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Deep down, Kalim knew he wasn’t supposed to be here. Jamil had warned him hundreds of times to never get entangled with a certain trio on campus. He’d made it sound like doing such a thing would mean certain disaster.
Jamil worried too much. Those three had helped out during Jamil’s overblot. Sure, they had a reputation for being shady and taking advantage of people, but they genuinely cared about their friends! Considering how much they’d done to help Kalim during the winter break incident, that had to mean they were all friends at this point.
Maybe all of those warnings were just Jamil nagging. Besides, Jamil being a worrywart was exactly why Kalim was here.
“Why, Kalim. I never thought I’d have the pleasure of hosting you in the VIP Room.” Azul smiled brightly from his seat behind his large desk.
Kalim couldn’t believe how cool Mostro Lounge was! He’d seen tons of pictures, but the massive window that looked out over the darkened coral reefs was way too amazing to be appreciated in a photo. All purples and blues gave the entire dorm a smart, sophisticated vibe, unlike the bright and cheery but elegant feeling of Scarabia.
The VIP Room was just as impressive as the rest of the dorm. Azul practically had a whole office all to himself! It was no wonder he made such good grades. Kalim wondered how much his exam scores would go up if he had a cool, cozy place like this to study. (Probably not as much as he’d like, he decided. He’d probably doze off on one of the couches or get distracted watching the fish in the tanks beneath the huge bookshelves.)
Azul tilted his head at Kalim, who was standing right in front of his desk, and added, “Does Jamil know you’re here, by any chance?”
Kalim grinned back at him. “Nope!”
From their spots a few steps behind Azul’s desk, the twins exchanged a smirk.
“Dear me! Well, I certainly hope he doesn’t break in while we speak. I’m sure he’s absolutely beside himself with worry.”
Kalim blinked. “That’s… That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about!”
“Oh, is it?”
Seriously, how was Azul so smart?
“Jamil’s been acting kind of different around me lately…” Kalim trailed off. ‘Different’ was putting it lightly. When Jamil had talked to him in the hallway the other day, he’d sounded like a totally different person. Everything had been way too formal.
He’d said that Kalim couldn’t have it both ways—he couldn’t be friends with Jamil and expect Jamil to act as his retainer. Kalim didn’t even think about Jamil like that! Logically he knew Jamil was his retainer, but Jamil was… well, Jamil! He’d been with him forever. It would be like if Cater or Lilia suddenly only wanted to talk about band stuff because they were in a band together.
Well, maybe that wasn’t a perfect analogy. His and Jamil’s relationship was way more complicated than that.
But it didn’t have to be.
“He worries about me a lot,” Kalim continued. “I just want us to be friends.”
Azul nodded. “I see. So you’d like for me to brew a potion that will cause Jamil to want to be your friend.”
“What!? No way! I don’t want to force him to do anything!”
Jade suddenly spoke up. “I beg your pardon, Kalim, but I seem to recall Jamil firmly stating that he doesn’t wish to be your friend.” He paused and put a finger to his chin. “On more than one occasion, in fact.”
“Yeah, Sea Snake is kinda sick of you,” Floyd added.
Kalim deflated a little at that comment. It was true, Jamil had said he didn’t want to be friends. Kalim didn’t believe that, though. How could someone fake kindness and pretend to care so much about a person for almost 18 years? Kalim knew he could never do that! Jamil had to like him, even if it was only a bit.
“I want Jamil to be my friend,” Kalim repeated. “So, if he’s not worried about me as my retainer, maybe that will make him see how nice it would be for us to be friends.”
“What a touching thing to say,” Azul noted. “What did you have in mind, then? How can I help?”
“So, I was thinking…” Kalim glanced around the room as he explained himself, and he was surprised by the range of expressions that looked back at him. Floyd looked bored by the idea, Jade seemed shocked by what Kalim was saying, and Azul couldn’t stop grinning.
“So that’s it.”
Azul placed a hand on his chest with a bright smile. “Well, I for one believe that’s a wonderful idea!” His eyes narrowed slightly before he added, “However, something that grand will require a substantial payment.”
“No problem!” Kalim mirrored Azul’s apparent happiness. “Just tell me how much you need–”
“Actually,” Azul cut him off, “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I don’t want financial compensation from you for this.”
Jade’s head jerked toward Azul like he’d just said something blasphemous.
Kalim merely blinked. “So, you want jewels or something like that?”
