**Chapter 8 –Homecoming and the Monday After
Homecoming, 11:59 p.m., The Vote Wins
Friday, 11:59 p.m.
The bonfire roared thirty feet high, shaped like a coyote with **two heads** and one tail.
Its eyes were real garnets—Seras's and mine—set into the logs by Remy's pack hours earlier.
The entire stadium smelled like cedar smoke, burnt sugar, and two-stroke exhaust.
We stood on the fifty-yard line, side by side.
Me: platinum waves loose under a black beanie, ruby eyes catching every flame.
Seras: red streak glowing like a fuse, black-garnet eyes steady, **maple pendant** blazing crimson against her collarbone.
Both of us wearing identical lockets that pulsed in perfect sync—**森羅** kanji now permanently burned into a **flaming maple crest** on Seras's, silver spiral on mine.
The marching band had stopped.
Cheerleaders frozen mid-pyramid.
The entire crowd held its breath.
Because the **vote** had just been announced.
Principal Hargrove's voice still echoed over the PA:
**"By student and faculty vote, your 2025 Homecoming King and Queen are…
Jake Calder and Linden Sage!" "Prince and Princess are Remy Tsatoke and Celeste Morau!!"**
The spotlight swung up to the senior section.
**Jake Calder**—Lakeside senior, valedictorian, dark skin, locs tied with cedar cord, earth-green eyes, 6'3" and built like he could bench-press the lake—stood with a stunned grin.
**Linden Sage**—Lakeside senior, quarterback's older sister, auburn hair braided with lake reeds, storm-gray eyes, lightning in her smile—laughed so hard she almost dropped her pom-poms.
The bonfire roared higher on its own, reshaping into a **four-headed coyote**.
Remy killed his YZ's throttle.
Silence fell louder than any roar.
He stepped forward, fire bowl in both hands—cedar, sweetgrass, lake water at midnight.
Grandma Mary stood beside him in full Caddo regalia, silver hair braided with hawk bells that didn't ring.
"Celeste Valentina Morau," Remy said, voice carrying without a mic.
"Seras Himari Nakamura".
He nodded to each of us.
"The lake chose two wizards tonight.
The pack accepts."
Every bike revved once—eleven engines, one heartbeat.
The mist tightened the circle until it touched our ankles like a living thing.
Grandma Mary lifted the fire bowl.
"By cedar, by sweetgrass, by the blood that never was and the mist that always is—
We witness the joining of spring and shadow.
Two hearts. One vein.
Speak your vow."
Seras and I turned to face each other.
The lockets rose from our chests, chains tangling mid-air.
They **opened**.
Inside each mirror: two six-year-old girls on a Kyoto rooftop holding hands.
We spoke the vow together, voices braided.
The mirrors flashed white.
The lockets snapped shut—Seras's flaming maple crest flaring once, permanent.
The mist **exploded** upward in twin spirals that met overhead and formed a perfect figure-eight.
Every garnet eye in the bonfire flared.
Then the mist **settled**—soft, warm, approving—curling around **us like a blessing.
Jake and Linden walked down from the senior section together— in perfect step—wearing the plastic Homecoming crowns the student council had just placed on their heads.
They stopped ten feet away.
"The school voted us king and queen," Jake said, grinning wide.
Linden laughed.
"Looks like we're sharing the throne"
The coyote bonfire collapsed into gentle steam.
The pack's bikes roared back to life on their own.
The mist settled around all of us like a blanket.
Seras's maple pendant reignited—stronger, steadier, **flames dancing in the shape of the new four-point spiral**.
My ruby eyes stopped bleeding shadow.
Remy stepped forward, voice rough but proud.
"So what happens now?"
Jake and Linden spoke together with us:
"Homecoming court is over.
The crowd—three thousand people—inhaled as one.
Then they **cheered** louder than ever.
Loudest for Jake and Linden, the king and queen they'd actually voted for.
But every cheer for the freshman prince and princess Remy and I, was just as fierce.He kissed Me. It caught Me off guard. His lips were warm and soft I didn't want to let go. Everyone Cheered Louder. I blushed
Seras looked at me.
I looked at her.
We looked at Jake and Linden.
Jake grinned—warm, cedar-solid.
"Welcome to the big leagues, freshmen."
Linden high-fived Seras.
"Try to keep up."
The mist curled into Spirals and Maple Leafs, then dissolved into silver butterflies.
