Katie stood frozen as Luke disappeared from her field of vision. The rain had began to fall in heavy drops outside, the sky a dull grey. She leaned into the wall, feeling a little desperate. What was she supposed to do? The more she tried to distance herself from Luke, the more she thought about him... but she didn't want to hurt him. And she didn't want to be another failed love story in the warlock history of relationships with Unspelled gone wrong. And yet she couldn't deny the draw she felt for Luke...

"Hey, Katie," came Lucy's voice, snapping her out of her daze.

Katie looked up at her best friend.

"What? Oh... morning, Lucy."

Lucy scanned her face.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Katie heaved a sigh, closing her eyes to blink the moisture out of them.

"I ran into Luke, just now."

Lucy's eyebrows rose slightly.

"That's a good thing, isn't it...? Or did he say something about that day?"

Katie didn't need her to elaborate to know she meant the day of the flower box.

"No... no, he didn't." she said. "But... I can't stop thinking about him, and the more I try not to, the worse it gets..."

"... That's because you like him," Lucy said gently.

"I can't! I don't want to be in that position... it never works out..."

"You know... just because it never has, doesn't mean it never will," Lucy pointed out.

"Lucy, I told you they probably all thought the same thing, and look where that got them."

"But they're not you," Lucy insisted. "I know it's scary. The unknown always is. But you can't just push everything away for fear of being hurt."

"I'm not worried about hurting myself, I don't want to hurt Luke. He seems like a decent guy, I'm trying not to cause any unnecessary pain."

Lucy opened her mouth, and Katie, who knew her like the back of her hand, cut her off at once.

"And no, I could not use my magic to make him fall out of love with me! God, Lucy!"

"It was just a thought," Lucy defended herself.

"Look, I appreciate your trying to help, Lucy, really." Katie said a little wearily. "But please, stop trying to meddle with my love life."

Lucy's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Meddling?"

Katie sighed and bit her lip.

"I'm sorry... that was unfair. But things are more complicated for me than the average person, you know that. I just don't need to make it worse."

"Fine. Maybe I'll just leave you to it, then."

And she marched off.

"Lucy! Hold on!"

She ran after her.

"Come on, are we really going to fight because of Luke?"

"Maybe we wouldn't if you didn't blow me off every time I try to help," Lucy said testily.

"I'm not blowing you off! It's just that your advice maybe works for most people, but it's a bit different for me!"

"Only because you make it. You are still a regular human, aren't you?"

"Yes, but-"

"Yeah, I know. It's not that simple." Lucy snapped. "Well, don't come crying to me when you see Luke with another girl."

And she stormed off before Katie could stop her.

Katie went through the rest of her day feeling upset and confused. Why had Lucy gotten so angry? She was the one always coming at her with advice she hadn't asked for! And it wasn't like her being in a relationship would affect Lucy's life... why did it matter to her so much? In any case, she was glad to get home that evening. Her mother had gone to see Gideon, so there was only her father and Hazel when she arrived.

"Hey, Dad."

"Oh, hello, Katie." Kendall said, then noticed her face. "What's the matter?"

"... I had this stupid argument with Lucy..."

"What about, if I might be so bold as to ask?"

Katie hesitated.

"There's this boy in school. An Unspelled. And... she's trying to push me into going out with him."

"Do you want to go out with him?"

"... I like him," she said. "But... I can't put him in that position, and I don't want to be another statistic on the romantic failure study."

Kendall didn't answer for a moment.

"I see what you mean."

Katie sat down with a sigh.

"I just don't understand why she's so worked up about this..." she said.

"She wants you to be happy," he said. "She's trying to be a good friend. Clumsily, I admit."

"But I am happy," Katie argued. "I..."

But as she said so, she realised that while she was happy, that happiness felt incomplete. She thought of all the couples just in her school, or how happy Gideon had been with Belinda or how happy he was now with his current girlfriend, a safe Unspelled called Valerie. She hadn't said anything because she didn't want to argue with Gideon. They'd been together for a year, now, and seemed to be doing fine. She just hoped it wouldn't end the same way it had with Belinda.

"I am happy," she said again, slowly. "But... it's true I sometimes envy people in love."

"Then why struggle against it?"

Katie looked up at him sadly.

"I just don't know if it's worth the risk..."

The rules of the Council were simple: you were only allowed to tell your Unspelled partner what you were if you were going to marry. The only problem with that was that half the time, the Unspelled got scared when they found out the truth and ran away. At least until the Council sent a representative to erase their memory. It was never fun for the unlucky witch or warlock, but the Council's word was law, and their motto was "Secrecy above All". The reason they were so stringent was because their kind had tried revealing the truth to the Unspelled, and it had been an unnameable chaos. Some people had worked with the warlocks fine, but some less noble ones had taken some captive to sell for entertainment or service, like some sort of slave. The Council had ended up being forced to erase every trace of their existence, and had from that point forward unwaveringly enforced the secrecy law. Any breach was severely punished. She supposed that made sense. That was why her parents had been so worried after the incident with Luke in the street.

"What would you do, Dad?" Katie asked. "I mean... I hate arguing with Lucy, especially over Luke, but..."

"Luke?" her father asked with a small smile. "Is that the lucky lad's name?"

"Dad," Andie grumbled, flushing.

"Okay, okay. Lucy's a temperamental girl, you know that. She'll be over it in no time."

"... Yeah, probably," Katie conceded.

They'd had small squabbles before, and they'd always patched up... they'd been friends for years, that had to mean something...

"Dad, can I ask you something?"

"Of course," he said.

"Why is there such a rivalry between the clans?"

Kendall looked at her a moment.

"How about I make you some cocoa, then I tell you?"