Azul shook his head. “No. You have something far more valuable to me than any of those things.”
“Kalim!”
Kalim turned around on the walkway to Scarabia’s mirror and smiled at Jamil running toward him.
As soon as Jamil caught up, he added, “You forgot your lunch.”
Again!? He really needed to work on that if he wanted to prove to Jamil he could be independent.
But then he realized…
“Actually, I don’t need it today.”
Jamil gave him an annoyed glare. “You don’t need your lunch?”
“Nope! I’m having school lunch today.”
“Very funny,” Jamil said sarcastically. He then held out Kalim’s lunchbox to him. “Here.”
Kalim didn’t take it, though. “I’m not joking.”
Jamil sighed. “You know very well why I can’t let you do that.”
“That’s what Retainer Jamil would say!” Kalim grinned. “Best Friend Jamil would say he’ll sit with me in the cafeteria and that we’ll eat our lunches together.”
Before Jamil could argue, Kalim took off toward the Hall of Mirrors and called over his shoulder, “See ya then!”
“Are you certain that this is a good idea?” Lilia asked as he sat at the cafeteria table across from Kalim.
“Yeah, like,” Cater paused as he sat by Lilia’s side, “Jamil’s not going to blow a gasket or anything if we let you do this, right?”
Kalim grinned at his friends. “He’ll be fine! He has nothing to worry about.”
And really, Jamil didn’t have anything to worry about. Since he’d always eaten lunches made by Jamil, he’d never had a reason to go through the food line! Lilia and Cater had helped him, though, and he’d emerged with a tray filled with tasty-looking options.
He jabbed his fork into a bit of meat and lifted it to his lips, but before he could take a bite, a familiar voice carried across the cafeteria. “Kalim, stop!”
“Called it,” Cater muttered.
Kalim watched over his shoulder as Jamil jogged toward the table. “You made it! This is going to be so much fun.”
When Jamil reached Kalim’s side, he groaned. “You nearly giving me a heart attack is fun!?”
“Jamil, you’re far too young to say such things,” Lilia scolded. “Surely our sweet Kalim doesn’t work you that hard.”
Cater chuckled. “You know, all of your little dad sayings make so much sense now. You look great for 700! What’s your secret?”
“Fae biology!” Lilia cheerfully replied. “I’m sorry, that’s not the kind of beauty advice you could go viral with–”
“C’mon, Jamil!” Kalim said over his friends’ side conversation. “Have a seat!”
Jamil did as he was told, but with a sigh. “What exactly did you order?” he asked. “I’d like to know what I’m sampling before I start.”
“You don’t have to taste any of it. It’s all fine.”
Jamil narrowed his eyes. “Did you watch every single chef in the kitchen as they prepared your meal specifically?”
“No, but–”
“So that means someone could have slipped something into it! This is what I was talking about before. You’re too trusting.”
Before Jamil could argue with him any more, Kalim defiantly shoved the bit of meat on his fork into his mouth.
All three of his friends stared at him in stunned silence.
Kalim swallowed the food. It wasn’t all that great, but it was an important part of becoming independent. “See?” he asked. “All good.”
And if that wasn’t enough to convince Jamil…
Kalim reached into his school bag and withdrew a bright red mushroom with white spots. “And just to prove that everything’s okay…” Without any hesitation, Kalim took a huge bite right out of the mushroom’s cap.
In a fraction of a second, Jamil’s hands were around Kalim’s throat. “Spit it out! Right now!”
Lilia started rifling through his school bag as well. “Hold on! I think I have some ingredients for an antidote potion!”
“...choking… me…” Kalim wheezed. “Can’t… breathe..!”
With a little effort, he pulled away from Jamil and finished swallowing the bite of mushroom.
“What is wrong with you!?” Jamil yelled in his face.
“It can’t hurt me!”
“Uh, pretty sure that was a super poisonous mushroom,” Cater noted. “We gotta get you to the infirmary ASAP.”
“Guys, I’m fine!” Kalim insisted. “Poison can’t hurt me anymore!”
That finally calmed Jamil down. “What?”
“I got Azul to help me out!” he explained. “He gave me a potion that made me completely immune to poison. Cool, right?”
Everyone else at the table looked like they were slowly processing what he’d just said.
Kalim laughed. “Guess I have a new trick for parties!”
Finally, Lilia frowned at him. “Don’t do things like that to me. Jamil may be a young man, but my poor heart is old.”
