl almost stepped on the snake and tripped and fell on top of them.

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Four more.

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Kilo walked over and tapped the fallen girl’s head.

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Three more. 

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The werewolf went back-to-back with two other students—one with cat eyes and ears and another with a metal monkey tail. 

Kilo smiled. He did always want to try a new move, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity if any. He circled his hammer, speeding up and up and up, until he threw it. It carried him away to the three of them, and he tore through their little group.

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He felt like Thor from the movies, except smaller, only half white, and without the luscious hair.

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They all hit the floor.

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“Hm, so not a good move,” Kilo said, and he sat up, dusted himself off. “I’ll sit out this time, Professor Havenaugh.” The hammer transformed into a pocket watch again.

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He sauntered over to the sidelines. Kilo totally won again, but it was not really any fun for the other students when he always defeated them so easily. It probably hurt their egos, what with him not even having the powerup of a Wonder Charm like them.

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He sat next to the girl with the afro. She’d clipped pink butterflies in her hair today, and she looked pretty and nicer than the rest of the students. She continued to knit with her faintly pink glowing knitting needles. They could transform into long dual swords, and Kilo had seen her fight with butterfly wings on her back. The perfect Wonder Charm and Charm duo, and she wanted to make clothes.

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Kilo couldn’t relate. But then again, he didn’t even have a Wonder Charm. At least he had a transforming Charm. It would suck if he was stuck with a pocket watch and only a pocket watch for life.

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“You were really good out there,” she said, not even looking up from her knitting. “It’s always like you move too fast to see.” 

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“It’s always like people slow down around me.” Kilo shrugged. “I dunno, it’s just—easy.”

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“You’ll do great at Magix, and especially in the Arenal Department.” She twisted her lips up, undid a couple knots.

Kilo shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t even know if I made it.” 

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“You could always check.” She looked up at him. Her pink eyeliner smudged down around her left eye. “It’s not like Professor Havenaugh would notice or care.”

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Kilo glanced around the room. Professor Havenaugh fluttered in her hummingbird form, chirping at hit students to get out of the arena. “I guess…” he said.

The girl sighed and rolled her eyes so hard her head moved with them. “What, are you scared?”

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“No!” Kilo shifted awkwardly. “Just—nervous, I guess.”

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She sighed again. “Just do it. The suspense is killing me.” It sounded sarcastic, but her voice was so monotone it was difficult to tell.

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“Okay, fine,” Kilo said. He pulled his phone from his back pocket and typed in his passcode. His thumb hovered over his email app. One unread email.

“Come on,” the girl said.

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He clenched his jaw and tapped the app. It opened to his messages, and the first subject line said, Magix Internship.

Kilo clicked on it. 

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A bunch of mumbo jumbo about the hardships of getting through and work ethic and magical nonsense later, it read:

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You have been selected for an internship at Magix Headquarters in the Arenal Department starting May 13th. 

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He sucked in a shuddering breath. 

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“What? What?” The girl leaned over and tried to pry the phone from his hands.

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Kilo thought he might cry. “I got it.”

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The girl froze. “Really?” She gave up on trying to get the phone and sat upright. “I thought for sure I was going to be comforting you right now.” She looked shocked as she said that. “No offense, but, like, you don’t even have—”

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“I know,” Kilo said. He didn’t even have a Wonder Charm. His odds were beyond bad, but he did it. 

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Kilo checked the email again. Not spam. Not a trick. 

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“Well.” She sat back against the wall and crossed her arms. “So much for being nice to you in your times of woe.”

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“I don’t even know what that means.”

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“It means—” She dropped her head. “You don’t even know my name, do you?”

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“Uh, no?”

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She grumbled to herself. “It’s Vanessa. Vanessa Johnson.”

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Something was off. Kilo couldn’t tell what. “I’m, uh, Kilo. Kilo Santos.”

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Vanessa gave a tight smile. “Nice to meet you officially, Kilo.”

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“It’s nice to meet you too, Vanessa.” Kilo stuck out his hand. His father always told him handshakes were important for first meetings, and Kilo wasn’t sure if this counted as the type of meeting his father meant—but it felt important enough.

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She shook his hand.