Alex stared at his banana leaf plate. “Filipinos always had strong ties to Avalon,” he said. “There is—was—a huge Filipino population in the kingdom for as long as I could remember. I’m sorry we couldn’t save them. And now it looks like you all are going to sacrifice even more for my sake—hey!” Tala had picked up a piece of calamansi and squirted juice in his direction.
“Mum used to tell me about this thing they have back in the Philippines called bayanihan,” she said matter-of-factly, ignoring Alex’s glare as he mopped up his lap. “People used to live in bamboo houses. When families needed to move, they enlisted the help of the whole community to move their homes to the new locations.”
“You’re kidding me. How do you move a whole house?”
“It was all about community spirit. People pitched in knowing that if the roles were reversed, the family they were helping would do the same thing for them. Like it or not, you’re one of us now. And we always look out for our own.”
That made him smile. “Thanks.”
“There we go!” Tita Baby proclaimed, adding a tray of freshly grilled tilapia to the table. “Now we can eat!”
“Excellent,” Alex said, as the others took their places. “I’m starving. Where’s the silverware?”
The Katipuneros traded glances with each other, looked over at the exiled prince of the kingdom of Avalon, and began to laugh.
* * *
“Am I the reason we’re stuck here?” Tala asked sometime later, once the leaves had been cleared, the leftover food carefully stored away in Tupperware containers, and the Katipuneros were treating a very amused Alex to numerous renditions of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” via the karaoke system they had plugged in.
She had asked variations of this question over the years and had never received a straight answer from her parents. Was her ineptitude keeping them from leaving? The thought upset her, though not enough to stop herself from cutting a huge slice of flan.
“Oh, anak,” her mother said. “It’s not that. There are far more factors involved than you think.”
“I mean, surely this town can’t be the only place where magic doesn’t work? There must be better places out there. Places where…you know…”
Places that weren’t stupid small towns that had stupid small-town kids and their stupid small-town parents, where the closest thing to variety was the tamale festival at nearby Somerton. Places where people didn’t think and act like Mark Jones or Mr. McLeroy. Places in America where she didn’t have to stand out, where her mother and her side of the family didn’t have to look so different. So yeah, maybe Invierno wasn’t conducive to magic and that was good for a girl and a mother who negated spells on a daily basis, but surely there were nicer towns out there with the same hiccup?
Her parents looked at each other. Finally, her father reached out and gave her a quick hug. The mic had now been passed on to Alex, who was doing his best impression of Bruno Mars. The general was attempting to dance, to mixed reactions. “We stay because it’s right bastard hot out here,” her father finally replied, but that didn’t sound like much of a reason to Tala either.
3
In Which Alex’s Teacher’s Breakdown Is Viewed Millions of Times on Social Media
Three important things happened the autumn Tala turned seventeen, nearly a year later: Arizona officially signed the Emerald Act into law, legalizing commercial use of category two magic for the first time, the thirty-third state to do so; her history teacher went viral on social media in the worst possible way; and Ryker Cadfael asked her to the upcoming bonfire celebrations.
Obviously the last one was the most consequential because Ryker Cadfael was so far out of Tala’s orbit that his planet had yet to be discovered within her system. He still was. She’d remained oblivious to any form of interest from his direction until Alex had insisted that the boy liked her. She didn’t believe him, even when Ryker started hanging out with Alex whenever she was around. Even when he started walking her to class on occasion. Even when he started flirting. Or maybe he was just teasing her? How did one know the difference? Alex was the only person she could ask, except Alex was also the last person she wanted to ask.
Cool. Super cool. She had an algebra test next period, and overthinking this was not the distraction she needed.
“But it’s the distraction you deserve.”
“Shut up, Alex.”
Alex rolled his eyes and reached out to swipe at Tala’s lunch—lumpiang shanghai, chicken adobo, eggplant torta, and rice—with a fork, snagging one of the spring rolls before she could protest. Despite his newcomer status, he was on the varsity baseball team and was therefore several rungs higher up the social ladder than Tala, enough that hanging out with her barely affected his popularity cred. “It’s not like you haven’t been flirting back. I didn’t even know you were capable of giggling.”
“Shut up.”
“You’ve both been making goo-goo eyes at each other for like a month now. What’s the holdup?”
“Because it’s Ryker Cadfael.”
“The one and only.”
“The basketball player.”
“The school’s star basketball player. Keep up, Tally.”
“The one with the nice abs.”
“I have nice abs,” Alex protested, looking hurt.
“Yeah, but they’re not connected to Ryker Cadfael. Stop stealing my food. Didn’t Lola make your lunch today too?”
“Yeah, but I’m a growing boy and need more food than you. Besides, I see you brought your mom’s famous adobo, and I know she’d want me to have some.” He took a piece of chicken, ignoring her glare. “Why are you acting like having a crush is the worst thing in the world?”
“It’s not a crush,” Tala lied. “I can admire people from afar without any expectations.”
“You’re in denial. You do like him.”
Of course she did. Blind people could hear how gorgeous he was. Ryker was even more of a newcomer than Alex; he’d only moved here a few months earlier. His father was apparently some hotshot real estate developer, and there had been talks to purchase several tracts of land in the area for some important urban projects. Why they chose Invierno of all places remained a mystery, but it brought Ryker to town, so the rest seemed unimportant in comparison.
Alex stole another piece of eggplant. “Did you know how many questions he pestered me with at the start before I told him to quit bugging me and just talk to you?”
Tala’s face flamed. “Since when are you even friends with him, anyway?”