Cater added, “Yeah, that was way too scary to be a good party trick.”
“You think so?” Kalim asked.
“Definitely! That’s a good way to freak literally an entire room out.”
“Oh.” Kalim turned toward Jamil with an apologetic smile. “My bad, Jamil. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Except, it didn’t look like Jamil was ready to accept that apology. “What. Were. You. Thinking!?”
“Huh!?”
“Here comes the blown gasket.” Cater picked up his lunch tray and stood. “Lils, we better go finish our lunch somewhere else.”
With a sigh, Lilia rose as well. “Do go easy on him,” he said while looking at Jamil. Then he turned toward Kalim and added, “And do try to truly listen to him.”
As soon as his friends stepped away, Kalim looked back at Jamil. “Are you mad at me?”
“Yes! I’m furious, actually!”
Kalim frowned. “I said I was sorry.”
“No, you said, ‘my bad,’ in that stupid childish way you always do. It doesn’t mean the same thing! It has absolutely no weight to it.”
That only made Kalim pout. “Fine. I’m sorry for scaring you.”
Jamil practically growled with frustration. “That’s not even the real issue here!”
“It’s not?”
“What brought any of this on!? Why would you want to be immune to poison?”
“I mean, who wouldn’t, right? It seems like a smart thing everyone would like.”
“Why would you need it!? You have people who will check for poison on your behalf. Namely me.”
“But you told me…” Kalim sat up a little straighter and put on a stern face. “You said I needed to learn how to do more stuff by myself. That way people can’t take advantage of me.”
“Huh…?”
“I know I’m not going to learn how to detect poison on my own anytime soon,” he admitted. “I thought if I made myself immune, that would be one less thing I’d need from you.”
Jamil stared at him with his eyebrows furrowed for a moment.
“You’re an idiot,” he finally said. “No, you’re a complete fool.”
But then, Jamil started to laugh.
“Wha–?” Kalim was so confused. “What’s funny?”
“You’re so stupid,” Jamil said through his chuckles. “Only you would come up with something this ridiculous. I’m honestly amazed you were self-aware enough to think of this.”
“What do you mean?”
“You somehow understand that you’re so gullible, the only way to protect yourself from people who might try to poison you is to make yourself impossible to poison. Instead of learning to be wary of people, you just steal their ability to hurt you.”
“Is that bad?”
“It’s effective, I’ll give you that. Why not just accept that most people don’t have your best interests in mind? Most people in this world are self-serving types who would stab you in the back.”
Kalim tilted his head at Jamil curiously. “You’re not like that.”
Somehow, that comment seemed to amuse Jamil. “Oh, I’m not?”
Kalim shook his head. “If you really hated me, you wouldn’t have run over here to stop me so you could check my food.”
“Again, that’s my job.”
“Whatever you say.” Kalim grinned at him. “Let’s have lunch!”
Jamil turned his attention to his lunch tray with a sigh. “Do I even want to know how much money you gave Azul in order to make this happen?”
“He didn’t want my money.”
“That’s suspicious in and of itself.” Jamil suddenly turned toward Kalim with a terrified face. “You didn’t give him Oasis Maker, did you!?”
“Nuh-uh. All he wanted was–”
The whole scheme was rather ingenious. Then again, Jade knew that Azul was always a step ahead of his ‘clients.’
“You’re up, Ashengrotto. Let’s see what you can do.”
“Gladly, Coach!”
Azul stepped forward with a wide grin and a broom in his hand.
“We’ll have to act quickly,” Azul had explained the night he perfected the immunity potion for Kalim.
Jade had raised an eyebrow in confusion. “He’s already signed off on the payment. This potion provides a permanent effect. Why rush things?”
“Kalim isn’t the only person we have to consider in this arrangement. Don’t forget, he’s only doing this for Jamil.”
“How does that factor into things?”
Azul had frowned. “Do you really think Jamil will let Kalim go for the rest of his life without his gift for flight magic?”
On the practice field, Azul straddled the broom handle.
“Remember: concentrate,” Vargas coached him. “Focus your magic, and then imagine you and all of your developing muscles soaring through the sky.”
Azul gripped the handle a little tighter and kicked himself off the ground.
Then, to absolutely everyone’s astonishment, he remained in the air.
“I did it,” he whispered. His sly smirk suddenly transformed into elation. “Coach Vargas! I did it!”