Every butterfly carried a tiny **four-point spiral** on its wings.
Homecoming was over.
**Monday After the Four-Point Crown**
Monday, 7:03 a.m.
I woke up before my alarm, heart racing like I'd already run the dam loop.
Ruby eyes in the mirror: still permanent.
Twin locket warm against my skin.
Small cedar princess crown from Homecoming sitting on my nightstand like it belonged there.
Everything had happened.
And now I had to survive **first period without breaking the sound barrier**.
I threw on my white-and-pink hoodie, light-wash jeans, black Vans.
Grabbed my board: hot-pink grip tape now etched with tiny four-point spirals that hadn't been there Friday.
Mom was waiting with coffee and a grin.
Dad waved the front page: **LAKESIDE CROWNS FOUR RULERS**
Photo: Jake and Linden in plastic crowns, Seras standing beside me. Im mid-kiss with Remy, mist spelling **FOUR HEARTS**.
"Try not to outrun the city bus, Your Majesty," Mom teased.
I saluted and rolled out.
The second I pushed off, I **knew**.
Vampire blood + Julian's binding = upgrade city.
My board shot forward like it had rockets.
I carved a perfect 360 down the driveway without even trying.
The wind didn't push me; it **obeyed**.
I hit the main road doing forty.
Remy's YZ tops out at sixty-five.
I could **match** him.
Super agility.
Super control.
I ollied a parked Prius, landed switch, and kept rolling like gravity was optional.
By the time I reached school, I'd done seven tricks I didn't even have names for.
Kids on the sidewalk filmed me with their phones, mouths open.
Seras was waiting at the bike rack on heelies, red streak glowing, maple pendant blazing like a tiny sun.
She took one look at me and smirked.
"Show-off," she said.
"Jealous," I shot back.
Jake Calder and Linden Sage were already holding court by the front doors
They waved us over like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Linden high-fived Seras.
"Locker brands start in five. Let's make it official."
The hallway **parted**.
Phones out.
Whispers turned to cheers.
Brittany stood by her locker, arms crossed, no crown, no smile.
She opened her mouth: probably something about "vote stealing": then saw Jake's living cedar crown sprout a new branch toward her face and thought better.
Seras stopped at her locker.
Maple pendant flared.
She pressed it to the metal door.
**Branding it immediately**
A perfect four-point spiral burned into the steel, flames licking the edges without scorching paint.
She grinned at me.
"Your turn."
I touched my locker.
Shadow and Light poured from my fingertips like liquid night and day.
The metal rippled, then froze solid with a four-point spiral etched in living ice that **never melted**.
First period: Algebra II.
Remy saved me the seat beside him.
He smelled like pine sap and two-stroke and **home**.
"Morning, Princess," he whispered, sliding me a note.
Inside: doodle of me on my board outrunning his YZ, speech bubble **"race you after school?"**
I wrote back: **you're on, coyote-boy.**
The teacher started writing equations.
My shadow magic leaked: black ink crawling across the whiteboard, rewriting the problems into perfect four-point spirals.
The class gasped.
Teacher just smiled.
Lunch.
We claimed the center table: + the entire coyote pack on dirt bikes parked outside like royal guard.
Remy leaned over, voice low.
"Dam loop after last bell. You, me, your vampire speed versus my YZ."
I grinned.
"Loser buys slushies?"
"Deal."
He kissed me quick: warm, soft, perfect.
Half the cafeteria **awwwed**.
Seras fake-gagged.
Jake laughed so hard his cedar crown dropped leaves on the table.
Last period: PE.
Coach made us run the mile.
I finished in **5 minutes so i wouldnt freak everyone out **.
Coach dropped his stopwatch.
Remy whooped from the bleachers.
I bowed.
Final bell.
We rolled out together: eleven bikes, one pack.
Remy handed me my helmet.
"Ready to eat my dust, spring princess?"
I kicked my board, felt the vampire strength coil in my legs.
"Ready to leave you choking on it, coyote king."
Seras revved the mini-bike QUEENS 7 beside us, maple pendant blazing.
Engines roared.
My board hummed under my feet like it had an engine of its own.
We launched.
Twelve bikes.
One board.
I hit ninety before we left the parking lot.
Remy's YZ kept pace: barely.
The mist parted like it was holding the door.
And for the first time since I rolled into this town,
I wasn't just keeping up.
I was **leading the pack**.