Page 7 of Boys Who Hunt

“Oh, shut up, Silas.” Mavis shoves him. “Just because you don’t know anything about magic doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.”

Silas raises his brow, brings his finger to his temple, and circles it around.

“Wait, what did I miss?” Max mutters.

I sigh. “Someone broke into the Skull and Serpent Society and robbed us.”

“ROBBED US?!” Max yells.

Silas grabs his fork and shoves it between Max’s fingers, narrowly avoiding his skin. “Don’t be so fucking loud, Fletcher. The entire fucking cafeteria doesn’t need to know our security is shit.”

“They got away,” I tell Max.

“But we found this on the grass.” Silas fishes the hearing aid from his pocket and shows it to Max.

“Okay …” Max grabs it and inspects it up close. “How’s this going to help you find the person responsible?”

“There must be some sort of identification code on it, right?” Silas says.

“I can cast a tracking spell,” Mavis offers. “You’ll find him in no time.” She winks at me in the most devilish way, and I almost succumb to her charms again. Almost. But we both know she’s just playing with me.

Silas sticks his finger into his mouth and fake gags.

“Oh, grow up,” Mavis growls at him before she jumps off the table and closes the book. “You can either accept my help or fumble by yourself. Your choice, little bro.”

“Don’t fucking call me little,” Silas snarls.

“Well, she is right. I mean, you are the shortest of all of us,” Max says, but Silas’s deadly eyes stop him halfway through his sentence. “It’s the truth.”

“Whatever. I’m done here.” She rolls her eyes and throws her blue-streaked brown hair over her shoulder. “See you later, Heath.” She smiles at me before walking off, and I throw back a wink before grabbing my knife to cut slices off my apple.

“You really can’t help yourself, can you?” Silas says. “Still trying to get into my sister’s pants.”

Not this again.

I stop and point the knife at him. “I’m just being fucking friendly because we’re friends. That’s it.”

I don’t need him to remind me of my past mistakes.

“Right. And you just read spell books from a self-proclaimed witch because you enjoy it.” He scoffs. “Liar.”

“Shut up.” I throw a piece of apple in Silas’s direction. “She’s trying to help. That’s it.”

Max is still busy checking out the hearing aid, completely ignoring what’s going on at the table.

“With bullshit that doesn’t work,” Silas quips. “Besides, she’s not interested. She made that much clear last year. Or did your sad-boy heart not want to believe it?”

My eye twitches.

He fucking dares to bring that up?

“Bro, I’mthis”—I pinch my fingers together—“close to shoving this apple down your throat.”

“Try me.” Silas folds his arms and leans back. “See how it works out for you.”

“Hey, what’s this barcode?” Max suddenly asks.

We both grow quiet and stare at him like he’s just unlocked the secret to the universe.