“Atta boy! I knew you had it in you!” The teacher took a moment to flex. “No pupil of mine could possibly go too long without learning how to utilize their muscles.”
Jade hid a laugh behind his hand. The only things Azul was good at utilizing were his brain and his jaw.
“I’m including an exit clause in Kalim’s contract. Should he ever wish to reverse his wish, then I will allow him to do so, no questions asked.”
“Why go through the trouble of producing such a complex potion?” Jade had asked. “If you knew you were going to give him a way out, why bother? Better yet, why not make the contract binding for all eternity?”
Azul had chuckled in that haughty way Jade adored. “This is merely a trust-building exercise. Kalim gets to prove he’s capable of taking care of himself to Jamil, Jamil gets to show Kalim that he cares by demanding the contract be terminated…” he’d paused to laugh outright. “And I get a passing PE grade!”
“How long do you think you’ll have before Jamil ends the contract?”
“Less than 24 hours. Kalim is eager, so he’ll go running to Jamil to show off his new ability as soon as he can. I have to schedule my remedial flight lesson immediately.”
That was one day on the practice field Jade had known he didn’t want to miss.
Azul had poured the contents of his cauldron into a glass bottle and sealed it with a cork. “And now that dear Kalim knows we’ll gladly provide legitimate assistance, he’ll return in the future. I’m one step closer to having a small stake in the Asim family fortune.”
Azul zipped around in the air above the practice field, exhibiting the same level of grace and dexterity that Kalim always had on his broom and magic carpet.
Just as he was beginning his descent, Azul’s broom wobbled. Jade’s eyes widened.
“Don’t lose control, Ashengrotto!” Coach Vargas called out. “You need a smooth landing for a perfect grade!”
Unfortunately, that was easier said than done, especially when one was using borrowed magic. Azul grit his teeth, the panic obvious on his face. In a matter of moments, he wrapped his arms and legs around the broom handle. In a way, it was reminiscent of what he might have done had he had tentacles.
Then, the broom hit the ground, and Azul lay on top of it face down in the grass.
Jade snickered to himself. Jamil really didn’t waste any time, did he?
“Come on, Ashengrotto! Back in the air! I’ll let you retry your landing.”
As if the result would change at this point.
Even still, Azul pushed himself upright and rested on his knees as he adjusted his glasses.
That was just one of the many things Jade loved about Azul: no matter how many times his schemes caused him to land flat on his face, he always got right back to his feet.
“Honestly, handing over your flight magic? To someone as untrustworthy as Azul?”
Kalim walked by Jamil’s side through one of the school’s outdoor hallways. Thankfully, Azul had let him hang onto the physical contract. He’d even said Kalim was welcome to tear it up if he ever changed his mind. He never imagined he’d have a reason to undo the magic, but Jamil had insisted it was the right thing to do.
“What were you planning to do during PE classes for the rest of your time here?” Jamil asked. “Just accept a failing grade? You know your parents wouldn’t have approved of that.”
True…
“And can you imagine how dejected Carpet would have been if you’d never taken it out for a flight again?”
True! Oh, Kalim hadn’t even thought about Carpet being sad!
Jamil really did think of everything.
Still, Kalim knew Jamil was right about what he’d said before. He needed to stop relying on Jamil for everything. He needed to start paying better attention and thinking things through! Jamil was just so good at taking care of him…
There had to be a balance they could reach. Kalim didn’t want to be dependent on Jamil as a retainer, but he also knew how valuable Jamil’s advice and direction would be as a friend.
Plus…
“Hey, Jamil?”
“What?”
Kalim smiled at him. “It was cool getting to eat cafeteria food for a change, but your lunches are better.”
Jamil didn’t say anything in response to that.
Kalim reached out and grabbed Jamil’s hand.
Jamil quickly turned to look at Kalim, who beamed back at him. “I hope we can be friends forever.”
For just a split second, Kalim would have sworn he saw Jamil’s lips twitch into an almost-smile.
Then, Jamil yanked his hand away. “We’re not friends now. We can’t be friends forever if we’re not friends.”
“Maybe I can start making lunch for you. That’d be fun!”
Kalim jabbered on at Jamil’s side as they continued to walk down the hallway. Maybe they weren’t fully friends yet. Judging by the way Jamil kept glancing over at him with some tiny hint of longing in his eye, though, Kalim knew he wanted to be friends forever, too.